| |
ResourceShelf |
|
Resources and News for Information Professionals
ResourceShelf is Compiled & Edited By Gary Price, MLIS Librarian Director of Online Information Resources, Ask.com Editor and Compiler, The ResourceShelf Editor and Compiler, DocuTicker
Looking For More Info? News? Search Help? News Tips?
New Site Suggestions?
Archives 06/01/1990 - 06/30/1990 03/01/2001 - 03/31/2001 04/01/2001 - 04/30/2001 05/01/2001 - 05/31/2001 06/01/2001 - 06/30/2001 07/01/2001 - 07/31/2001 08/01/2001 - 08/31/2001 09/01/2001 - 09/30/2001 10/01/2001 - 10/31/2001 11/01/2001 - 11/30/2001 12/01/2001 - 12/31/2001 01/01/2002 - 01/31/2002 02/01/2002 - 02/28/2002 03/01/2002 - 03/31/2002 04/01/2002 - 04/30/2002 05/01/2002 - 05/31/2002 06/01/2002 - 06/30/2002 07/01/2002 - 07/31/2002 08/01/2002 - 08/31/2002 09/01/2002 - 09/30/2002 10/01/2002 - 10/31/2002 11/01/2002 - 11/30/2002 12/01/2002 - 12/31/2002 01/01/2003 - 01/31/2003 02/01/2003 - 02/28/2003 03/01/2003 - 03/31/2003 04/01/2003 - 04/30/2003 05/01/2003 - 05/31/2003 06/01/2003 - 06/30/2003 07/01/2003 - 07/31/2003 08/01/2003 - 08/31/2003 09/01/2003 - 09/30/2003 10/01/2003 - 10/31/2003 11/01/2003 - 11/30/2003 12/01/2003 - 12/31/2003 01/01/2004 - 01/31/2004 02/01/2004 - 02/29/2004 03/01/2004 - 03/31/2004 04/01/2004 - 04/30/2004 05/01/2004 - 05/31/2004 06/01/2004 - 06/30/2004 07/01/2004 - 07/31/2004 08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004 09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004 10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004 11/01/2004 - 11/30/2004 12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004 01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005 02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005 03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005 04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005 05/01/2005 - 05/31/2005 06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005 07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005 08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005 09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005 10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005 11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005 12/01/2005 - 12/31/2005 01/01/2006 - 01/31/2006 02/01/2006 - 02/28/2006 03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006 04/01/2006 - 04/30/2006 05/01/2006 - 05/31/2006 06/01/2006 - 06/30/2006 Now Available Additional Web Reference Compilations direct search (Invisible Web Resources) Audio/Video Current Awareness Tools WWW Accessible Congressional Research Service Reports
|
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Public Libraries Source: National Public Radio (Talk of the Nation) If a Library Is Bookless, What's In It? "What helps make the evolution of libraries so complicated are two related questions: What is the library's role -- and who should pay for it? The squeeze on county and municipal budgets prompts many to wonder if they will continue to pay for these institutions. Others insist that the public library plays a vital role as a community center and as an intellectual oasis, a place to reflect as well as a place to learn. But if it's to survive, it has to adapt. A range of approaches are meant to help design a library for the 21st century." Guests for this program: + Tom Frey, executive director, The DaVinci Institute + Jo Haight-Sarling, director, access and technology services at the Denver Public Library System + Charles Brown, director, Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, N.C. -- Keyword Searching Source: Journal of Electronic Publishing. KWIC and Dirty? Human Cognition and the Claims of Full-Text Searching "Over the last several years, full-text searching of large text corpora has placed an extraordinarily powerful tool in the hands of humanities students and scholars. Use of these corpora is now entering mainstream research and, not surprisingly, is affecting research methods and the nature and quality of research outcomes. To what extent does the availability of new and copious sources of full text--along with the tools to mine them--relieve mental economy, freeing individuals from committing to memory not only names and facts but complex thoughts? Are we finally proceeding from a traditional (and obsolete?) "just in case" paradigm to a long-overdue "just in time" model for learning and scholarship? Using evidence from the literary record and from current research in human cognition, the author points to certain disjunctions between the machine processes that enable full-text searching and the subtle cognitive processes that underlie human learning and reasoning. Like all powerful tools, full-text searching requires circumspect use--and in no way relieves humanists and other researchers of the need to read extensively and think deeply." -- Research Libraries Source: ARL, SPARC, CNI The February Issue of the ARL Bi-Monthly Newsletter is Now Online Articles include: + Managing Digital Assets in Higher Education: An Overview of Strategic Issues + Online Music Services and Academic Libraries + The Grokster Decision: The Basics & Key Talking Points + The Role of Fair Use in Libraries and Education -- Government Secrecy--United States Source: Federal Computer Week Decrying secrecy, citizen groups fight back "Public interest groups and federal officials agree on one thing: Because of homeland security concerns, information that was once readily available on public Web sites has steadily disappeared in recent years. But the agreement ends there. The points of contention are numerous: Is government secrecy online a concerted policy with political overtones or the result of decisions made on a case-by-case basis? Is the missing information a legitimate part of the public record or sensitive data best protected from prying eyes?"
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Images Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division Two Updated Images Collections ++ Bain Collection About 42,000 photographs (all 39,744 negatives and a selection of 1,600 photographic prints). ca. 1900-1931 (bulk). Photos produced and gathered by George Grantham Bain for his news photo service, including portraits and worldwide news events, but with special emphasis on life in New York City. ++ Highsmith Archive About 2,500 negatives and transparencies. 1980-2005. Architecture and architectural renovation projects in Washington, D.C., and throughout the United States, as well as political figures, and people in the U.S. -- Internet--United States--Statistics Source: Pew Internet & American Life New Report, Home Broadband Adoption in Rural America By John Horrigan and Katherine Murray. "Rural Americans are less likely to log on to the internet at home with high-speed internet connections than people living in other parts of the country. By the end of 2005, 24% of adult rural Americans went online at home with high-speed internet connections compared with 39% of adults in urban and suburban areas." -- Medicare--Statistics Source: Kaiser Family Foundation New Issue Brief, Tracking Prescription Drug Coverage Under Medicare: Five Ways to Look at the New Enrollment Numbers "This new analysis, which assesses Medicare drug benefit enrollment statistics released Feb. 22 (PDF) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines five different approaches to understanding the Medicare drug coverage numbers." See Also: New, Progress Report II on the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (PDF, via HHS.gov) See Also: Direct to Searchable Glossary of Medicare Terms (via Medicare.gov) -- Federal Judges--United States Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts New Online, Monthly Vacancy Lists Archived Back to 1981 Monthly lists of judgeship vacancies that existed in the federal courts dating back to 1981 are now available online.
