Newsletter No. 39
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Free Pint
"Helping 22,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
ISSN 1460-7239 27th May 1999 #39
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Lingo on-line - Languages resources on the World Wide Web"
by Emma Thompson
BOOKSHELF
"The Internet: The Rough Guide 1999"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Central and Eastern European Web Sources"
by Micky Allen
FREE PINT FEEDBACK
"Patent information on the Internet"
"Dublin Core, not here! - Blame the Porno Industry"
"Lack of image alternatives"
"Lists"
"Free Pint Praise"
"Non-profit Web marketing"
"Request for information on online tutorials"
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/270599.htm
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*** HEALTH CARE INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET ***
Two training courses help you find the critical up to date information
you need. Consumer Health Care Information on the Internet, June 1st
(half day), price 100 pounds exc. VAT. Biomedical Information on the
Internet, 17th June repeated 18th June (full day), price 175 pounds
exc. VAT. Venue: The British Library, St Pancras, London NW1. Details
from Maureen Heath, tel. 0171-412 7470, e-mail maureen.heath@bl.uk.
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EDITORIAL
Many readers have written to us with suggestions for enhancements to
the Free Pint Web site, and one of the most common requests was for
an area to exchange ideas and questions with other readers.
Therefore we would like to officially announce the opening of the
"Free Pint Bar", where you can discuss ideas with other subscribers
and meet the editors of Free Pint. We have also invited the
authors of the articles in this issue to join us for a virtual drink
to answer your questions and comments on their contributions
Why not pop in now at ...
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
If you're in London on the 8th June then why not let me buy you a real
free pint at the Castle Pub in Cowcross Street. I'm giving a talk for
the Institute of Information Scientists about my experiences with
Free Pint, and anyone who stays for the talk can have a free pint on
me with the buffet afterwards. All readers are welcome (if you're in
town) but places are limited, so email richard.wakeford@bl.uk now to
reserve your free place and real Free Pint.
Another great new feature on the Web site is the Free Pint Guide. This
navigation aide (a bit like Yahoo!) will help you find articles and
book reviews on your area of interest, as well as linking to
invaluable resources for the searcher and Webmaster. You can also
search the entire site using keywords. Why not check it out today ...
http://www.freepint.co.uk/guide
Back to the newsletter and we have some outstanding articles in this
issue. If you've ever wanted to learn a language online then you'll
love the tips article, whilst the feature article gives some great
resources for researching central and eastern European happenings.
As always, I would really value your feedback on this issue. Therefore
please do send me an email or pop into the Free Pint Bar online. Also,
don't forget to send this issue on to anyone who might like to see it.
Kind regards,
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Managing Editor
e: william@freepint.co.uk
w: http://www.freepint.co.uk/
t: +44 (0)1784 455435
f: +44 (0)1784 455436
"Free Pint" is a trademark of
Willco Limited http://www.willco.co.uk/
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The Investext Group, IFR Securities Data and CDA/Spectrum merged to
form Thomson Financial Securities Data, the world's leading provider
of comprehensive business intelligence and financial data on
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offer the highest quality resources available to evaluate companies,
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web site at www.tfsd.com or contact us on (+44) (0) 171 369 7622.
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>>> THE ONLY WAY TO CONTACT 22,000 KNOWLEDGE PROFESSIONALS <<<
It's popular. It's proven. It works. Full stop.
http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm
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QUICK TIP ... INTERNET CONSULTANCY
This one comes from a reader (thank you VM). A hint for anyone
advertising jobs on the Internet: many people only have the use of
the Internet at work. Many who do, have their usage monitored. They
will therefore be reluctant to access a Web site which uses the word
"jobs" in the URL in case they are rumbled by their employers.
William Hann
http://www.willco.co.uk/
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Lingo on-line - Languages resources on the World Wide Web"
by Emma Thompson
It has never been a better time to learn a language - access to the
Web offers hundreds if not thousands of ways to learn a language from
scratch or improve your skills by using ready made free on-line
courses and tests, and accessing information on the country where the
language is spoken.
I will not attempt to cover every language available, but give some
pointers to useful gateways, and some good examples of how the web
can change the way you learn a language. The eagle-eyed will note a
Hispanic bias in the sites I have chosen, as Spanish is my second
language, but I hope there will be something of interest to
information specialists, language learners, travellers, or teachers of
languages in general.
