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In this issue: finding details about non-profit organisations; using social media for emergency services' communication; the debate about the future of the information profession; and frictionless sharing on Facebook.
FIND: If you need to research the non-profit sector then the GuideStar websites are great places to start. Covering the US, UK, Belgium, Israel and India, these websites provide information about the sector's organisations with some details available for free, more once you are registered, and yet more if you subscribe.
USE: The emergency services are finding new ways of communicating with the public through social media. Martha Murphy shows how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, blogs and podcasts have opened up new ways of information dissemination for fire and related groups in Canada.
MANAGE: If you are concerned about why, in an information age, information professionals are largely marginalised, then Mark Field's article will give you food for thought as he debates how info pros must work together to keep the profession relevant and appreciated in the 21st Century.
SHARE: End users of Facebook may well be divided in their opinion of the introduction of frictionless sharing, but Martin Belam's article will forewarn you about its effect on metadata, audit trails and content publishing, so that you can be forearmed.
In this issue: how and where to find an LIS job; the use of social media by the police; developing organisational policy on the use of social networks in the workplace; and how to organise a successful conference.
FIND: The art of job seeking transforms itself to keep pace with ever-changing technology, so what are the best techniques to use and places to go when looking for an LIS job? Africa S Hands gives us an insight into not only the resources to use but also how to plan job seeking activities to make the most of what is available.
USE: Using social media to enable law enforcement agencies to engage with communities seems like a laudable objective, but what happens when those same media are used to crowdsource private information? Joanna Ptolomey and Christa Miller consider the implications of the social media initiatives being used by the police.
MANAGE: There are many benefits to be gained from using social networks in the workplace but there is a downside - a growing concern about privacy and misuse of personal information. Using the results from a survey he conducted to highlight the issues, David Haynes puts forward an approach to managing social networks through the introduction of organisational policy.
SHARE: With the help of the internet and social media, it's now possible to organise a conference without a large advertising budget and an army of staff. You just need to follow Jonathan Khan's seven-point plan - developed from personal experience - to create a successful conference.
In this issue: new resources for providing data and analysis on the communications industry; the pharmaceutical industry now taking part in social media and monitoring influence; librarians provide valuable input on the procurement process; and how "Predux" allows conference speakers to test presentations and receive constructive criticism peers before an event.
FIND: With the influence of social media changing attitudes to the sharing of data and having a positive impact on the availability of free information, the resources providing data and analysis on the communications industry are having to evolve.
USE: Social media are tools which facilitate the conversations that matter most to you - and, by the way, you are part of conversation. If you are not part of the conversation then there is no need for you to be using social media except if you want to tick that box on your marketing strategy - tick, we have Twitter and FaceBook accounts.
MANAGE: By their very nature, librarians are good at knowing what their users need. They listen, they understand the organisation, they monitor usage of current resources, and they hear about and evaluate new resources, which puts them in an ideal position to provide valuable input to the procurement process.
SHARE: Conferences are great places to get up-to-date and generally build your knowledge, but how often has a conference been less than perfect because of the quality of some presentations? This is where the "predux" comes in.
FIND: One of the most difficult aspects of searching for information on an unfamiliar subject is knowing the appropriate vocabulary to use. Each sector and industry has its own terminology which can cause a search barrier for the uninitiated. Tasha Bergson-Michelson shows how to overcome this barrier through the use of predictive search which involves visualising what the answer might be.
USE: As government strives to create two-way communication with people, librarians are ideally placed, and equipped, to be at the heart of this digital engagement. Lesley Thomson describes the perfect skills government librarians have to facilitate this engagement and the value breaking into this new "information territory" would bring.
MANAGE:The much talked-about semantic web appears to be getting ever closer and organisations like Google, Best Buy, TripIt and ZoomInfo are already using semantic technologies to connect with users or increase their online presence. Candice Fong provides a very useful introduction to the technologies and tools, and questions whether law may benefit from the semantic web.
SHARE: Providing exactly what the user needs, in the format and at the time that works best for them, should be the ultimate aim of any website or web app. In her article about the Guardian Teacher Network website, Katie Roden demonstrates how having a Twitter strategy can lead to engagement of users so that a website provides a tailored user experience and evolves as needs change.
FIND: Whether you are an old hand at searching Dialog products or you are a novice, searching methods in ProQuest Dialog(TM) allow everyone to achieve precision in their search results. Beverley Crane explains how this is possible using thesaurus, set searching and restricting searching in a multi-file search.
