Newsletter No. 88
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Free Pint
"Helping 38,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.com/
ISSN 1460-7239 24th May 2001 No.88
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Sara Renwick
FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
JOBS
Information Manager / Assistant Librarian
Graduate Trainee / National Information Manager
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Waste on the WWW"
By Helen Rendell
BOOKSHELF
"Online Communities:
Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability"
Reviewed by Marylaine Block
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Images on the Web"
By Ian Watson
EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/240501.htm>
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Discover how to make the Internet work for you with the British
Library's Summer programme of Internet training courses. A range of
hands-on courses to help you make the most of Internet information
sources. Environmental Information, 12 June; Biomedical Information, 3
July; Best of Business Information (non hands-on), 17 July, and
Advanced Searching on the Web, 24 July. For further details and
booking form visit http://www.bl.uk/services/stb/courses.html or
contact STB-Marketing on tel: 020 7412 7978.
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>>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<<
Free Pint is an online community of information researchers. Members
receive this free newsletter every two weeks packed with tips on
finding quality and reliable business information on the Internet.
Joining is free at <http://www.freepint.com/> and provides access to
the substantial archive of articles, book reviews, jobs, industry news
& events, with answers to your research questions and networking at
the "Free Pint Bar" and "Student Bar". This newsletter is best read
when printed out and viewed in a Courier font.
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EDITORIAL
I knew that the new Free Pint Jobs service would be popular because
many members had requested it. However, it received such a good
reception after its launch in the last issue of Free Pint that there
were over 10,000 searches in the first two days alone!
<http://www.freepint.com/jobs/>
There are now 115 jobs in the database and over 100 people have set up
profiles to be alerted to new jobs matching their experience. So,
wherever you are in the world, you should be posting up your
information-related job vacancies. It's free for a basic listing or
you can pay a small fee for extra coverage, like in this newsletter.
If you're looking for a job (or just want to keep an eye on what
you're worth) then set up a profile and we'll email you weekly with
the latest vacancies. It's all confidential and you can even use a
different address so that the alert doesn't come to your work email.
We've distributed a press release about the service but would value
your help in getting extra press coverage about Free Pint Jobs. You
can find the press release at < http://www.freepint.com/press.htm>.
We're keen to continually improve the service, and have already added
the ability to be able to email details of a job to someone with a
"Send to a friend" utility. We also now welcome recruitment agencies
who, for a low monthly fee, can regularly upload their in-house
database of jobs automatically. Contact me for more details.
So, I hope you'll help us make a success of Free Pint Jobs. As more
people use the service and set up profiles this will encourage more
jobs to be listed and then it becomes more useful for all our members.
So why not set up your profile or list your vacancies today at:
<http://www.freepint.com/jobs/>
Today's edition of Free Pint is bursting at the seams as usual with
great sites and tips on doing research on the Web. There are articles
on waste resources (how can businesses find out about complying with
environmental legislation?) and finding images online (a popular
request at the Bar). These appear along with the latest happenings at
the Bar, the regular book review, reader tipples and much much more.
So, I'm sure you'll get a lot out of today's issue. Don't forget to
tell your friends about Free Pint. Why not forward this issue to them
or print out a copy and pass it around? We welcome your feedback on
anything we do, and encourage you to make the most of Free Pint Jobs.
Cheers
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Founder and Managing Editor
Email: <william@freepint.com> Tel: +44 (0)1784 455435
(c) Free Pint Limited 1997-2001
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>>> SO, YOU WANT TO CHECK OUT A UK COMPANY? <<<
What type of information do you want from our service?
