Newsletter No. 38
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Free Pint
"Helping 22,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
ISSN 1460-7239 13th May 1999 #38
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Patent information on the Internet
- can you afford to ignore it?"
by Emma Turner
BOOKSHELF
"Advertising on the Internet"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Lurking on Lists"
by Andy Williamson
FREE PINT FEEDBACK
"Company law gateways"
"Dublin Core, not here! - Blame the Porno Industry"
"Web sites as super-information products"
"Lack of image alternatives"
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/130599.htm
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*** WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS FOR THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX ***
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And next Monday Silicon.com is running a week-long LINUX
SPECIAL. Hear the latest on the Open Source Revolution.
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EDITORIAL
Free Pint has been receiving an incredible amount of interest in the
international press recently. A common theme has been how it
is building up a substantial community of knowledge workers.
This is something we would like to build on ... so it's over to you!
Please tell me what you would like to see on the Web site and here
in the newsletter. It's your community so let's work together to make
it the ultimate resource for those using the Web at work. If you have
an idea then email me now on william@freepint.co.uk.
This issue's tips article highlights some of the invaluable
international Web resources on patents. The bookshelf review will be
of interest to anyone buying or selling advertising on the Internet,
whilst the feature article builds on the idea of email lists forming
virtual communities. There are some great letters in the feedback
section and many readers now cite this as their favourite section!
We're still relying on you to tell other people about Free Pint, so
please do give some thought to who might also enjoy their own copy.
You could send them this one or invite them to reserve their own
regular free edition at http://www.freepint.co.uk/.
Please let me know if you enjoy your thirty eighth Free Pint.
Kind regards,
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Managing Editor
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*** HEALTH CARE INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET ***
Two training courses help you find the critical up to date information
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from Maureen Heath, tel. 0171-412 7470, e-mail maureen.heath@bl.uk.
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QUICK TIP ... INTERNET CONSULTANCY
I speak to many site builders who still manually code their HTML. You
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William Hann
http://www.willco.co.uk/
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Patent information on the Internet
- can you afford to ignore it?"
by Emma Turner
An item recently appeared in the Daily Telegraph which perfectly
illustrates the importance of patent information [1]. It relates how
bomb disposal teams in the Second World War had problems defusing the
German bombs dropped on Britain which failed to explode. When they
tried to defuse these bombs, some blew up. Without a construction
plan they could not solve this problem. The word Rheinmetall was
written on the casing of these bombs. Some bright spark had the idea
of visiting the Patent Office and looking up the name. It transpired
that in the 1930s the company had harboured plans of expanding into
the British market and had lodged patents accordingly. Once found,
the patent revealed that a new type of fuse design was employed in
these bombs. The description given in the patent allowed the disposal
squads to safely defuse these unexploded bombs.
This is an extreme example, but it does illustrate the potential
usefulness of the information contained within the millions of patents
that are in the public domain. Patent information is vitally
important for a variety of reasons. A patent may well be the only
place that information about a particular technology is ever published
and available in the public domain - it has been estimated that 85% of
the information in patents is never published anywhere else [2]. In
addition, what may initially appear to be a bright and original idea
may, upon further investigation, prove to have been developed already.
A search of the patent literature could prevent a costly R & D bill
and maybe even litigation.
A really thorough search of the patent literature is best left to the
experts, for example patent agents and patent information
specialists. They have the know-how required to undertake the
exhaustive trawl through the many electronic databases and
hand-written ledgers which is vital in establishing prior art.
However, there is an increasing amount of patent information that is
available free of charge on the Internet. This is beginning to open
up the whole area of patent information by allowing anybody with an
Internet connection to search and in some cases view patents for
themselves. In my own case in a University library, I have found
these databases to be invaluable tools when preparing for a search of
the patent literature using an online host.
This article will briefly discuss some of the major patent sites on
the Internet. United States patent data has been available free of
charge from several sites for the past few years, but recent months
have seen other patenting authorities beginning to dip their toes in
the waters. This is a fast-moving area and definitely one to keep an
eye on.
