Subject: Free Pint No.58 - Portals, Cyber Trends, OED Free Pint "Helping 27,000 people use the Web for their work" http://www.freepint.co.uk/ ISSN 1460-7239 16th March 2000 No.58 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = IN THIS ISSUE EDITORIAL TIPS AND TECHNIQUES "Portals" By Martin White BOOKSHELF "Net future: the 7 cyber trends that will drive your business, create new wealth and define your future". Reviewed by Lesley Robinson FEATURE ARTICLE "WWW.OED.COM - A New Home for the Dictionary" By Simon Collery FREE PINT BAR SUMMARY by Simon Collery FREE PINT GOLD FORTHCOMING EVENTS http://www.freepint.co.uk/events FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES CONTACT INFORMATION ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/160300.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = *** VALUECLICK PAYS FOR YOUR TRAFFIC *** Generate revenue from your web site traffic. ValueClick manages the advertising for thousands of web sites worldwide: * We pay you monthly for all the Clicks you generate * We guarantee 100% sell-out of all advertising inventory * Easy to get started and no contracts required Sign up at www.valueclick.com or mailto:sales@valueclick-europe.com > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [vc581] >>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<< Free Pint is a community of business professionals who use the Web for their work. Members receive this free newsletter every two weeks packed with tips and articles by information professionals who share how they find quality and reliable information on the Internet. The Web site at gives free access to the substantial archive of articles, book reviews, industry news and events, with research questions and answers at the "Free Pint Bar". > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EDITORIAL I have been very privileged lately to have been asked to talk alongside some of the "big boys" at some recent Web strategy conferences, including QXL, Lastminute and Scoot. I've heard about how much bigger B2B (business-to-business) commerce will be over B2C (business-to-consumer), the excitement surrounding C2C auctions and how some companies are "refocusing on the customer with a shift in the paradigm to C2B". Hmmm. Put this alongside our discussions with investors on the future of Free Pint, and I now feel reasonably well versed in new technologies (WAP and interactive TV) and buzz-words like mCommerce, clicks-and-mortar and defensibility. As a result, people have been asking me if I've invested in the latest tech stock offerings. For my investments I look at long-term fundamentals, and there aren't too many companies which excite me on that front. There is one private company which springs to mind though ... Saga. That's right, the people which market products to the over 50s. I'm not even allowed to join (due to my age you understand) but it's certainly a company that excites me with it's strategy for making the most of the Web. For instance, they already have the brand and channel in place with some 5.5m people in their database (yes, 5.5 million!). This is 40% of the ABC1 over 50 market in the UK, and almost half have made an enquiry or purchase within the last two years. Their monthly magazine has a circulation of one million, making it the second largest consumer monthly in the country. In advance of the imminent relaunch of their site they have been running focus groups around the country. They've been finding out what people like and dislike about Web sites and they know the colours and navigation systems that work. They don't bang on about the qualification for joining, they just provide appropriate content with an appropriate slant for their audience. It is this kind of company which I believe will offer a long term and viable proposition for eCommerce. This is what clicks-and-mortar is all about - effectively linking the offline and online business. The focus is clearly on finding out what the audience wants and offering them top quality products and advice whilst leveraging their buying power to offer great prices. Keep an eye on their site over the next few weeks to see the transformation, but I bet they won't join the hype in the media surrounding this industry. This is what excites me about the opportunities presented by new technologies. Being invited to speak about my vision for the future of Free Pint allows me to shout about the importance of focusing on our user's needs, and on the fundamentals of quality, utility and value for money. Building on the foundations we have put in place over the last two years makes Free Pint a viable proposition in the longer term and that is very exciting. To add to this excitement we bring you another packed issue today as we take a look at where portal sites are going and the new Web-based Oxford English Dictionary. We roundup all that's been happening at the Bar over the last couple of weeks, as well as highlighting some of the forthcoming industry events. If you enjoy today's issue then please do support us by spreading the word to your colleagues and friends. Why not forward this issue to them now? Thanks also for all your letters of encouragement. Kind regards, William William Hann BSc MIInfSc Founder and Managing Editor, Free Pint e: william@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436 Free Pint is a trademark of Free Pint Limited http://www.freepint.co.uk/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = *** STOP! *** ValueClick drives traffic to your web site at home and abroad and delivers millions of visitors per month to e-commerce and destination sites at a guaranteed cost per Click. Build traffic now by calling ValueClick at +44 (0)20 7751 0555 www.valueclick.com or mailto:advertise@valueclick-europe.com > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [vc582] >>> RECOMMEND A FRIEND <<< Allow us to send your friends a courteous introduction to Free Pint by entering their details confidentially at http://www.freepint.co.uk/reco.