Newsletter No. 34
« Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter »
Free Pint
"Helping 20,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
ISSN 1460-7239 18th March 1999 #34
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Pharmaceutical/ health information on the Web"
By Sophie Graham
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Who goes there...? - Access Control Issues
for Internet-based information services"
By Jonathan Eaton
FREE PINT FEEDBACK
"Analysing Web hits (Free Pint #33)"
"Becoming a researcher (Free Pint #32)"
"Accolade for the MSN site"
"Adding my thanks to the chorus"
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/180399.htm
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
*** YOUR CHANCE TO WIN FLIGHTS TO SAN FRANCISCO!! ***
Register FREE for Silicon.com (http://www.silicon.com) this week and
you'll automatically be entered into our prize draw to win a pair of
return flights to San Francisco in association with Lastminute.com
(http://www.lastminute.com) Silicon.com is the first online TV network
featuring interviews with leading industry figures, debates and first
class analysis. It costs nothing - so access FREE today at
http://www.silicon.com
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [nm341]
EDITORIAL
Many thanks indeed to all readers who have been spreading the word
about Free Pint to colleagues, discussion lists and publications.
We are thrilled to be able to announce that we now have
20,000 subscribers in 117 countries around the world!
This issue brings you a great article about where to find
pharmaceutical and health related information on the Web. This is
followed by an in-depth look at ways information providers can
control access to Web sites. In the feedback section we have
reproduced some of the many responses we received to the letter in
the last issue asking about ways to analyse your Web site hits to
learn more about your visitors.
We have also been busy making it really easy for you to tell other
people about Free Pint: we have set up a special form on the Web site
where you can enter your colleague's email address and we'll send them
a courteous note about the newsletter. Why not check it out today at:
http://www.freepint.co.uk/reco.htm
Hope you enjoy your thirty fourth Free Pint!
Kind regards,
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Managing Editor
e: william@freepint.co.uk
t: +44 (0)1784 455435
f: +44 (0)1784 455436
PS: To see all previous issues of Free Pint, visit the Web site at
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
You will also find the 1998 index there with easy access to all last
year's articles and feedback subjects.
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
TELEWORKING DIRECTORY
A new book from the British Library guides you through the growing
range of information about this new way of organising work. The
directory lists books and journals, internet resources, and
organisations. It will benefit teleworkers, employment advisory bodies
and librarians. Price 29 pounds (UK postage included). For information
tel:+44(0)171 412 7471, orders tel:+44(0)1462 672555 ISBN 0-7123-0851-2
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [bl342]
>>> Does advertising in Free Pint work? <<<
Advertisers like the British Library and Learned Information
(organisers of the Online Information conference/exhibition)
seem to think so: between them they have placed adverts in
every forthcoming issue in 1999
Advertising details at http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
QUICK TIP ... INTERNET CONSULTANCY
If you have a large Web site where the same details are re-used on
many pages (e.g. navigation headers or footers) then consider using
Server Side Includes (SSIs). One change is automatically seen across
the whole site.
William Hann ~ http://www.willco.co.uk/
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Pharmaceutical/ health information on the Web"
By Sophie Graham
This article will highlight some of the key pharmaceutical and health
websites currently available on the Internet. Pharmaceutical
information on the web is getting fairly extensive, if you know where
to look, and as with most things on the Internet, this subject area is
constantly growing and developing. For convenience, I have divided
pharmaceutical and health information into the following categories:
1. General starting points
2. Pharmaceutical companies
3. Official health organisations
4. Health associations
5. Clinical trial information
6. Regulatory bodies
I will be giving you a personal account of the main sites that I use
on a regular basis to get pharmaceutical or health information.
1. General starting points
What I call 'general starting points' tend to be predominantly
large sites which encompass a wide range of news, views, links and
sources. Three of my favourites are:
* PharmWeb (http://www.pharmweb.net)
* PharmInfoNet (http://www.pharminfo.com)
* InPharm (http://www.inpharm.com)
* PharmWeb is a structured pharmaceutical information server and
provides a range of Internet services from web space, to conference
programme lists, vacancies, mailing lists and training courses. The
site also includes links to pharmaceutical companies, university
pharmacy schools as well to information on specific diseases.