IBM/IP Network http://patent.womplex.ibm.com/
This database is provided by IBM and allows very sophisticated Boolean
field searching for US patents dating back to 1971. Recently,
European patents have been introduced from 1979, as have PCT (Patent
Cooperation Treaty) patents from 1997. A major feature of this site
is that it is possible to view and print a scanned image of the entire
patent, and this includes the drawings. The only limitation to this
is that you must load and print each page of the patent individually,
which can be time consuming. It is also necessary to alter the
browser margins to print the patent in its entirety.
QPAT-US http://www.qpat.com/
This is another full text database of all US patents, this time those
issued since 1974. Although users must pay a subscription to view the
full text, it is free to search the front page information, as long as
you register and choose a username and password. The advantage it has
over the IBM/IP Network is that many different search sets can be
created and then combined in different ways to perform a powerful
search.
US Patent Full Text Database http://www.uspto.gov/patft/
This is a relative newcomer to the area. The 'manual search' option
allows a very sophisticated search statement to be formed, although it
is worth spending a bit of time reading the search help before trying
a complicated search. The big advantage it offers over the IBM/IP
Network is that the text of the entire patent can be viewed and
printed as a single screen, rather than page-by-page, although it does
not include any drawings.
Espacenet http://dips.patent.gov.uk/
This service is very new and is still in its pilot phase. It
represents the first European foray into providing patent information
on the Internet. It is possible to search and view the front page
information of UK patents, patents issued by the EPO (European Patent
Office), those issued by individual European patenting authorities (in
the original language and one country at a time), and PCT patents all
as far back as the previous 24 months. Worldwide and Japanese patents
can also be searched, although the site does not state the range of
years available. Searching is not particularly sophisticated as it is
based upon a form with few fields. To view the available information
on a particular patent you must have the Adobe Acrobat software loaded
on your PC.
Wacky patent of the month http://colitz.com/site/wacky.htm
This site is good fun and is "devoted to recognising selected
inventors and their remarkable and unconventional patented
inventions." Some examples include an eye protector for chickens, pat
on the back apparatus, sanitary appliances for birds and an ambulatory
sleeping bag (what to do when 'nature calls' during a chilly sleep
out).
Other databases include:
Japanese Patent Office http://www.jpo-miti.go.jp/
This allows you to search the Patent Abstracts of Japan database (in
English). The archive goes back to 1993 and allows the bibliographic
data, abstract, drawing and legal status information to be viewed.
Canadian Patent Office http://Patents1.ic.gc.ca/intro-e.html
Search 75 years of patent descriptions and images (that's more than
1.3 million patents).
This article has concentrated primarily upon the patent databases that
are free on the Internet. However, there is a lot more out there,
such as information from patent offices from how to apply for a patent
to FAQs, information provided by patent attorneys, resources on patent
law, gateways to patent information and association web pages too.
[1] Daily Telegraph, (25th February, 1999), Technoturkey - mystery
fuse design made patently obvious
[2] Van Dulken, S (ed).(1992) Introduction to patents information, 2nd
rev. ed., British Library, London.
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Emma Turner gained an MA in Librarianship from Sheffield University in
1995. She is currently one of a team of Assistant Librarians at the
Kings Norton Library, Cranfield University, where she has special
responsibility for environment and life sciences information
provision.
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf
"Advertising on the Internet"
Reviewed by Nick Lloyd
"For anyone considering either placing or accepting advertising on
their own (or their employer's) web site, this book is required
reading. Also for anyone with an interest in the subject, this book
contains much to both interest and inform the general reader as a
general primer on the practise and business of advertising on the
Internet.
The authors, both of whom have substantial practical expertise in the
field, chart the beginnings of advertisers' interest in the medium of
the Internet - including the growth of dedicated web advertising
agencies and advertising networks. As a new industry with a
counterpart in the conventional advertising world, the authors are at
pains to stress both the similarities and quite different practices
that the new field enjoys - including the relationship between
advertisers, publishers (site owners) and their audiences ...
[continued]"
... read Nick's full review on the Web site at ...
http://freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/advertising.htm
Nick Lloyd is an Internet consultant with extensive experience of
using and searching the Internet including creating and managing
Internet and intranet sites for major government agencies. His
interests include Internet design and 'content creation' with a
background in both information work and art and design. He can be
contacted on the Web at http://www.nicklloyd.com/.
Find out about the other great Web-related books we're reading at
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf and send your comments or
suggestions to bookshelf@freepint.co.uk.