USE: Much of social media content is very much "of the moment" but often content is created which needs to be captured and commented on for future use. That's when Storify comes into its own as it allows you to embed individual "units" of social media, such as Facebook updates, tweets and YouTube videos, into a single Storify blog post. Jo Brodie reviews Storify and compares it with other tools such as Chirpstory.
MANAGE: Successfully managing stakeholder relationships is vital to any organisation which not only wants to grow but also retain its customers. Defining stakeholder groups and their characteristics is the start of the process but going back to the basics of human cognitive behaviour is at the heart of it. In her article, Emma Kinani looks at to how to build up communications with stakeholder groups and the impact of social media tools.
SHARE: In the second part of a two-part article, Will Myddelton and Martin Belam look at how Tumblr is being used by a range of organisations, from libraries to news organisations, and how easy it is to search for niche information and follow tumblelogs.
FIND: Industry trade shows and conferences can be so big that you just don't know where to start. But don't be put off; follow this advice from Judith Binder and capitalise on the wealth of business and market information that can be gleaned if you take the right approach. Make sure you plan how you will come away from the event with key competitive intelligence ... without giving too much away yourself!
USE: How many times have we read about public sector construction projects failing to deliver on time, to specification and to cost? But what role does information play in this and does it lead to better outcomes not just for the tax payer but also for the contractors involved? Paul Wilkinson tells us about a new way to do business in the UK construction industry; with information collaboration and sharing at its heart, BIM (Building Information Modelling) is the future.
MANAGE: A SharePoint 2007 bilingual intranet has enabled knowledge sharing and collaboration at law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP as each staff member can create and comment on content. Jennifer McNenly explains how this works and looks at the improved features migration to SharePoint 2010 will bring.
SHARE: Tumblr may not be as well known as Wordpress or Twitter but it offers an interesting alternative because it is easy to set up, and allows you to publish as much or as little as you want using a free iPhone app, by email or by phone. In this first part of a two-part article, Will Myddelton and Martin Belam explain why Tumblr is popular.
FIND: Ever felt that your organisation does not appreciate the value you provide as an information professional? Well, all you need to do is follow Scott Brown's very practical suggestions and carry out OrgIntel, This is all about finding the influencers and conversations in your organisation and then, coupled with a willingness to increase your visibility, you can get involved in the discussions and anticipate information needs.
USE: Projects often involve third parties which inevitably makes information management more complicated, particularly when it comes to ensuring there is only "one version of the truth". Edward Ptolomey shows how a partnership approach in the utilities sector reduced duplication of information and helped risk management.
MANAGE: The relocation of law collections to the relevant departments provides the perfect opportunity for librarians and research specialists to embed themselves within practice groups or departments. Marlene Gebauer shows the resultant perception that the librarian is part of that practice area greatly enhances information exchange, and describes how to go about making this change in your organisation
SHARE: Over the years, public libraries have successfully redefined themselves when new publishing media have arrived but Matthew Solle questions whether their approach to lending eBooks will jeopardise their future, and considers how further and higher education are tackling this issue.
FIND: From its recruitment tool origins, LinkedIn has grown into a vital networking tool for companies as well as individuals. Among its many features, Groups allow you to keep on top of the latest developments while making new contacts, and LinkedIn Today aggregates news shared on LinkedIn and Twitter. Elisabeth Goodman shows why individuals and companies alike should embrace LinkedIn.
USE: As Twitter does not provide a long term storage solution for tweets this leaves researchers with a dilemma. How should tweets be stored so that both the content and the context are retained, and the resource is searchable? Jennifer Jones looks at the possibilities but concludes that there are still more questions than answers.
MANAGE: How can info pros help users to find information when both organisations and information are evolving and becoming more complex? Jennifer Smith is convinced that adopting a faceted system, which assigns types and attributes to information, is the key and describes the ONEIS system which a number of information-rich organisations have successfully implemented.
SHARE: Social media have changed news gathering not only for individuals but for venerable institutions like BBC World Service. Programmes and presenters can now interact with their audiences in a more immediate way and, via Twitter, audiences can be involved in history as it unfolds through tweets from reporters on the spot. Abigail Sawyer describes the impact of Twitter on BBC World Service.
FIND: Recorded sound can evoke strong emotions and enhance the experience and understanding of the researcher and end user, which makes it a powerful tool for museums. It is also a format which is increasingly available online and can provide a valuable source of information to supplement text-based material for the researcher. In his article, Andrew Youngkin gives a flavour of the audio material available.