Briefly + H.W. Wilson Congratulates the 2006 John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award Winners -- + Dialog Launches New Knowledge-Sharing Tools on DataStarWeb
Search Briefs + Google Names Director of Israeli Research Office (via SearchMarketing.co.il) "Dr. Yoeli Mark, a senior manager at IBM development center in Haifa Israel, will be the head of Google's development center in Israel, also in Haifa." -- + Amazon's A9 Mystery (via Red Herring) From the article, "What's stopping Amazon from capitalizing on a system for pairing data on consumer buying habits with search engine-powered ads? No one inside Amazon would answer that question for Red Herring, and the best guess outside seems to be that A9 needs to generate much more traffic before the data is bountiful enough to be meaningful and the weird thing is it doesn't appear to be trying to generate it." Btw, as you know A9 made news when they launched their street-level imagery (aka "BlockView Images") for several cities in the U.S. However, I monitor the site daily for new additions and haven't seen any new cities added in many months. -- + Microsoft Begins Offering "Preview" of Street-Level Imagery (via TechCrunch) I just said (see above) that it has been a while since I saw any new street-level imagery from A9. Today, TechCrunch reports that Microsoft's Live Local service will begin offering street level imagery similar to what A9 is doing. Preview here. From Arrington's post, "The service will initially target San Francisco and Seattle only due to the massive number of images needed to make it work (rumors are 10 million+ images per city)." More about the new preview from MSN Search's WebLog. Microsoft Live Local also offers the cool "bird's eye" aerial (vs. satellite imagery) for several U.S. cities. Examples and more here. See Also: As I pointed out yesterday, Ask.com Now Offers Aerial Imagery (taken by a plane not satellite) for the U.S. and Canada Monday, February 27, 2006
So Long Mr. Jeeves, Ask.com is Here By Gary Price Editor, ResourceShelf.com Director of Online Information Resources, Ask.com The big news today is that Ask Jeeves is relaunching their service with a new name and some new services. When I announced a few weeks ago that I had taken a new job at Ask Jeeves (aka Ask.com) as Director of Online Information Resources, I made it clear that ResourceShelf would remain an independent site. The RS and DocuTicker team have complete editorial freedom on our sites and I also have the same freedom to say what I like when I like during public presentations. My live presentations will not be Ask.com sales calls. Sure, we will talk about Ask.com if that's on the agenda but we will also discuss plenty of other sites, tools, and ideas. To be honest, without this freedom, taking the job at Ask.com would have not occurred. Let me add that Ask Jeeves management was 100% behind this job structure from the outset. I hope you've noticed that since my announcement about taking the job at Ask.com a few weeks ago, the stream of news and new resources on ResourceShelf has continued to be what you have come to expect from our site. That is, lots of material from variety of sources. Of course, when there is Ask Jeeves news, we will also report on it and today is one of those days. The remainder of this post will not only fill you in on "what's new" at Ask Jeeves (so long and adios to Mr. Jeeves) but I also hope it helps answer a question many of you have asked since I told you about my new job. Why did I choose to take the job in the first place? In this case this post is both a news story and at the same time a brief look at some of Ask's services. SO, WHAT'S The News? As of today, Ask Jeeves is now known as Ask.com. The butler logo and theme is gone. This is good news. Why? Ask Jeeves represented a less-than-useful search service. As I've said before, the Ask.com of 2006 is NOT the same thing as Ask Jeeves circa 1999. It's a greatly improved service and I hope to contribute my share (and with your help) to make it better. NOTE: Enjoy the Ask Jeeves retirement video here. (-: Frankly, if Ask.com was the same service it was, circa 1998 or 1999, I would not have accepted the job because back then the LAST search tool I would have recommended, used, or would have wanted to be a part of was Ask Jeeves. Hopefully, the new name will help people realize that Ask.com has done some impressive work during the past five years. However, a name is only a name and actions and capabilities speak louder than words. Bottom Line #1 -------------- The idea of pre-supposing questions and then mining the open web for answers HAS NOT BEEN a part of Ask.com since late 2001. Unfortunately, many people, including information professionals, have, up until now, not realized this point. Changes ------- The beginning of the Ask.com turnaround began in September 2001, with the acquisition of the Teoma search technology from Rutgers University. The Teoma relevancy/ranking algorithm is different than found elsewhere. Without getting into a long and technological discussion, I've added some additional links at the end of this post that can help give you a broad overview of what makes the Teoma technology (now incorporated into Ask.com) different. A few sentences are available here (in the "How it Works" Section). Of course, relevancy algorithms from all of the large web engines are constantly changing and being tweaked, but the readings I hope will provide you with some of the fundamental differences in concept. Btw, as of today, the actual Teoma.com site is no more. It now redirects to Ask.com. However, all of Teoma's power, features, and more, minus one, are now a part of Ask.com. Former users of Teoma (unfortunately, not many used it) will no longer see the "Resources Section" of subject-specific meta pages that Teoma made available. Hopefully, this feature (or something similar to it) is something that Ask.com can add in the future since many info pros found it useful but less than 1% of users took advantage of it. That's even mentioned in this blog post. Moving Forward -------------- Let's go back to 2001 (September to be precise) when Ask.com began on its multi-year drive to revamp the product. IMHO, they've done an impressive job and that was one of my biggest draws in joining their team. However, let me be clear, there is much more work to be done and, again, this is a key reason why I wanted to join them. One problem, from a marketing standpoint, is that many people, including librarians, educators, and the general public, have spent little time paying attention to what has been going on at Ask.com. Why? Old habits and beliefs die hard and, as I said earlier, many people still believe that Ask.com is the inferior product that it once was. That is no longer the case. In fact, it's a goal to directly involve our profession in making Ask.com even better. That's why your feedback/suggestions/comments are important. Bottom Line #2 ----------------- Info pros need to stay current on a variety of tools and services. That's one of the reasons we do our best in preparing ResourceShelf everyday. I realize that this is easier said than done, but knowing about alternatives and using the right tool at the right time is key to our mission. Perhaps it's time to begin looking more closely at a variety of tools and resources. I heard from many people thoughout 2005 who said that they appreciated ResourceShelf's continuing coverage of a wide variety of sites and search tools. I often think that search and library news + new reports + new sites/databases that we blog on RS and DocuTicker as a form of collection development in the web age. Let's take full advantage of the wide variety of resources (both free and fee-based) that we have available to us. New Features, Improved Services ---------------------------------- Before moving forward, the Ask.com of today is by no means a completed product. Far from it. If it was, why would I be taking the job? It is one of my goals to help make Ask.com even better by involving the education and library communities. That said, as of today, Ask.com is a worthy and improving alternative that all info pros, educators, and others should know about and make use of when needed. Today's name change is just that, a name change. However, as the butler says goodbye, I hope that the change will hopefully give plenty of notice to many of the new services and features that Ask.com has been building and improving upon in the past few years. Again, this is just the beginning and another reason I wanted to be part of the team and represent our community. Review: Ask.com February 2006 ----------------------- Let's get to some facts and things to look for. As you review the list, you'll see that a few of these tools started becoming available a few years ago. + The new Ask.com homepage (new today) is crisp, sleek, and light. If you had an issue with the way it once looked (too busy) that issue is now solved. + The Ask.com Toolbox (new today), located on the right side of the homepage, can help get you to speciality databases (like the dictionary, picture search, local search, etc.) quickly. It can even be minimized if you don't want to use it. You can even customize the order in which the links appear. The Toolbox utilizes AJAX technology. Btw, developers will be able to add direct links to other databases (how does a library catalog sound!) with the release of an API. Of course, Ask.com will also continue to develop new specialty tools as well. What databases would you suggest? + Beginning on April 20, 2003, Ask.com has been hard at work developing what they call "Smart Answers." As I've said many times, these are examples of search engines becoming "answer engines" for certain types of ready reference queries. It's only been in the past year or so that others have begin to really ramp up efforts in this area. Let's be clear, most of this is done autonomously and is NOT the same thing as what Ask Jeeves was doing in 1999. Some Examples ------------ ++ Holiday Dates ++ Award Winners ++ Fast Facts: The EU ++ Business: Market Cap ++ Geography Facts ++ Science ++ Placing images from the Ask.com pictures database on to web results pages +++ Building direct links and compilations to a variety of answers ++ Animals and Pets +++ Cities +++ Biographies +++ Recipes +++ Television shows +++ Sports +++ Definitions (you can even hear the word pronounced) Folks, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I think the possibilities are endless and we hope to involve the library and education communities in helping to build more "Smart Answers" with material coming from reliable and trustworthy sources. All of these and other tools can help save the time of the searcher and keep them (in some cases) from "pogo sticking" around the web. As we all know, time is something everybody wants more of. Less clicks, more quality answers! + The new Ask.com Picture Search Database ++ Ask.com now crawls the web for images and uses its own relevancy algorithm. They are no longer purchasing a database of imagery from a third party. Its relevance and precision have earned it high marks. Improved Maps, Intro of Aerial Imagery, Improved Directions Today also brings the launch of a new and greatly enhanced Ask.com map and directions service (also using AJAX technology). You'll also find very detailed (you can "get in close" as they say) aerial and satellite imagery provided by GlobeXplorer. Imagery is available as of today for the U.S. and Canada. ALSO, SOME IMAGERY for locations in Western Europe are available. Here's the Lourve. The new Ask.com Map and Directions is full of features. One of my favorites is the chance to see both walking and/or driving directions and then animate your route by clicking the green "Play" button. You can also add in multiple stops. You can even recalculate directions by simply dragging the numbered location pointer to a new location. Btw, Maps24.com offers animated maps and directions for many parts of the world. + We all know that a searcher often needs help either narrowing or expanding their search. For a long time Ask.com (and Teoma) has offered the "Zoom" feature that lets the searcher see suggested clickable options to let them focus their search. They're listed in the right column. In some cases, even related names are extracted out of the result set and made easily searchable. Here's an example with a search for The Beatles. Also make sure to take note of the Smart Answer at the top of the page. + I Know Many Educators Use Ask Jeeves for Kids. The service is now known as Ask for Kids. What can we do to make it better? + Ask.com also offers cached pages for many of the pages in its database. They also provide the precise date and time that the page was cached. + Other features include "binoculars" that provide page previews before the searcher clicks on the live link (a potential time saver). + Ask was also one of the first large search providers to market (September 2004) with a service that allows you to save, annotate, organize, and share your content called My Jeeves. Think of it as a virtual briefcase and yes, you can tag and share your posts. One feature I use often is the ability to send and then share images from my cameraphone. As of today, the service is now known as "My Stuff." + The Acquisition of Bloglines and Other Projects Another key move by Ask in 2005. This is a highly loved service and lots of synergies exist between this web-based RSS aggregator and search tool. In fact, Ask is testing an improved feed search tool in Japan right now. Of course, synergies also exist using data from other IAC/InterActive properties like CitySearch, Expedia, and Ticketmaster. + International ResourceShelf has a large readership outside of the U.S. and Ask.com is growing the world. We want your feedback as well. Ask.com currently has sites in The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK with more to come. The new design and some of the Ask.com features are now visible on these sites. The Reduction of Ads --------------------- While others have been increasing the number of paid ads on a search results page, it has been announced that Ask.com is reducing the number of paid ads on results pages. Bottom Lines: What This Means ------------------------------ As I said earlier, by no stretch of the imagination is Ask.com a completed product. I want to help to make it better. We at Ask.com want to hear your ideas and thoughts on how to make the service work for you, your patrons, and your students. If I had to boil down what Ask.com has been doing for the past several years, it comes down to a few key points that to some degree sound a lot like a good info pro. + Alternatives In many cases the more choices the better. Google, Yahoo, MSN, Clusty and others are high quality, first rate products that we all use regularly. However, that doesn't mean that Ask.com can't also be one and isn't worthy of your attention and knowledge. A great reference collection is filled with many choices and options. A great reference librarian knows about many of them. + Save the Time of the Searcher Everybody wants and needs more time and the more quickly high quality results can be provided the better. Clicks mean time. To a large degree, this sounds like one of Ranganathan's five laws of library science, "Save the time of the reader." + Ease of Use, Usability Features like Zoom are easy to explain and use. For all of you, I hope my overview not only gives you a better idea of what Ask.com has been up to for 4 years, but also starts you brainstorming about what we can do better. That is one of my key roles at Ask.com--to represent the library and education communities. I also hope that it gives you some of the reasons why I'm excited to be joining the Ask.com team. Lots of work needs to be done in many areas and all of us can work together to continue improving the service. Teoma Search Technology Reading List ------------------------------------ Remember, the Teoma search technology is now incorporated into Ask.com. These selected readings might help you get a better understanding of what Teoma algorithm and technology is all about. + "In conversation with..." Jim Lanzone & Apostolos Gerasoulis of Ask Jeeves/Teoma (2005) Noted web search expert Mike Grehan chats with two Ask.com execs, Jim Lanzone & Apostolos Gerasoulis. + Teoma Technology (2002) Chris Sherman takes a look at what makes Teoma technology different. + A Longer Look by Mike Grehan into the Teoma Algorithm (16 pages; PDF) Teoma section begins on page 14. + For the Techies #1 (1999) Many of the concepts that underly Teoma come from IBM's Clever team. This search product was never publicly released. This paper explains and is one of my all-time favorite papers about web search. + For the Techies #2: DiscoWeb: Applying Link Analysis to Web Search (1999) This is the first published paper on what would become Teoma. One of its co-authors, Apostolos Gerasoulis, is now the Vice President of Research and Development at Ask.com. Btw, DiscoWeb stands for Discovery Web (not a dancing search engine).
Professional Reading Shelf Internet Library Science Source: Webology (via E-LIS) Application of Ranganathan's Laws to the Web By Alireza Noruzi. Abstract: "This paper analyzes the Web and raises a significant question: Does the Web save the time of the users?" This question is analyzed in the context of Five Laws of the Web. What do these laws mean? The laws are meant to be elemental, to convey a deep understanding and capture the essential meaning of the World Wide Web. These laws may seem simplistic, but in fact they express a simple, crystal-clear vision of what the Web ought to be. Moreover, we intend to echo the simplicity of Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science which inspired them." -- Collaborative Tagging Source: E-LIS Collaborative Tagging as a Knowledge Organisation and Resource Discovery Tool By George Macgregor and Emma McCulloch. Abstract: "The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of the collaborative tagging phenomenon and explore some of the reasons for its emergence. The paper reviews the related literature and discusses some of the problems associated with, and the potential of, collaborative tagging approaches for knowledge organisation and general resource discovery."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Internet and the Web Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project New Survey, Surfing for Fun A new study from Pew researcher, Deborah Fallows. "More Americans are turning to the internet as a place to hang out. Nearly a third of internet users go online on a typical day for no particular reason, just for fun or to pass the time. Two-thirds of all internet users have tried surfing the Web just to pass the time, according to a survey we conducted in December 2005. Some 40 million people said they were surfing for fun on a typical day during the month. This number is up from 25 million people who were browsing for no particular reason in November 2004, the most recent time when this question was asked by the Pew Internet Project." -- Television--TiVo--Lists & Rankings Source: TiVo The TiVo Top 10 Moments of the 2006 Winter Olympics -- Information Technology--Health Source: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality New Web Site, AHRQ National Resource Center for Health Information Technology Sunday, February 26, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Libraries--Vandalism Source: Sandra Hart, SLIS, University of Alberta Vandalism in Libraries "Vandalism is a problem that affects libraries of all types. As custodians of library collections, it is part of librarians' responsibility to ensure they are adequately informed in order to prevent vandalism as much as possible and to be prepared in the inevitable event that vandalism occurs in their libraries. This paper will examine the problem of vandalism facing libraries. It will look at the classification of vandalism as it is thought that by understanding the categories of vandalism, prevention strategies may be better tailored to fit the problem at hand. The research on typical vandals will be explored. The different types of vandalism that occur in libraries will be discussed, with examples from the literature. Material that is a frequent target for vandalism, including sexual, religious and racist materials will be discussed. The costs of vandalism, both monetary and social, will be addressed. This paper will conclude with an examination of a host of prevention strategies." -- Government Printing Office (GPO)--Information Dissemination Source: Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) Information Dissemination Policy Statement (PDF; 70 KB) "This policy establishes conditions under which postings via various electronic communication mechanisms are used to communicate administrative information and announcements to Federal depository library staff and others with an interest in GPO's information dissemination programs. Posts to electronic discussion lists on sensitive issues or those likely to generate press coverage must be cleared through the Office of Public Relations and/or the Office of Congressional Affairs. The Office of Public Relations should be informed of announcements for new services and products prior to their posting to electronic discussion lists."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Landmines--Map Source: International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) Global use of antipersonnel mines since May 2004 (PDF; 405 KB) "Confirmed Use or Compelling Evidence" See Also: Global production of antipersonnel mines 2005 (PDF; 516 KB) -- U.S. Department of State--Experts Source: U.S. Department of State, Office of Media Outreach Newsmakers Search "U.S. Department of State 'Newsmakers' provide insight, analysis, and expertise on foreign affairs, news and events. 'Newsmakers Search' provides a means for members of the media to match experts with upcoming media events." + Experts by Position + Experts by Issue + Experts by Name