When I first learnt Spanish at school the only real Spanish resources
available to me were crackly radio broadcasts, very boring and dated
audio cassettes and Hola magazine - the only Spanish language media
available in Northern Ireland at that time, which as those familiar
with its English language equivalent will be aware, is not renowned
for its in depth journalism. It was only when teachers visited Spain
and returned with Spanish goodies that the language I was learning
would be put into context, until I finally had the chance to visit
Spain.
Now the possibilities are endless - you can converse with an email
penfriend in your chosen language, listen to radio stations, discover
the culture or a country, test your grammar skills and receive
instant feedback, all without leaving your computer. Some
particularly useful sources follow, divided according to broad
categories:
1. On-line lessons and progress tests
2. Media sources
3. Reference
1. On-line lessons and Progress tests
=====================================
The BBC languages site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/languages/
offers resources in French, Spanish, German, and Italian, and there
are links to English as a foreign language materials through the World
Service Pages. The materials are mainly at beginners and intermediate
level. These lessons compliment BBC Learning Zone programmes and
print and audio publications. They are truly multimedia - including
video and audio clips (you will need a sound card, and Shockwave and
Real Audio plug-ins to take full advantage of the lessons). There is
information for teachers, who subject to certain restrictions can use
these resources with their students. The site is easy to navigate,
clear and comprehensive.
Fast and friendly French for fun: http://library.advanced.org/12447/
is a comprehensive site for beginners, but it is wholly textual, with
no sound or video.
The German for Beginners site hosted by the University of Victoria in
Canada is another good site where you will find on-line lessons with
Real Audio clips of German speakers, and exercises and tests
http://castle.uvic.ca/german/149/.
If you are studying a language without formal classes it can be
difficult to check on your own progress - now sites have been created
with freeware such as Hot Potatoes that enable you to test your
grammar and vocabulary and get the results of your test instantly.
Some good sites to try are:
Centro Virtual Cervantes http://cvc.cervantes.es in the Aula de
Lengua pages you will find vocabulary and grammar tests from beginners
to advanced, as well as games to improve your Spanish.
Juan Ramon de Arana's Spanish Language Exercises Web Page
http://mld.ursinus.edu/~jarana/Ejercicios/ hosted by Ursinus College
presents a series of language exercises, covering a variety of topics
and progressive difficulty, all with instant marking.
If you want to create your own tests visit the Half-baked software
site at http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/ to use the freeware Hot
Potatoes software, created at the University of Victoria. This site
also gives links to many more tests created using the software.
2. Media Sources
================
Nothing beats hearing the language you are studying spoken by a
native. Until quite recently this meant accosting foreign visitors,
visiting the country yourself or buying an audio course. Book/tape
courses are very good for beginners, and intermediate levels but if
you are already proficient in a language and need to maintain and
update your knowledge there used to be few options open, except for
reading. Now you can access radio stations via the web - and listen
while you get on with other work. A good listing of European Radio
Stations in dozens of languages, including minority language stations
has been compiled by Steve Thornton at
http://www.barry-t.demon.co.uk/radio.htm. It includes links to
stations in Lithuania and Luxembourg, Hungary and Turkey. Some
more radio stations and a very good listing of worldwide newspapers
within and outside Europe can be found at Kidon Media link
at http://www.dds.nl/~kidon/media-link/.
Most newspapers now have websites, and some have sections specifically
aimed at language learners. For example Lire Francais
http://www.lire-francais.com/ is a partnership between the Bordeaux
newspaper Sud Ouest and the University of Bordeaux - it contains
grammar and comprehension lessons based on articles from the
newspaper.
Television stations have of course realised the potential of the web,
like the BBC, already discussed. The French satellite station TV5
http://www.tv5.org/ has produced a range of teaching materials and
suggestions for use of their programmes in the classroom. They are
probably best suited to teachers at sixth form or university level
rather than independent learners - you will need access to the
programmes themselves via satellite to make use as there are no audio
or video clips available, unlike the BBC site.
3. Reference
============
If you are regularly translating to and from another language I think
nothing beats a good paper dictionary for speed and user-friendliness
- but if you suddenly need to find a word in Yiddish, or Finnish,
on-line dictionaries can be useful. The Human-Languages page at
http://www.june29.com/HLP/ has a good listing of these, as well as
general listings for popular and lesser used languages, from the
obscure to the ridiculous, from Cornish to Klingon. Other good
language gateways are:
http://www.travlang.com/languages/ - basic words for travellers in
over 70 languages
The Computers in Teaching Initiative Centre for Modern languages in
Hull http://www.hull.ac.uk/cti/ has lots of useful links, and is
aimed at the Univeristy sector
http://www.linguanet.org.uk Lingu@net - the virtual language centre
is good for tracking down commercial publishers of language materials.
http://www.livjm.ac.uk/language/ - the World languages page at
Liverpool John Moores University has a good section on the pros and
cons of using the internet to learn a language, as well as some useful
links.
