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Friday, February 10, 2012
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ISSUE 44
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FYI: new and notable.
Bonnie Hohhof, bhohhof@scip.org
Search engines: news and updates.
Google is now experimenting with automatic stemming. Google changed its Basic Help page to announce that it is now using stemming. Basically, Google now takes search terms and looks for grammatical variants of SOME of them. Unfortunately, Google does not make it clear which terms it stems and which it does not. Greg Notess. ‘Google starts auto stemming searches.’ Search Engine Showdown, Nov. 28. http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/newsarchive/000742.shtml
It's been a busy year for the major meta search engines, with a number of notable developments that have restored their usefulness as worthy search tools. Over the past year, Dogpile got a new look and features, Vivisimo announced Release 4.0 of its award-winning clustering engine, InfoSpace.com re-launched as a dedicated Yellow and White Pages destination site, and Intasys agreed to sell its wireless billing subsidiaries in order to focus exclusively on Mamma.com. Greg Jarboe. ‘Meta Search engines are back.’ Search Engine Watch, Dec 4 http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3109441
Metasearch engine Vivisimo is rolling out the search engine toolbars. The minibar is at http://vivisimo.com/minibar -- you'll need Windows and IE to use it. The toolbar is at http://vivisimo.com/toolbar and offers a few additional features -- again, you'll need Windows and IE. Tara Calshain. ResearchBuzz, Dec 8. http://www.researchbuzz.org/archives/001300.shtml
Internet sites with information you can use.
BBC News Online is the internet arm of the biggest broadcasting news-gatherer in the world. It provides minute-by-minute updates on news stories through a series of 12 geographic and subject ‘front pages.’Each page is published by the teams of online journalists. Much of the material is written by these journalists and the rest comes from writers in the BBC's specialist units. http://news.bbc.co.uk
BBC News Country profiles provide an instant guide to the history, politics and economic background of almost 200 countries. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm
The aim of the Directory of Open Access Journals is to increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific and scholarly journals thereby promoting their increased usage and impact. The Directory aims to be comprehensive and cover all open access scientific and scholarly journals that use a quality control system to guarantee the content. All subject areas and languages will be covered. http://www.doaj.org/articles/about/
The Energy Information Administration (EIA), created by Congress in 1977, is a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy. It provides policy-independent data, forecasts, environmental impact, and analyses for all energy markets. Information can also be accessed by geography, fuel, sector and price. http://www.eia.doe.gov/
Welcome to the European Private Law Homepage, hosted by the Centre for European Legal Studies (CELS) of the University of Exeter. This Web site provides a starting point for legal research on European private law. The second objective of these pages is to bring together other Web resources in the field of European Private law, in particular the work carried out by colleagues at the European University Institute. http://www.ex.ac.uk/law/europriv/
FCC Search for Filed Comments: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) offers a database of comments filed with the agency. Search by company name, law firm, attorney, location or other criteria to find public comments, including letters, notices, complaints, memorandum opinions and more, filed since 1992. Genie Tyburski. The Virtual chase, Dec 5. http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/dec03/5dec03.html#bool
To provide better service in alerting the American people to unsafe, hazardous or defective products, six federal agencies with vastly different jurisdictions have joined together to create www.recalls.gov -- a "one stop shop" for U.S. Government recalls.http://www.recalls.gov/
The Governments of the Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Region have introduced gateway access to intellectual property databases in their regions. The databases cover trademarks, patents, registered designs and copyright. A table indicates whether a specific database is available for a particular region. It also explains the contents of the database (e.g. trademark law, trademark search). Genie Tyburski. The Virtual Chase, Dec. 3, http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/dec03/5dec03.html
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced the availability of a new database called Trademark Assignments on the Web System. Search by a variety of criteria, including assignor or assignee name, or applicant or registrant name, to find trademark assignments back to 1955. The announcement notes that the agency will introduce a similar system for patent assignments on 26 January 2004. Genie Tyburski. ‘USPTO launches trademark assignments.’ Dec 3. http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/dec03/8dec03.html
Software and products.