>> Statutory, directory and risk information
>> P&L, balance sheet, ratios, annual accounts & cashflow
>> Directors, ownership, address and subsidiaries
View report samples, run a search and get free basic details at
<http://www.freepint.com/icc>
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Sara Renwick
* Really handy design tricks and tips for Web and Intranet sites
<http://www.dynamicdrive.com/>
* Most people have probably heard of the search engine Google, but I
find it is the best for searching the Web (you can also add it to
the toolbar of your browser) <http://www.google.com/>
* Australian PC World magazine is the best for anything related to
PC's or the Internet. Their help screens are very useful for just
about every problem you could imagine
<http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/>
* Very handy locator for legislation from any jurisdiction of
Australia <http://www.butterworths.com.au/legtracker/default.htm>
* Anything from movie times, concerts, places to go and the best
spots to eat. Available for all over Australia, but I have Sydney
bookmarked <http://www.citysearch.com.au/>
Sara Renwick is a Library Technician for Gadens Lawyers Knowledge
Centre. Sara is involved in both legal research and designing pages
for their national Intranet.
Tell us about your top five favourite Web sites. See the guidelines at
<http://www.freepint.com/author.htm> or email <simon@freepint.com>.
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> = = = = = = = = = = = = = ADVERTISEMENT = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Reading "Trouble at Risk-eGames.com" Might Make you a Winner!
Have you been following the story of Isabella and the other employees
of Risk-eGames.com posted at http://www.factiva.com/infopro? A new
chapter is posted each month. In mid-May, you will be able to vote
online for who you think the culprit is. The winner will receive
expenses to travel to the 2002 SLA Conference in Los Angeles. There'll
be runner up prizes too. Keep reading and look for voting to begin!
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>>> ANNUAL ADVERTISING WITH FREE PINT <<<
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FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/240501.htm#bar>
Free Pint Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar>
-------------------------------------------
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address <http://www.freepint.com/go/bXXXX> or enter
the number in the "Jump To" box on the Bar homepage]
We've been spanning the ancient and the modern in the Free Pint Bar
recently with quite a few questions about Latin (9793, 9689, 9829,
9796, 9838, 9659) and text messaging (9871, 9657, 9778, 9634, 9781).
And the true origins of five o'clock tea are still a matter of dispute
(9572).
But generally we concentrate on current things. Hence the number of
software related questions that arise. There have been queries about
Word (9808, 9583, 9667), FrontPage (9678), Primavera P3e (9619), Adobe
software (9878, 9708), Ladylodge software (9707), PC fax software
(9845), free database software (9612), CD catalogue software (9549)
and software directories (9614).
Free Pinters have also been asking about broadband connections (9681,
9775), .asp extensions (9819), .net interpreter/compilers (9607),
deleting temporary files (9660), electronic delivery methods for
market reports (9544), examples of online business related forms
(9737) and photos that look neither too out of date nor too American
(9524).
Business researchers have been enquiring about German property tax
(9519), US private company ownership (9522), matching UK SIC codes to
companies (9791), applying for charitable status (9807), finding the
names of CEOs of top companies (9822), translation services (9719),
startup funding (9533), and credit checking (9537).
There has also been interest in customer contact (9569), creating a
database of all the companies on the London Square Mile (9801), help
in writing an e-business proposal (9770), Internet consultancies
(9786), international company "extensions" (9756) and the sale of New
Solutions to Omnicom (9687).
There have been several questions from the healthcare industry lately.
People have been looking for a European hospitals database (9565),
free medical newsletters (9556), general healthcare data (9621), a
list of the interests of all pharmaceutical companies (9761) and a UK
chatroom or support group for users of Enbrel, a drug used in the
treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (9518).
Recruitment, too, has come in for a mention. Questions have been
raised about recruitment agencies dealing with knowledge management in
Ireland or Canada (9727), contract work (9815), SAP in Europe (9542)
and street canvassers (9799). There are also questions about the
responsibilities that go with certain jobs (9797), salary data (9515)
and working in Switzerland (9724).
Quantitative data is sought in the forms of junk bond yields for the
telecoms sector (9811), the largest European companies around in 1900
(9503), historic spot prices for methanol (9654), UK mutual
associations (9514), tutorials on statistics (9777) and statistics on
the provision of network services (9618).