The advantage of the site is that it is managed and operated by
pharmacists and medical communications specialists.
* PharmInfoNet (Pharmaceutical Information Network) is a fantastic
resource for disease centres, drug information, medical meeting
highlights, clinical trials information, and pharmaceutical links. It
provides some excellent therapeutic information and covers asthma,
cancer, cardiovascular, obesity and respiratory diseases. Its
particular strength is its drug database where you can put in any
generic or trade name and pull up information about the drug.
* InPharm is more of an industry site and encompasses not only the
pharmaceutical industry but also its allied services, such as medical
education, advertising, PR, conference management, and even
information management. The site provides a wealth of information
ranging from industry viewpoints (The Lounge), to jobs (JobPharm), a
directory of freelancers (M-Grapevine), a directory of web links
(FlexiPages), shopping (ShopinPharm) and a mailing list (Exchange).
The list of contacts is extensive and you can also subscribe to the
monthly email update bulletin.
2. Pharmaceutical companies
Nearly every pharmaceutical company now has at least one website: its
corporate website and several other therapeutic disease websites that
the company sponsors or has developed. It would be impossible to list
and describe all the pharmaceutical companies that are currently on
the Web, but there is a good site which provides a specific list of
companies: http://www.cbc.med.umn.edu/~jhan/cp.html
Although it is a personal webpage, the list is pretty comprehensive
and you should be able to find almost any corporate company website
you may need.
InPharm (http://www.inpharm.com/inpharm_links/2.html) provides a set
of links to the therapy specific sites, as do most of the corporate
pharmaceutical websites themselves. Examples of therapy areas
sponsored by corporate sites include Parkinson's Disease, Herpes,
Allergy, Alzheimer's Disease, HIV, and Depression.
The pharmaceutical industry also has trade associations which provide
not only information on the industry but also links to member
websites. The UK association, the ABPI (Association of the British
Pharmaceutical Industry) (http://www.abpi.org.uk) does exactly this
and also provides information on the industry. Many of the ABPI
publications serve as core reference material for the industry and a
full publication list is available on the website. To date, neither of
the international equivalents of the ABPI (IFPMA, International
Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association) or
European (EFPIA, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries
Association) have websites.
3. Official health organisations
There is an ever increasing number of 'official health organisations'
appearing on the web. 'Official health organisations' tend to be
government sponsored or regulated. On a regular basis, three or four
provide very good epidemiological information as well as official
disease reports, treatment and clinical trial guidelines. My
favourites include:
* US National Institute of Health (http://www.nih.gov)
* US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
(http://www.cdc.gov)
* World Health Organisation (WHO) (http://www.who.org)
* UK National Health Service (NHS) (http://www.nhsconfed.net)
* The US National Institute of Health website provides access to
health information reports, news, events, scientific resources,
funding and links to all the other organisations that make up the
National Institute in the US, e.g. National Institute of Cancer. This
site can provide you with good US statistics and epidemiological
information.
* The US CDC website provides a range of information covering
travellers' health, statistics, publications, diseases in the news,
and training. There are some very useful free health information
sheets, which include statistics, covering a wide range of ailments
and diseases.
* The WHO website is the source for WHO documentation, reports and
statistical information. It was also listed in Sue Welsh's 'The Best
Medical Information on the Web' Free Pint #6. I would certainly
recommend their library as an efficient and useful source of
documentation.
* The UK NHS Confederation Net provides good access to NHS
publications, databases, conferences, press releases, and also
commercial opportunities. Some of the noteworthy commercial
opportunities available include advertising, sponsorship and
conference services.
4. Health associations
Health associations, be they patient, general practitioner or
specialist focused, can provide you with a wealth of information on
their disease area. Nearly all the general practitioner associations,
such as the BMA (British Medical Association - http://www.bma.org.uk)
and AMA (American Medical Association - http://www.ama-assn.org) have
websites with lots of news, events, and other related information.