Search Briefs Web Search--Google Source: News.com Google's Privacy Concerns Unfounded According to Newly Filed Brief From the article, "The Justice Department has denied requesting anything from Google that could threaten the privacy of the search engine's users, as the company recently contended. But by trying to block the government's efforts to review a week's worth of search terms, Google is holding up efforts to protect children from pornography, according to a brief filed Friday by the Justice Department." We've posted the full text of Friday's brief from the feds here. (PDF) See Also: Declaration in Support by Dr. Phillip Stark, UC Berkeley, Hired by U.S. Government to Do Statistical Analysis of Search Data See Also: Friend of the Court Brief Filed By Law Professors (Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society) See Also: Full Text to Google's Brief (and Related Filings) Saturday, February 25, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf International Affairs--Bibliographies Source: Air University Library Three New Bibliographies + Japan + Russia + Saudi Arabia -- Web Search--Google New Study: Google Scholar Does VERY WELL Compared to Thomson ISI citation index The UBC Google Scholar Blog points to a summary article/interview about a new study (full text here) that shows that Google Scholar does as well as ISI's Web of Science (WOS) in citation counts. Interesting and more good news for Google and perhaps not so good news for Thomson Scientific. A few random thoughts and things I'm thinking about after reading the article. ---- ---- + I'll let Dr. Peter Jacso speak for himself (he's a great writer, a comprehensive reviewer, and I'm honored to say a friend and mentor) but the summary says that Dr. Jacso's articles and reviews of Google Scholar, he's written three of them (1 2 3) might be biased (specifically the first one listed above) since he is on a Thomson advisory board***. That's weak. Its been my experience that Peter says it like it is and has the data to back it up. Btw, Dr. Jacso has been VERY positive about other autonomous citation indexing services like CiteSeer. + Second, the word "outperform" means many things. OK, in this study the citation counts were close but the searchability of material on WOS is much stronger. In other words, you can do more to precisely find what you need. True, Google Scholar does offer an advanced search page that, for example, allows you to limit by source. However, getting a source list from Google (something I've asked many times) is impossible. Also, WOS offers more usability (at least at this time) with your results (email, bib formatting, alerts, etc.). What about time to index inclusion? How long does it take for new material to find its way into WOS vs. Google Scholar. Perhaps someone is working on that study now. + Third, a point I made from day one of Google Scholar's public existence is that Google does not provide any type of definition of what they are and ARE NOT indexing. For example, while I'm honored that ResourceShelf is indexed in Google Scholar, I'll be the first to say that our blog is not a scholarly source in even the broadest definition of the term. Our articles and links for non-scholarly cites considered a citation? How does GS define a citation? Is a conference presentation considered a citation if on one of the slides it mentions an article or book? We don't know since we don't know their collection/crawling policy. So how can we compare? Btw, here Google Scholar shows 8 entries for our one blog. Also, Jacso points out that the "hit" totals found on Google Scholar are not very accurate. No surprise since it's been discussed many times and for many years that the page totals from Google's web database (and other large web engines) are inaccurate. That's why we've said many times not to use web search total size estimates to determine the popularity of something. + From the article, "Dr. Pauly also notes that Thomson ISI is 40 years old, while Google Scholar "is one and a half years old, and will improve." This might very well be the case, but how does Dr. Pauly know for sure? We still have not learned the business plan (if any) for Google Scholar. Forget business plan, what's the long-term plan for Google Scholar? Remember that the project itself began as a Google researcher's (Anurag Acharya, a great guy and very smart man) 20% time project. What happens if things/people change at Google? Will the Google of 2006 be the same Google in 2008? What business is Google (or any large general purpose web engine) in? I think most people would agree that Google (a bit more so that others) is in the advertising business, since 99%of their revenues come from ads. This is not a bad thing (unless you just don't like advertising) but thinking of Google in the same way we think of the business other info companies (Dialog/Thomson, LexisNexis, Factiva, etc.) is really not accurate. Btw, what would some in the education/academic community say if keyword and contextual advertising came to Google Scholar results pages? + A fast fact: Thomson just launched a new component product (part of Web of Knowledge) called Web Citation Index. It would be interesting to see how this new database and GS compare. Selection methods, usability, etc. I believe some of the technology to power this product uses technology that's also used by CiteSeer. Bottom Lines? One, as Dean points out, it's good to talk about these issues. Two, as I've said many many many times, it's all about the right tool/resource at the right time. Remember, librarians should like alternatives. Alternatives and choices (both free and fee) are good. See Also #1: Just for fun! Aviation is one of my (Gary's) interests. I was searching Google Scholar and found a citation written by someone with a last name (a word you can't say on tv in the U.S.) Is this true? Nope, parsing issues, a challenge for all database builders (not only Google). Nevertheless, what makes this a bit more surprising is that the data comes directly from a bibliographic database. Btw, the author's name is actually Peng Shi. I'm sure you can guess the letter Google added to his name. (-: *** See Also #2: Dr. Jacso has told ResourceShelf that he is not on an Advisory Board of ISI. He goes on to say, "I have been on the advisory committee of the JCR [Journal Citation Reports] some years ago...There is a big difference between Thomson ISI advisory board and ISI advisory group (for JCR) in terms of involvement in ISI matters."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Business--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: Fortune Just Released, America's Most Admired Companies 2006 Sort the list numerous ways. Several articles. Direct to full list of 303 companies. Top 10 (Overall) 1. General Electric 2. FedEx 3. Southwest Airlines 4. Procter & Gamble 5. Starbucks 6. Johnson & Johnson 7. Berkshire Hathaway 8. Dell 9. Toyota Motor 10. Microsoft Most Admired in the Internet Services and Retailing Industry 1. Google 2. eBay 3. Yahoo 4. IAC/Interactive -- Earthquakes--California--Maps Source: USGS New Maps Identify Bay Area Liquefaction Risk "Two new maps give first responders, land use planners, decision makers and Bay Area residents a new and more detailed look at the risk of 'liquefaction' in the soils underlaying buildings and other important components of the Bay Area infrastructure, such as roads and pipelines." Summary ||| Direct to Maps
Search Briefs iTunes Launches a Personalized Music Recommendation Service Look for the "Just For You" section on the iTunes Music Store home page. Findory's Greg Linden has more including a reader comment (a rumor) that the service is powered by ChoiceStream. ChoiceStream also powers Yahoo Movie Recommendations, Yahoo Gift Finder, and their own MyBestBets. MBB offers personalized television recommendations. All three of these services are free. See Also: Since we're talking personalization and recommendation services, Findory has announced a few new features including + RSS Feed for Your Findory Favorites + More Favorites Listed on FF Page. Default moves from 10 to 20. + Findory Similar Articles (a first step towards clustering) Links and examples here. Friday, February 24, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Virtual Reference Source: OCLC Research Presentation: Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Transcripts PowerPoint:505K/34slides. A presentation by Lynn Silipigni Connaway at the OCLC Members Council Research and New Technologies Interest Group, 14 February 2006. -- Information Organization Source: OCLC Research New, Using Dewey Differently PowerPoint: 440K/15slides. A presentation by Diane Vizine-Goetz and Thom Hickey at the OCLC Members Council Research and New Technologies Interest Group, 13 February 2006.