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = TIPS AND TECHNIQUES http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/160300.htm#tips "Portals" By Martin White Over the last year or so the term 'portal' has suddenly come centre stage. There are now references to corporate portals, enterprise information portals and vortals, and at the Online Information exhibition in London in December 1999 quite a significant number of companies providing knowledge management software were also listing the development of corporate portals as one of functions of the software. Before embarking on a survey of sources of information on portals it might be useful to try to offer some definitions. Portals ------- At the basic level a portal site provides access to a structured collection of information resources. The important word here is 'structured'. The archetypal portal is Yahoo!, with its hierarchical array of indexing web sites, and I would argue that search sites that are primarily text-search based are not portals. Also important is the concept of a collection of information. Rather than just providing access to the entire web a portal service should be taking responsibility for the quality of content. The concept of an information portal is not new, as their origins can be traced back to the online services such as the Lockheed Dialog and SDC Orbit search services that began operation in the 1970s. In the consumer market the definition is usually broadened to include a range of other sites that provide a comprehensive collection of information and entertainment services. There are three first-tier services that dominate the market in terms of usage, and these are AOL, Yahoo! and Microsoft MSN. The next level includes Lycos, Excite@Home, Amazon and About.com. The Disney site Go.com has been a member of this group, but Disney are now planning to make it exclusively an entertainment site. There are indications that these second-tier sites are going to find it very difficult to maintain growth in advertising support. Advertisers either want the colossal audiences that the first-tier portals provide, or the niche vertical portals that specialise in sports, entertainment and home shopping. All these sites function on advertising income, so there is a constant interest in the number of hits on the sites. A comprehensive service monitoring the usage of the US sites, and more recently sites in Europe and Asia is provided by Media Metrix . The Traffick site monitors developments in the consumer portal business, and offers an email news service to complement the comprehensive range of information on the site itself. A very good report on the European consumer portal business has been prepared by the Digital Observatory, a research group funded by USWeb, and their report can be downloaded from . The report contains a very useful list of European portal sites. Vortals and vertical hubs ------------------------- It is in the business sector that definitions become more of a problem. Here one of the fast emerging business models is that of the vertical portal, or Vortal. These are sites that provide access to information that is organised along vertical market sectors, and often include the opportunity to join virtual communities in order to share information, and also to develop e-commerce trading relationships. As a result they are also sometimes referred to as 'vertical hubs'. The largest of these sites has been developed by VerticalNet . This company announced in February 2000 that it was setting up a joint venture with British Telecommunications PLC to bring its business model to Europe. Another site supporting vertical industry sectors has been developed by Powerise who were an exhibitor at the 1999 Online Information Exhibition, and also clearly have plans for Europe. Vortals are a precursor to electronic trading and there have been a couple of reports that provide a perspective on e-commerce developments with a portal perspective, and these can be obtained through (Digital marketplaces: enabling the Internet economy) and (Business to business vertical hubs on the net). In both cases the reports cannot be downloaded directly over the web, but ask for visitors to register for subsequent delivery by email. Corporate portals and Enterprise Information Portals (EIP) ---------------------------------------------------------- The main focus of portals and vortals was the provision of external business information, almost exactly the role of the original online services. Corporate portals and Enterprise Information Portals (EIP) put the emphasis primarily on effective access to internal information. Both terms are used rather loosely, but in general the term 'corporate portal' seems to have been coined to replace the use of 'intranet' to describe an internal information and communications network. As Tracy Beverly, the Intranet Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers remarked at the Corporate Intranet 2000 conference in London in January, to many managers the term intranet has connotations of 'internal' and therefore an overhead cost. An EIP is something rather more all-encompassing, and usually includes a powerful information retrieval application that works across all files and platforms in the company to provide sophisticated information search functionality, often built around the creation of individual profiles for each employee using the system. The first report to look in detail at the EIP market was prepared by Christopher Shilakes and Julie Tylman of the Enterprise Software Team of Merrill Lynch in