Specialist websites for specific diseases like cancer, allergy or
neurology also provide valuable information. Patient support groups
like the NFP (National Parkinson Foundation
http://www.parkinson.org/texthtms/tindex.htm) also provide specific
patient focused information such as local support group addresses,
news and information on the disease.
When conducting a search for general information, I often use these
'health association' sites for preliminary data such as clinical
guidelines and background information on the disease. The great thing
about all these websites is they usually provide you with an extensive
list of links. Indeed, especially useful are the lists of local
association websites in other countries, for instance the World of
Multiple Sclerosis (http://www.ifmss.org.uk) provides links to its
associations in South Africa, France and Germany, to name but a few.
There are, of course, many other sites targeting general physicians,
such as Doctor's Guide (http://www.docguide.com) and NetMedicine
(http://www.netmedicine.com), which tend to provide more general
information, although Doctor's Guide is a good source of conference
information for all types of disease areas.
5. Clinical trial information
If you're looking for clinical trial or drug information then I would
recommend starting with the following sites:
* CenterWatch provides extensive US clinical trial information
(http://www.centerwatch.com) from who's running the trial to how you
can participate in a trial as a patient. It also provides information
on new FDA approvals for products as well as news, information and
research.
* The Internet Drug Index (http://www.rxlist.com) is a prescription
drug database, which provides good basic information about products on
the market; you can search by keyword, brand or interaction. It's a
useful site when you need basic information about a product.
* The Virtual Drug Store (http://www.virtualdrugstore.com) also
provides access to a drug database and links in relevant references
about the drug which is especially useful.
6. Regulatory bodies
By law, the pharmaceutical industry is very tightly regulated, I have
therefore included a few pharmaceutical regulatory body websites. All
of the following agencies tend to provide information on newly
launched (predominantly prescription) products, drug safety
monitoring, adverse reactions, regulations, and withdrawals. Most of
the sites also provide reports and news on new pharmaceutical
products. Some of the most notable ones in the UK are:
* CSM (Committee for the Safety of Medicines)
(http://www.open.gov.uk/mca/csmhome.htm)
* MCA (Medicines Control Agency)
(http://www.open.gov.uk/mca/mcahome.htm)
Although Europe and the US have equivalent organisations, the main two
with web presences are:
* European EMEA (European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal
Products) (http://www2.eudra.org)
* US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) (http://www.fda.gov)
Finally...
I hope that I have given you an insight into the wealth of
pharmaceutical information that is now out there and accessible to
all. I realise that it is by no means an exhaustive or fully
comprehensive list, but I do hope that it will be a worthwhile
starting point for anyone working in or joining the pharmaceutical
industry.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sophie Graham holds an honours degree in Biochemistry and a master's
in Information Science. She has spent over two years as Information
Manager at an international healthcare and pharmaceutical
communications agency based in London, UK. Sophie is also a member of
AIOPI, the Association for Information Officers in the Pharmaceutical
Industry. For more information on AIOPI, please go to:
http://www.aiopi.org.uk/
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR PRIVATE COMPANY INFORMATION FOR THE UK AND EUROPE?
Try our user-driven solutions, FAME and AMADEUS - now available on
CD-ROM and the Internet. All versions have full searching and analysis
functionality.
Call 0171 839 2266 or email marketing@bvd.co.uk for your free trial.
http://www.bvd.co.uk/freepint for more information.
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [bv343]
>>> Visit the Free Pint Web site today <<<
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
Past issues; 1998 index; advert and author details; press awards
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
2b UK Portal - Lottery Results By Email
http://www.2b.co.uk/
2b, the UK's leading UK Content site now offers the lottery results
by email. You can sign up to receive the results by email on both
or either Wednesday or Saturday. The 2b Lottery Zone also features
the latest results and an archive of all the previous results.
To sign up to the lottery results visit the 2b Lottery Zone at
http://www.2b.co.uk/lottery/
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [gg344]
QUICK TIP ... INTERNET PUBLISHING
If you publish an email newsletter with a large readership to a
specific deadline then allow time for delivery of all those emails.
e.g. one issue of Free Pint involves sending over 600MB of email!