Search News Web Search Weblog Search Source: Gilad Mishne New Academic Paper Offers a Review of Weblog Searching The paper will be presented at the 28th European Conference on Information Retrieval (ECIR'06) 2006 in April. The paper is titled "A Study of Blog Search." It was written by Gilad Mishne and Maarten de Rijke from the University of Amsterdam. 13 pages; PDF. From the abstract, "We present an analysis of a large blog search engine query log, exploring a number of angles such as query intent, query topics, and user sessions. Our results show that blog searches have different intents than general web searches, suggesting that the primary targets of blog searchers are tracking references to named entities, and locating blogs by theme. In terms of interest areas, blog searchers are, on average, more engaged in technology, entertainment, and politics than web searchers, with a particular interest in current events. The user behavior observed is similar to that in general web search: short sessions with an interest in the first few results only." -- Web Search--Google Source: News Release Google and National Archives (U.S.) Announce Project to Digitize Historic Films Word today that the National Archives (NARA) and Google have announced a non-exclusive pilot project to digitize and bring historical film content from the National Archives to the web. The material will be available via Google Video and via a link at the National Archives site (though the content will be hosted by Google). Some material is already available at this special interface for National Archives content. From the news release, "The National Archives and Google are exploring the possibilities of expanding the online film collection and making the Archives' extensive textual holdings available via the Internet." We were unable to find any type of timeline for content additions or new programs. Content can be downloaded for offline viewing. A bit more info here. See Also: Google Makes Digitized Archive of Interviews with TV Legends Available Online (via SEW Blog) See Also: In November, Danny and Gary wrote about Google providing $3 million in seed money to The Library of Congress to build a World Digital Library. No word at this point on how things are proceeding. --- By No Stretch of the Imagination is this Project the Only Place to Find Both New and Historic Film on the Web Here are a few, just a few, places to find "historic" film and video content and some other "educational" material on the web from both government and non-government sources. Again, this list is FAR FROM comprehensive. Just a taste. (-: If people find this collection useful, I'll continue to build it out. + The Movie Picture Archive from the Internet Archive Take special note of the Prelinger Archives. What is it? "Prelinger Archives was founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger in New York City. Over the next twenty years, it grew into a collection of over 48,000 "ephemeral" (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films. In 2002, the film collection was acquired by the Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Prelinger Archives remains in existence, holding approximately 4,000 titles on videotape and a smaller collection of film materials acquired subsequent to the Library of Congress transaction." + The Internet Archive is Also Home to the Universal Newsreels Archive 601 newsreels from 1929 to 1967. + Moving Images Collection (via Georgia Tech University) "A Window to the World's Moving Images." + Survivors of the Shoah Testimony Viewer Holocaust survivors tell their stories. Part of the Survivors of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education. + Multimedia Content via the Library of Congress American Memory Project You'll find movies, sound recordings, and more. + Canada: The CBC Archives + Canada: Digitisation Projects from Library and Archives Canada including: ++ Virtual Silver Screen ++ Featuring Gratien Gelinas + Europe: A Collection of Historic Television Commercials via Blinkx. More than 5000 commercials have been digitised. + Germany: German newsreel archives (Wochenschau-Archiv) Via BUFVC annotation: "The Federal Film Archives, Berlin, are digitising the Deutsche Wocheschau newsreel collection of German newsreels from 1949 and making them freely available over the internet. Over 4,000 stories have been issued so far, for lowband (56K) or broadband (250K) connections, using Windows Media Player." + The National Archives of the UK Has a Collection of Digitized Content via BlinkxTV To access, select National Archives in the "information section" on the Blinkx search page. + UK: British Path Film Archive and Newsplayer.com ++ Newsplayer.com offers over 100 years of digitized film. ++ Material from British Pathe newsreel archive (1896-1970). Both services are free or available at a VERY low cost for individual use. The British Universities Newsreel Database (BUND) will also be of interest. Direct links to the Pathe database. + UK: Nation on Film From the BBC. + Selections from the The Newsfilm Library at the University of South Carolina + Surgery Videos (via the National Library of Medicine) + NASA Video Archive NASA Image Exchange (NIX) Limit your NIX search to movie or video. + NOAA: A Gallery of Historical Films Archived Lectures and Presentations + ResearchChannel.org Lectures and presentations from a consortium of many universities. + MIT World Archive + University of California, Berkeley + New, Institute of Politics Opens Up Video Archive to the Public + A Comprehensive List of Film and Video Archives Around the World Many have online digitization prjects.
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Science and Engineering--United States--Statistics Source: National Science Foundation Just Released, Science and Engineering Indicators -- 2006 "The Science and Engineering Indicators, a biennial report series published by the National Science Board, is designed to provide a broad base of quantitative information about U.S. science, engineering, and technology for use by public and private policymakers. Because of the spread of scientific and technological capabilities around the world, this report presents a significant amount of material about these international capabilities and analyzes the U.S. position in this broader context." -- Educational Technology Source: New Media Consortium New, The 2006 Horizon Report "The NMC's Emerging Technologies Initiative focuses on expanding the boundaries of teaching, learning and creative expression by creatively applying new tools in new contexts. The Horizon Project, the centerpiece of this initiative, charts the landscape of emerging technologies and produces the NMC's annual Horizon Report. The 2006 Horizon Report is now available. The 2006 edition is a collaboration between The New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE program. The 2006 Horizon Report, just as has been the case with previous editions of the report, highlights six technologies that the underlying research suggests will become very important to higher education over the next one to five years." 32 pages; PDF. -- Internet--Statistics Source: Parks Associates Just Released, Internet Finding Few Newcomers in 2006 "A new study from Parks Associates has found few new households willing to subscribe to Internet services, which will limit 2006 growth in overall Internet penetration to one percent, rising from 63% to 64% by year's end." More in this News.com article.
Search Patent Watch More Patents and Patent Apps for Microsoft and Yahoo Here are a few new patents and published apps since our last update. Microsoft Patent Applications + System and method for employing social networks for information discovery Filed: October 24, 2005 Abstract: "Systems and methods are provided that enable searches of social networks by acting as a "compass" that assists users in navigating the social network. Individual user participation is not required in response to queries from other users. The systems and methods offer navigational assistance or information as opposed to a traditional search which returns requested information, thus currently acceptable social mechanisms for arbitrating trust can be exploited. As a result, users do not make their personal information publicly searchable, while at the same time, they are protected from potential misrepresentations of facts." + Suggesting a discussion group based on indexing of the posts within that discussion group Filed: July 30, 2004 Abstract: "A system and corresponding methods for recommending a discussion group as an appropriate place to post a message are provided. In one embodiment, the system searches a plurality of existing posts to identify the posts that are similar to a subject of a user's message. The system identifies the discussion groups that contain the identified posts and selects one of the identified discussion groups to recommend as an appropriate discussion group to post the user's message." + Automatic categorization of query results Filed: August 13, 2004 Microsoft Patent + Method and system for creating an embedded search link document Awarded: February 21, 2006 Filed: June 23, 2000 Abstract: "A method and system for creating and using an embedded search link document. Embedded search link documents are search-enabled through the use of a wizard. The wizard initially prompts a user to open an HTML-formatted genesis document in an editing pane. Once the genesis document is loaded, the user may add and manipulate search links by customizing the relevant search parameters. The invention permits a user to tailor a search by selecting various search parameters describing the search objective. Once the search parameters are specified, the search engine finds documents meeting the search criteria from a catalog that was built by crawling World Wide Web sites. These documents are filtered for relevance and compiled into a results list. The documents comprising the results list are placed into one of a set of site catalogs, depending on which of the search criteria are embodied in the individual document. The results list is returned to the user, who may designate certain links as preferred links. These preferred links will be compressed and stored, and will always show up at the top of the search results list. Similarly, the search criteria are compressed and stored as a portion of the search link embedded within the genesis document. Once the user has created all desired search links, the genesis document is saved as an embedded search link document. Later users may initiate searches by accessing an embedded search link." Yahoo Patent Application + Method and system for providing a disposable email address
