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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
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Monday, June 12, 2006
An Invitation Subscribe to the ResourceShelf Newsletter Mailing List Delivered via e-mail every Thursday. Please take a moment and fill out the form at: http://www.resourceshelf.com/update/ It's free!!! The ResourceShelf Web Site is Updated Daily! Don't Forget to Visit ResourceShelf's Sister Site: DocuTicker.com It's a daily update of new reports from government agencies, ngo's, think tanks, and other groups. Use This Link to Unsubscribe from the E-Mail Reminder.
MESSAGE FROM THE ResourceShelf and DocuTicker Team! Hooray! This week we're moving (yes, finally) from one publishing platform (Blogger, the publishing system we've used for the past five years) to a new one, WordPress. If access is slow or the site is not being updated in a timely manner this week, we apologize. The good news is that once everything is in place, both ResourceShelf and DocuTicker will be even more capable to meet your information needs. Look for several new features in the coming weeks and months. A big thank you to Will, Robin, and Penny from FreePint for all of their help.
National Libraries: Milestones: National Library of New Zealand's Digitized Collection of Newspapers Passes 1 Million Page Mark "The National Library's online newspaper collection, Papers Past, has achieved a major milestone, with the millionth digitised page added in May 2006. Papers Past was launched in 2001 with more than 300,000 pages from New Zealand newspapers held in the Alexander Turnbull Library collection. Each year approximately 150,000 new pages have been added, and the million page mark was hit this year." Direct to Papers Past Database
Professional Reading: Live Weblog Coverage of the SLA Annual Conference 2006 from Information Today The conference is underway in Charm City, Baltimore. Gary will be giving a presentation tomorrow with Genie Tyburski from The Virtual Chase. Here's the Baltimore Convention Center (home of the conference) from the air.
Library Software: New Open-Source ILS Makes Beta Debut: Evergreen ILS Beta The Evergreen software development team has released Evergreen ILS (integrated library system) (beta). From an email note, "Evergreen is an open-source ILS being developed by the Georgia Public Library Service for PINES, a consortium of over 250 public libraries. The Evergreen ILS is scheduled to go into production in PINES this fall. Learn more and download from the open-ils blog. See Also: Demo the Evergreen OPAC Module See Also: Direct to the Evergreen ILS Wiki
Patents: Patents: From a Personal Media Channel to Video Browsing to Phishing Detection: A Busy Few Days for Patents & Patent Applications @ Microsoft A busy week or so for Microsoft in the patent and published patent application game. Here are a selected few. We've also included an interesting published app from Yahoo. Patent Awarded Event driven system and method for retrieving and displaying information Assignee: Microsoft Filed: April 25, 2000 "A system and method are provided for dynamically creating a communications channel at a local computer in response to selecting an element, such as a word or phrase, that is being displayed on an HTML page. A container also is created on the page in response to the element being selected. Data indicative of the selected element and containing environment is submitted to an Active Server Page at a server computer for retrieving information related to the selected element. The retrieved information is sent to the communications channel at the local computer and then displayed in the container on the original page." Published Patent Applications + Personal media channel Assignee: Microsoft Filed: December 2, 2004 "Exemplary systems, engines, and methods allow a multimedia service subscriber to upload personal media content to a multimedia service. The personal media content is then distributed to selected recipients over a personal media channel that is offered only to the selected recipients." + System and method for video browsing using a cluster index Assignee: Microsoft Filed: December 8, 2004 "A "Video Browser" provides an intuitive user interface for indexing, and interactive visual browsing, of particular elements within a video recording. In general, the Video Browser operates by first generating a set of one or more mosaic images from the video recording. In one embodiment, these mosaics are further clustered using an adjustable similarity threshold. User selection of a particular video mosaic then initiates a playback of corresponding video frames. However, in contrast to conventional mosaicing schemes which simply play back the set of frames used to construct the mosaic, the Video Browser provides a playback of only those individual frames within which a particular point selected within the image mosaic was observed. Consequently, user selection of a point in one of the image mosaics serves to provide a targeted playback of only those frames of interest, rather than playing back the entire image sequence used to generate the mosaic." + Phishing detection, prevention, and notification Assignee: Microsoft Filed: May 13, 2005 "hishing detection, prevention, and notification is described. In an embodiment, a messaging application facilitates communication via a messaging user interface, and receives a communication, such as an email message, from a domain. A phishing detection module detects a phishing attack in the communication by determining that the domain is similar to a known phishing domain, or by detecting suspicious network properties of the domain. In another embodiment, a Web browsing application receives content, such as data for a Web page, from a network-based resource, such as a Web site or domain." + Automatic generation of taxonomies for categorizing queries and search query processing using taxonomies Assignee: Yahoo Filed: December 6, 2004 "Systems and methods for processing search requests are provided, including automatic generation of taxonomies and query processing using those taxonomies." Note: X-referenced with five other applications.