William Hann ~ http://www.willco.co.uk/
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Who goes there...? - Access Control Issues
for Internet-based information services"
By Jonathan Eaton
Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) and other access codes have
invaded our lives. We now need usernames and passwords to access an
ever-widening range of electronic interactive services, from personal
telephone banking to individual "portal" pages on the Internet. Nobody
would expect sensitive personal information to remain unsecured, but
the ever-increasing range of commercial information content now
provided on the Web means that each new information service we (or our
organisations) subscribe to must impose some kind of access controls.
Coping with multiple passwords has become a feature (or a curse?) of
modern living, and nowhere more so with information services. Password
proliferation is a big headache for all those involved, including
service providers, information managers and users alike. Since the
great majority of Internet transactions will involve no personal
interaction, authentication - the process of establishing digital
credentials in cyberspace - currently remains complex and fragmented.
In this article we'll look briefly at the main shortcomings of
mechanisms used to restrict access to information services, and
discuss some of the currently available initiatives and technologies
that offer some hope of improving matters in the long term.
Password proliferation problems stem from the Internet's essentially
open, global network infrastructure that lacks built-in security
controls. With the browser phenomenon came an additional expectation
of seamless access to resources, but this is unrealistic and
impracticable where access to resources is available only under terms
of a legal agreement, or where a service provider wishes to restrict
access to previously registered users.
Issuing a username and password to a few individuals for one or two
services is normally manageable for customer, information provider and
information manager alike. But multiply that by an ever-expanding
user population and range of subscribed services, and it quickly
becomes a huge administrative burden. Users get confused, and may
consequently even avoid using access-controlled services. Librarians
know all about this issue and its recent aggravation, as they
typically license resources on behalf of their organisation, thus
creating an indirect relationship between vendor, licensee and
end-user. Higher education especially faces a huge problem - nobody
wants to issue and maintain usernames and passwords to 10,000
university students and faculty, for example! How then, did we get
into this mess in the first place?
To understand password proliferation, we must accept that the password
model is essentially a hangover from a now archaic computing era. It
worked in the pre-PC age, when computers were large, centralised
machines with relatively few users, confined within a single
organisation. But now it simply cannot adapt to the modern world of
globally interconnected networks. Usernames and passwords that log us
in to an organisational network or your own ISP (Internet Service
Provider) have no "global" validity: they cannot propagate our identity or
validate our access rights for various restricted information services
as we traverse the Web and visit other organisations. The resulting
need to distribute and manage many different types of username and
passwords also results in poor security and fragmentation of access
controls, so increasingly, a number of different techniques are used.
"Cookies" (described in Free Pint #29, 7 January 1999) are sometimes
used to "save" passwords the first time they are entered, removing the
subsequent need to log in manually. But this convenience exposes
security loopholes if the PC is shared, since subsequent users can
unwittingly or deliberately "impersonate" the valid user just by
requesting the URL with which that cookie is associated. Since
passwords remain vulnerable to loss, theft, unauthorised transfer or
even interception, controlling access by checking that the unique IP
address of the workstation making the connection request is within a
predefined range for that institution is an apparently simple and
practical solution. Users' privacy is retained and maintenance is
minimal. But this approach is inflexible: off-site access from a home
PC using a commercial ISP will often be blocked if IP filtering is
used, as many ISPs allocate IP addresses dynamically and they
originate from a commercial domain, not that of their parent
institution. Corporate "firewalls" that mask IP addresses for security
can have a similar effect.
Some organisations use "proxy servers" to get around the problem
described above. This approach is essentially a displacement solution
- it just pushes the problem elsewhere, since it will require users
either to change their browser settings, or to log in to the proxy
server to prove their status. In UK higher education, there is the
ATHENS initiative (http://www.athens.ac.uk/), which aims to provide a
single sign-on username and password approach to permit access to
multiple resources. However, this requires each information vendor to
comply technically with ATHENS' own proprietary technology.