New Search Tools Shelf Kosmix Adds Two New Verticals: Travel and Politics Yes, we like to cover the "vertical" or specialty search and database space. That's nothing new. A few weeks ago, Kosmix, a specialty database that focuses on health information launched in beta. A couple of my health librarian pals are impressed with this new resource as a resource for consumer health info. It's definitely worth a look. In the past few days Kosmix has launched two more specialty databases, one that focuses on travel information (a great idea) and the other on political information. Both Kosmix Travel and Kosmix Politics are in alpha mode. A Few Minutes with Kosmix Health (Beta) + Databases consist of open web content. Not sure if it's a Kosmix crawl or they are purchasing access to a portion of a large web database. + Here's a Search for "Influenza," results page consist of: 10 results (no way at this point to increase) + Spelling corrections (is this what you mean) listed. + Categories are listed in left margin (can a result be listed in more than one category?). + Selecting "Explore Kosmix categories" allows you to see on a single page the top three results in each category, neat idea. + Each category includes the number of results available. Clusty, FirstGovSearch and other sites also offer this info. + Since this is a massive undertaking in the early stages, it was not difficult to find material incorrectly categorized. For example, the Influenza Web Site from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and this page from the CDC were found in the "Journals" category. You'll see that at the top of the results list is a direct link for the search in PubMed. Another example. In the "Fitness" category a speech by President Bush is listed. The speech talks about a flu pandemic. The word "fitness" is not mentioned in the speech. + All pages are cached locally. A timestamp when the material was cached is not provided. Since medical info is often time sensitive, this would be helpful. + Like many web engines, even the large ones, the page estimates are sometimes inaccurate. For example, 13 definitions are supposed to be included. When you go to the category only two are listed. When I click a link labeled, "To show you more relevant results, we omitted some extra results available. To see all results, you can perform this search with all results from all listed sites," I still only get two results. + I searched for a non-health topic "Chicago Cubs" and found a few health-related mentions (player injuries, etc.) in two categories. However, I also found lots of non-health-related content like information about Wrigleyville, the neighborhood in Chicago where the Cubs play. Finally, the blogs category was also full of non-health-related material. + No syntax or advanced interface available (at this point) + "Adult" material is also available if the right (non-technical) terms are entered. + Since this is a subject-focused database, some info about what sources they do and do not use would be useful (aka selection policy). Also, gloss for each category would be helpful. Are URLs/sites assigned to a specific category? What makes a blog ok for inclusion in the blog category. Overall, not a bad start. It needs work, but Kosmix is worthy of attention as a source for consumer health info. At this moment, more sophisticated searchers (in terms of content) might find the two sources listed below of greater value. We do think the travel search specialty database is a great idea. Let's see how that goes. ResourceShelf will be watching Kosmix closely. -- -- Other Tools that Cluster Health and Biomedical Information + ClusterMed from Vivisimo This service dynamically clusters (in real time) the first 100 results from a PubMed search. Note that because of the quality metadata associated with each entry, it's possible to cluster the results several different ways (abstract/title/MESH, author, etc.) Registering for ClusterMed (free for one month) offers the ability to cluster 500 results. The fee-based version of ClusterMed will cluster up to 5000 results. --- --- + BioMeta Cluster This service also from Vivisimo (free) runs a live meta/federated search across a wide variety of biomedical and news databases. Results are then dynamically clustered. Vivisimo's live page preview feature is also available (look for the preview link next to each result title). Users can select which databases they do or do not want included in the search. Addditional features include exporting results (various formats), e-mail results, alerts, and the ability to cluster more data. We plan to take a closer look at this service in the future. Thursday, February 23, 2006
Resource of the Week By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor Although a 'bubble' in home prices for the nation as a whole does not appear likely, there do appear to be, at a minimum, signs of froth in some local markets where home prices seem to have risen to unsustainable levels. -- Alan Greenspan "Froth." I kinda miss Alan Greenspan already. At any rate, it would seem that not a day goes by that you don't read about or hear about the so-called "housing bubble," and whether/when it is likely to burst. Where I live, many high-end condominiums are going up -- and many units are being flipped multiple times by investors before the projects are even finished. I would seriously like to get rid of my house and buy a condo -- one son has aged out the door and the other is an increasingly scarce teenager. I really don't want the responsibility of a house any more, but the condo market around here scares me to death. It's like a game of musical chairs; nobody wants to be the one stuck with the wildly overpriced unit when the air goes out of the bubble. I feel kind of trapped...and I know I am not alone. So, this week, we're devoting some space to a few resources that will help you track the real estate situation where you live, where you might want to live and generally, across the country. Real Estate--United States + HousingTracker: Median Home Prices & Housing Inventory Data: "Real Estate market statistics (including median asking prices and home inventory numbers) for cities/metros across the United States.... "The numbers provided here are asking prices derived from MLS listings." Compiled weekly. Click on city name for detailed info, including archive, which shows trends. + Existing Home Sales -- Monthly Data for the U.S. and Regions: From the National Association of Realtors (NAR). You can get separate date for condos and single family homes. Some of the data here can be downloaded in Excel spreadsheet format. Also from NAR: -- Current NAR Forecast (PDF) also includes economic data. -- Field Guide to Real Estate Research Centers is a small jewel of a page that provides links to "(v)arious academic institutions and independent organizations around the U.S. have established research centers to study real estate-related issues and trends." Check for institutions in your neck of the woods, which may offer regional data. + Freddie Mac -- Economic and Housing Outlook is "a monthly perspective from the office of the chief economist." In case you were wondering, "Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress to increase the supply of funds that mortgage lenders, such as commercial banks, mortgage bankers, savings institutions and credit unions, can make available to homebuyers and multifamily investors." Find an FAQ here. Freddie Mac also offers a Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, which provides average rates for 30-yr, 15-yr, 5/1-yr ARM and 1-yr ARM, as well as points/fees. + The Joint Center for Housing Studies (Harvard Design Center, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University) offers a continually updated selection of links to articles and op-eds about the housing market. Find more of the same at the University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries, Business Library: The Housing Bubble + The National Association of Home Builders offers a variety of economic and housing data, including: -- Housing Market Index (HMI): "...a weighted, seasonally adjusted statistic derived from ratings for present single-family sales, single-family sales in the next six months and buyers traffic." -- Housing Opportunity Index (HOI): "...a measure of the percentage of homes sold in a given area that are affordable to families earning that area's median income during a specific quarter." -- Remodeling Market Index (RMI): "...based on a quarterly survey of professional remodelers, whose answers to a series of questions were assigned numerical values to calculate two separate indexes. The first index gauges current market conditions and is based on remodelers' reports of major and minor additions and alterations, plus maintenance work and repairs, on both owner- and renter-occupied dwellings. The second index gauges expectations for the near future and is based on remodelers' reports of their calls for bids, amount of work committed for the next three months, job backlogs, and appointments for proposals." __ The Boy in the Big Housing Bubble (L.A. area emphasis, but offers more generalized content as well.) + Bubble Meter ("A blog dedicated to the premise that there is a Housing Bubble in many locales in the USA. With a particular focus on the: When will it pop? Why will it pop? How will it pop? Where will it pop? Who is responsible for the bubble? Also the DC Metro Area bubble.") + HouseBubble.com (Lots of links to related weblogs and many real estate resources.) + Housing.com News, Analysis and Opinion + The Housing Bubble ("Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.") On a Related Note (from Gary) + New, Zillow.com (Aerial Imagery + Real Estate Data) + Hot: Real Estate Industry Uses of Satellite/Aerial Imagery (via SEW Blog) Numerous resources listed.
