Business Information on the Internet - reminder

A reminder that the UKeiG workshop on Business Information on the Internet is taking place at Warwick University on Wednesday 12th July. Places are limited but we have just received two cancellations. Contact cabaker@ukeig.org.uk or telephone 01969 663749 as soon as possible if you are interested in attending. Further information is available on the UKeiG web site at http://www.ukeig.org.uk/training/july06/businfo.html.

X1 Offers Free Desktop Search for the Enterprise

X1 Offers Free Desktop Search for the Enterprise

Those of you who attended UKeiG's event on Desktop Search on June 14th will not be surprised to learn that X1 have upstaged Yahoo Desktop Search and made their own product available free of charge. You may recall that I commented on the lack of significant updates in Yahoo's desktop search over the last 18 months, and that Martin White passed on some industry gossip concerning the relationship between Yahoo and X1 (Yahoo has licensed in X1's technology for its desktop search).

X1 are now offering X1 Enterprise Client (formerly X1 Desktop Search) free of charge. If you have tried Yahoo DS then the X1 interface will look very familiar, but there have been improvements in X1's. More file formats are supported (a full list is at http://www.x1.com/products/viewable_file_formats.html), it indexes Open Document Format files, and Thunderbird email is fully supported. Thunderbird emails are previewed as separate messages in X1 whereas Yahoo displays the whole of the inbox containing the relevant message.

I found, though, that X1 was highly selective in choosing which Thunderbird inboxes and folders to index so it misses about 80% of my emails. I cannot find any clues as to why this happening and X1 does appear to have finished indexing my PC's hard drive. Another negative for me is that it does not index removable drives so the data on my 250 GB USB drive remains a mystery to X1. All of which means that I shall not be changing my verdict of June the 14th: the top three desktop search tools for me are still - in alphabetical order - Copernic, Exalead and ISYS.

Head Software changes to Headfast

Specialist electronic publishing systems and Internet services company, Head Software International is re-branding itself as Headfast - the name of its text database technology.

For over twenty-five years, Head Software International has been supplying solutions for the knowledge industry - booksellers, information services, libraries and publishers - based on its packaged software such as Headline, Headform, Headset and Headfast. In recent years, the emphasis has switched to more bespoke solutions for in-house information management, CD-ROM publishing, websites and online information services on the Internet.

In their press release Mike Hyman, the Managing Director of Headfast, explains: "Our business is increasingly as much about providing high quality services like hosting and system implementation as developing new software. We therefore decided that the time was right to re-brand the company to reflect this evolution. Adopting the Headfast name was a very natural and logical choice. Indeed, many customers and prospects already think of us as Headfast because it's been at the core of our business and also our Internet domain name for many years."

The range of organisations currently using Headfast systems for the provision of internal and external information services include Nielsen BookData, Inspec, Waterstone's, CERAM Research, the British Nursing Index and Ellis Publications (part of the Thomson Corporation).

Further information about Headfast can be found on their web site at http://www.headfast.com/

UKeiG Training Day: Finding Pharmaceutical Information

A reminder that UKeiG are holding a one day workshop on finding pharamaceutical information on Friday, 7th July at the British Medical Association, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JP. The course presenter is Shaida Dorabjee.

The workshop will identify key sources of information relating to the various stages of development and also information available on current medicines on the market. The importance of evaluating the quality of the sources of information will be emphasised and searching for information from a patient's point of view will also be considered. The focus will be on web-based sources of information but conventional print sources and related associations or organisations that provide information will also be identified.

The course is aimed at information professionals in higher education, the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry. It will also be of value to publishers, pharmacists and others who provide services to healthcare sector.

Further details and a booking form are on the UKeiG web site.

Getting Started with MY-RSS.CO.UK

Steve Burgess has put together a short set of instructions (PDF file) that go over the main features of MY-RSS to help you get started with creating your first feed (and future ones).

Steve has also set up a blog for news and developments on My-RSS at http://www.my-rss.co.uk/blog/. The blog is also available as an RSS feed and an Atom feed.

And next... an Oscar!

UKeiG is well known for the Awards which it gives - the Tony Kent Strix Award and the Jason Farradane Award, for example (the call for nominations for 2006 is out now) - but we are beginning to gain some plaudits too!

Last December saw the best-dressed man at the Online dinner; yesterday - following her performance (sorry, presentation) at the UKeiG AGM and Desktop Search Tools - Managing the Flight Deck meeting, someone dubbed our Karen Blakeman as the "Judi Dench of the information industry".

Still, that's what feedback sheets are for... a serious evaluation of the...