There is undeniably an urgent need for a better model that radically
streamlines the entire access control process -- but what might it be
like and how to achieve it? The first issue to address is that users
and organisations are not simply lone "islands" but need to interact
with each other, so we need to adopt an inter-organisational world
view, and accept the consequent need for electronic credentials.
Individuals derive access rights not only as individuals but also as
members of different, often overlapping communities (as employees,
students, etc). We need to provide generic as well as specific
individual identities to preserve personal data privacy, yet must
avoid "overkill" by ensuring that the authentication method is
appropriate and cost-effective in relation to the resource in
question. Any such system must work globally but be flexible enough
to cope with local refinements.
In recent years, support has grown for the idea of a "cyber-passport"
or some kind of electronic wallet using strong encryption technology
to provide a recognised digital identity acceptable to the widest
variety of services one might wish to access. This facility now
exists in the cryptographically secured digital certificate
technology, supported by the international X.509 v3 standard.
Organisations can become issuers or "Certification Authorities". If
you use a recent version of the popular Web browsers you will find it
already accepts them (Microsoft's Internet Explorer installs
certificates for Microsoft itself, for example) - so a potentially
huge installed user base already exists world-wide.
Certificates can be made single or multi-purpose: they can
not only provide passport-like credentials but also carry additional
"attribute" information (such as status within an organisation;
membership of a community) that can determine what kinds of resources
or services the bearer may access.
The certificate notion has much to recommend it, although it doesn't
fully solve the familiar problems of loss or theft, browser
installation complexities, and administrative overheads. What it will
demand is precisely the sort of local, national and even international
infrastructures that permit reciprocal or restricted access based on
the key concept of trust relationships, which in turn raises large and
complex issues.
Which organisations would act as Certification Authorities? In the
UK, would it be the Home Office - or the Post Office? A private
company? Do we establish a "web of trust", in which issuers trust
each other, or do we also have a hierarchical model in which a "root"
body validates its associated members? Whatever the answers may
ultimately be, there's little doubt that the old password model has
outlived whatever usefulness it once had, and a far more flexible,
appropriate and manageable solution must be sought urgently to
suit our ever more interconnected networked world.
Some Further Sources of Information
The following select list of references may be of interest:
For a clear and authoritative discussion of access control issues
and technologies for networked information resources, see:
Lynch, C. "A white paper of authentication and access management
issues in cross-organisational use of networked information
resources". Coalition for Networked Information, April 1998.
http://www.cni.org/projects/authentication/authentication-wp.html
A good discussion of Internet security shortcomings and potential
solutions is found in:
Garfinkel, S & Spafford, G. Web security and commerce. O'Reilly &
Associates Inc., 1997. ISBN: 1565922697
For an example of a commercial digital certificate issuer, see the
VeriSign Inc. web site at URL: http://www.verisign.com/
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(The author writes in a personal capacity)
Jonathan Eaton is Electronic Resources Manager at London Business
School Library, responsible for a wide range of networked services,
including bibliographic, full-text, historical and real-time financial
databases. He has previously worked as an information broker for
HERTIS Information & Research and for London Business School's
Information Service. He is a member of the project team for the eLib
Hybrid Libraries Phase III-funded Project HeadLine; speaks frequently
on electronic information resources management issues, and also writes
regular columns for "Managing Information" and "Information World
Review".
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
EMAIL LIST HOSTING
"Want to run your own email newsletter or discussion list?"
Trust the publishers of Free Pint to host your email list on their
high speed servers. Full details at http://www.willco.co.uk/
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [wi345]
>>> Recommend Free Pint to a colleague <<<
Why not forward this copy to them or let us do it by visiting
http://www.freepint.co.uk/reco.htm
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
QUICK TIP ... INTERNET TRAINING
If making a presentation off-site, then take copies of your slides on
TWO disks and FTP them into some spare Web space as well. This is a
life saver when disks are corrupt, disk drives don't work ...
William Hann ~ http://www.willco.co.uk/
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
FREE PINT FEEDBACK
Thank you for all your letters, feedback and questions. Keep them
coming to feedback@freepint.co.uk.