USE: The key element when designing any successful service involving information is to meet the needs of the people who will use it. This sounds simple enough but how do we explore those needs and produce tangible outcomes? Lauren Currie and Joanna Ptolomey explain the process of service design, involving co-designing with the people, which can lead to innovative services.
MANAGE: As consumer social tools like Twitter and Facebook start to encroach on our professional lives should we see this as a blessing or a threat? Stuart Barr looks at the many benefits which these tools can bring to the organisation, from being able to collaborate seamlessly with colleagues around the world to finding out what thought leaders in your sector are saying.
SHARE: The linking of parts of documents and other materials offered by the Linked Data approach to the web, coupled with the open data philosophy adopted by governments, could offer researchers the chance to identify links between data not possible before and save an enormous amount of time. Zach Beauvais explains how it works.
FIND: Twitter is increasingly being used by businesses as part of their marketing campaigns; whether it's for monitoring their brand, tracking their competitors or making product announcements. But to make the most of research on Twitter, an organised approach is needed that enables easy compilation of the findings. Charlene Burke shows how third party tools can be used to formulate advanced searches, track down and follow executives, search for URLs and track keywords.
USE: Searching for author names in online systems is fraught with difficulty because there are so many possible variations for each name. So the Names Project promises to provide a much-needed solution for the many institutional repositories which are being developed. Amanda Hill describes the progress being made with this JISC-funded, joint British Library and Mimas project.
MANAGE: In a security-conscious world it is increasingly difficult for organisations to ensure that one of their major assets - their customer details - are collected without scaring the user and are appropriate for their needs. Karen Loasby looks at the diversity of factors to take into account; from law, security and privacy, to user experience, cost and quality.
SHARE: Searching the web for information about medical conditions can mean that you are swamped with useless, and often disconcerting, results. This is particularly true when you need help and support with a long-term health condition rather than descriptions of symptoms and treatments. The ALISS project aims to overcome this for people in Scotland by unlocking information currently in databases, lists and directories.
FIND: Tapping into the collective intelligence that's out there in social media is a great way to brainstorm when starting a new research project. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs are particularly useful, as are social media search engines such as Social Mention and Whos Talkin. But, as Andrew Rieder explains, you have to be prepared to invest time in building up relationships if you want to get the most out of these sites.
USE: Librarians have struggled hard to be recognised as a profession in Spain, despite LIS being a five-year degree, but progress is now being made thanks to the introduction of embedded librarianship in some universities. Using the skills they already have but applying them in a different environment is adding value and making librarians irreplaceable.
MANAGE: Using Austin Powers' nemesis Dr Evil as an example when considering information management may, on the face of it, appear to be a bit far-fetched but Scott Brown shows the similarities between Dr Evil and upper management. And, from there, he gives a few lessons on how to deal with your executives and avoid being "incinerated!"
SHARE: Changing the technology behind an intranet is a difficult enough task, but doing it while keeping the intranet running is even more challenging. In part two of his article on implementing SharePoint to deliver the BBC's intranet, Gateway, Nic Price describes the gradual approach they took by introducing MySites, blogging and search as the foundation on which to build.
FIND: Patents are of great interest to those involved in competitor intelligence and new products as they provide a wealth of information about companies, markets and people. So the tips in this basic introduction to patent searching, by Martin Goffman and Ron Kaminecki, will help to take away the mystique of the world of patents and add another source of information to explore.
USE: Embedded librarianship is taking hold in many organisations providing information professionals with the chance to show the value they can add by transforming information into knowledge through strategic alignment. In Part 1 of a two-part series on embedded librarianship, Reece Dano and Gretchen McNeely describe the embedded services workflow and show the benefits, for both the organisation and the information professional, of this way of working.
MANAGE: Having a clear idea of the content on our intranets and websites is the key to ensuring that the user experience is optimised and findability is high. But the idea of carrying out an information audit can be daunting, particularly when we feel we know where the content problems lie. So try this practical and realistic approach, put forward by Manage contributing editor Kate Simpson, to increase the value of your web content.
SHARE: The introduction of initiatives to simply the way that business is done can often cause a lot of disruption during the change before any benefits are seen. And, trying to keep a service functioning during the change adds another level of difficulty. In this two part series, Nic Price describes what happened at the BBC when Gateway, their intranet, was moved to SharePoint.