Resources have been recommended for those interested in chemical names
(9567), banking terminology (9752), maps of Europe (9539), learning to
speed type (9790) and finding free online courses and tutorials
(9500). There were a couple of search related questions, one about
search engine features (9562) and another about search engines not
allowing you to view all the hits they find (9818). And I reviewed
Scirus, a new science search tool (9685).
Miscellaneous questions have ranged from ones about sources of album
release dates (9525) to the gospel musician, Hall Johnson (9825) and
from the UK election online (9558) to virtual reality journals (9680).
There has also been interest in marketing a volunteer project (9637),
a journal called Scriberian (9849), a book called Strictly Boardroom
(9760) and the use of concrete slabs in air-raid shelters (9566).
Free Pint Student Bar <http://www.freepint.com/student>
-------------------------------------------------------
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address <http://www.freepint.com/go/sXXXX>]
Students have been researching the accuracy of job advertisements for
information and knowledge management positions (1417), ebooks (1427),
workforce reactions to the introduction of an intranet (1432),
indirect communication of information (1435) and electricity pricing
(1440).
As well as the usual interest in university rankings (1413, 1428) and
getting the lowdown on finding suitable courses (1430, 1431), there
has also been a posting about preparing a statement of purpose (1421).
Simon Collery, Content Developer <simon@freepint.com>
If you have a tricky research question or can help other Free Pinters
then do post a message at the Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar> or
the Student Bar <http://www.freepint.com/student>.
To have the latest Free Pint Bar postings sent to you every other day,
send a blank email to <digest@freepint.com>. For the Student Bar
Digest send an email to <studentdigest@freepint.com>.
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> = = = = = = = = = = = = = ADVERTISEMENT = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
*** MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE ? ***
Is your web site more than just a pretty face? Do you want to
build an online community, or add a "killer app" to your site?
Lightwood Consultancy Ltd are specialists in creating dynamic,
database driven web sites. Call now on 0800 092 3441 or visit
<http://www.lightwood.net/fp/>
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FREE PINT JOBS
<http://www.freepint.com/jobs>
Free Pint Jobs has details of 115 information-related vacancies
around the world. The following are a selection of featured jobs:
Information Manager
An excellent opportunity to join a top management consultancy
assisting with the delivery of information solutions globally.
<http://www.freepint.com/go/j11>
Assistant Librarian (Health and Social Services Information Unit)
Information professional required for indexing, abstracting, and
classifying health based library stock.
<http://www.freepint.com/go/j108>
Graduate Trainee
Two opportunities in a prestigious law firm for graduate trainees
seeking experience prior to further study.
<http://www.freepint.com/go/j110>
National Information Manager
Charity require a competent individual to create and manage a
multi-site management information Intranet.
<http://www.freepint.com/go/j120>
[The above jobs are paid listings]
It is free to search Free Pint Jobs and you can set up a profile to be
notified by email of relevant new vacancies.
Listing jobs is also free, or you can pay to receive significant
further publicity including coverage in this newsletter. Recruitment
agencies can also automatically upload all their jobs.
Find out more today at <http://www.freepint.com/jobs>
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>>> WHY PAY FOR LIST HOSTING? <<<
If you publish an email newsletter then you're probably asking
yourself the above question. There are many advantages to Free Pint's
list hosting service over other 'free' services.
Read the "Comparison" at <http://www.freepint.com/bulk/>
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/240501.htm#tips>
"Waste on the WWW"
By Helen Rendell
Waste. We all generate it, but hardly give it a second thought until
the bin-men go on strike. Or the government taxes it. Waste is also
generated by every business under the sun, so the number of
organisations concerned with it in some form or another and thus the
websites containing waste information is enormous. Therefore, before
I start, I offer an apology to all those people I will undoubtedly
offend by omitting their favourite site. I would also like to thank
Heather Cholerton, my colleague at the (now defunct) Waste Management
Information Bureau for all her efforts in teaching me all I know about
waste, and contributing her bookmarks so generously. So, down to
business. I start with -
Official Bodies - UK
--------------------
Waste regulation and policy touches many of the government bodies in
the UK, but the main ones to note are the Department of the
Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) <http://www.detr.gov.uk>
the Environment Agency <http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk> and HM
Customs and Excise <http://www.hmce.gov.uk>.