To search for information about a specific country avoid the
USA centred search engines and directories and try one in the country
you want to learn about, e.g. Lycos Germany at http://www.lycos.de/
or specify a country and/or language within a search engine like
Northern light http://www.northernlight.com (choose the Power
Search option).
Lastly, a word about free translation services, I am not convinced
that machine translation yet rivals a human being - just try
translating a page into your first language to get an idea of the
limitations. Some people may find these services very useful, and
they are free, but use with caution. One to try is Systran, available
through AltaVista http://babelfish.altavista.com/cgi-bin/translate?
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Emma J. Thompson BA Hons Dip.Inf., (formerly Emma J. Orr) is a
graduate in Hispanic studies and professional librarian. She has
worked in the fee-based and public information services, and in
Academic libraries and now manages a multi-media languages library in
the University of Plymouth. She has been using the WWW as a reference
tool since 1993.
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>>> SEARCH THE FREE PINT SITE <<<
http://www.freepint.co.uk/search
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*** DO YOU NEED TO STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE INFORMATION INDUSTRY? ***
If so, then you should be reading Information World Review.
With key coverage of online, Internet, intranet and CD-ROM content
worldwide, IWR is all you need to stay informed. For further details
on how to keep your finger on the pulse of the information industry,
visit http://www.iwr.co.uk
or email: customerservice@learned.co.uk
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf
"The Internet: The Rough Guide 1999"
Reviewed by Nick Lloyd
"I first encountered this book when I bought an earlier edition of
what has since become one of the classic internet 'bibles'. What
struck me about the earlier edition - the wealth of information,
detailed coverage of practical issues, comprehensive glossary of
internet terms, extensive internet site directory, etc. - is still
true of the current edition. The latest edition has become (if
anything) an even more focused and practical book for those wanting to
know more about all things Internet ... [continued]"
... read Nick's full review on the Web site at ...
http://freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/rough.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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>>> EASY ACCESS TO PAST ARTICLES BY SUBJECT <<<
http://www.freepint.co.uk/guide
The Free Pint Guide provides many easy ways to access articles,
book reviews and Web sites for the searcher and Webmaster.
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QUICK TIP ... INTERNET TRAINING
Sometimes you'll have a disruptive person on your course who clearly
doesn't want to be there. Don't take this personally but use the
first private opportunity (coffee break?) to chat to them and find
out what the problem is. It's usually that they've been sent by their
manager. William Hann
http://www.willco.co.uk/
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FEATURE ARTICLE
"Central and Eastern European Web Sources"
by Micky Allen
INTRODUCTION
In November 1989, The Berlin Wall came down, one month later I was in
Budapest and on behalf of a British mining company was investigating
the feasibility of purchasing a 50% share in the Hungarian State
Marble Company.
My one abiding memory, apart from the seemingly endless round of
banquets and alcoholic toasts that were an obligatory part of doing
business in the former Eastern Bloc, was the definition of a
Hungarian.
"A Hungarian is someone who goes into a revolving door behind you and
comes out in front of you !"
The subsequent history of the Pannon Marble project proved the truth
of this phrase only too clearly, but as they say that's another story
http://www.insead.fr/Research/RandD/cases/case-61.htm.
In those 10 years since the wall has come down, the region formerly
known as the Warsaw Pact and now known as Central and Eastern Europe
(CEE), has changed beyond belief. Who for example who would have
thought that some of those ex-socialist states would now be members of
NATO!
Just like Western Europe the region has its boom and bust sectors,
indeed there is a group of 5 CEE countries that are doing so well that
they are on the fast track to membership of the European Community
(Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia).
There is no real definition of what is an Eastern or Central European
country (Central being more of a geographical label, and Eastern being
more of a political one). However there are around 15 states that have
emerged from their "cold war" cocoons and can be classified as members
of the CEE as such - the situation being somewhat fluid as a result of
the Kosova / Serbia conflict.