Dialog, a Thomson business and a leading worldwide provider of online-based information services and integrated information solutions, today announced the launch of its Dialog Application Programming Interface (API), a Web Service that enables Dialog's extensive content collection and renowned search engine to be integrated transparently into Web sites, enterprise portals, corporate intranets and extranets, software applications and other interactive services. Press release, Dec. 1, www.dialog.com
Ecomp is a subscription service that provides access to over 50,000 executives' compensation information from over 12,000 U.S. publicly traded companies' proxy statements, 10-Ks, and Registration Statements. http://www.ecomponline.com/
Since 1997, Hitwise has been monitoring the largest sample of global Internet users ever assembled. Each day, Hitwise monitors how more than 25 million Internet users from around the world interact with over 450,000 websites, across 160 industry categories. Providing comparative and competitive information to its 600+ clients worldwide, Hitwise strives to supply companies with relevant, timely and actionable intelligence about the changing preferences of consumers. Press release. www.hitwise.com
The Intelink Management Office, which oversees top-secret, secret and sensitive but unclassified intranets for the CIA and other intelligence organizations, has adopted the Google Search Appliance from Google of Mountain View, Calif. IMO provides centralized services for several intelligence networks, including e-mail directories and network connections, Web-crawling services, security oversight and collaboration applications. Wilson Dizard. ‘Intelligence networks go for Google.’ Government Computer News, Dec 5. http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/24358-1.html
Air Products, a supplier of electronic materials, hydrogen, helium, and select performance chemicals, has chosen Inxight SmartDiscovery to provide more than 10,000 Air Products employees worldwide with access to information via its corporate portal. The Air Products corporate portal is organized as a collection of Web pages, end-user applications, and services. It consists of 700 intranet Web sites that contain information residing in hundreds of document formats that are spread across multiple data repositories. Press release, Dec 8, www.inxight.com
MapInfo Corporation announced the release of HotSpotInfoTM, a first-of-its-kind data solution that enables users to determine the location of Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the United States. By combining MapInfo technology with Jupitermedia’s Wi-FiHotSpotList.com database, users can quickly and accurately pinpoint the location of Wi-Fi hotspots, enabling them to analyze Wi-Fi market penetration, perform in-depth competitor analysis and improve customer service. Press release, Dec 1. http://www.mapinfo.com.
Northern Light Group, LLC has announced that it will introduce the Northern Light Business Research Library on January 15, 2004. Powered by the Northern Light Enterprise Search Engine, the Business Research Library is a paid service for enterprise customers containing a collection of Web content specially selected to be of high value to business professionals as well as a collection of 1,900 periodical titles. All of the content in the periodicals collection will be available in full page-image format showing all the pictures, tables, and charts in the original articles. The Northern Light Business Research Library, which will be available at NLResearch.com, will be free of advertising. Press release, Dec. 8, www.northernlight.com
Worldnews.com, a multilingual news portal known for its independent coverage, offers a unique, tailor-made news service to businesses. Powered by a proprietary news search engine, WN Network uses several hundred online news sources in 20 languages and presents them in over 500 subject and geographical categories. These resources can now be refined and used to create customized news pages specifically for your business. http://www.mywn.com/
Searching reviews and tips.
Government Gazettes, which are published by federal governments worldwide, are the means through which the government can communicate to officials and the general public. Although most countries publish a gazette, their regularity and content varies widely, which is noted in the description of each gazette. Gazettes are useful not only to monitor the actions of the government, but also as primary source documentation in research. Government Gazettes Online attempts to list all online government gazettes and their characteristics to aid researchers. A description of the contents and coverage are included for each gazette. http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/gazettes/
Research 101 is an interactive online tutorial for students wanting an introduction to research skills. The tutorial covers the basics, including how to select a topic and develop research questions, as well as how to select, search for, find, and evaluate information sources. University of Washington Library. http://www.lib.washington.edu/uwill/research101/
Research guides already abound, and one aim of this “integrated guide” will be to offer a selection of these, both official and unofficial, in the context of research strategies. The other goals will be 1) to provide a context for categories of sources within this body of law and 2) to provide a template for research across all formats given that, even with electronic access to the materials, researchers face large amounts of documentation and terminology that is unique and perhaps unfamiliar. Most references will be to the official web site of the EU, http://www.europa.eu.int. Marylin Raisch. ‘European law: an integrated guide to electronic and print research.’ LLRX.com, Nov 29, http://www.llrx.com/features/eulaw2.htm
RSS In Government contains news about how RSS is being used by international, federal, state and local governments. Includes information on how to search RSS feeds from major search engines. http://www.rssgov.com/
Knowing that all information--and therefore, all media--contains bias, researchers expect to encounter opinions and persuasive writing on the Web. But those conducting thorough research expect to find differing arguments. This article, however, suggests that simple queries--consisting of one or two-word phrases--might promote bias in search results. If a researcher were to depend solely on the top results of a query, s/he could receive an incomplete picture of an issue. Some possible solutions include: "(a) web page authors adopting research citation practices, (b) search engines balancing organizational and analytic content, and (c) searchers practicing more wary multi-searching." Genie Tyburski. The Virtual chase, Dec 2, http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/dec03/2dec03.html
General readings of interest.