November 1998. Their definition was that an EIP is an application that enables companies to unlock internally and externally stored information and provide users a single gateway to personalised information needed to make informed business decisions. Their forecast was that the market for EIP software would be worth $15bn by 2002, and eighteen months after their forecast this looks to be an underestimate. The 64page report can be downloaded as a large pdf file from the Sagemaker site at . Over the last year a number of other useful briefing papers have appeared on the subject of EIP applications and market prospects, and among the best of these are Corporate portals for business 15 rules for enterprise portals Defining the Enterprise Information Portal . There is also a good white paper on the Plumtree site . Plumtree were one of the first companies to offer bespoke corporate portal software. Of the various IT market analysis companies the Delphi Group has been probably the most active in researching the market, though most of its major reports are not available for free. A summary of one of the Delphi reports is given in an article in Datamation . Many of the papers at the Intranets 2000 conference that took place in San Jose in February deal with various aspects of portal development, and most of the PowerPoint versions of these papers can be downloaded from . EIP software providers ---------------------- The EIP software industry is expanding rapidly, and many of the established providers of knowledge management software are positioning themselves to take advantage of the opportunity. I am trying to maintain a comprehensive list of these on my own site , and you will also find a paper in the development of EIPs from an information industry perspective. Among those who seem to be the most active at present in Europe are Autonomy Dataware Insight Technologies Verity Two companies with a strong focus on providing access to external information through an EIP are the Dialog Corporation and the French company Mediapps . One company well placed to provide EIP solutions is the German software company SAP, who launched their MySAP product last year . A number of information industry companies are also recognising the need to provide a platform for the integration of their content with internal corporate information, including Factiva and a number of the divisions of Thomson Publishing. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Martin White is Managing Director of Intranet Focus Ltd. a company providing consulting services to providers and users of intranet and EIP software. He presented a keynote paper on portals at the Online Information Conference in 1999. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks * Discuss this article with the author now at the Free Pint Bar * There have been various discussions on this topic at the Free Pint Bar. Search for "portals" using the site search facility at . * Martin White is a regular contributor to Free Pint. Search for his other excellent contributions using the site search facility. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Knowledge Management & Intranet Solutions exhibition - discover how KM can improve your business! Knowledge Management & Intranet Solutions, 4-5 April 2000, offers you the only dedicated opportunity to explore and compare all the very latest KM products and services. The sold out exhibition includes FREE specialist and exhibitor seminars, consultancy sessions, case studies, and a careers clinic. For exhibitor details and to register for free exhibition tickets visit http://www.knowledge-management.co.uk/kmfp now. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [li583] >>> LIVE NEWSFEEDS IN 200 CATEGORIES <<< What to find out what's happening today in various industries, countries and regions around the world? Access Free Pint's free and live newsfeed today at http://www.freepint.co.uk/news > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT BOOKSHELF http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf "Net future: the 7 cyber trends that will drive your business, create new wealth and define your future". Reviewed by Lesley Robinson Seven seems to be a magic number and it works it's magic again in this book by Chuck Martin. He talks us through the seven trends he has seen emerging over the last few years in the Net revolution which he aptly calls "this electronic El Nino", transforming customers, careers and relationships. Martin keeps his language simple and tries to look at all these trends simultaneously and shows us how they work in concert to turn accepted business thinking on its head. The starting point for the book is for the reader to realise that having a company Web site does not mean that you are automatically an E-business. The Net Future is truly about E-business, which goes far beyond electronic commerce. It is about the ultimate end-to-end electronic business where the wired consumer and the wired organisation function in harmony. Impossible? Not really. It's all about being prepared. I see the book as a survival guide, giving an excellent overview of how to prepare for change by seeing the overall picture. Changes in consumer buying patterns will affect which products get developed. The products that are developed affect the operations side of a company. A change in operations affects the way a company relates to its business partners and what is needed from its workforce. Workforce requirements affect corporate training needs and employment patterns. Employment patterns affect consumer buying. This approach helps to tell a story about the Net Future and gets you thinking about your own company's position. I would say that the book is a starting point for thinking about the key trends but it does not deal with any issue in great depth and already seems a bit dated. But hey, it was written in 1999 which is about 12 light years ago in Net time. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lesley Robinson has worked in the information industry for a number of years, for organisations such as Bain & Co, KPMG and the FT. Previously, an independent consultant, Lesley now works for Free Pint on business development and raising finance. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * Related eCommerce strategy book reviews on the Free Pint Bookshelf * Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com * Read this book review online at the Free Pint Bookshelf To propose a business-Web-related book for review, send details to . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = British Library Training Courses in Medicine and Health Care. Now more than ever, being able to get accurate and up to date information about health is essential, sometimes critical. Whether you need to search for yourself or on behalf of others, these courses will help you. Making the Most of MEDLINE 11 April, Biomedical Information on the Internet 16 May and 18 July, Converting from PubMed to Internet Grateful Med 4 April, and Sources of Health Care 13 June. Contact Maureen Heath, t: 020 7412 7470 :e:maureen.heath@bl.uk > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [bl584] >>> ADVERTISE HERE TO REACH 100,000 READERS <<< Free Pint has 27,000 registered subscribers, who pass the newsletter on to their colleagues at work. This now means that each edition is read by some 100,000 business users of the Web worldwide. Find out how you can reach this audience. Full details at http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FEATURE ARTICLE http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/160300.htm#feature "WWW.OED.COM - A New Home for the Dictionary" By Simon Collery The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a masterpiece of lexicography. The decades of study and research that went into it, the amount of scholarly material used and the sheer brain power involved must make it the richest reference work ever published. As the elephant appeared differently to each of the six blind men, the OED may appear differently to each reviewer, depending on how they approach it. Users of the dictionary should have a similar experience until they have become familiar with it. And reviewers are all destined to be just a little bit right, at most. Far from reviewing the entire dictionary, this article has the more modest aim of examining a Web site that contains some of the most sophisticated content on the whole of the World Wide Web. The Web itself is also elephantine in its proportions, and technology is trying to keep up with the diverse uses which people find for it. Indeed, technology has greatly enhanced the development of the OED, and should play an even bigger part now that it is online. In the past it has been limited in size, for several reasons, including cost. But ultimately, there is a limit also to how much data users can assimilate. In electronic form, data can be sorted and filtered in ways that would never have been thought possible in the past. Size ceases to be such an issue. And there are other aspects of the Web that will lend themselves to a project such as this. Linguistic and lexicographical resources of all kinds could develop around the OED Online. The OED Web site [1] already gives access to some of the best material available on the history of the project, how you can get involved or make comments, how to use the dictionary and lots more. The OED should continue to grow and develop in this new home and it will expand from its present twenty volumes, perhaps to double that size. But what is so different about the OED? Well for a start, it is a scholarly, historical dictionary. It is not a desk dictionary, such as the Encarta World English Dictionary, or the New Oxford Dictionary of English, the type we might all use on a day to day basis. It takes quite a while to become familiar with all the things the OED can do and it is of most value to people carrying out scholarly research. However it is also of great use to anyone who wishes to find out more about the history of a word. It lists words and senses of words no longer used and words and senses of words used in limited contexts, obscure words, common words, foreign words, slang and possibly even some words which never existed anywhere outside of dictionaries. It follows their history from the earliest forms to the latest, going through all recorded changes in meaning and use. It draws distinctions so fine one may never have noticed them, distinctions made on a number of grounds, including syntax, semantics, register and subject area, depending on what evidence there is. The etymologies are very comprehensive where the historical evidence is available. There are nearly fifty variant spellings for the word 'scissors' and nearly seventy for 'cushion', though only one of each is standard at present. If you are just looking for the definition of a word, then you will get a lot more that you bargained for. The OED is seen as an authority on the English Language, the final arbiter in matters of usage. But people learn English, speak it, write in it, play games with it and do all sorts of other things without checking the OED to see if they are doing it right. Rather, whatever is done with the English language, the OED aims to record it. When you check something in the OED you are checking to see if there is a precedent for it. You are not checking to see if some lexicographers decided that it is right or wrong. So it is not an authority on the language because it lists all these definitions, spellings, etymologies and whatnots. It lists these