THE ENVIRONMENT
The overriding legacy of socialism in the CEE was one of heavy
industry which gave rise to a variety of environmental disasters
throughout the region, ranging from Chernobyl in the Ukraine to the
Black Triangle of Poland / East Germany / Czechoslovakia. The European
Union (EU) has through the Phare programme been funding various
programmes to help bring the CEE nations up to EU standards to assist
in their accession to EU membership.
Useful links are :
Accession to the European Community by Eastern European Nations
http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/s40000.htm
Austrian environment minsitry
http://www.bmu.gv.at/
Bulgarian Ministry of Health
http://www.zpg.org/
Business and Environment Program of the Regional Environmental Center
for Central and Eastern Europe (REC)
http://www.rec.org/business
Chornobyl CyberSpace Parliament
http://www.freeyellow.com/members2/ishwa/index.html
Czech Environment Ministry
http://www.env.cz/
Czech Republic ISSS Conference (Local and Regional Information
Society)
http://www.brezen.cz
Energy security issues in the region of the Baltic Sea
http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg17/riga.htm
Estonian Green Movement
oja@erl.ew.ee
Estonian Ministry of Environment
Agnes@ekm.envir.ee
Environmental Management Training Center (EMTC) Network
http://www.rec.org/REC/Programs/EMTC/Insight/
European Commission (DGXIII) and the Open Society Institute, CEE
Electronic Publishing Development Program
http://www.osi.hu/
European Commission's DGXI enlargement unit
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg11/enlarg/home.htm
European Round Table of Industrialists
http://www.ert.be
Online Europe
http://www.isys.hu/online-europe
Orientation Bulgaria
http://bg.orientation.com
Orientation Romania
http://ro.orientation.com
Orientation Russia
http://ru.orientation.com
Prague Business Journal
http://www.ceebiz.com/czech/
Press Fellowship Programme at Cambridge
http://www.wolfson.cam.ac.uk/~pressfel/
Quarterly newsletter of the Regional Environmental Center for Central
and Eastern Europe
http://www.rec.org/REC/Bulletin/Bull83/
Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC)
http://www.rec.org/business
REC publications
http://www.rec.org/REC/Publications/
Slovakia's Society for Sustainable Living
http://www.seps.sk/zp/stuz/eng/
Slovenian Environment Ministry
http://www.sigov.si/mop/vsebina/angl/index.htm
Green Horizon is a free newsletter (Funded by European Commission's
DG-XI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) designed to help
journalists stay ahead of environmental news in Central and Eastern
Europe, for a free subscription, research assistance, or to find a
source, send e-mail to: media-info@rec.org.
Telematics (the application of information and communication
technologies and services) for the CEE region
http://www.rec.org/telematics
includes background information on many EU funded Environment
Telematics projects.
Many projects in this field have been financed by DGXIII and have been
launched to support the growth of the European Information Society in
CEE. In doing this, the Telematics Programme also serves to support
the EU accession processes of CEE countries. For more information on
the European Commission's activities in the field visit
http://www2.echo.lu/telematics.
The CAPE Database of Local Government Environment Experts in CEE lists
contact information for over 550 environmental liaison officers based
within the largest local authorities in the ten European Union
Accession Countries, i.e. Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia
http://www.rec.org/REC/Databases/LocGov/LocGovFind.html.
THE KOSOVO CONFLICT
The other major tragedy to strike Central and Eastern Europe is the
ethnic dimension, which is now being played out in the conflict
between Serbia and NATO. Marshall Tito's iron rule kept the
Yugoslavian Federation intact during the 'cold war', but after his
death and the fall of Communism came the rise of Nationalism. In the
case of Kosovo, a battle that the Serbs lost in 1389 being the
catalyst for the present conflict in the region.
In war the first casualty is the truth, however the Internet is
managing to play a role as a more accessible source of information
than was the case when news was reported through 'official channels'.