Professional Reading Shelf Information Industry--Factiva Factiva's Clare Hart Moves Up to New Position at Dow Jones; Deputy CEO Claude Green Named Interim CEO - National Libraries--Canada Source: Library and Archives Canada 3 New Resources from Library and Archives Canada + Web Archive of Election 2006 Web Sites A "harvest" of sites. -- + SOS! Canadian Disasters at Library and Archives Canada Provides access to the The Disaster Media Reports database. -- + Exhibit: Shipwreck Investigations at Library and Archives Canada -- Libraries--UK Source: LISU Digest of Statistics for Museums, Libraries and Archives The main purpose of these statistics is to give a broad overall perspective of the museums, libraries and archives scene in England. The Digest of Statistics is produced with the support of MLA and is available to download free online in PDF format. -- Medline Source: NLM MEDLINE Citation Counts by Year of Publication -- Digitisation Projects Source: JISC, NLM, Wellcome Trust Completion: 100 years of biosciences research captured in digital archive "The archive represents the entire back archive of the journal of the Biochemical Society which celebrates its centenary this year. Speaking at the event, Sir Philip thanked JISC and the Wellcome Trust for their funding which has not only paid for digitisation of the journal but will also ensure that the archive, hosted by PubMedCentral, will be openly available to all in perpetuity. Digitisation of the journal is part of a major collaborative programme of digitisation called the 'Medical journals backfiles digitisation project', a partnership between JISC, the Wellcome Trust and the US National Library of Medicine which will see the digitisation of nearly 1.7 million pages of complete backfiles from important and historically significant British and American medical journals." -- Public Libraries--Outsourcing Source: Jackson (TN) Sun Library checks out going private "The local public library is considering going private with its management. What such a proposed move would mean to current employees and library patrons is unclear. The Jackson-Madison County Library Board will offer bids this week for businesses to manage the daily operations. This is an effort to minimize the costs of running the library and hopefully offer additional services and hours, library board officers said." -- Grey Literature--Journals Open Access Source: The Grey Journal Upcoming Publication, Table-of-Contents: The Grey Journal 'Grey Matters for OAI' Spring 2006 will focus on "Grey Matters for OAI."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Philanthropy--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy New, America's Most-Generous Donors From the article, "America's most-generous donors contributed a total of $4.3-billion to charity last year, a sharp drop from 2004, when the top donors gave more than $10-billion, a new Chronicle survey has found. For the first time since 1998, no gifts of $1-billion or more were donated to charitable causes. The median amount the donors on the list gave in 2005, including pledges, was $32.5-million, meaning that half gave more and half gave less. In 2004, the median was $40.8-million. On this year's list of big donors, higher education received by far the largest share of gifts -- 44 -- than any other category, followed by 18 gifts to hospitals and medical centers. The Chronicle annually ranks the 60 donors who give the most money to charitable causes; for the 2005 list, 63 donors were included because of ties." -- Personal Wealth--China--Lists & Rankings Source: Forbes New, Greater China's 40 Richest Direct to rankings. -- Terrorism Source: Council on Foreign Relations New, Profile: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi A new Background Q&A from the CFR. "A profile of the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the man responsible for coordinating suicide bombings in Amman and Madrid, multiple attacks on Iraqi Shiites and Shiite mosques, and the highly-publicized beheading of American Nicholas Berg." More Profiles Here. Medicine Source: World Health Organization New Report: Combating Counterfeit Drugs: A Concept Paper for Effective International Cooperation Summary Full Text (PDF) -- Disasters--United States--Lists & Rankings Source: FEMA Major Disaster Declaration State Totals Clicking takes you to a detailed breakdown by state. -- International Business Source: GlobalEDGE, Michigan State University New Section, Faculty Development The Academy section invites a new sub-section, Faculty Development, to the site. This venue provides information regarding upcoming business conferences, meetings, and speakers from a variety of universities across the United States. Offered from the many Centers for International Business Education and Research (CIBERs) across the country, the listed events are intended to enhance the professional and educational competence of today's business practitioners. Topics range from global interdependence to international study programs, which are designed to immerse the traveler in the business culture of world markets." See Also: The Thousands of Other Resources and Links GlobalEDGE Offers Special Note to the Country Insights Section -- United States--Oral Histories Source: Southern Oral History Program, University of North Carolina Southern Oral History Project "Founded in 1973, the Southern Oral History Program seeks to foster a critical yet democratic understanding of the South -- its history, culture, problems, and prospects. We have recorded more than 2,900 interviews with men and women from all walks of life...The site includes information about the project and its activities, and recordings of interviews collected by the project."
Web Search--Google Google Launches Web Page Creator (Beta) THEN Temporarily Shuts Down Registrations to Use It Well, here we go again. Google announces a new service and then within hours (about nine according to InsideGoogle) of annoucning it temporarily stops people from registering to use it. The new service is called Google Page Creator and allows users (who are registered) to create web pages and then host them (free) on the GooglePages.com domain. Remember, Google also owns the Blogger weblog creation service. Both Chris Sherman and Philipp Lenssen were able to use the service before registrations were closed (for the time being) and have excellent overviews. Chris notes that the new service might have Google going after the MySpace.com user market. Good point. It also might be about getting out of the box a bit more quickly than the new Microsoft Office Live (closed beta, see below) that offers free web hosting and page creation tools. However, only hours after the Google launch the sign-up page has a note (lower right corner) stating that new accounts are unavailable today but if you share your email with them, you'll be notified when you can register to try the service. If you enter your Gmail address (you'll need one) you find a page that reads: "Oops...Thank you for your interest in Google Page Creator! Google Page Creator has experienced extremely strong demand, and, as a result, we have temporarily limited the number of new signups as we increase capacity. In the meantime, please submit your email address and we will notify you as soon as we are ready to add new users. Thank you for your patience." Yes, it's a "beta" but Google has the knowledge to know that whatever they offer will be in heavy demand especially on the day it's announced. They also have the resources (capacity) to be ready for it (especially after learning from other launches). This is NOT the first time we've seen this with a Google product introduction. Registrations for Google Analytics and Google Earth were stopped for a period of time) because of high demand. Why are they unprepared? I have no idea but can only guess that limiting users keeps the buzz about the service going long after the first announcements are made. In other words, I would say it might be another example of good pr (and in this case getting buzz going before more people check the MS Live Windows service). But is it? How many introductions will take place before people just get frustrated (at Google) and lose interest (in the service) as they wait for an invite? Btw, an interesting thread in the Google Page Creator discussion about a person's Gmail address being used for page naming purposes. Many believe that this will be a new source for spammers. Other Services Web-based page creation (not the same as blog creation) and hosting services (not the same thing as the many weblog creation and hosting services) have been a part of the web since the early days. What's old is new again. Other examples include: + Microsoft Office Live Basics (Beta) Free basic site. Lots of tools including some traffic info. You'll need to register to be accepted into the beta. Included is a free unique domain name (you choose). Additional tools and services are now free (during beta) then will become fee based. + Yahoo GeoCities Both free and fee-based web page creation and hosting services. + Tripod/Lycos Both free and fee-based web page creation and hosting services. AngelFire offers the same services. + AOL Hometown Both "traditional" web pages and blogs. Free.
Search Briefs + Australia: CSIRO Spins Out Search Engine (via Sydney Morning Herald) "Search engine technology developed by the CSIRO has spawned a new spin-off company called Funnelback to help drive the expansion of its Panoptic system further into international territories." More about Panoptic here. -- + Indeed.com (A Metasearch Engine for Jobs) Now Available via New York Times and About.com "After searching the site's own job listings at jobs.nytimes.com, users can click 'Job Market Web Results' to return more jobs from thousands of websites, powered by Indeed." Clusty also offers access to Indeed.com (very useful). SimplyHired.com is another metasearch engine that scours numerous job databases and company sites for job listings. Both services offer excellent alerting tools. -- + A Profile of the Founder of Blog/RSS Search Engine Technorati, Dave Sifry (via The Guardian)
Briefly + More New Content Added to Answers.com Database This week Answers adds a Cancer Dictionary and Cancer Encyclopedia -- + Ask a question online, get an answer...sometimes (via News.com) We were VERY HAPPY to see that VRD's AskA+ Locator service got a mention in this article. -- + Canada: SAGE Publications and CSA sign agreement with Canadian Research Knowledge Network -- Fast tracks legal taxonomy (via IWR) "Enterprise search vendor looks to legal information specialist for improved searching terms."
Shareware Folder RSS Tools RSS Captor (Beta) We haven't tried this program out, yet we plan too. Sounds very interesting! Description via BetaNews, "RSS Captor is an easy-to-use RSS client that allows you to receive and manage news feeds in a searchable database. The program keeps all messages of subscribed feeds in a database, so you can perform detailed searches for all current and past news items, and locate articles of interest. It can check your feeds automatically and notify you via sound when new items arrive." Shareware, free trial, PC only.