because there is evidence that they reflect what exists or existed at one time in the language. It is an authority in the sense that it has examined how each word has been used in the past and how each is being used at present. Every entry is based on a set of quotations. Quotations are the primary ingredients for what is, in one sense, a huge corpus of English, sorted, analysed and categorised by lexicographers. Using their skills and experience, they put together a story about each word, the story being its history. The quotations illustrate the word's history and they are condensed into a definition. Each time the story wanders off the point enough, it becomes another chapter, another sense of the word. Information on spellings, pronunciation, etymology, usage and almost everything else too, is gleaned from the quotations, their dating, creator, source and whatever else can be brought to bear. The chief editor of the OED, John Simpson, attempts to lay to rest some misconceptions about the dictionary in the preface to the third edition, under the heading 'Distractions' [2]. Some expect the OED to list every word in the English language, perhaps every word that ever existed, and every sense too. This will always be impossible, and doesn't even seem desirable. Some feel that a word is not part of the language unless it is in the OED. This too is untrue and anyone can find words that are not yet covered by the OED. Even the OED must be limited by some constraints, whether they be pragmatic or otherwise. But now that the dictionary is online, there should be scope to collect data and make it accessible to interested parties, even though it might not be deemed ready for inclusion in the dictionary. Judging by the one thousand new entries, we should soon be seeing some Internet generated words, such as mirror, MP3 and MIME, if those words go the distance. Existing words will continue to take on new meanings too. And as well as adding new words and senses over the next ten years, every entry will be revised in the light of research carried out in the field of language over the decades since the first edition was published. Many definitions will be rewritten in a style more familiar to present day readers. Words or senses excluded to protect Victorian sensibilities will now be included. Happily, the original text will remain available to those who wish to study it and enjoy it. Though we don't want a dictionary written in dated language, sometimes written by someone with too many scruples to define a few words as clearly as we would now, we don't want to lose the original dictionary entries. After all, we haven't thrown away Johnson's dictionary of 1755 yet. Many still use this fine dictionary, for it is of immense scholarly value. Earlier editions of the OED are of equal scholarly value, and thanks to advances in electronic publishing, all this material is accessible to more people that ever before. In 1992, when we thought CD-ROMs were the future, the second edition of the OED on CD-ROM was an award-winning milestone in electronic publishing. Those who have used it may well see it as a little dated now, though a second version came out in 1999, with many improvements. Whichever way you look at it, it was a stepping stone to the production of the online version. As well as helping researchers in their work, it demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of an electronic version of the dictionary. It made the OED much more widely available, partly because it cost far less than the printed version and partly because it was networked throughout many major libraries. The OED online could be made available from every terminal in subscribing libraries and the cost, a maximum of about 2000 pounds a year, seems like very good value. For individuals it would be about 350 pounds a year, but this is rather expensive. Having said that, some discounts have been negotiated for institutions already [3]. The online version is quite like the CD-ROM in terms of what you can do. It is simple, being designed for the ordinary user rather than for the experienced researcher. But once the text has been fully revised it should be possible for different levels of searching to be added, if that's what users want. The online version is at a very early stage, but now that it is up and running, those involved in its development can start to cater for the needs of a vastly increased number of users. Some might argue that the only appropriate medium for reference works, especially large works, is an electronic one. Whether you are using a reference work or creating one, you should be able to do it most efficiently in an electronic environment. The content of the OED is advancing in size and scope, in accuracy and consistency. Its structure is becoming more complex, and at the same time technology is developing to allow more sophisticated treatment of data. The Web is getting to the stage where it can support such complexity. An increased number of people using the OED will mean that editors and developers will receive more feedback on omissions, errors, bugs, and anything else users feel could improve the dictionary. Since the idea of creating a historical dictionary was put forward, the project has depended on innumerable voluntary contributions and suggestions from members of the public, and this should continue at a much higher rate. The Web too was developed by innumerable parties and is also a collaborative work, with some people developing it as a way of life and some working on the periphery. One of the many benefits of having the OED online should be an increase in the number of people contributing to it. OED.com should allow us some advantages over the six blind men as we explore the home of this most excellent dictionary. Interesting