By Adrian Janes

When choosing which sites to bookmark I look for qualities of authoritativeness, ease of use and distinctiveness. I hope that in my Tipples you'll find at least one site which meets those criteria from your own perspective.

• Oxford Internet Institute: Based at the University of Oxford, this is a key source for cutting-edge thought on current and possible future developments of the internet. Many of its publications are accessible, as well as webcasts of talks, seminars and interviews, and a large number of blogs by Institute members.
  
  
• Ixquick is a metasearch engine which gives star ratings to results, the highest-rated being deemed the most relevant. So, for example, a three star result is drawn from the Top 10 results from three search engines. Ixquick is also important for its commitment to privacy as it does not retain personal information, and is complemented in this by its search engine Start which applies a similar policy solely to Google search results.
  
  
• Library of the European Parliament: This is the Library’s blog rather than its website (which is restricted to MEPs and parliamentary staff). Nonetheless this is a very lively and extremely informative source for all the areas in which the EU is involved (economy & budget, legal affairs, research & information society, and so on). I find particularly useful the Briefings page which provides quick access to concise summaries on many topics. FreePint readers will also find much of interest in the Professional Information and Tips and Tricks sections.
  
  
• Full Fact serves as a useful source for quickly checking the claims made by British politicians and media about topical matters. It is broadly divided into Factchecks and Articles. The former perhaps relies more on statistical material, but both are worth exploring for a cool-headed, well-referenced approach to current affairs in the areas of economy; crime and justice; health and social care; immigration; and education. A useful reference article in this regard is the Full Fact sources index which compiles some major sources in one place.
  
  
• Sweet Search defines itself as “a search engine for students”, working on the basis of results derived from a relatively limited number of evaluated sites (at present it claims 35,000). It’s useful for both school and university students as a speedy route to good sources. Beneath each result are several snippets from the content (more than most search engines offer) which can also be clicked on to be viewed as part of a preview.

Having begun his career in academic libraries, Adrian Janes has subsequently worked extensively in public libraries, chiefly in enquiry work as an Information Services librarian. In this role he has had particular responsibility for information from both the UK Government and the European Union. He wrote a detailed report on sources for the latter which was published by FreePint in 2007, and has contributed articles to FreePint and ResourceShelf. He is involved in training in information literacy and the use of online reference resources. A Contributing Editor to DocuTicker, he also write reviews for Pennyblackmusic.

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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:

• Knowledge Management: Importance, Challenges and Prospects
  By Aileen Marshall on Monday, 3rd June 2013
  Aileen Marshall reviews recent FreePint articles on knowledge management and delves into them to find out current challenges, why technology doesn't always equal better team work, and what the opportunities are as KM expands to include an increasingly-social element.
  Posted in: Knowledge management - FreePint news
  
  
• D&B360 - A Well Rounded View
  By Sophie Alexander on Friday, 31st May 2013
  Sophie Alexander reviews D&B360 and finds it an easy-to-use and intuitive sales intelligence tool that provides a current, accurate and well rounded view of companies, contacts and prospects. By providing access to the world's largest platform for real-time Dun & Bradstreet data it can be used to clean, maintain and add value to your existing CRM data.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Research - Company sources - Government sources - Industry sources - Social media sources - FreePint news
  
  
• Quick Access to Relevant Content in FreePint's Product Reviews
  By Robin Neidorf on Thursday, 30th May 2013
  Product reviews help researchers and information managers compare and contrast the resources available to them. Lengthy PDF documents provide depth but present challenges for time-stressed workers. Shorter articles are easier to scan but cannot provide the level of detail FreePint values. A hybrid approach to publishing sections as stand-alone articles then pulling them together into a comprehensive report makes FreePint's product reviews both convenient and comprehensive.
  Posted in: Research - FreePint news
  
  
• Big Data: Providing Speed to Insight
  By Dr Phil Hastings on Tuesday, 28th May 2013
  The true value of big data is the ability to analyse large datasets and in a competitive business environment the time required to reach this analysis is critical. During a recent interview with Dr Phil Hastings, SVP of Marketing for Linguamatics, we came away with some practical examples of how text mining can be used to achieve "speed to insight".
  Posted in: Competitive intelligence
  