Two for the Road New, The Internet Archive Unveils Social Bookmarking Tool Brewster Kahle introduces a new IA feature that "allows people to explore the music movie and book collections on the Internet Archive using other patron's bookmarks." For example here are Brewster's bookmarks. -- + Google's Research Team Launches Its Own Blog (via SEW Blog and Google Blogoscoped) Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf Access to Information--United States Source: Secrecy News Reclassification Program At National Archives Exposed "U.S. military and intelligence agencies have assigned personnel to review and reclassify declassified historical records at the National Archives where they have withdrawn thousands of records from public access." See Also: Declassification in Reverse: The Pentagon and the U.S. Intelligence Community's Secret Historical Document Reclassification Program (via National Security Archive) See Also: NARA finalizes rule on short-term e-records (via GCN) -- Library Databases--United Kingdom Source: Kable's Government News England's Museum, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has launched a new service for access to reference material "Named Reference Online, it provides a channel to 26 electronic subscription based products, including directories, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, newspapers and business information. MLA said on 20 February 2006 that it had brokered deals with 14 separate suppliers for the service. Traditionally, public library managers have researched the details and negotiated the costs of online resources either individually or as small regional consortia." -- Digital Preservation--United Kingdon Source: DPC New Report, Mind the Gap: Assessing digital preservation needs in the UK (PDF) From the summary, "A 'state of the nation' report today reveals that less than 20% of UK organisations surveyed have a strategy in place to deal with the risk of loss or degradation to their digital resources - despite a very high level of awareness of the risks and potential economic penalties...The survey reveals that the loss of digital data is commonplace - it is seen as an inevitable hazard by some - with more than 70% of respondents saying data had been lost in their organisation. Awareness of the potential economic and cultural risks is high, with 87% recognising that corporate memory or key cultural material could be lost and some 60% saying that their organisation could lose out financially. In 52% of the organisations surveyed there was management commitment to digital preservation - but only 18% had a strategy in place." -- Digital Libraries Source: Corporation for National Research Initiatives The February Issue of D-Lib is Now Online Articles include: + A Research Library Based on the Historical Collections of the Internet Archive + Copyright Issues in Open Access Research Journals: The Authors Perspective + Observed Web Robot Behavior on Decaying Web Subsites + OSTI's E-print Network experiences rapid growth
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Employment--Surveys Source: Manpower New Report, Manpower Inc. Talent Shortage Survey Reveals 40% of Employers Worldwide Are Struggling to Find Qualified Job Candidates " The survey results, released today, revealed that 40 percent of employers worldwide are having difficulty filling positions due to the lack of suitable talent available in their markets. Employers having the most difficulty finding the right people to fill jobs are those in Mexico (78% reporting shortages), Canada (66%) and Japan (58%). The talent shortage appears to be least problematic in India, where only 13 percent of employers reported having difficulty filling positions. Direct to Full Text Report: Talent Shortage Survey (PDF). -- Genealogy Source: FamilySearch.org Guides Explain pre-1858 English Probate Jurisdictions "A complete collection of guides depicting pre-1858 English Probate Jurisdictions will be available online through FamilySearch. The probate records of England are among the best genealogical sources for direct evidence of relationships. They are also among the most neglected sources because of the many variations in jurisdictions which governed the probating of wills prior to 1858. The EJP guides provide a wealth of useful information." See Also: West Virginia records now online -- Travel Industry--United States--Cruise Source: North American Cruise Passengers Statistics + New, Summary Tables 2003 - 2005 (Excel) + New, Detail 2003 - 2005 (Excel) -- Congressional Research Service Source: OpenCRS and FPC A Selection of New/Updated CRS Reports + European Views and Policies Toward the Middle East + Post-War Iraq: A Table and Chronology of Foreign Contributions + U.S.-EU Cooperation Against Terrorism + Palestinian Elections + Nonstrategic Nuclear Weapons + India: Chronology of Recent Events + Pakistan: Chronology of Recent Events
Search Briefs + Image Search and Copyright: Google and A9 May Stop Showing Perfect 10s (via InternetNews.com) "A federal judge has ruled that portions of Google's popular image search feature, which displays small thumbnail versions of images found on other Web sites, likely violate U.S. copyright law." The full text of the court ruling by Judge A. Howard Matz can be found here. (48pages; PDF). What this will mean for others who offer large algorithmically generated databases of images (regardless of type of material) culled the open web is TBD. Other players with large image databases include: + Yahoo + Ask Jeeves + PicSearch + MSN (uses PicSearch) + Ditto (uses PicSearch) + A9 Image Search (uses Google) -- + MSN executive to take leave Person in charge of MSN taking one year leave of absence. See Also: MSN Search Home Page Has a New Cleaner Look and Larger Search Box
Briefly + New Issue of Thomson Scientific e-newsletter Now Online Includes blurb about the launch of Web Citation Index. -- + GIDEON & EBSCO Publishing Partner to Offer Wider Access to the Global Infectious Disease & Epidemiology Network Decision Support System Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Professional Reading Shelf National Science Digital Library Source: EurekaAlert Researchers to develop technology to extend benefits of National Science Digital Library "Virginia Tech and Villanova University researchers have received a $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to extend the benefits of its free, online library by developing technology that will allow college students and professors to conduct flexible and customized information searches directly from course Web sites." If you've never visted and used the National Science Digital Library, you should. A great example of a specialty search tool. Make sure to keep current with the "What's New" page and RSS feeds. The NSDL is a must for educators! -- Academic Libraries Source: ACRL Registration Now Open for ACRL's First Completely Online Conference April 20-April 21. "Register now for 'Innovate and Motivate: Next Generation Libraries,' the first-ever Virtual Conference offered jointly by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), and EDUCAUSE. The Joint Virtual Conference will be held completely online and will offer a forum for an energizing exchange of ideas focusing on technology and academic librarianship." -- Conferences--Canada Information Highways 2006, March 26-28, 2006, Toronto "Delivered over three days, with the first day devoted to industry-hosted workshops, the 17th annual Information Highways Conference program is organized around four key areas (Information Centers/Libraries, Government Departments, HR/Training & eLearning Departments and the Enterprise) where successful content solutions can have the greatest impact on productivity and profitability." Btw, one session at IH 2006 will focus on the use of wikis as a knowledge-sharing tool. -- Conferences--Europe 9 - 11 April 2006, EUSIDIC Annual Conference 2006, Innsbruck "Integration versus granularity of information resources: Interoperability and interconnectivity of services, systems, and media manifestations...The information industry needs to support its customers. That's because customers are under pressure to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. They would no longer pay for services and products which do not serve their purpose. The information industry has to build value through partnerships and customers are partners. Understanding customer needs is a key factor for success and means customer involvement from the beginning with the customers' fingerprints all over the product." -- Information Industry--Nexidia Source: News Release Nexidia and ActiveGroup partner to bring immediate, searchable audio results to qualitative research Nexidia is a company and technology we've been following since they were known as Fast-Talk. Their technology for creating searchable audio is different than what others offers. Cool stuff and a company to watch. What makes Nexidia different? Their technology breaks a spoken word down into phonetics (to be more precise, phonemes (the smallest unit of human speech) for faster and more precise indexing. Nexidia is well-known in the call center and enterprise search world and is now slowly but surely making a play into other areas of the multimedia search space. See Also: Nexidia Named Best Audio Search Technology at SpeechTEK West
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Women--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Fast Facts About Women in the United States Women's History Month begins on March 1st. Facts include: + 149.1 million The number of females in the United States as of July 1, 2004. That exceeds the number of males (144.5 million). Males outnumbered females in every five-year-age group through the 35- to 39-age group. + 31% Percent of women ages 25 to 29 years who had attained a bachelor's degree or higher in 2004, which exceeded that of men in this age range (26 percent). Eighty-eight percent of women and 85 percent of men in this same age range had completed high s |