Links ----------------- This is the site of the Oxford English Dictionary Online. Here you will find all the prefatory material to the OED, which is very well worth reading. You will also find a history of the OED project, a guide to using the dictionary, and lots of other interesting things. This material is freely available and requires no subscription. Web of Online Dictionaries, a site which directs you to online dictionaries in numerous languages, subject areas and specialisms. A recent project which attempts to create an 'open' encyclopedia, one created by volunteers and free to all. Substantial set of links to resources for studying the fascinating history of the English Language. Useful, interesting and entertaining things to do with words, including the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary A very different model for making large amounts of content available on the Web. Acknowledgement --------------- I would like to thank Yvonne Warburton, Editorial Publication Manager at OUP, for her help in putting together this article. After talking to her about the OED project I rewrote almost everything, I hope for the better. Notes [1] This is the site of the Oxford English Dictionary Online. [2] [3] EARL, the Consortium for Publis Library Networking, has negotiated a discount of 30-40% and a one month free trial for EARL partners. Details available at . > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Simon Collery has been involved in editorial and research work for the electronic media for a number of years, working for AND Data Solutions, Oxford, and the Oxford English Dictionary Project. One of his primary interests is the use of the Internet as a serious research tool and a source of free, reliable information and software. He works for Free Pint Limited on the business development team. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * Respond to this article and chat to the author now at the Bar * Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> VIEW THE ENTIRE FREE PINT ARCHIVE ONLINE <<< Free access to the archive of 116 articles. Selected issues to be emailed to you instantly. http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/issues.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT BAR SUMMARY http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar Here is your summary of what's been happening at the Free Pint Bar over the last couple of weeks. To read a discussion thread you can: - Just visit the Bar. It's free to use and easy to access at: http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar - Read this summary online where all the links are activated: http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/160300.htm#bar - Add the message number (no brackets) to the end of this address: http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read= For example, to read message 1432 you would visit: http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=1432 Over the years, Free Pint has been building up an archive of articles and other material. You can use our search facility to search the whole site, or just parts, such as the Bar or the newsletters. Out of the people who took part in a recent Free Pint poll on the site (2372), only 20% did not find it useful, though 10% didn't know about it. I hope you will all try it out soon. Some of our recent questions can be answered in part by searching the Bar archives, such as one for song lyric sites (2288). Sorry we couldn't help with the owl and the pussycat, though. Perhaps a semantic search engine would know what you mean (2414). Far away from the land of the Bong Tree there has been a mixture of satisfaction and dissatisfaction among Free Pinters when it comes to the efficiency of their ISP (2303). Is yours efficient? Maybe it's for similar reasons that another reveller wants to know of a benchmarking tool for ISPs (2429). Dissatisfaction has also been expressed at Amazon's decision to patent its ordering process and affiliate model (2263). Some see it as unfair, while others argue that this is just the way of commerce. We have also had objections to both the Data Protection Act (2301) and national identity cards (2297), the former being likened to Canute trying to stop the tide from coming in. If laws such as this are like natural laws, that sounds like an argument against having any laws. How do you stand on these issues? Several non-profit organizations have been in touch, one looking for help setting up an autism resource site (2329), another needing an inventory control and ordering system (2283), while a third seeks advice on Web design training (2390). If you can help with any of these, please visit the Bar. Expertise is also sought on touchscreen technology (2259), CD-ROM durability (2274), credit checking agencies (2280) and databases of academic research publications (2362). Those looking for Australian directories (2343), military/strategy bookshops (2349) and book review resources (2365) left the Bar a lot wiser than when they went in, so do have a look if you are interested in any of these. Advice was also sought and found on working in Switzerland (2395), awful web sites (2399), football resources (2430), searching newspapers (2277, 2374), and using multiple domain names (2265). And if you are interested in international affairs (2375) or a directory for information professionals (2387), you'll find them here. If you know about developing intranets (2360) or auditing their use (2316), someone needs your guidance, as does a man looking for a work placement in IT (2320) and one trying to find a business classification scheme (2322). Interest continues in bookmark collecting (2332), CGI scripts (2275), monitoring Web sites for change (2262), text file utilities (2279), research