  
• Duedil - Making Company Data More Transparent
  By Penny Crossland on Thursday, 23rd May 2013
  Penny Crossland reviews internet start-up Duedil - short for due diligence - and finds it a welcome addition to the numerous web-based providers of company data. Aggregating all UK and Irish company documents from the official registers, around 100 million at the last count, Duedil combines these with information from regulatory registers and presents the data via a visually attractive dashboard, with interactive features.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Regulatory compliance - Research - Company sources - Financial sources
  
  
• Reskilling for Survival in an Increasingly Information-Biased World
  By Sue Hill on Thursday, 23rd May 2013
  Info pro expert Sue Hill of Sue Hill Recruitment explains how it's essential that her organisation keep on top of big data development trends in order to best advise client companies and job seekers. She explains what info pros should do to position themselves at the centre of the big data opportunity.
  Posted in: Information strategy - Training
  
  
• Big Data Opportunities for Enterprise Librarians
  By Katherine Allen on Thursday, 23rd May 2013
  Kat Allen looks at skills which enterprise information professionals bring to the world of big data and why they want seats at the table alongside data scientists and developers.
  Posted in: Information strategy - Training
  
  
• Info Pros Get More Involved with Big Data
  By Richard Corbridge on Wednesday, 22nd May 2013
  Richard Corbridge of the National Institute for Health Research explains how his organisation has seized the opportunities created by the big data explosion and discusses the "trend rift" in the information professionals and how this relates to the "Suits" and "Hoodies" approach.
  Posted in: Information strategy
  
  
• ... More ...

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• Satisfying the Appetite for Legal Apps
  By James Mullan on Tuesday, 4th June 2013
  The Financial Times recently announced that it had signed a partnership to make its content available on Flipboard. This partnership is interesting for two reasons: firstly because the Financial Times had previously made its content available on iTunes and secondly because it shows just how keen some publishers are to make their content available in as many places as possible. Would the likes of Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis ever do the same?
  Posted in: Collaborative and social tools - Research - Legal sources - Social media sources
  
  
• Competitive Intelligence: Analytical Tools - How to Do More Than Just SWOT!
  By Andrew Grave on Tuesday, 4th June 2013
  As part of FreePint's series of articles on competitive intelligence, Andrew Grave examines four tools popularised by management consultants. He describes the practical ways in which information professionals can use the tools - SWOT, Boston Consulting Group Matrix, PESTEL and Porter's Five Forces and notes the constraints of each.
  Posted in: Information strategy - Research - Company sources - Competitive intelligence - Market sources
  
  
• FreePint Report: Product Review of D&B360
  Published on Friday, 31st May 2013
  Sophie Alexander reviews D&B360 and finds it an easy-to-use and intuitive sales intelligence tool that provides a current, accurate and well rounded view of companies, contacts and prospects. By providing access to the world's largest platform for real-time Dun & Bradstreet data it can be used to clean, maintain and add value to your existing CRM data.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Research - Company sources - Government sources - Industry sources
  
  
• Product Review of D&B360: Executive Summary
  By Sophie Alexander on Friday, 31st May 2013
  If your job involves some kind of sales or marketing role and you'd like to be able to better target new leads, profile your best customers and research what's going on in your target markets all from within your existing CRM or other enterprise software solution then D&B360 could be the product for you. Sophie Alexander's executive summary of sales intelligence tool D&B360 highlights some of the product's best features and how easily it integrates with your existing workflow solution.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Research - Company sources - Government sources - Industry sources
  
  
• Newsle - Tells You When Your Friends Make News
  By Penny Crossland on Friday, 31st May 2013
  Newsle, the news discovery tool likened to Google Alerts for news on your contacts, has this week received $1.65 million in venture capital and is set for expansion. What sets Newsle apart from the myriad of aggregators specialising in what your "friends" are up to, is the fact that it crawls the web for news from reputable sources only. It does not monitor news distributed by Facebook, Twitter and the like, giving the service a degree of credibility.
  Posted in: PR and external communications - Media monitoring - News sources - People sources - Search - Social media sources
  