This issue's subject index:
* Analysing Web hits (Free Pint #33)
* Becoming a researcher (Free Pint #32)
* Accolade for the MSN site
* Adding my thanks to the chorus
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Subject: Analysing Web hits (Free Pint #33)
From: Various
Date: March 1999
In Free Pint #33, Rosalind Keir, Enquiries Coordinator at HEFCE
(Higher Education Funding Council for England) asked ...
"We are thinking of analysing the usage of our web site, and so are
looking for a company or product that will monitor usage of the site.
It should include number of hits, type of information retrieved,
if they re-visit the web site, how they found it, etc.
Thanks in advance."
... and here are some of the many useful replies ...
"Rosalind should first check whether the host server holding their site
will provide these figures as part of their site hosting package.
The Association of Accounting Technicians' site (http://www.aat.co.uk)
is hosted by an organisation called Exploit (http://www.exploit.com)
and part of their hosting package includes access to a comprehensive
set of statistics. Examples include number of hits for each individual
page as well as the overall number of hits in total for the whole
site, location of site visitors, browsers used to access the site,
busiest time periods for page requests and so on.
The only analysis software I am aware of, though there's doubtless
more, is WebTrends (http://www.webtrends.com/) which offers similar
information but produces presentation-quality reports. I have not
used it so I cannot comment any further on it.
To analyse individual pages, try The Counter
(http://www.thecounter.com/). After registering, you are e-mailed HTML
code to insert in your page. You are then e-mailed statistics for that
page on a monthly basis or you can look at the detailed figures any
time via a password-protected area on their site.
You get a lot of information including browser type, type of
operating system used, actual total of unique visitors and so on.
The downside is that if your site has several pages, you need to
register each page and remember the designated passwords. However,
for individual page analysis, it's fine and, best of all, it's free!"
Malcolm St Pierre, Marketing Information Assistant
Association of Accounting Technicians http://www.aat.co.uk/
"This depends entirely on how your web site is hosted. If it is hosted
via an ISP then you need to ask them about what services they provide
for such analysis. If you have access or control the web server then
you need to examine the logging options in your web server.
All web servers (that I have come across) allow you to log various
details for every page served to client browsers. This can cover
simple items, such as the page, date and time, to more advanced items
such as the referring URL and IP address.
Most web servers come with some form of log file analyser. This is
used to produce meaningful reports from the potentially very large
list of data items held in the log file. A very good tool, and not
just because it is free, is Analog, available from
http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~sret1/analog/
Darren Green, Information Systems Analyst
Gloucestershire Royal NHS trust
"There ARE lots and lots of site trackers on the Internet, but I
personally recommend this one. Hitbox at http://www.hitbox.com/ is
an excellent tracker as it provides all the information that you
want to know. For instance, the Loyalty Index tells you how many
times they have visited you repeatedly or if this is their first
visit. You can even view the statistics by day, month or even
year."
Leon 'Lazarus' http://www.moviem.com http://www.ageofkings.org
"At Free Pint we run a Unix server and so have access to the four log
files, namely access_log (which computer viewed which pages/images and
when; and if the page was available), agent_log (which browser and
operating system the user was using), error_log (list of pages/images
that weren't available (error 404)), and referer_log (what page the
visitor was looking at before yours - useful to find out search terms
they used in search engines to find your site for instance).
Depending on the number of visitors these files can run into many
megabytes, and so you need a tool to analyse them. We run a couple
of excellent CGI scripts (available from Darryl Burgdorf's site
at http://awsd.com/) called "WebLog" and "RefLog". These produce
really nice tables and pseudo bar charts showing you the number of
hits and page views for a particular day, month, page, etc. The
scripts are clever in that they try to work out if the hits are coming
from the same user during one session. It is worth noting though that
log files are not totally reliable and so don't rely on the
information too much. It was from this, what I call, "management
information" that I decided on the day to publish "Free Pint" ...
Thursday was the day that most people visited my other sites and so
was probably the day that they had most time to use the Web."