The DETR is responsible for collecting waste statistics, and
formulating policy. They seem to have two different pages pointing to
their waste documents at <http://www.detr.gov.uk/index/waste.htm> and
<http://www.environment.detr.gov.uk/waste/index.htm> both of which
contain links to key documents such as national statistics and the
waste strategy, then slightly different additional resources. More
documents are being added all the time, so it's worth keeping an eye
here.
The Environment Agency is currently re-vamping its website at
<http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk>. Currently waste information
for companies can be found by navigating off the front page via the
BUSINESS link. They are also putting together the NETREGS service, at
<http://www.netregs.environment-agency.gov.uk/>. This is a collection
of guidelines aimed at helping businesses comply with environmental
legislation. Only some parts are operational as yet, but it is still
well worth a visit. Scrapyards and metals recycling are covered as an
industry sector and other waste related topics are scattered around
the site. However, the search engine doesn't seem to work too well. I
found most of the information I wanted by navigating via links and the
sitemap instead.
Wales and Scotland have their own equivalents of the Environment
Agency. The Welsh version is the Environment Agency Wales
<http://www.environment-agency.wales.gov.uk/> and the Scottish one is
the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency at
<http://www.sepa.org.uk>. Both again have useful amounts of
information on their sites. HM Customs and Excise contains information
on the landfill tax, and a list of landfill sites across the UK,
arranged by county, at
<http://www.hmce.gov.uk/bus/excise/lft-bus.htm>.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme
<http://www.wrap.org.uk/index.htm> has been set up by the DETR to push
forward reuse and recycling in the UK. The website is sparsely
populated at present (they have been in existence for less than a
year) but has some very useful data on different waste types, such as
paper, glass, plastics and wood.
International Organisations
---------------------------
There are several bodies involved with waste, and their websites
are of variable quality. However, the trend is to put up more and
more full-text documents and reports containing hard information on
these sites. So, I will merely list here, with brief comments, the
ones everybody ought to be aware of.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Office of Solid
Waste and Emergency Response have their official home page at
<http://www.epa.gov/swerrims/> but I found it easier to navigate the
site starting from <http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/index.htm>.
Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is at
<http://www.unep.ch/basel/index.html>.
European Environment Agency <http://www.eea.eu.int/> have a section on
waste at <http://themes.eea.eu.int/issues/waste> with several
downloadable reports on statistical and technical issues. They also
have a programme called the European Topic Centre on Waste and
Material Flows, again with downloadable reports, at
<http://www.etc-waste.int/>.
The European Union Environment Directorate (probably still better
known as DGXI) has a section on waste, and again it is probably better
to navigate from the home page, which for English speakers is
<http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/index_en.htm>.
The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA)
<http://www.swana.org/> has all the usual contact details and activity
sections professional bodies go in for, and rates a mention here
because it contains a Pub of the Month - of interest to Free Pinters,
I thought, until I realised that Pub was short for Publication!
Professional Organisations
--------------------------
The trade and professional organisations involved in waste in the UK
have good websites, and also provide a springboard to go a-visiting
others.
The Environmental Services Association (ESA)
<http://www.esauk.org> is the trade body for the waste management
industry, i.e. for companies, and the Institute of Wastes
Management (IWM) <http://www.iwm.co.uk> caters more for individuals.
Both websites have basic contact details, and describe the activities
of the organisations in a fair amount of detail, including their
training courses.
The best item on the ESA site is their comprehensive company
directory. It is presented as a very simple fill-in-the boxes
interface and actually does seem to return the information asked for
very quickly. It can be searched by company name, activity (pick from
a list) and by county (pick from a list).
This picking is important as there seems to have been no
standardisation of addresses - for example, if you search for
Oxfordshire, you need to choose both Oxon and Oxfordshire - not
obvious if you don't look it up. The details on companies returned
include their websites. I double checked on Google for a few of those
listed without a website link, and there seems to be genuinely no
web address for those companies. Full marks to ESA for this one.