Plain English Campaign winner of the 2003 Golden Bull Award: Jungle.com for an e-mail. They were asked a simple question – Do you still sell blank CDs? Instead of simply saying 'No', the company replied: 'We are currently in the process of consolidating our product range to ensure that the products that we stock are indicative of our brand aspirations. As part of our range consolidation we have also decided to revisit our supplier list and employ a more intelligent system for stock acquisition. As a result of the above certain product lines are now unavailable through jungle.com, whilst potentially remaining available from more mainstream suppliers.' http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/goldenbull.html
It is my distinct pleasure to offer the very first ELF Report. Respondents are collectively known as ELVES, which (let's say) stands for E-business Leaders, Visionaries, Entrepreneurs, and Scholars. The ELF Report's methodology is slightly less scientific than backyard cold fusion. The good news is the ELVES find a lot to be thankful for. The ELVES submitted a fairly short list of wishes. Gary Stein. ‘Introducing the ELF report.’ Internet.com, Dec. 1, http://www.clickz.com/mkt/capital/article.php/3114031
Spyware programs range from annoying to the dangerous, including keyboard loggers and screen capture applications that can steal passwords and other sensitive information. The programs are sometimes bundled in with shareware or freeware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet. Often times they claim to be helpful utilities that also carry a more sinister side. ‘Inside Spyware: a guide for finding, removing and preventing online pests.’ Intranet Journal. http://www.intranetjournal.com/spyware/
It should be obvious; an organization can gain value by sharing information across an organization through effective knowledge management (KM). Yet, most KM initiatives have failed to deliver on the promise. The usual reason is that people have been left out of the equation. This article suggests five key steps that will help make your KM initiative work by bringing people — your management and staff — into the center of the picture. Fumiko Kondo. IntelligentKM, Dec. 3 http://www.intelligentkm.com/feature/2003/12/0312feat1_1.shtml
In the wake of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other emerging laws and regulations, managing corporate information is a mission-critical challenge. With their integrity on the line, CEOs, CFOs and other corporate officers mean business when they demand "confidence in the numbers. But where can top executives and IT managers turn for answers? "Complying with Sarbanes-Oxley" provides just those answers. Intelligent Enterprise special ebook. (requires free registration) http://www.iemagazine.com/register/ebook/sarbanesoxley/
A four-part practical approach to handling email concentrates your action on four key “pressure points” at which your efforts can have the greatest results. It does not focus on unsolicited commercial email or “spam,” as it has become popularly known. Spam handling flows naturally out of the process. The four pressure points are: (1) before emails are sent to you, (2) when you send emails, (3) when you receive emails, and (4) when you read and/or store emails. Dennis Kennedy. ‘The fourfold path to email enlightenment.’ LLRX.com, Nov 29. http://www.llrx.com/features/emailenlighten.htm
Text-mining software implements innovative display and navigation techniques that graphically represent networks of conceptually interrelated documents. Text mining will let us move from knowledge management to knowledge analytics. Seth Grimes. ‘The word on text mining.’ Intelligent Enterprise, Dec 10, http://www.intelligententerprise.com/031210/619decision1_1.shtml
The Handbook of Business Strategy 2004, now available from UK-based Emerald Publishing, includes a chapter by Seena Sharp, "Build Better Decisions: Strategies for Reducing Risk and Avoiding Surprises." For details, visit:
http://www.managementfirst.com/strategy/journals/strategy_handbook.php
By now, you've been working with Microsoft PowerPoint long enough to create presentations, organize them effectively, and even help others who aren't as savvy. But you may not know that PowerPoint has features—many of which aren't well documented—that can help you work faster and make cooler presentations. Here are 15 insider tips that can help you use PowerPoint like a pro. Linda Bird. ’15 top PowerPoint tips.’ PC Magazine, Dec 30. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1404043,00.asp
Articles mentioning competitive intelligence.