Whilst it must be admitted that most of the news available on the
Internet is biased towards the viewpoint of the presenter, there are
still a plethora of sources (official, unofficial, propaganda etc)
available to give the wider picture, including:
A) Mainstream media
ABC: Coverage of Kosovo
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/world
BBC: Kosovo Crisis, Balkan Flashpoint
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1998/kosovo/
CNN: Strike on Yugoslavia
http://cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9903/27/nato.attack.03/index.html
France Press
http://www.afp.com/
MSNBC: Special on Kosovo
http://www.msnbc.com/news/KOSOVO_Front.asp
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/news/
Washington Post: Balkans Special Report
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/balkans/balkans.htm
B) Independent media
Anti-NATO web site
http://www.welcome.to/nato
Common Dreams News Center
http://www.commondreams.org/kosovo/kosovo.htm
eGroups: Kosovo Reports
http://www.egroups.com/list/kosovo-reports/
Father Sava Janjic, a Serbian orthodox monk who lives in the
663-year-old Decani monastery
http://www.decani.yunet.com/
Kosovo Dies For Independence, Out There News
http://www.megastories.com/kosovo/index.htm
Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com/mustreads/032299.html#TC
Press Now
http://www.dds.nl/~pressnow/
Radio 21
http://www.radio21.net/english/headlines.htm
Radio B92
http://www.b92.net/
Z Magazine on U.S./NATO Bombings
http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/kosovo.htm
C) Background Articles
Net Dispatches from Kosovo's War
http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18755.html
Documentary on Slobodan Milosevic
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/karadzic/trial/scharf.html
Kosovo's Slippery Slope
http://www.inthesetimes.com/kenney2309.html
Prospects for Peace in Kosovo
http://www.nonviolence.org//wrl/nva0199-2.htm
D) Information Centres
Albanian refugees searchable database
http://www.refugjat.org
Amnesty International
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/kosovo/index.html
Balkan Action Council
http://www.balkanaction.org/links.html
Balkan Internet Resources
http://www.balkaninstitute.org/internet.html
Balkan's Page
http://www.igc.org/balkans/raccoon/kosovo.html
Bosnian Culture and Heritage
http://www.bosnet.org
Central Europe Online
http://www.centraleurope.com/ceo/special/kosovow/intro.html
European Council on Refugees
http://www.ecre.org/ecre.html
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
http://www.iwpr.net/
International Action Center
http://www.iacenter.org/
Kosovo Crisis Center
http://www.alb-net.com/index.htm
Kosovo Focus on Human Rights
http://www.hrw.org/hrw/campaigns/kosovo98/index.htm
Kosovo Info
http://www.kosovainfo.com/ENGLISH.htm
Kosovo Liberation Army
http://www.zik.com/rubrika.htm
Newsgroups soc.culture.yugoslavia and soc.culture.albanian
No to NATO
http://www.iacenter.org/bosnia/balkans.htm
One World: Special News Reports
http://www.oneworld.org/news/reports/special/kosovo.html
Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org.uk
Transnational Center for Peace
http://www.transnational.org/new/index.html
UN Convention on Prevention + Punishment of Genocide
http://www.un.org/icty/
UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
http://www.un.org/icty/
War Criminal Watch
http://www.wcw.org/wcw/
E) USA-NATO Military and Military Analysis
British Ministry of Defence
http://www.mod.uk/news/kosovo
Center for Defense Information
http://www.cdi.org
Federation of American Scientist's Military Analysis Network
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/kosovo.htm
Jane's Defense Weekly
http://defence.janes.com/
NATO
http://www.nato.int
Pentagon's Operation Allied Force
http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/kosovo/
Satellite Images
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/kosovo_clouds.htm
US Air Force News
http://www.af.mil/current/kosovo/
US Information Agency
http://www.usia.gov/regional/eur/balkans/kosovo/
US State Department
http://www.state.gov/www/regions/eur/kosovo_hp.html
F) Yugoslavia Government
Yugoslavia Foreign Ministry
http://www.smip.sv.gov.yu/
Yugoslavia Ministry of Information
http://www.serbia-info.com/
Yugoslavia Official Web Site
http://www.gov.yu/
AND FINALLY
In spite of these problems, Central and Eastern Europe is still a
wonderful place to do business. In the past each country tended to
specialise in one particular field according to the diktat of the
central planners. As a result East Germany concentrated on Chemicals,
Bulgaria on Agriculture, Romania on Textiles, Hungary on Buses etc etc.
However with the rise of the market economy, the new specialisations
tend to be somewhat different, as incoming multinationals craft their
corporate strategies according to the a country's political and
economic potential http://www.storycpra.com/FTArticle.
Hungary is now no longer 'On the Buses' and has moved into tourism in
a big way http://www.hotels.hu, however banquets and booze still
remain an obligatory part of doing business in the land of the
Magyars!