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QUICK TIP ... INTERNET TRAINING
Hands on sessions are important in any practical training, but even
more so for the Internet. Few people get the time at work to browse
and this is an invaluable lesson in evaluating what is (and what
isn't) available on the Web in a chosen field.
William Hann
http://www.willco.co.uk/
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FEATURE ARTICLE
"Lurking on Lists"
by Andy Williamson
In the same way that "Jazz" or "Art" mean many things to different
people, just listing examples of all the possible shades of what
makes an Online or Virtual Community (VC) would take a decent sized
round, never mind part of a pint. In most cases there's nothing new
about the actual communities so formed - there have always been groups
of people with a common interest, often scattered around the world -
email and the web has just given some more obscure interests a new
lease of life, and given all an incredibly immediate new medium. If
you've been using email for many years, especially in the University
sector, then all this is probably not so new to you. If, however, you
acquired an email address with a job, especially in a large company or
organization, you may not have come across one of the richest things
the Internet has to offer.
This richness is starting to attract commercial interest. Until now,
VCs have largely been cooperative efforts, created and sustained by
the people who use them. There are now companies like the Bristol
based Sift http://www.sift.co.uk whose main aim is to be a builder,
owner and operator of VCs. Their most established VC is
"AccountingWeb" http://www.accountingweb.co.uk - aimed at the
160,000 accountants in the UK. Sift identified this profession as
being particularly able to support a commercial VC. A couple of other
indicators of the way that VCs are being taken seriously: the last
week of March saw the second VC conference (commercial rather than
academic) in Bath http://www.infonortics.com/vc dedicated to
"exploring this rapidly developing field"; also the study of VCs
forms part of the syllabus for an MA at Westminster University (and
others, I'm sure).
Most commercial VCs I've seen are built around 3 main elements:
1. A web site
2. An email newsletter
3. Discussion area for members, either web-based, or an email list.
It is the third of these on which I'm going to concentrate here,
specifically LISTS. These are communities whose core medium is simple,
old-fashioned email. In the future, such a distinction may become
increasingly blurred, especially as other media become ever more
customizable and interactive (e.g. digital TV, radio or mobile
phones). At the moment it is still a meaningful common factor. Also,
as the Internet equivalent of Neolithic man's hunting and gathering
was to be part of an email community - e.g. The Well
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.05/ff_well.html. This is a
sufficiently mature kind of activity for widely accepted customs and
principles to have evolved.
A close analogue of an online community has existed for hundreds of
years in the subscribers to a newspaper or a specialist journal. The
interactive part is the letters page. The Times still prints the full
postal address of most correspondents. This means that anyone stirred
by a published letter can "reply to all" by writing to the editor OR
respond "off list" by writing privately to the original author. The
difference with most lists, is that they allow anyone who likes to
join, and to send their thoughts/questions/gossip straight to all the
other subscribers, without any filtering by an editor with a limited
amount of space to fill, and who can exercise some independent
judgement about whether something is suitable for "broadcast" to the
list.
There are "moderated" lists where the list owner fills the
editor's chair explicitly, and makes sure that posts to the list
remain "on-topic". The most vibrant communities exist in the
"unmoderated" list, where the character of the list evolves according
to the whims, hopes, fears, peccadilloes and experience of its
members, much the same way as any "real" community. Cliques are
formed; leaders emerge; rules are debated then agreed; miscreants are
pilloried; misunderstandings may develop into "heated" disputes, which
may be resolved humbly and publicly, or may lead to someone leaving or
being driven out.
Many thousands of lists exist around the world for enthusiasts,
activists, researchers, students - anything where a number of people
are linked by some common interest. The shared expertise of those on
some lists probably contains the sum total of our civilization's
knowledge about a particular subject. If you're on the right list, it
can be the quickest way to find the answer to the most difficult of
questions.
I was introduced to lists originally by my wife, an historian. While
studying for her Ph.D., she became a member of a "medieval feminism"
list. This and many other academic lists like it, are now important
research tools, and forums for collaboration. A question to such a
list about a half remembered book or article is likely to be answered
very quickly, perhaps saving hours looking elsewhere. I was
intrigued by some of the stories she told me of "threads" which
appeared, so I joined the list and "lurked" for a while (i.e. received
mails, but never posted anything). Seeing people accidentally send
mail to the whole list which was clearly intended to be private
gossip, and the subsequent recriminations and formation of alliances
was an object lesson on how email must be used with care! I then
started to come across lists which were enormously useful
professionally. The British Computer Society http://www.bcs.org.uk/
hosts many lists, one of which I used to advertise a job. I received a
small number of high quality applications and ended up employing two
people.