Advanced searching

Many, if not most, UKeiG training sessions have to do with searching: new techniques, new technologies, and so on.
O'Reilly Radar (blog) reports:

Information Week reports: "In a research paper [pdf] presented last week at interactive television conference Euro ITV in Athens, Greece, Google researchers Michele Covell and Shumeet Baluja propose using ambient-audio identification technology to capture TV sound with a laptop PC to identify the show that is the source of the sound and to use that information to immediately return personalized Internet content to the PC. 'We showed how to sample the ambient sound emitted from a TV and automatically determine what is being watched from a small signature of the sound—all with complete privacy and minuscule effort,' Covell and Baluja write on the Google Research Blog. 'The system could keep up with users while they channel surf, presenting them with a real-time forum about a live political debate one minute and an ad-hoc chat room for a sporting event in the next.'"

I think it was at the 2005 AGM day that we heard about new search techniques for finding images. Now sound searching is possible! As O'Reilly Radar says, what is "most interesting about this technology is not its current intended use, but all its possible unintended uses!"
Who knows what you will hear about at the 2006 AGM day!

Instant Messaging for Enquiries

Posted on behalf of Jenny Monds, Librarian, Sarum College Library. Replies, please, either by commenting to this posting or by email to Jenny Monds

I wondered if any of you have come across 'crafty syntax' http://www.craftysyntax.com/

I would like to put instant messaging on our website for enquiries. I have been looking at meebo which looks quite good.

Then I had occasion to go to http://www.regalcrafts.com/ and was really impressed at being able to click a button which just said something like 'click for live contact' and I was able to send a message which was instantly answered, without having to log on or register as a buddy or anything like that. I see that it is powered by crafty syntax.

I just thought I'd check if anyone else has come across it or used it before I try it!

Thanks

Jenny Monds, Librarian, Sarum College Library

Reading Lists Online and as RSS

Steve Burgess, who started up MY-RSS.co.uk, has announced a free service for UK universities and colleges enabling then to use the MY-RSS Feed Generator to put course reading lists online.

The list will be available online at http://www.reading-lists.co.uk/ where students and other users can browse institutions, departments, courses and modules. They will be able to see book covers, titles, summaries, price and availability and purchase titles direct with Blackwell's Online Bookshop. (Blackwell's Affiliates can accrue commission from sales arising from their reading lists).

In addition, the lists can be distributed to your as RSS feeds.

There is a guide to setting up your lists at http://www.reading-lists.co.uk/

UKeiG seminars and workshops

A reminder to members and non-members alike that there are several training events over the next few weeks.

There are still some places available for Desktop Tools - managing the flight deck, which is being held in London next week on June 14th.
UKeiG members £80 + VAT (£94.00); others £100 + VAT (£117.50).

Then on June 22nd there is a free informal intranets forum meeting to be held at TUC, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3LS. Time 16.00-17.30hrs. Please note that this is for members only.

At the start of July we have e-Resources in Higher and Further Education: changes, challenges and choices, The John Rylands University Library, University of Manchester. Wednesday, 5th July, 2006, 9.30 – 16.30.

That is quickly followed by Finding pharmaceutical information on July 7th at the British Medical Association, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JP.

And to round off the summer programme we have a workshop onBusiness Information on the Internet, to be held at The Training Room, University of Warwick Library, on 12th July 2006.

As usual, full details and booking forms can be found on the UKeiG web site.

UKeiG AGM Papers

A reminder to all UKeiG members that the AGM takes place on June 14th at the Bloomsbury Suite, Brunei Gallery, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG. Time: 13.30

The AGM papers can be found on the UKeiG web site at http://www.ukeig.org.uk/agm/2006AGMSupplement.pdf . Please bring a copy with you if you are attending the AGM.

RSS Readers - Features

UKeiG's fact sheet on what to look for in an RSS reader is being updated. If you would like to contribute or add comments, a copy is available at
http://ukeig.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/RSSFeatures

To edit the page or add comments you will have to be a registered user and log in. You do not have to be a member of UKeiG to register on the wiki - all are welcome. If you are nervous about changing or adding text to the fact sheet, you can practice on the Dog's Breakfast page, which has been specially been set up for you to play with.

Do not worry if you make a mistake or seriously mess up the page; the wiki keeps copies of previous versions and we can always roll back to an earlier copy.

E-information roles: an exploration of current and future opportunities

TFPL is undertaking a research project that considers the nature of job roles associated with managing electronic information in environments where digital information flow is significant to the operation of business, and the associated supply of graduates for such work.

They are seeking to identify roles throughout the organisation, including those in ‘traditional’ information and knowledge departments, business units and support functions. If you would like to contribute to the project there is an on-line e-questionnaire at http://www.tfpl.com/questionnaire/eroles/er1.cfm . Closing date is Monday, June 5th.

Dogs Breakfast page for UKeiG wiki users

Calling all registered UKeiG xwiki users.

If you are worried that you are going to completely mess up or even destroy pages on the new UKeiG wiki, we have now created a page where you can play to your heart's content. Go to the new
Dog's Breakfast page, log in and click on the Edit this Page link.

A reminder that the UKeiG user name and password that gives you access to the members area on the main UKeiG site (http://www.ukeig.org.uk/) has not been enabled for the wiki. You will have to register separately on http://ukeig.xwiki.com/, but at least you can choose your own password!