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Micky Allen runs a website dealing with contaminated land issues
http://www.contaminatedland.co.uk, and still has fond memories
of 1989 vintage Bulls Blood and Tokai wines !!
http://www.ContaminatedLAND.co.uk/marx-bro.htm
Sig-micky@salamander.co.uk
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To make a comment about any aspect of this article then please join
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8,000 subscribers and contained 3,600 words. Today it is being
sent to almost 23,000 readers and contains over 6,600 words.
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QUICK TIP ... INTERNET PUBLISHING
One of the best and cheapest ways to promote your online offering is
offline. Use imaginative methods to make your product stand out. For
example, everyone I meet gets a Free Pint beer mat. William Hann
http://www.willco.co.uk/
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FREE PINT FEEDBACK
Many thanks for all your wonderful letters - it's great to know that
there are real people out there. Please keep your feedback coming in
as it is that which helps us make sure Free Pint covers what you want.
This issue's feedback subject index:
* Patent information on the Internet
* Dublin Core, not here! - Blame the Porno Industry
* Lack of image alternatives
* Lists
* Free Pint Praise
* Non-profit Web marketing
* Request for information on online tutorials
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Subject: Patent Information on the Internet (Free Pint No.38)
From: June Dawson, Engineering Subject Librarian
Lanchester Library, Coventry University, UK
Date: Thursday 13th May 1999
We have been using the Worldwide option on the European Patent
Office's Esp@cenet very regularly and have found patents back to
1976 although I understand that there are some (unspecified) going
further back. There are quite a large number of US ones but how
complete the set is I do not know. As you say, the searching technique
is crude so we use the Espace Access CD-ROM's to do the initial
keyword search. Once we have a patent number, we use Esp@cenet to
print off the diagrams (using Adobe Acrobat) and also the full text
of the description and claims.
However, if you are on Netscape there is a problem with printing the
text because, on our set up, the Acrobat tool bar disappears (!) when
you click on the description or claims and all you get is the header.
Just click the mouse on the frame when it comes up on screen and then
print off using the Netscape print option.
One further use for patents that not many people seem to realise, is
that it is possible to keep an eye on developments in a company's
commercial markets - where are competitors patenting / are they
patenting in a country where you have had a strong market
previously / are possible alternative products appearing on the
market / etc. All good stuff for business studies/marketing students!
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Send your comments to feedback@freepint.co.uk
or discuss them online at http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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Subject: Dublin Core, not here! - Blame the Porno Industry (FP No.38)
From: Helen Leech, CIRCE Project, http://www.gloscc.gov.uk/circe/
Date: Thursday 13th May 1999
Er, Nick Luft, search engines are already using metadata. Altavista's
my favourite, and I usually use its title search: I say I'm looking
for the word "chocolate" in the title, and Altavista brings back a
manageable number of hits. It's searching the information within the
field metatagged "title", which is a crude form of metadata. Imagine
how much more accurate search engines could be if more parts of the
web page were metatagged?
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Email feedback@freepint.co.uk
Web http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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Subject: Lack of image alternatives (Free Pint No.38)
From: Various
"I agree entirely.
We have a beautiful example locally: our local newspaper published a
website with a nice city map providing the navigation to lots of useful
sources of information.
However, the map took 3.5 minutes to load even on reasonably powerful
machines, and there were no alternative texts given.
Result: they're not pursuing the website at present "due to lack of
public interest" - Wonderful!
If you're a genuine potential customer etc. to a commercial website, I
suggest you complain both to the webmaster and to the highest level of
person who's address you find on the site. We're not in it for fun or
to make a show - we're in it for results. If our customers complain to
the MD, the problem gets fixed - FAST!"
Jenni Ferrans, Webmaster, BHR Group Limited
http://www.bhrgoup.co.uk/
"In Free Pint No.38 you had an email from an Australian Mineral
Explorationist who seemed to be peeved by the lack of 'ALT' tags and
the prevalence of images on websites.
If he would care to go and visit http://www.Contaminatedland.co.uk
he will see a website that is entirely image free (as long as you
using Netscape or Sun's Hotjava as your browser). It is designed
using 'gopher icons' (a relic of the 'Old days of the Internet')
which are inserted by the user's browser without any images being
sent over the Internet."
Micky Allen
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feedback@freepint.co.uk
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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Subject: Lists (Free Pint No.38)
From: Matt Hurst, Press Officer, Central Office of Information, UK
Date: Thursday 13th May 1999
"Mark Thomas's piece on email lists was interesting. They're
certainly the single most useful purpose I've found for the Net, and
I'm on several. It's worth mentioning too that it's easy to start
one. A company called OneList http://www.onelist.com/ host
lists - all you have to do is register with the site and put in a
few introductory details, and they run the list for you - digests,
archives, bulletin boards etc.