I've subscribed to around a dozen lists over the last few years, and
even from that small sample, witnessed all kinds of behaviour. My
favourite is a Jazz lovers' list with around 150 members, the majority
in the USA, but with a healthy European contingent. Sometimes it
generates 80 or 90 emails a day, so I subscribe now in "digest" mode,
which means I get one long email each day with all of yesterday's
posts. There's a real sense of "community", in that the most active
list members have got to know each other really well over the years.
Newcomers are welcomed, and "treated gently". The quality of the
writing is consistently high, and (usually) posts which might be
considered out of line are just ignored, rather than sparking off a
flame war. Threads can take all kinds of turns, and veer a long way
from "jazz" - recently there was a long discussion about Indian music
which seemed to catch people's imagination. A couple of "experts" on
the list wrote long explanations, with recommendations about where to
start.
It can be easy to be put off lists by the seemingly unavoidable
irrelevant posts, especially on "young" lists. It seems that most
lists go through a phase where most of the traffic is about whether a
recent post was suitable for the list; many such posts then become the
subject of similar debate, with people feeling the need to be seen to
agree or disagree by sending an email which just says "me too". After
a while, everyone seems to realize that this is a waste of everyone's
time and desists, and worthwhile discussion takes its place. If this
doesn't happen, people just leave.
In case anyone is unfamiliar with lists, let me spell out how they
work. Let's say there is a list for fans of the Mark Thomas TV
programme (which there is). The list must be hosted by a "list server"
somewhere. This is a mail server equipped with a piece of list
management software - "Majordomo" is a common one. To join the list,
you just send an email to majordomo@venus.co.uk with
subscribe mark-thomas
in the body (not the subject) of the email. What happens now depends
on how the list has been configured by its "owner". If they are
indiscriminating sorts, happy to accept all comers, you might get an
automatic reply saying that your "command" has succeeded, and that you
are now a member. You may also receive information about the list,
along with any conventions or etiquette that the owner wants to make
explicit. As a member, you can now choose to "post" to the list, or to
"lurk", just reading posts by other people.
It's worth knowing what options the list owner has, as
misunderstanding how a particular list works is a common way for
people to reveal themselves publicly as list-novices. To post to the
list (i.e. to send an email which will be received by all the
subscribers) you just send your email to markthomas@venus.co.uk. The
owner can choose: to allow anybody to post to the list; just to allow
subscribers to post; or for all mail to be read by an editor before
being allowed to land in everybody's inboxes. Each email is either
initiating a new "thread", or adding to an existing one. The resulting
asynchronous conversations can take a while to get used to - a sign of
the list's maturity is that contributors know how to quote selectively
from previous emails to put theirs in context.
Sometimes things go wrong! A few months ago I witnessed an unfortunate
debacle when a newsletter publisher's software suffered a glitch,
causing an email meant for the listserver to be sent to all the
subscribers. Rather than realizing what was going on, a handful of
people replied to this, saying, "please stop sending me these". These
in turn were distributed far and wide. One canny soul sheepishly took
advantage of the situation and sent something advertising his
services, while apologizing for doing so. A couple of people sent
emails spelling out the fact that every email was just making things
worse, and asking people to stop - this seemed to encourage people
even more! The whole thing snowballed and ended up overwhelming the
listserver, which crashed. The list owner eventually sent out a single
apologetic email, and nothing since.
If every second you're online means a bigger 'phone bill (like most
home users in the UK), email-based lists can be a very cost-effective
way of using your net connection. The list server technology has been
around since the days when modems were slow, and even the Americans
paid for time spent online. This means that everything can be done by
email - if you know the address of a list server, and how to "talk" to
it.
A couple places to start looking are:
Mailbase http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/ provides electronic discussion
lists for the UK higher education community. Currently has 2,343
discussion lists, and 160,772 members worldwide.
Liszt http://www.liszt.com/ is a list of lists, indexed by subject,
which claims to store details on nearly 100,000 lists.