  
• FreePint Report: Knowledge Management
  Published on Friday, 31st May 2013
  Aileen Marshall reviews recent FreePint articles on knowledge management and delves into them to find out current challenges, why technology doesn't always equal better team work, and what the opportunities are as KM expands to include an increasingly-social element.
  Posted in: Collaborative and social tools - Knowledge management - Intranets
  
  
• Analysing Products and Markets? Try Consumer Reports!
  By Yulia Aspinall on Tuesday, 28th May 2013
  Consumer Reports is a US magazine and accompanying website from Consumers Union which offers a wealth of information on consumer products and markets. Yulia Aspinall explains why it should be on your list of sources alongside the likes of Datamonitor or Decision Resources and how it offers "difficult to find" market data.
  Posted in: Research - Industry sources - Market sources - Scientific, technical, medical sources
  
  
• Big Data: Speed to Insight, an Interview with Linguamatics
  By Dr Phil Hastings on Tuesday, 28th May 2013
  Natural language processing-based text mining is a powerful application for mining big data in the healthcare and pharmaceutical arena, for example. FreePint's series producer Victor Camlek interviews Linguamatics to find out why its flagship product I2E is used by top commercial, academic and government organisations and how it helps them to get the answers to highly sophisticated questions.
  Posted in: Competitive intelligence
  
  
• Could You Use Social Media Tools for Internal Communications?
  By James Mullan on Monday, 27th May 2013
  Traditional forms of internal communications have been developing slowly but surely over the last few years. Now with the increased use of social media both internally and externally, organisations are looking at whether social media tools, especially enterprise social networks such as Yammer, Jive and Chatter can be used to facilitate internal communications.
  Posted in: Collaborative and social tools - Internal communications - Intranets
  
  
• Mini Review: Duedil
  By Penny Crossland on Thursday, 23rd May 2013
  Duedil is an internet start-up with a mission to make open source official company data transparent. The database covers all UK and Irish corporate filings, 100 million in all, and with sophisticated visualisation tools and clever linking of social media has managed to produce a useful tool for company and due diligence researchers. This review analyses the service, highlights some of the finer points and points to aspects that still need improving.
  Posted in: Research - Information purchasing - Regulatory compliance - Company sources - Financial sources - Social media sources
  
  
• Moving from an Info Pro To a Big Data Career: Big Deal or Big Headache?
  By Victor Camlek on Wednesday, 22nd May 2013
  As studies show a shortage of big data experts and an estimated 4 million roles in the sector predicted by 2018, Victor Camlek considers what big data jobs are likely to involve and which attributes and skills are required of information professionals considering a move into the world of big data.
  Posted in: Information strategy - Training
  
  
• ... More ...

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  Strong brand in the food industry seeks ambitious, analytical individual for value added research & strategy. | Recruiter: Sue Hill Recruitment and Services Limited | Country: United Kingdom. Full listing »
  
  
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Latest featured events in Jinfo Events:

• What's New in I2E 4.0?
  Organiser: Linguamatics | Date: 4 Jun 2013 | Country: Online/webinar
  
  
• Introduction to Text Mining
  This webinar is aimed at giving you an introduction to the power and flexibility of text mining. | Organiser: Linguamatics | Date: 20 Jun 2013 | Country: Online/webinar
  
  
• SLA Europe Summer Soiree - Sign up now!
  Organiser: SLA Europe Events Committee | Date: 3 Jul 2013 | Country: United Kingdom
  
  
• Linguamatics Text Mining Summit 2013
  This year's meeting will take place on October 7th to 9th in the beautiful and historic city of Newport, Rhode Island, US | Organiser: Linguamatics | Date: 7 - 9 Oct 2013 | Country: United States
  
  
• Internet Librarian International 2013
  Organiser: Internet Librarian International 2013 | Date: 14 - 16 Oct 2013 | Country: United Kingdom

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