Shopping Search: Trovetopia, a Shopping Engine Beta from Yahoo? (and Two New More Yahoo Trademarks) A quick review of the USPTPO trademark database reveals two interesting and recently registered trademarks from Yahoo. + On May 3, 2006 Yahoo registered Trovetopia. What's a Trovetopia? We checked several sites including SEW Blog and Brian Smith's always wonderful ComparisonShopping.com but were unable to come up with anything about what appears to be another (it's live) Yahoo shopping service. Of course, we could be out of the loop on this one. If so, sorry for the wasted bits. Trovetopia. We have an idea that the site has been live for a couple of months. The Trovetopia site is clearly marked and reads, "powered by Yahoo Shopping." The sparse UI site includes a dynamic list of "hot" searches this text, "find millions of products from thousands of stores, updated every day! the right price every time..." It also includes a search box and the option to narrow by 11 product categories. Here's a comparison search for Treo 700p on Trovetopia and Yahoo Shopping. Trovetopia is bare bones, Yahoo Shopping offers many more options. + A few days's later Yahoo registered "THE N9NE" and "The Nine." Guess? Perhaps some new original programming for the Yahoo Tech site. Postscript: A note from Brian Smith tells us he hadn't heard of Trovetopia. Brian is the (insert sports superstar name here) of shopping search and a great guy. When you can tell Brian about a shopping site he doesn't know about, wow!
Real Time Data #5: TrafficLand Continues to Expand, Aggregating Traffic Cams Around the Nation by Gary Price For the past couple of years I've been a regular user (both on the web and on my Treo Smartphone) of TrafficLand.com in the Washington DC metro area. The service aggregates real time traffic cameras from a variety of sources (often police, transport agencies, etc.). Very useful since what's being reported in a text or radio traffic report can be old versus being able to see what's happening live. Although these traffic cams are available from disparate sources, TrafficLand does an impressive job of bringing them all together and also allowing you to view multiple cameras at the same time. TrafficLand is available in the DC metro and recently a New York City beta was launched. Now, several new beta locations are available. More than worth a look. Here's a list of TrafficLand cities (so far): Full Service Cities: Beta Cities:
See Also: ResourceShelf Real Time Compilations 1 ||| 2 ||| 3 ||| 4 See Also: Amtrak Real Time Train Tracking Now Available for Mobile Users
Professional Reading: Inconsistent Information Policies Jeopardize Research, Panel Says "The quality and credibility of government research are being jeopardized by inconsistent policies for communicating scientific findings to the public, says an independent group of scientists that advises Congress and the White House." Source: New York Times
Professional Reading: Computers in Libraries 2006 Presentation Links "This page features links to World Wide Web sites, PowerPoint slideshows, and other electronic resources used in support of presentations at Computers in Libraries 2006. Links are provided solely at the discretion of presenters. Additional links will be provided as they become available." Source: Information Today
Lists and Rankings: Tiger Woods Becomes Nation's Favorite Sports Star as Michael Jordan Drops to Number Two for First Time in 13 Years "This top-10 contains an interesting mix of sports stars, with four basketball players, two race car drivers, two baseball players, one golfer and one football player. This is in contrast to last year, when there were five football players -- four of whom (Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Donovan McNabb and Ben Rothlisberger) have dropped out of the top-10 this year." Source: Harris Interactive Sunday, June 11, 2006
The Very Best of ResourceShelf's DocuTicker DocuTicker is ResourceShelf's sister site and is updated daily with a wide variety of new full text reports on many topics from government agencies, think tanks, ngo's and many other organizations. Here's a small, very small, sample of what we've posted during the past week. + Key Facts on Corporate Foundations + Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance --- United States, 2005 + The Changing Demographic Profile of the United States + Initial list of invalid prep schools released + The State of IPTV 2006: The Advent of Personalized Programming + Over 75 Percent of Population Now Covered By Phase II Wireless Enhanced 9-1-1
Professional Reading: Preservation, Access and Intellectual Property Rights Challenges for Libraries in the Digital Environment "Digitisation of collections provides great opportunities for widening access to collections and especially to unique, rare and fragile material. It also enables preservation by creating a surrogate and thus reducing handling of originals. However, the legal status of such activity is unclear. This paper points the way towards a common set of rights or principles to equip libraries with the tools they require to operate effectively and legally in digital environments." Full Paper (PDF; 74 KB) Source: Institute for Public Policy Research (UK)
Reports: Performance of Physical Structures in Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita: A Reconnaissance Report "Stricter adherence to existing building standards, model building codes and good building practices, and a greater recognition of the risks posed by storm surge, could minimize the kind of structural damage experienced in the Gulf Coast states hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year, the Commerce Department?s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced." Summary and Full Text Files Source: NIST (via DocuTicker)
Professional Reading: Evidence based librarianship and open access A new article by Heather Morrison. Published in Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 1(2). "Evidence based practice, whether in librarianship or any other profession, depends on access to the evidence, and access to opportunities to share one's own evidence. Open access (OA) is the perfect complement to evidence based librarianship. OA provides the optimum access to the evidence for librarians everwhere, and the optimum means of dissemination. This article compares examines access to the LIS literature in the print and electronic media, and the impact of open access."
