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FreePint Newsletter No.368
7th February 2013
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 I'm terrible at keeping secrets. I can be trusted with the serious stuff, but keeping information hidden is not my normal mode. I like to share ideas and get feedback, and I love seeing what happens when different people (or companies) bring a range of assets to a project.
Thus, I'm always baffled when I bump up against a closed information culture - one in which the default mode is to hide and hoard information rather than sharing it. I had this experience several times recently, when approaching vendors for product reviews. Several were more concerned that their competitors might see the review than encouraged about prospective customers seeing the write-up.
We always honour a vendor's decision to refuse a review, but I'm far more excited to talk with vendors who are eager to share, who have an open information culture.
There have been a lot of these reviews lately, and FreePint subscribers can learn more about Bloomberg Government, Dodge BuildShare, Lexis Advance, Nexis Media Coverage Analyzer, and Udini. We're also combining these into reports by theme - check out the Compliance Sampler and the finalists for the CODiE for Best Media & Information Monitoring Solution.
Additional CODiE finalist reports will demonstrate excellence in STM Products, Business Information Solutions, and Legal Information, among others. Although the actual CODiE winners were announced in January at the Information Industry Summit, each of these finalists achieved that status for a reason. If you are looking to expand or change your collection in any of these categories, CODiE finalists are always worth a look.
While at the Information Industry Summit, I also had a chance to learn more about TEMIS, a semantic technology company I've been aware of for some time but never had a chance to understand in any depth. TEMIS announced the launch of Luxid, a collaborative platform bringing together many publishers and content providers with different information assets in an environment in which they can co-create new offerings. (Luxid won the CODiE for Best Semantic Technology Solution, while they were at it.)
Although in early days, Luxid supports a shared open information culture amongst publishers - an environment in which different vendors can maximise their assets by sharing them in smart ways with complementary providers. I've begun conversation with TEMIS about how and when we might even bring the voice of the customer to the collaborative platform as well. Think how powerful that could be: vendors, platform providers and customers working together in tandem to come up with the next great ideas, where content and software combine to deliver solutions directly to users.
It's open cultures for me.
By Robin Neidorf
Director of Research, FreePint
robin.neidorf@freepint.com
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My Favourite Tipples
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 By Penny Bailey
My work as a managing director of a computer company specialising in software for information professionals encompasses both the nerdy and the human. In particular, I am fascinated by how people use computers and I believe that the end user should be paramount in the designer's mind. My tipples reflect my interest in this and anything that can help people use computers better. My choice also reaches back to my degree in English literature and history. I am a passionate advocate of clear communication.
- First and foremost, Jakob Nielsen's website UseIt is a must for anyone creating an intranet, website or application. He has been my guru for a long time. His review of Windows 8 has created some controversy.
- As well as being a regular user of Microsoft's Developer Network, I like Jeff Atwood's blog about programming and the human factors: Coding Horror. It's not all nerdy stuff - have a look at his entry on touch input. Coming from a Microsoft programming background this is very interesting - and, yes, I do have an iPad 4 and an iPhone.
- A website I use frequently is Computer Hope to choose html colours. There are similar colour code websites but this one is nice and clear. The site also includes other useful computing tips like "How do I set margins in Word?"
- I follow Martin Shovel, who in his words, is a "speechwriter, blogger on language and communication, cartoonist, animator, enemy of pseudoscience and humbug of all flavours!" I like his outspoken, often political, humour, follow him on Twitter @martinshovel.
- Whilst we are on the subject of bad science, I also enjoy Ben Goldacre's Bad Science column in The Guardian and his blog. Follow him on Twitter at @bengoldacre.
Penny Bailey is managing director of Bailey Solutions Ltd who design integrated library software, knowledge management software and enquiry tracking software. Her previous work includes a career as a chartered librarian and consultant, and a few years as a freelance programmer before bringing these strands together as a designer specialising in software for information professionals. Penny regularly publishes papers and speaks at national conferences and is involved with the information community as Chair of CILIP's CLSIG.
Would you like to submit your Favourite Tipples suggestions to the FreePint Newsletter? Find out more »
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Perpetual Learners Create Resilient Organisations
Smart organisations make learning part of their personnel development strategies. As quickly as the world changes, workers ready and able to learn new skills, ideas and approaches will create resilient organisations.
FreePint supports your learning and your organisation's resilience through increased focus on where knowledge management and distance learning come together. Read more about our approach.
Ready to develop your own strategy for creating a learner-focused environment? Start with Director of Research Robin Neidorf's recently released book, "Teach Beyond Your Reach" and trade topic-focused teaching with learner-focused interactions.