FIND: Does the fact that Google is now a verb make it a better search engine than Yahoo! and Bing? Africa S. Hands compares the search features and other services provided by the three search engines, and concludes that, although it is a case of 'horses for courses', Bing and Yahoo! still lag behind in some areas.
USE: For those who think in a visual way, such as art and design students, navigating the text-based world of information can be daunting, so the Glasgow School of Art decided to develop some online modules to teach information skills. Duncan Chappell explains the background to the InfosmART project and the many benefits arising from it.
MANAGE: The success of any intranet is dependent on its usability and the satisfaction levels of its users. So understanding how your users browse and what journeys they take on the intranet is essential. Manage Contributing Editor Kate Simpson provides some very practical tips and tools for delving into the users' minds and turning that knowledge into navigation which optimises the user experience.
SHARE: HTML5, with its 30 new tags, is not 'just' another version of HTML, it promises to bring changes that will be welcomed by information professionals as well as techies. Not only will it be easier to extract data from web pages but it will also be simpler to deliver the same article content over multiple platforms, and in multiple formats. Share Contributing Editor Martin Belam provides a non-technical overview of what to expect.
FIND: With variant, and even fictitious, names and no requirement to disclose financial and other information, US private company research is a particular challenge for info pros. But the sources, tips and tricks covered by Amelia Kassel will open the gates to finding this vital competitor intelligence.
USE: A year on from its inception, web-based community Healthcare Social Media Europe is well-established with 300 members, three websites and an international conference under its 'belt', not to mention the unpronounceable hastag #hcsmeu. Co-founder Dr Andrew Spong considers where to go from here to ensure that all groups with an interest in healthcare have a voice, and the community continues to provide advice across Europe.
MANAGE: The inability to find certain information when searching is frustrating to all info pros but for those dealing with legal knowledge that missing document could have devastating consequences. To provide help, ISKO UK ran a Legal Know-How event which covered faceted systems, taxonomies, metadata, ontologies and centralised repositories, all of which aim to help reduce the time spent searching and potentially missing that vital document.
SHARE: Extracting, repurposing and combining information is a core activity for info pros so it's good to know that we are being helped with this on the Web, even if we are not aware of it. Ben Ward describes how microformats - vocabularies which enable recurring information to be described and then reused - are making content available in a richer form and facilitating the combining of data.
FIND: Curation is moving away from the original dictionary definition of 'to manage a museum or collection' into the digital world which is good news for researchers. As the examples in Sue Eipert's article show, the compiled and annotated data in the curated databases are a great way of locating both original sources and ontologies for subject areas.
USE: Getting students engaged and involved in the learning process is a challenge for any lecturer so the WILD Thing provides an interesting solution. It allows lecturers to embed dynamic content directly into a PowerPoint slide, and students to use mobile devices to comment or ask questions during the lecture. Despite the risk of students sending abusive comments, this system has great potential.
MANAGE: There are many tools that can be used to create taxonomies from Excel, for those that are simple, to large scale, multi-user thesaurus systems, for those that are complex. In addition, there are many systems which are built for one purpose (for example content management) but also offer some taxonomy functionality. To steer us through the maze, Heather Heddon looks at the pros and cons of a range of approaches to taxonomy creation and management.
SHARE: Some senior managers think that 'social=not work' so, coupled with their concerns about the level of investment required and when they will see any return on it, promoting the implementation of social media as part of an intranet development has its challenges. But using the arguments and examples in this article from Andy Tedd, it's possible to show that the use of social tools makes for a better workforce... and which senior manager could argue with that!
FIND: No matter how much training and experience an information professional has, luck often plays an important part in tracking down the precise information required. Whether it's through a chance meeting, a phone call or even a misspelt search term, those gold nuggets of vital information can make all the difference as Lorene Kennard's examples show.
USE: With most library users owning a mobile phone, and increasing numbers of these being smartphones, it is time for libraries to take advantage of mobile technology. Andrew Walsh looks at the different levels that can be used from simple text messaging for both alerts and enquiries, to making sure the library is present on location-based social networks, and ultimately to creating an augmented reality layer.
MANAGE: Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems bring the promise of increasingly sophisticated search techniques but all that glisters may not be gold. Fran Alexander examines the pros and cons of tagging, content-based image retrieval, face recognition, digital fingerprinting and screen-to-text, and concludes that they are very exciting but may be in the category of 'nice to have' rather than business critical.
SHARE: Developing communities of users is a long-established way of generating feedback but it was not until the advent of Twitter that these communities could bear such beneficial fruit. The results of research by the Social Information Group show how publishers and information professionals alike can gain from having an active presence on Twitter.