agencies (2420), map data (2426), business information (2389), market research (2448) and bank charges (2450). If you have time on your hands you may like to work for a new portal site (2356), become chief financial officer for a recruitment site (2278) or present a talk on ecommerce (2444). Simon Collery, Business Development, Free Pint Remember, to read this summary with activated hyperlinks visit ... > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bar: Do you have a research question or Web-related comment? It's easy to post a message at Digest: To have the latest Free Pint Bar postings sent to you every other day, send a blank email to Archive: Dormant postings older than 45 days are moved to Email: To write to the Free Pint team, please send your email to > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> SEARCH THE SITE IN SECONDS <<< Find out if we've covered your topic previously in the newsletter or Bar http://www.freepint.co.uk/search > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT GOLD This time two years ago we ran an article on networking and communities and it's still as difficult to find specific individuals on the Web today. Business and accounting resources were the subject of another article, subjects we have covered since, and will continue to cover in the future. One year ago we had an article on pharmaceutical and healthcare information and also one on control of access to data using passwords. This form of security continues to irk those who have to remember numerous IDs. Free Pint this time last year ... * Free Pint No.34 18th March 1999 "Pharmaceutical/ health information on the Web" and "Access Control Issues for Internet-based information services" http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/180399.htm Free Pint two years ago ... * Free Pint No.10, 19th March 1998 "Working the Net" and "Business and Accounting Resources on the Web" http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/190398.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> WANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO FREE PINT? <<< If you have an idea of a contribution for Free Pint then contact the Editor, Rex Cooke > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FORTHCOMING EVENTS http://www.freepint.co.uk/events Here are several events which may take your fancy over the next few weeks. First off is the Meta Data Conference & DAMA International Symposium, a five day conference on data management and metadata. A few days after this the Public Library Association has its Eighth National Conference, where they will be covering subjects such as providing for young adults and the role of libraries in youth development, and other issues of interest to librarians. The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals holds its Fifteenth Annual Conference in Atlanta, along with an exhibition with an expected 100 exhibitors. No marks for guessing what the main theme of the event is. Another conference and exhibition running concurrently will be the Information Highways event, held at Toronto, Canada. Some of the presentations sound as if they are intended to inspire, as well as inform. I think they will succeed. Econtent's conference, in Arizona, covers a subject close to the hearts of many. That's content, in case you hadn't guessed. And aiming to bring together techies and suits will be Learned Information's Knowledge Management and Intranet Solutions Conference in London. Full details of these and over 30 other forthcoming conferences and exhibitions in the online-information and Internet industry can be found on the Free Pint Events page at http://www.freepint.co.uk/events > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES * Corporate Web sites * Knowledge Management * Legal information * * Middle Eastern information * Museum sites * Surveillance * * Weddings * Researching for TV * Web sites for SMEs * [Provisional] > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = I hope you've enjoyed today's Free Pint, and hope you can visit the Web site soon to make use of the resources and help others at the Bar. See you in two weeks! William Hann, Managing Editor william@freepint.co.uk (c) Free Pint Limited 1997-2000 http://www.freepint.co.uk/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = CONTACT INFORMATION William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Founder and 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)1342 316027 f: +44 (0)1342 316027 Lesley Robinson BA MBA, Business Development e: lesley@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)20 8871 4284 f: +44 (0)20 8875 9165 Simon Collery BA, Business Development e: simon@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1865 434143 f: +44 (0)1784 455436 Jane, Administrator e: jane@freepint.co.uk Address Free Pint Limited, FREEPOST (SEA3901), Staines Middlesex, TW18 3BR, United Kingdom (Please add a stamp if you would like to pay for postage) Web - http://www.freepint.co.uk Advertising - ads@freepint.co.uk Subscriptions - subs@freepint.co.uk Letters & Comments - feedback@freepint.co.uk Authors - http://www.freepint.co.uk/author.htm Latest Issue Autoresponder - auto@freepint.co.uk > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Free Pint (ISSN 1460-7239) is a free newsletter written by information professionals who share how they find quality and reliable information on the Internet. Useful to anyone who uses the Web for their work, it is published every two weeks by email. 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 455 466. Please note: Free Pint is a trademark of, and published by, Free Pint Limited . 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. Write to Rex Cooke, Editor for more details. 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