I suggest that a decent grasp of how to become a responsible member of
respected VCs will soon be an essential part of every professional's
skill set. It could even be that as formal academic qualifications
become increasingly ubiquitous, being able to state on a CV that
you're a member of the such-and-such list will be seen as another way
to stand out from the crowd - especially if it's known to be
particularly influential, and to be choosy about who it accepts - so
if you don't have much experience of such things, now could be a good
time to start "lurking".
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After a spell at Learned Information (as Production Manager of
Information World Review) Andy Williamson has spent the last 5 years
working for Dorling Kindersley Interactive Learning as Production
Manager responsible for Localization and Special Projects. He is about
to launch a new company called Vicino, based in Bristol. This will
specialize in developing multimedia projects with particular interest
in multilingual projects, HCI design and Localization issues, and ways
of integrating digital media with other publishing and broadcasting
platforms. He's also a musician, playing saxophone with The Honkin'
Hep Cats and singing in Clifton Cathedral Choir.
Contact details: tel. +44 (0)117 902 1366 or andyw@dkmm.co.uk.
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QUICK TIP ... INTERNET PUBLISHING
Make life easy: when dealing with Internet publication subscription
requests, get your Web site to do the work for you. Use a highly
customisable form handling script (like "Alieform" found via
http://www.cgi-resources.com/) to tailor form output: sending
commands to list server software, giving personalised responses, etc.
William Hann
http://www.willco.co.uk/
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FREE PINT FEEDBACK
As usual we've had some super letters from readers, and the ones
below should certainly spark some debate. We'd love to hear from you
and so please send your letter today to feedback@freepint.co.uk.
This issue's feedback subject index:
* Company law gateways (Free Pint No.37)
* Dublin Core, not here! - Blame the Porno Industry
* Web sites as super-information products
* Lack of image alternatives
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Subject: Company law gateways (Free Pint No.37)
From: Alex Maclean, Butterworths
Date: Thursday 29th April 1999
"Dear Free Pint
In today's issue you had a query about portals for company law.
Apart, of course, from our own (excellent!) products, there are some
good starting points on the web for free resources. I have a feeling
you have at some point mentioned Delia Venables' very thorough site
at http://www.venables.co.uk/ which has entries for most sectors
of the law.
In addition, the International Centre for Commercial Law (Legalease,
I believe) at http://www.icclaw.com/ is a good place for free
articles on current issues and development in the various areas of
commercial law (including company)."
Alex Maclean, Product Marketing Manager
Butterworths http://www.butterworths.co.uk/
See also the article in Free Pint No.21 (3rd September 1998) entitled
"Legal Resources on the Web" available at ...
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/030998.htm
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Subject: Dublin Core, not here! - Blame the Porno Industry
From: Nick Luft
Date: Friday 30th April 1999
"So Dublin Core MetaTagging is going to allow us to catalogue the
World Wide Chaos (see Free Pint No.36 & 37). Think again.
I spoke to a representative of Northern Light about Dublin Core.
Oh no he said, we ignore all metadata. Even Dublin Core, I asked.
Yes even DC. But Why? Well the sex industry web sites (and other
unscrupulous sites) use misleading information in their metadata and
it is not worth their while sifting the wheat from the chaff.
So thank you Dublin Core, but it looks like you are too late for that
particular search engine. And then of course there is google.com, a
search engine that uses the incidence of links to a site to rate its
relevance ... did you notice, DC not used again. And then there is
Autonomy with its concept recognising software that can understand the
context of concepts in a sentence. Again no need for DC here.
I think the tragedy of DC is that it is trying to use human
cataloguers to control something that can be done quicker and more
accurately by machine.
I would be so bold as to suggest we all ignore DC and either use human
guides to information sources like, yahoo.com or miningco.com, or we
use the next generation of machine-based indexing software to tunnel
down to that diamond in the rough. How many information workers can
put their hand on their hearts and say 'I can find exactly the
information you require using manual cataloguing' - not!"
Nick Luft is a Systems Librarian in Bracknell, UK, but writes
in a personal capacity.
Send your comments to feedback@freepint.co.uk
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Subject: Web sites as super-information products
From: Liz Orna
Date: Friday 7th May 1999
"I've been doing research (based on case studies) over the past five
years on how organisations manage the information products - print on
paper and electronic - which they use to give information to their
outside and inside worlds.