FIND: Clustering search engines are designed to display and organise search results in logical groups or 'clusters' based on similar traits, which allow the user to select the most relevant groups of search results and quickly home in on specific documents or web pages. Eight clustering search engines are reviewed.
USE: These days lots of conversations are taking place on Twitter and there are a number of Twitter alert services you can use, including TweetBeep and Twilert, to find out what people are saying about you, if not actually - and this is the important part - to you. Edinburgh City Libraries have used alerts to answer enquiries, address complaints and find audiences.
MANAGE: Twitter started as method of exchanging 'inconsequential' information between individuals but is increasingly being seen as significant communication and marketing tool for organisations, so much so that they should be considering a preservation strategy for their tweets. Marieke Guy looks at why tweets should be preserved and what tools are available.
SHARE: It is the seemingly small problems that can irritate us the most and take up a disproportionate amount of time to fix, like not being able to open a file because you have the wrong version of the software, or not being able to send a large file by email because of size restrictions. So these tips from Martin Belam will help to calm those frustrations.
FIND: There are many reasons why we might be looking for someone who has knowledge of a particular subject in our organisation but, whatever the reason, it can prove more difficult to track this person down than you might imagine. If you are really lucky a staff expertise directory will provide a quick answer but, for those without this magic bullet, Connie Crosby provides a detailed plan of action for tracking down that expert.
USE: SharePoint offers librarians the ability to program without coding. In other words, to customise a site... provided they can find the time! Lorette Weldon outlines the possibilities for librarians and, using the results of a survey, looks at integrating SharePoint with library management systems.
MANAGE: With over 244,000 apps available for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, are there any which can help business researchers? Patrice Curtis examines a range of apps for finding news, reputation monitoring, productivity and reference, and answers three simple questions for each: is it easy to use; can a researcher use it to share findings with colleagues; and will it allow a researcher to help an internal/external client achieve their goal(s)?
SHARE: Although URL shortening services first started in 2002 with the introduction of tinyurl.com, it is the increasing use of the social media, particularly those with restricted message lengths, that has led to an explosion in their use. Martin Belam looks at how these services work and explores the advantages and disadvantages of using them.
FIND: Wolfram|Alpha offers a useful alternative to the more popular search engines in that
it can be used in computations. It accepts free-form linguistic queries, which can take
some time to get right, but when you do it returns the exact result desired without the
need to click additional links.
USE: Using two corporate users as case studies, Scott Brown sheds light on the black hole
into which the hard work of information professionals often seems to fall, and answers
the external, and perplexing, question: what do users DO with the information we give
them?
MANAGE: For records management, SharePoint 2010 has brought to fruition all that was hoped
for when MOSS 2007 was launched. In this detailed comparison of the two versions,
John Wise shows that, subject to suitable configuration and support, SharePoint 2010 is
a serious option for a compliant ERMS solution.
SHARE: With the increasing ease with which users can access consumer data via their mobile
devices, the pressure is now on companies to provide business data and applications to
staff this way. Marcus Austin looks at the double whammy this presents to companies
in that not only do they have to open up their networks to the outside world, they also
have to deal with the challenges presented by the range of mobile devices being used.
FIND: The growth in real-time data has led to new ways to manipulate, synthesise and distil
information very quickly. From tools for disease surveillance to heat maps for tracking
trends in the stock market, the number of ways for information professionals to tap into
this data is increasing with all the major players vying for position in this market.
USE: Working efficiently and adding value are core skills for information professionals in
these cash-strapped times, so Scott Brown's tips on repurposing, reusing and generally
recycling information provide some very useful ways of honing our skills.
MANAGE: Hierarchical taxonomies seem to dominate our lives because they are supported
by most of the tools we use daily, from Windows Explorer to content management
systems. But are they the best way of organising and finding our digital documents?
In the first part of a two part series, Kate Simpson demonstrates the many benefits of
using facets.
SHARE: The Internet's poor cousin, the corporate intranet, has come of age because of the rise
in the use of social media. With the introduction of Intranet 2.0 tools such as blogs,
wikis, discussion forums etc, the humble intranet has become a powerful tool for
employee collaboration and knowledge management.
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Folio on Conferences and Continuing Professional Development
This Folio brings together a range of FUMSI articles on conferences and professional development. Use Contributing Editor Joanna Ptolomey has collected together, and commented on, this collection.
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