One other thing. For me, the big benefit of Free Pint is that like
lists, it's push technology. I don't have to go to a website - which
I'd invariably forget to do - because it gets delivered to my
mailbox. I do hope the beefed up website isn't going to distract
anyone from the newsletter."
William Hann, Managing Editor, replies:
Thank you Mark for your concern about distractions. Hopefully you
can see from this issue that although we have been working hard to
make the Free Pint Web site an even more valuable resource (with the
addition of the Bar, Guide and search facility) this has not
distracted us from bringing you another brimming issue of the
newsletter. Free Pint will always be our first love and we hope the
Web site will only ever enhance what it has to offer.
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feedback@freepint.co.uk
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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Subject: Free Pint Praise
From: Various
"You asked for feedback. Well, in my humble opinion, Free Pint is
the BEST free online publication. In every way it is admirable and
useful. I will forward the current issue to EVERYONE on my e-mail
list, in the hope of inducing some of them to subscribe and thereby
help keep the enterprise going. Thanks very much again."
Johannah Turner, Charleston, West Virginia, USA.
"I've just joined Free Pint. Had a good look at the format and think
I will find your the Free Pint Guide very useful even if I am not a
professional user. I particularly enjoyed the articles on search
engines. Thanks for an interesting afternoon.
Ann Speakman, Housing Officer, London Borough Of Camden
"Just a note to let you know how superb I think your publication is.
I work as a full time employee within the Health provider environment
(NHS Trust, Midlands, UK) and your recent Free Pint issue on 'Health
Information On The Net' has proved to be immensely useful to my
colleagues.
In my spare time I co-administrate Netheader Web Design - I am
Webmistress for this site - and Free Pint has provided invaluable
information to me as a Web site designer. I subscribe to many
newsletters, but Free Pint is by far the most informative, reliable
and interesting. Congratulations and keep up the most excellent work."
Bel, netheader web design http://www.netheader.co.uk/
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feedback@freepint.co.uk
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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Subject: Non-profit Web marketing
From: Philip Walker, Chairman, CAADE http://www.caade.net
(The Campaign Against Age Discrimination in Employment)
Date: Monday 17th May 1999
Though I have not been receiving Free Pint very long I can say that
I have really enjoyed and learned a lot from its content, one of the
reasons of course is that it is UK based.
To make it even more relevent might I suggest that you occasionally
address the needs of the huge voluntary sector that now uses the Net.
My own organisation CAADE is typical. I believe that we have an
excellent website. However we have precious few products to sell,
we are governed by Charity regulations and our main aim is to get a
message across, in fact the 'message' becomes the real reason for our
content. We constantly need to drive up the throughput to our sites
and most of us have very little money with which to do it. We are
non-commercial and yet we have that hunger that is necessary to drive
us on. Mostly we need to acquire our services for free or very
cheaply which makes life very hard often. Perhaps Free Pint can help
or at least motivate other readers to help us progress. Even our
hardware is primitive as we are forced to rely on donated equipment;
CAADE has a single 486 on permanent loan.
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feedback@freepint.co.uk
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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Subject: Request for information on online tutorials
From: Simon Collery
Date: Thursday 13th May 1999
I have found Free Pint very interesting and I usually snip bits of
it and send them to people I know would be interested.
I have always looked out for sites or sources of information on the
Web itself, its capabilities, past and future. I have not found good
sources of information. Do you know any online tutorials or courses,
free or otherwise, or anything like this?
As I write one of my colleagues has thanked me for sending one of your
letters on the Dublin Core. I think he'll be following that up.
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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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>>> WANT TO MEET US ONLINE? <<<
Don't forget to visit the Free Pint Bar ...
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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Thanks for reading this issue of Free Pint ... I really hope you've
enjoyed it and can find time to visit the Web site. Also, please
continue to tell other people about Free Pint and in return we'll
keep working hard to bring you the best of the Web.
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 * Graphical Formats
Rubber and Plastics * Search Engine Business Models * Intranets
Toolkits for web online services * Unified messaging
Information overload * Full text online * eCommerce
[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
Subscriptions - subs@freepint.co.uk
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: 26th May 1999
- Plain text
- Link: https://www.jinfo.com/go/newsletter/39
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