Thomson Legal and Regulatory in Eagan is looking for global strategists for its internal consulting group. The strategists will help define markets, strategy and new products and conduct competitive research and analyses. The focus is on expanding product offerings to existing customers, many of them attorneys. Jack Dougan, vice president for global strategy, describes his area as a "talent incubator" for the $3 billion business. The goal is to move people into other parts of the business after three to four years. ‘Who’s hiring? Strategists will think globally.’ Pioneer Press, Nov 23. http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/business/7321751.htm
The Xerox Profile: Best Practices in Organizational Improvement by the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) is now available. A compilation of valuable research, this report takes readers through Xerox's improvement efforts over eight years to show readers how organizational best practices impact the bottom line. Competitive intelligence and market insight practitioners will benefit from insight into Xerox's structured decision support process for all new products; and its quantitative analysis of customer data. http://www.apqc.org/portal/apqc/site/store?paf_gear_id=1300011&pageselect=detail&docid=113573
Television ratings provider Nielsen Media Research will track product placement on the top US broadcast networks, allowing advertisers to compare their exposure in the growing practice of embedding products into TV story lines. “We’re tracking consumer products placement and that’ll be made available to our marketplace.... It’s also a form of competitive intelligence.” ‘Nielsen will track product placement.’ The Economic Times, Dec. 5. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/338288.cms
Keith LeFebvre is Vice President of Business PCs for PSG's Americas Region. In this role, Keith is responsible for P&L performance for HP’s Business PCs, thin client desktops and displays in the Americas region. Keith oversees product marketing, lifecycle management, competitive analysis, pricing and sales development. Press release, Dec, 2. http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2003/virtualization/bi_lefebvre_k.pdf
"Implementing competitive intelligence is not for the faint of heart. Getting the sales force involved in CI is a huge task. If you guide the sales organization incorrectly, they'll never trust you again." --Arik Johnson, founder and managing director, Aurora WDC. ‘Insight: heard and overheard.’ Destination CRM, Dec. 1. http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=3604
BizBest(R), a provider of independent analysis of small business solutions, has released the 2004 edition of its paperback "The 100 Best Resources for Small Business." It delivers profit-boosting firepower for business owners on subjects such as how to find cool toll-free numbers, free counseling, competitive intelligence, low-cost Web sites and payroll help. ‘BizBest names top 100 small business resources.’ HispanicBusiness.com, Dec. 3. http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=13872
Look at the some of the fundamental information you collect to guide the strategic market planning process: customer intelligence, competitive intelligence and market intelligence. Marketers use this intelligence as insight into the types of strategies that are likely to be successful. Bringing financial intelligence into the mix offers new insight into the potential value of strategic and tactical alternatives and also leads to a disciplined approach to marketing campaign development. Jim Lenskold. ‘Financial intelligence for strategic planning.’ MarketingProfs.com, Dec 2. http://www.marketingprofs.com/3/lenskold1.asp
What are you going to do better than your competitors that really matters to your customers? Do you even know for sure what does matter to your customers, or what your competitors are doing? Do some research. It doesn't have to cost a fortune. Do it yourself, hire a research company or, even better, if you have a business college or university anywhere near you, use marketing students to do customer and competitor research for you. They need projects, you'll get valuable information - and it's probably free! Do this on an annual basis. Build relationships with these schools. They are one of the most underused resources in business today. Donald Cooper. ‘How to find and keep the best staff.’ Electrical Business, Dec. http://www.ebmag.com/EBDEC03/contracting.html
One of the most novel—and important—blog users is the Western States Information Network (WSIN), a federally funded agency that collects, analyzes, and shares crime information. WSIN maintains a criminal-intelligence database and has a pool of analysts who collect and make sense of incoming information. In December 2002, Aumond attended a homeland security conference, where she discovered Traction Software's TeamPage Enterprise Weblog software. Immediately, she saw how blogging technology could help WSIN in its mission. Alan Cohen. ‘Blogging for business.’ PCMagazine, Dec. 30. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1401424,00.asp
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