A significant change over the period is the development of web sites
and intranets in all the organisations I've looked at. Whereas at
the beginning nearly all the products were paper-based, by the end
all the organisations had web sites and most had intranets.
The interesting feature is the effect which the process of developing
web sites and intranets has had on how organisations look at their
information resources and their information products. In some
cases - including organisations with a federal (or even feudal)
culture and fragmented information resources - it has for the first
time started to bring stakeholders in information together, and
helped development towards information strategy. The business of
creating what are in effect super-information products, which contain
within themselves a lot of other informaton products and offer new
ways of presentation, has also led in some cases to a new and
integrated look at information products.
The effect isn't always in that direction - an intranet can also
reinforce feudal tendencies and lead to new restrictions on access,
even in organisations that claim to be into 'knowledge sharing'!
I'd be glad to hear from anyone with similar experiences in this
area, or of any comparable research.
And long may Free Pint flourish!"
Liz Orna
Orna Stevens Associates, UK
Telephone +44 (0)1603 611795
Send your comments to feedback@freepint.co.uk
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Subject: Lack of image alternatives
From: John Elliot
Date: Friday 30th April 1999
"Dear Free Pint,
A comment born of frustration, regarding website images. Following
the recommendations of numerous web gurus, I use my browser with
"images off" option in order to speed up surfing. This common
recommendation seems to have escaped many designers of web sites who
make their sites unusable unless images are switched on. I am sure
other readers have been as frustrated as me to download a recommended
gee-whizz website only to be confronted with a blank screen of image
icons and no available text labels for the icons. I would like to
see recommendations/reviews for sites accompanied with a note as to
whether the site can be viewed AND navigated with "images off".
Some sites seem to me to be the product of graphic designers keen to
show the world how clever they are, rather than a place where the
user can obtain information efficiently and quickly. To state the
bleeding obvious, websites are not book jackets or CD sleeves where
the design can be absorbed at a glance. What may be clever and
effective on a book can become a positive hindrance on a web page.
What do other readers think?
Thanks for a great ezine."
John Elliot
Anzeco Pty. Limited - mineral exploration consulting services
Australia
See also the article in Free Pint No.14 (14th May 1998) entitled
"Deafblind access to the Web" to read about how lack of image
alternatives affects this large Web audience ...
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/030998.htm
Send your comments to feedback@freepint.co.uk
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Subject: If you can read it, why not achieve it?
From: Rex Cooke, Editor, Free Pint rex@freepint.co.uk
Thanks to all those readers who have written to say how much they
enjoy the variety of topics we cover in Free Pint. As always, we have
some interesting articles lined up for your future enjoyment but there
are some subject areas where authors seem shy to come forward. Don't
forget that many of our authors are fellow Free Pint readers who made
that call.
I particularly welcome potential contributions on Web resources for
the arts and humanities, also geographical, historical and social
science information for future issues.
So why not send me an article outline today and if you are burning to
share your tips and techniques with other readers or have pet
interests you want covered, please contact me now at
rex@freepint.co.uk.
Send your article suggestions to rex@freepint.co.uk
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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.
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>>> BOOK REVIEWS ON THE FREE PINT BOOKSHELF <<<
Don't forget to stop by the Bookshelf to read some
great book reviews ... available online now at
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf
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I hope you've really enjoyed this issue. Things are going from
strength to strength here at Free Pint, but we still thrive on
hearing from you so please do get in touch. Also, do stop by the
Web site as this is building into an invaluable research resource.
See you in two weeks!
Kind regards,
William Hann, Managing Editor
william@freepint.co.uk
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
(c) Willco Limited 1999
http://www.willco.co.uk/
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FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
Weather Sources * Archaeological Sites * Language Sources
Graphical Formats * Eastern Europe * Rubber and Plastics
Search Engine Business Models
[Provisional]
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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
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Letters & Comments - feedback@freepint.co.uk
Latest Issue Autoresponder - auto@freepint.co.uk
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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: Free Pint is a trademark of, and published by, the
Internet consultancy Willco Limited http://www.willco.co.uk/ ...
providers of 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.
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About this Newsletter
- Publication Date: 12th May 1999
- Plain text
- Link: https://www.jinfo.com/go/newsletter/38
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