In comparison, the directory on the IWM site returned "no results" too
often for my taste, and so I gave up in disgust. However, the jewel
in their crown is a splendid collection of news items, under the
LATEST NEWS button which covers everything happening in the industry
at present, from the conference announcements, who's moved where,
latest government consultation papers, new government guidelines on
waste, which in this case includes masses on foot and mouth -
disposal of carcasses, and even tenders, with links to the relevant
website.
This is really an excellent section - links are accurate, and contact
detail with emails given where links don't exist. The IWM site is
changing quite rapidly at present, obviously undergoing major
development, and is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
If you need to go beyond the UK, then the place to start would be with
the European Federation of Waste Management (FEAD) - Federation
Europeenne des Activities du Dechet <http://www.fead.be>. There is not
much on this site, but it sometimes contains position papers on
various EU legislative proposals, and does give links to the
professional bodies in the different European countries.
The International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) is in Denmark and
describes itself as "an independent, non-governmental, non-profit
making association. ISWA's objective is the maximum exchange of
information and experience world-wide on all aspects of solid waste
management." <http://www.iswa.org>. Again, the usual contact details
are given.
They also host discussion groups, but membership is
required for some sections of this. There is a public section,
however, where you can post your waste queries, and get an expert
answer. ISWA also compile a very useful company/product directory,
available from James and James at
<http://www.jxj.com/yearbook/iswa/index.html>.
Waste by Type
-------------
Waste Watch is an NGO advising on, yes, waste at
<http://www.wastewatch.org.uk>. This is a good website with masses of
information and a very good and comprehensive set of links. It is so
good that I am not going to set out a list of different types of
organisations dealing with different waste streams, but merely direct
you straight to their web links page at
<http://www.wastewatch.org.uk/links/links.htm>.
So, here ends the whistle-stop tour. I hope it was been useful, and
that the links don't go out of date too quickly.
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Helen Rendell has been administering to the information needs of
business and industry for 20 years, starting off at the British
Library and migrating out to industrial research and development
centres. She currently works for AEA Technology Environment near
Abingdon.
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Related Free Pint links:
* "Environment" articles & resources in the Portal
<http://www.freepint.com/go/p47>
* "Environmental information guide" article in Free Pint No.32
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/180299.htm>
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/240501.htm#tips>
* Post a message to the author now at the Free Pint Bar
<http://www.freepint.com/bar>
* Access the entire archive of Free Pint articles and issues
<http://www.freepint.com/portal/content/>
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>>> DO YOU RUN AN INFORMATION CONFERENCE OR EXHIBITION? <<<
Make sure you keep your free listing
up to date at Free Pint Events
<http://www.freepint.com/events>
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf>
"Online Communities:
Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability"
Reviewed by Marylaine Block
Information professionals are beginning to participate in, and even
create, fully interactive online communities, learning from each other
in online discussion groups, posting questions on bulletin boards,
using messaging software to work together on distance education
assignments, and creating online book discussion groups for patrons.
For all these reasons and more, information professionals will find
this book useful in solving the inherent problems of online
communities: building community, and ensuring ease of use.
The basic problem in building online communities is that it's hard to
build trust and security when people have no physical presence and
shared commitment. Preece suggests a variety of strategies to
compensate, including using moderators, requiring registration,
posting netiquette rules, establishing a privacy policy, using
emoticons, and using software that places representations of speakers
in a simulated shared environment.
She discusses the virtues and limitations of each form of online
communication - bulletin boards, for example, allow you to review and
revise your thoughts, but lack immediacy, while chats allow immediate
response but don't encourage extended, careful thought.
She provides a digest of research in such fields as social
informatics, interpersonal communication, social presence, and network
analysis, and shows how this knowledge can be helpful for decision-
making when building online communities - for example, do you wish to
create a sense of boundedness to build close ties, or loose boundaries
to foster a wider range of participants, experience and ideas?