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FreePint Features
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 FreePint Features offers the latest commentary on trends, issues and opportunities in the information world, as well as examples of how organisations use FreePint resources to raise the value of information.
Selection of the latest FreePint Features articles:
- Practice Report: Reliable Research Sources
By Jan Knight on Tuesday, 5th February 2013
Jan Knight examines FreePint's recent articles on the rapidly changing face of the media and looks at how these articles demonstrate that we should exhibit a little healthy scepticism to ensure that we identify reliable, trusted news sources.
- Product Report: CODiE Finalists - Best Media & Information Monitoring Solution
By Robin Neidorf on Thursday, 31st January 2013
The CODiE Awards of Excellence are being presented this week and Robin Neidorf rounds up FreePint's recent mini reviews of two of the finalists in the Best Media & Information Monitoring Category: Nexis Media Coverage Analyzer and CisionPoint.
- Product Report: Compliance Sampler
By Robin Neidorf on Wednesday, 30th January 2013
Robin Neidorf highlights FreePint's recent full and mini reports in the area of compliance - an area always of interest to FreePint readers as products become more sophisticated and required compliance more stringent.
- Mini Reviews Provide an Enticing Taster
By Robin Neidorf on Thursday, 24th January 2013
A flurry of mini reviews on a number of new products provides FreePint Subscribers with a glimpse into what the information publishing world considers "product excellence". These articles, being published now through early February, share quick insights from our researchers on sources, content, favourite features, outputs and usability.
- Thinking Ahead to San Diego
By Robin Neidorf on Thursday, 24th January 2013
If winter is getting you down, start looking forward to the SLA Annual Conference, to take place in San Diego in June. If your budget doesn't quite cover your aspiration to attend and you are in the early stages of your career, learn about SLA Europe's Early Career Conference Awards and consider applying.
- ... More ...
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Nothing Fits Quite Like A NewsEdge Solution!
We specialise in crafting a custom fit of our NewsEdge services into your workflow. The end result is a powerful real-time news management solution tailored for how your end users need their information.
Whether you need to deliver current news to an intranet, alerts to a mobile device or custom newsletter to your executive staff, NewsEdge will make you look good. We are not a "one size fits all" solution. It's our tailoring that makes all the difference!
Let us show you more with a tailored demonstration fit just for you.
Find out more at www.newsedge.com. Follow us on: Twitter - Facebook
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 Professional development... When?
Whenever you prefer. Access professional development when it makes sense for you. FreePint Webinars are archived and provided via video at no cost, with your registration.
Now available:
- Validating Private Company Information
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- Mobile content evolution in the enterprise.
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FreePint Subscription
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 Articles and reports included in a FreePint Subscription provide customer organisations with practical insight to support information practice, content purchasing and usage, and strategic planning.
Subscribers can click any link to login and view the full item. If you have not yet purchased a FreePint Subscription, learn more about the benefits now.
Selection of FreePint Subscription articles and reports:
- InfoArmy's Crowd Control Hits a Wall
By Aileen Marshall on Wednesday, 6th February 2013
InfoArmy has won plaudits from the industry for its innovative competitive intelligence reports service, including a 2013 CODiE. However, with sales of just a few thousand dollars since its launch in 2011, the company is forced to completely overhaul its business strategy, Aileen Marshall reports.
 FreePint Report: Research - Part 1 (Information Practice)
Published on Tuesday, 5th February 2013
Twice a year, FreePint publishes a compendium of articles supporting different areas of information work. This report collects six months' worth of articles tagged with the category of research. Our guest editor Jan Knight looks at the spectrum of research topics, with a particular eye to emerging information sources.
Because of the volume of Research articles in the FreePint collection, we have split them into two reports. This first report includes all the articles from the "Information Practice" section of FreePint -- the nuts-and-bolts of performing information work.
- Nothing But the Facts - Truth Teller Debunks Falsehoods
By Penny Crossland on Tuesday, 5th February 2013
In a world where we are constantly bombarded with information, it can be difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. This is particularly hard during election campaigns, when we are reliant on our politicians to give us the facts to make informed decisions for our future. Unfortunately, being 'economical with the truth' appears to be part of politicians' tactics to get elected. Help could be at hand with an automated fact-checking application called 'Truth Teller', developed by The Washington Post.
- Source Update February 2013: What's Happening with Nexis?
By Anne Jordan on Monday, 4th February 2013
This month's additions and takedowns in Nexis, researched and compiled by Anne Jordan.
- Source Update February 2013: What's Happening with Factiva?
By Anne Jordan on Monday, 4th February 2013
This month's additions and takedowns in Factiva, researched and compiled by Anne Jordan.
- Source Update February 2013: What's Happening with Eureka.cc?