William Hann, Managing Editor, Free Pint http://www.freepint.co.uk/
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Subject: Becoming a researcher (Free Pint #32)
From: Annabel Colley
Information Researcher & Internet Trainer BBC Panorama
Chair Elect AUKML
Date: Wednesday 3rd March 1999
In Free Pint #32, Rik Kershaw-Moore asked:
"For a while I have been thinking of changing my career and I would
like to become a researcher. Unfortunately I have no real idea as to
how to make this change. I was wondering if any of the other
Free Pint subscribers could throw some light on things?"
I have been contacted personally by a few people since my article on
Computer assisted journalism (Free Pint #30) asking the same question.
My advice to you is to decide what type of researcher you want to be.
An Information professional? An academic researcher?
A television/radio researcher? They all have very different
backgrounds, approaches to information gathering and different ways
of working.
If you want to become an Internet researcher then you must realise
that to be an effective information broker working perhaps as a
freelancer for companies then you may not always be able to rely on
the Internet alone but will need to become proficient in the use of
commercial online databases and even good old printed sources. You
could do an Information Management or Librarian course (post grad
one year). People who are information brokers have very often trained
as professional librarians and if you want more information contact
EIRENE the European Information Brokers Network, they are at
http://www.eirene.com/
If you follow http://www.batesinfo.com/speeches.html to Mary Ellen
Bates' site, or http://www.marketingbase.com/bio3.html#SPEECHES to
Amelia Kassel's, you can read what life is like for an information
broker or independent researcher.
TV or radio researchers are usually journalists on the first rung of
the ladder. They may have started off in local papers, have
excellent contacts, and strong powers of persuasion. My advice would
be to do a course in journalism, or if you are very cheeky and
persuasive it can be done without but it is a HIGHLY competitive
area (but great fun).
I do not have much experience of academic researchers but perhaps
others can advise. Obviously it stems from an in depth knowledge of
your given subject or postgraduate studies. The academic environment
is a good one to exploit the Internet since they have always been
ahead of the game using it for communication even before the
World Wide Web was established.
Hope this is helpful. There is a lot to becoming a researcher.
Surfing the Internet and finding SOME information is not properly
conducted research ... properly conducted research finds you the
RIGHT information. Good luck, it is a great job."
Annabel Colley
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Subject: Accolade for the MSN site
From: Andrew Shuttleworth, Localisation Engineer
SDL International http://www.sdlintl.com/
Date: Monday 1st March 1999
"Hi Freepinters
For a couple of months now my browser homepage at work has been set
to my personalised MSN page (http://www.msn.co.jp). I've found the
(free) service provided to be excellent. Its UK content is extensive
and well presented. Only today did I bother to look a bit deeper
into how I could personalise it further and add to the sources for
my homepage.
I was impressed. Not only does the site cover every conceivable
interest, but adding a section to one's personalised homepage couldn't
be easier. If you choose not to have certain areas on your home page
(I had to be careful not to add too many of the useful sources), it's
easy to track down the resource elsewhere on the site. All aspects of
the site, from signing up to navigation, are equally as easy to use,
and I've not yet experienced major problems in terms of the download
speed. Content includes news (national, international, business,
finance, tech, sport) including briefs from (and organised links to)
sources such as The Economist and The FT; travel; reference (English
and multilingual dictionaries, directories); free fax sending; free
mobile phone paging (Orange and Cellnet); competitions ,,,, the list
goes on. Much of the best UK content you might have found spread out
all over the web up to now is excellently organised into one place.
The running costs of the site, I assume, are covered by advertising
and links but these are at worst subtle, and much of the time useful.
Having tried various other 'MyPortal' type sites and been disappointed
by their limited organised resources, non UK content and often poor
layout, I can confidently say that this is one of the best portal
sites on the web - in my own opinion by far the best. There is very
little more I could ask of from this site.
If anyone else is suffering from 'MyPortal' depression, and in need
of a good dose of personalised push technology, I recommend a visit
here (or to the MSN site of your own country if available). I don't
think you'll be disappointed.