The chapter on community-centered development traces a process that
begins with assessing community needs and analyzing what tasks users
will want to perform. The next steps are selecting the software and
designing the web site, social planning, designing and testing
prototypes, and fine-tuning to improve sociability and usability.
Readers who are not technically adept will especially value the
explanations of the virtues and limitations of the different kinds of
software systems.
The book has a number of valuable comparison charts and other tools
for decision-making, including checklists and evaluation instruments
for sociability and usability, comparisons of software, sample
registration forms, explanations for newbies of the rules and
software, and templates for polite bulletin board queries and
responses ("What I think you mean is ... My own view differs in this
way ..."). It also includes a section on using formal evaluations and
surveys to test the system.
We see all of this information brought to bear in real life as the
Down Syndrome Online Advocacy Group and creators of a Quiz Bowl
Archive build web pages with integral online communities. Both must
decide who their constituency is, survey them to find what information
needs the service should meet, choose software, develop policies,
create introductory screens to explain how the systems work, and add
or revise features as the system's weaknesses are discovered.
Preece, a long-time researcher on human-computer interactions and
empathic online communities, conveys what she has learned with grace
and clarity. Information professionals designing online communities
will welcome this readable, useful guide.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
While serving as head of public services at St. Ambrose University's
library, Marylaine built a well-known web site, Best Information on
the Net (BIOTN) and began writing online columns, including one for
Fox News. She's now a full-time writer, Internet trainer, and
publisher of two ezines for librarians, ExLibris
<http://marylaine.com/exlibris/> and Neat New Stuff I Found This Week
<http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html>. She's written numerous articles
for library publications and has edited a book of the wit and wisdom
of Barbara Quint, The Quintessential Searcher, due in July 2001 from
Information Today.
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FEATURE ARTICLE
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/240501.htm#feature>
"Images on the Web"
By Ian Watson
This article will identify some sites that have proved useful in the
newspaper business and provide some links to help newcomers get
started. It will briefly touch on copyright and image formats.
Pictures present some challenges that might not be familiar to
practised text searchers. The world of online images is not as mature
as the world of online text and there is a distinct lack of a major
aggregator like Lexis Nexis. It is necessary, therefore, to build up
a list of sources and get to know what they offer. Indexing tends to
be poor, often relying solely on words in the captions rather than
assigned subject headings.
The purpose of text searches is usually for background information or
research rather than re-use. Pictures, on the other hand, are
usually sought for a specific purpose and with intention of re-using.
Before venturing into this world it is therefore useful to be aware of
copyright, reproduction rights and fees. Some knowledge of digital
image formats is also useful.
Copyright and Fees
------------------
A good place to start is the website of the British Association of
Picture Libraries and Agencies (BAPLA) <http://www.bapla.org.uk>.
This site includes helpful background information on how to approach
picture research as well as an introduction to copyright and
licensing. The cost of a picture is determined by a number of
variables, including size (or prominence) of reproduction, territory
in which it will appear, the medium in which it will be reproduced,
the time and/or quantity of reproductions and whether use is exclusive
or non-exclusive. For this reason there is no single price for a
photograph: what you pay depends on the valuation placed on the
picture by the rights holder and how much value it adds to your
project. Normally it will cost less to hang it on your wall than to
put it on the front page of a magazine. Basically, if the picture is
going to make you money, the rights holder is entitled to a
proportionate share.
Resolution and Formats
----------------------
Digital images are made up of hundreds of small dots called pixels.
The quality of a digital image depends on the concentration of the
pixels (the resolution), usually measured as pixels per inch (or
centimetres). In general, a resolution of 72 ppi (sometimes called dpi
- dots per inch) is good enough for use on Web pages. For newspapers
200 dpi is normally fine while magazines might require 300. A word of
caution though. The image also has physical dimensions, e.g. 5x3 cm.