By Anne Jordan on Monday, 4th February 2013
This month's additions and takedowns in Eureka.cc, researched and compiled by Anne Jordan.
- Financial Times - Ready for Sale at Last?
By Tim Buckley Owen on Friday, 1st February 2013
"Over my dead body" was Dame Marjorie Scardino's fabled reaction to the idea that the company she headed, Pearson, should sell the Financial Times. Well Dame Marjorie has now gone and the sale rumours continue - given added impetus by the paper's recent decision to shed print staff in favour of digital replacements and the fact that, as part of Pearson, the FT looks increasingly out of context.
 FreePint Report: CODiE Finalists - Best Media & Information Monitoring Solution
Published on Thursday, 31st January 2013
The CODiE Awards of Excellence are being presented this week and Robin Neidorf rounds up FreePint's recent mini reviews of two of the finalists in the Best Media & Information Monitoring Category: Nexis Media Coverage Analyzer and CisionPoint.
 FreePint Report: Information Services Management Monthly Update (January 2013)
Published on Thursday, 31st January 2013
This monthly update collects the current content relevant to those responsible for information service management, information strategy and content procurement in a convenient PDF package for download and offline reading.
- Mini Review: Dodge BuildShare
By Jan Knight on Wednesday, 30th January 2013
Jan Knight reviews Dodge BuildShare™, a set of online dashboards that provide information to the construction and building industry. As an independent, objective resource, the product provides valuable market forecasts as well as detailed information on upcoming and current building projects along with market forecasts, company information, regional data and forecasts and contact information for key personnel involved in the construction industry.
- Mini Review: Lexis Advance
By John DiGilio on Wednesday, 30th January 2013
John DiGilio reviews Lexis Advance, the newest and most innovative version of the LexisNexis legal research platform. From its interface to its functionality and pricing, it is casting the company and the way legal researchers work in a new light. Single search capabilities, powerful filtering, and a pay-for-what-you-use approach are the hallmarks of LexisNexis' latest offering.
 FreePint Report: Compliance Sampler
Published on Wednesday, 30th January 2013
Robin Neidorf highlights FreePint's recent full and mini reports in the area of compliance - an area always of interest to FreePint readers as products become more sophisticated and required compliance more stringent.
- Mini Review: Nexis Media Coverage Analyzer
By Robin Neidorf on Tuesday, 29th January 2013
For media professionals, reviewing media coverage is an essential but often time-consuming aspect of their role. Robin Neidorf reviews Nexis Media Coverage Analyzer, a sophisticated tool which uses citation data and metadata to provide visual reports on trends and changes in media coverage, helping PR and communications professionals to identify which media campaigns are working most effectively, which need to be tweaked, and to analyse competitor activity.
- Picking Videos Fresh From the Vine
By James Mullan on Monday, 28th January 2013
Last week (24 January) Twitter introduced Vine - an application that allows Twitter users to share 6-second looping videos within embedded tweets. So, is video going to be the next big thing for Twitter? And what does Vine offer information professionals?
- Mini Review: Udini
By Yulia Aspinall on Monday, 28th January 2013
Researchers often require the kind of high quality research and news articles available from an academic library but don't always have access to those services. Yulia Aspinall reviews Udini from ProQuest, a vast database of high quality articles available in a variety of options from Pay As You Go to monthly subscription. As well as access to news articles, research, conference proceedings et al, it also offers a variety of useful ways to work with those articles, from commenting to sharing with colleagues.
- Using Facebook Graph Search in Your Professional Capacity
By James Mullan on Friday, 25th January 2013
We've all been wondering what the big announcement from Facebook was going to be, was it going to be a phone or a TV Channel? No, it turns out Facebook's big announcement was for a new internal search engine called "Graph Search". So, why should information professionals get excited about Graph Search?
- Mini Review: Bloomberg Government
By Jan Knight on Wednesday, 23rd January 2013
Jan Knight reviews Bloomberg Government, a robust, web-based information source that sits at the "intersection of business and government" and where users can find news related to government, business, industry, and in the same product search for, or keep up-to-date with, legislation, regulation and government contracts.
- ... More ...
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Make the most of your talent pool!
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 Jinfo is the central location for supporting your information career.
The Jinfo Jobs database lists vacancies, and the Jinfo Events database lists workshops, conferences, training, webinars and other professional development opportunities.
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Latest featured events in Jinfo Events:
- SLA Europe - Meet the CEO! Feb 19th
Networking reception with a special twist at 6.15pm on Tuesday, 19th February. | Organiser: SLA Europe | Date: 19 Feb 2013 | Country: United Kingdom
Browse all Jinfo Events »
Next steps:
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