Is It Time to Give Google+ Another Go?
6th May 2013

There are still a lot of misconceptions about what Google+ is and how it can be used. James Mullan asks whether it is time to give Google+ another go and explores facets such as Communities, Circles and Sparks and how they can be used in a professional context. He also looks into the way that Google+ lends itself to smartphone and iPad use.

Read

Source Update May 2013: What's Happening with Factiva?
6th May 2013

This month's additions and takedowns in Factiva, researched and compiled by Anne Jordan.

Read

Searching Biomedical Literature: An Alternative Way
2nd May 2013

Yulia Aspinall introduces GoPubMed, a free tool from PubMed which aims to bring statistical and visualisation features into research results to help speed up literature evaluation, conclusions and concept building for researchers in the biomedical field. Users benefit from using Gene Ontology and MESH classification in a more refined way and GoPubMed offers the potential to significantly speed up the process of literature evaluation.

Read

Competitive Intelligence: Deciphering Corporate Strategy using Secondary Sources
1st May 2013

As part of FreePint’s series of articles on competitive intelligence focused on helping information professionals gain a competitive advantage over technology, Milan Dalal of the Brook Intelligence Centre explains how piecing together the clues contained within secondary sources can surface a company’s strategy. He details why there is an increasing need for this type of analysis, the sources to consider, and how to critically evaluate them. He also demonstrates how your opinions can add value to the process.

Read

Has LinkedIn Got its Finger on the Pulse of its Contacts?
1st May 2013

There have been a number of very interesting announcements from LinkedIn recently. Amongst these was their purchase of Pulse, a newsreader application that aggregates news sources. How will this acquisition and other announcements such as the new LinkedIn Contacts App enhance our LinkedIn experience?

Read

Infographics: The "At a Glance" Research Source
30th April 2013

One might think incorporating non-text sources into a research strategy of any sort would be almost a given considering the large amount of visual data available both online and in print but it does remain a neglected area. Infographics can be a valuable source for identifying and visualising trends, obtaining a quick picture of a situation, determining a starting point for research and much more. Jan Knight also highlights some of the popular tools for creating your own infographics.

Read

FreePint Report: Internal Communications
29th April 2013

Read

The Importance of Context in Search and Big Data
29th April 2013

Keith Cooper provides an insight into web data extraction and monitoring in the field of big data and explains how unstructured big data can be turned into actionable information. He also explains the importance of context in search and why narrowing the field of enquiry produces the most relevant data for subsequent analysis.

Read

Whistleblowing - Are You Getting the Help You Need?
29th April 2013

Reportedly there is now unprecedented awareness of anti-corruption regulation but the UK fraud prevention service finds that the incidence of whistleblowing is still exceptionally low. Perhaps the current staff oversight model is broken; maybe information companies may face special challenges in dealing with internal corruption? Meanwhile consultation is underway on ways to better protect whistleblowers. This could present opportunities for information professionals to have their say and cement their place in their organisation’s risk and compliance function.

Read

The Inexorable Rise of Social Knowledge Management
26th April 2013

One of the biggest challenges faced by information professionals is getting the right information to the right people at the right time. Whilst traditional knowledge management techniques have worked for many years, we're beginning to see a new trend: the use of Social KM techniques. James Mullan asks why social is so important and questions how employers can encourage staff to share information in the legal sector and elsewhere.

Read