If this image is blown up to 30x18 the individual dots start to
become visible and the image becomes unusable. When acquiring a
digital image it is necessary to know not only the resolution (dpi)
but also the size at which it is to be used. The more dots per inch
(higher the resolution) and the bigger the dimensions, the bigger the
file size.
When searching for images most sites will display free of charge very
low resolution images (thumbnails). These are virtually unusable for
anything other than viewing on a computer screen. An intermediate size
(preview) is sometimes offered to let you gauge better the suitability
of the image. Once you decide to buy, you are given permission to
download an image at a size and resolution suitable for the agreed
use.
Digital images can be very large and very large files are not very
transportable. To overcome this barrier, images can be compressed for
storage and transmission and uncompressed for use. A very common
format is JPEG (named after the committee that developed it - the
Joint Photographic Experts Group) and images compressed using this
standard are often named with the suffix jpg. Using JPEG, files of 20
megabytes can be reduced to around 1 megabyte.
Other formats that are commonly encountered include TIFF (Tagged Image
File Format) and GIF (Graphics Interchange Format). Image software
such as Adobe PhotoShop allows conversion from one format to another.
Other acronyms that you may encounter in the world of digital imagery
are RGB - the colours are generated by mixing Red Green and Blue - and
CMYK - the colours are generated by mixing Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and
Black.
The science of ensuring consistency of colour from monitor to printed
output is very complex and beyond the scope of this quick drink. For
a good introduction to digital image formats see Picture Research in
the Digital Age by Julian Jackson <http://www.julianjackson.co.uk>.
Having mastered formats and rights you are ready to look for images.
It is of course possible to go to any search engine and request
'pictures of birds'. Depending on the ambiguity of the words you
choose, you might get more than you bargained for and quite possibly
fall foul of your company's acceptable use policy. During National
Cleavage Week our Diarist decided that the male cleavage known as
"builders' bum" should also be featured on our pages. Indiscriminate
searching using this term returned many pictures that would not be
considered tasteful.
Many web novices would go to Altavista's image search facility at
<http://uk.altavista.com/s?spage=searchimg.htm> which will trawl the
web to find pictures from any number of sources. For example, one of
my searches led to a story on the CNN website and an image belonging
to Allsport, a well known sports photo agency. Altavista also offers
a link to two important sources: Corbis and Hulton-Getty, both of
which are rapidly developing as aggregators.
Corbis <http://www.corbis.com> is Bill Gates' collection of
photographs and paintings, which claims to be the world's largest.
Images on the site are available for professional purposes - news,
advertising, editorial, etc. - as well as for decorating your office
or enlivening your PowerPoint presentations.
The index uses the words in the caption so that a search for Bob Dylan
and Robbie Robertson finds a picture containing only the latter: Dylan
is mentioned in the caption but is not in the picture. This is a
problem in all kinds of information retrieval but especially so in
pictures. Typically the image caption provides background or
contextual information. Corbis does offer an advanced search which
allows searching by various criteria:
* Number of people in the image
* Dominant hue
* Location
* Abstract concepts, such as Freedom
The 'exact search' option makes it easier to find groups with
ambiguous names such 'The Band'. It did not, however, help me find
any pictures of the 5-piece pop group 'Steps'. Helpfully Corbis
provides a listing of broader, narrower and related terms. It did not
help me in my quest though. 'Steps' and 'Pop' got me a picture of
George Bush and pop singer Ricky Martin dancing on the steps of New
York's Lincoln Memorial.
The images carry details of restrictions on use and visitors are
invited to register with Corbis if they want to use the picture.
<http://www.gettyimages.com> is the home of the huge Hulton-Getty
collection which includes many famous agencies: Tony Stone Images,
Allsport, the Hulton Archive, Telegraph Colour Library and the Image
Bank. Like Corbis, viewing thumbnails is free but before using
anything you need to check copyright. The site provides links to the
various libraries owned by Getty Images and search facilities are
different on each site. Most are rudimentary leading to the usual
retrieval problems.
<http://www.alamy.com> is a relatively new site with the aim of
'acting as a route to market for individual creators of imagery'
thereby providing creative professionals with access to the latest
images from all over the world.