If anyone can recommend any other excellent UK content portal sites
they've used, I'd be interested to hear about them."
Andrew Shuttleworth
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Subject: Adding my thanks to the chorus
From: Peter Chapman
Date: Thursday 4th March 1999
"Just a note to say how much I appreciate Free Pint. You are doing a
brilliant job in keeping us informed about real uses of the Web and
in stimulating discussions."
Peter Chapman, Head of Electronic Information Services
Newsquest (NE) Ltd. http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk
If you use the Web for your work then tell our readers about it. Write
to me, Rex Cooke, Free Pint Editor, by email to rex@freepint.co.uk.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION, COMMENT OR REPLY?
Let us know your feedback or favourite site by sending an email to
the Free Pint team now to feedback@freepint.co.uk
remembering to include your name, title and company or organisation.
Please note, if you write to us we may publish your letter in whole
or part for the interest of our subscribers unless you request
otherwise at the time of writing. Please let us know if you wish
your contact details to be withheld.
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
FREE PINT FACT
A year and a half on and Free Pint is still getting an average of
FIFTY new subscribers every single day.
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Thank you for reading Free Pint. We hope you will forward this copy
to colleagues, friends and journalists, or ask them to visit our Web
site soon at http://www.freepint.co.uk/ to see past issues.
See you in two weeks!
Kind regards,
William Hann, Managing Editor
william@freepint.co.uk
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
(c) Willco 1999
http://www.willco.co.uk/
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
* Competitive Intelligence * Patents * New Media *
* Immigration * Engineering * Chemical *
* Outdoor Eventing * Eastern Europe * Language Sources *
[Provisional]
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
CONTACT INFORMATION
William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Managing Editor
e: william@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436
Rex Cooke FIInfSc FRSA, Editor
e: rex@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436
Jane, Administrator e: jane@freepint.co.uk
Address (no stamp needed)
Willco "Free Pint", FREEPOST (SEA3901), Staines
Middlesex, TW18 3BR, United Kingdom
Web - http://www.freepint.co.uk
Advertising - ads@freepint.co.uk
Subscriptions - subs@freepint.co.uk
Letters & Comments - feedback@freepint.co.uk
Latest Issue Autoresponder - auto@freepint.co.uk
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Free Pint (ISSN 1460-7239) is a free email newsletter for anyone who
uses the Internet to get information for their work in any business
or organisation. The newsletter is written by professionals who share
how they find quality and reliable information on the Internet.
To subscribe, unsubscribe, find details about contributing,
advertising or to see past issues, please visit the Web site at
http://www.freepint.co.uk/ or call +44 (0)1784 455 435.
Please note: The newsletter is published by the information
consultancy Willco (http://www.willco.co.uk/) providers of Internet
consultancy, training and publishing services. The publishers
will NEVER make the subscriber list available to any other company
or organisation.
The opinions, advice, products and services offered herein are the
sole responsibility of the contributors. Whilst all reasonable care
has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the publication, the
publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions.
This publication may be freely copied and/or distributed in its
entirety. However, individual sections MAY NOT be copied and/or
distributed without the prior written agreement of the publishers.
Product names used in Free Pint are for identification purposes only,
and may be trademarks of their respective owners. Free Pint disclaims
any and all rights in those marks. All rights reserved.
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
« Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter »
About this Newsletter
- Publication Date: 18th March 1999
- Plain text
- Link: https://www.jinfo.com/go/newsletter/34
What's new at Jinfo?
Community session
11th December 2024
2025 strategic planning; evaluating research reports; The Financial Times, news and AI
5th November 2024
- 2025 strategic planning; evaluating research reports; The Financial Times, news and AI
5th November 2024 - All recent Jinfo Subscription content
31st October 2024 - End-user training best practice research
24th October 2024
- Jinfo Community session (TBC) (Community) 23rd January 2025
- Clinic on contracting for AI (Community) 11th December 2024
- Discussing news and AI strategies with the Financial Times (Community) 21st November 2024
Learn more about the Jinfo Subscription