This site is not for everyday pictures of politicians and
entertainers. Rather it concentrates on the 'art' end of the market.
Access is in English but Alamy is promising French, Spanish,
Portuguese, German, Italian and Japanese gateways in the summer of
2001. Contributors to the site include Pictor, Imagefarm, ImageSource
and BBC Wild.
<http://www.speedpix.com> is an interesting site with some advanced
search features, including themes - blurred vision, end of the day,
misty mood, etc. Detailed advice is given on the use of keywords to
describe abstract concepts such as confusion, love, anger, romance.
<http://www.infocus.co.uk> is a Scarborough based photo agency
specialising in sport and celebrities from the entertainment world.
Searching is by name, keyword and category (athletics, cricket,
entertainment, politics, royalty, etc.). Selected images are saved to
a lightbox from where they can be downloaded or delivered by CD.
<http://www.allsport.com>, owned by Hulton-Getty, is one of the
world's leading sports agencies. With thousands of images it is one
the best sources for the professional picture user. EMPICS,
<http://www.empics.co.uk>, also offers access to a comprehensive
sports image collection for professional buyers. For the consumer
market Empics has taken the innovative step of setting up a specialist
site at <http://www.thesportarchive.com> where you can select images
and send them as postcards or have your favourite print framed. For
high quality sports images an interesting source is
<http://www.actionimages.com>.
For a wider range of newspaper photography try Mirror Syndication
International on <http://www.mirrorpix.com> which boasts 100 years of
photographs. This site has everything from the Beatles to historic
front pages of Mirror group titles. A single search box is offered
and searches employ Boolean logic (the help screen provides a
commendably succinct guide to Boolean logic). This works rather well:
'(pop group) and Steps' at last delivered a picture of the singing
fivesome - as well as the Beatles on the steps of a plane.
At the fun end of the spectrum it's worth visiting
<http://www.cartoonbank.com>. Here you can search for cartoons from
the New Yorker Magazine and send them, free of charge, as e-cards.
For 15 US dollars the cartoon can be used to give your presentations
an ice-breaking touch of humour. For those with deeper pockets, 195
US dollars will buy a framed cartoon to decorate the wall, 29.95 US
dollars a T-shirt and 39.95 US dollars a sweatshirt. Searching is
reasonably good in that most cartoons lampoon easily identifiable
groups such as surgeons, politicians or lawyers.
Drawn and Quartered <http://www.drawnandquartered.com> provides a
global editorial news graphics service covering the issues,
personalities, and news stories of the day. DandQ has collected and
scanned thousands of award-winning images: from caricatures in
politics, sports, business and finance, Hollywood, music, arts and
entertainment, philosophy, religion, science and technology to topical
cartoons on most every conceivable subject. From Kofi Annan to Boris
Zhirinovski, from GM Foods to the Internet, subject matter can be
searched, located, and downloaded for all kinds of licensed use,
online or offline.
The number of sites continues to grow. To keep up-to-date look at
<http://www.fotofinder.net> and the BAPLA site
<http://www.bapla.org.uk>.
The sites listed above represent a very small sample of what is
available in a rapidly evolving world. To keep abreast, try
looking at www.fotofinder.net. BAPLA is also an excellent source:
try <http://www.bapla.org.uk/membdir/search.asp> for a list of member
organisations, many of which have web sites.
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Ian Watson is Head of Rights and Information with SMG Publishing,
publisher of The Herald, the Sunday Herald and the Evening Times. His
responsibilities include exploiting the value stored in the company's
digital assets, in particular the extensive text and image archives.
Previously he worked with the Turing Institute, a centre of excellence
in artificial intelligence, and the Planning Exchange, the Glasgow-
based centre for information on economic and physical planning.
Professionally he is an active member of the Institute of Information
Scientists and contributes a regular column on the Information Society
to Managing Information. He is Chairman elect of the Association of
UK Media Librarians.
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- Publication Date: 23rd May 2001
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