Reports: Survey Examines Views and Experiences of African-American Men "The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University have released a new, comprehensive survey looking at how African-American men view their lives in the United States and their outlook for the future. The survey gauges the views and experiences of African-American men on marriage and family, education, careers and health, among other issues, and includes comparisons to the views and experiences of African-American women and white men and women." Sources: Washington Post Kaiser Family Foundation Harvard University
Multimedia: Webcast: Privacy Under Pressure James Rule, Professor of Sociology, State University of New York, Stony Brook discusses privacy at Oxford University. From the abstract, "It doesn't take a specialist to notice that any normal life in today's world generates a steady stream of recorded information on one's self. We are all constantly emanating data, from occasions ranging from credit card transactions to airline screenings to supermarket visits. We can also hardly miss the fact that such data, once created, take on a life of their own, as they are stored, transmitted, massaged, sold, and used as bases for determining how we will be treated...My remarks will review the social processes underlying these developments and point to questions that, I hope, hold interest beyond our specialties. Is it reasonable to seek meaningful limits on institutions accumulation and use of data on ourselves? And if so, what principle or strategy could one put forward to draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable uses of personal data?" Saturday, June 10, 2006
Presidential Libraries: Plans to Digitize Entire Contents of John F. Kennedy Library Announced "Twenty-nine years after participating in the formal groundbreaking of the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on Columbia Point, Senator Edward M. Kennedy today announced a major and unprecedented effort by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to build a new library -- a digital one consisting of the entire collection of papers, documents, photographs and audio recordings of President John F. Kennedy, eventually making them accessible to citizens throughout the world via the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum's web site -- www.jfklibrary.org.....The Kennedy Presidential Library?s research facilities are among the busiest of presidential libraries. Its archives currently include more than 8.4 million pages of the personal, congressional and presidential papers of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and more than 40 million pages of over 300 other individuals who were associated with the Kennedy Administration or mid-20th Century American history. In addition, the archives hold more than 400,000 still photographs; 11,000 hours of audio recordings; 8.5 million feet of motion picture film; and 1,200 hours of video recordings. The project to digitize the collection is expected to take more than 10 years and will begin with the official papers of President Kennedy. The projects' objectives are five-fold: * The long-term preservation of administration records, photographs, documents, video and audio; * Provide online accessibility to a worldwide audience; * Enhance one's ability to search the collection using metadata; * Protecting historical assets through remote replication (keeping a copy in another location in case of disaster); and * Minimizing wear and tear on irreplaceable physical assets" + See Also: JFK Library Reference Desk (Speech Transcripts, Bios, Some Recordings, More) + See Also: Audiovisual Holdings of the JFK Library + See Also: JFK Library White House Diary Exhibit + See Also: JFK Timeline
Professional Reading: California Voters Reject Library Construction Measure "Proposition 81 Campaign Manager Phil Giarrizzo said in the June 8 San Jose Mercury News that a weak economy, the focus on the governor?s race, and multimillion-dollar bond measures on flood protection and transportation coming up in November led to its defeat. 'While libraries rank high, when you?re debating costs and need for flood control, highways, and other kinds of vital services, it's a question of how much can people absorb in additional cost,' he added." Source: American Libraries
Specialty Databases: UPDATED, Medicare Health and Prescription Drug Plan Tracker "The Tracker allows users to examine current data as well as historical trends in Medicare Advantage plans, and also compare one state or county to others. It also enables users to look up quick facts about the 1,429 stand-alone prescription drug plans offering Medicare benefits in 2006, including the number of participating plans, range of monthly premiums, share of plans with no deductible, and share of plans with a coverage gap." Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
Specialty Databases: Several Searchable Databases with Prescription Drug Data + Lexi-Comp Drug Database + Drug Interaction Check (via Drug Digest) + Side Effect Comparisons Database (via Drug Digest) "...find side effect information on this drug. You can also find out how the side effects for a given drug compare with side effects for other drugs in its class." + Drug Comparisons (via Drug Digest) "Find out how the drug you are taking compares with similar drugs." + Pill Images Database (via Drug Digest) "... more than 6,000 pictures to help you verify your medication. To view a drug's picture, enter the drug name below." Sources: Drug Digest/Express Scripts/Healthfinder.gov Library
Databases: eBay and Kaboodle Launch New Site for Collectors: MyCollectibles Those who visit your library or info center looking for info on collectibles (whatever they might be) will most likely want to take a look at a new site, a partnership between auction jauggernaut eBay and collectible site/social network, Kaboodle. The MyCollectibles site can be found either at http://mycollectibles.kaboodle.com or via eBay at http://www.ebay.com/mycollectibles. Items listed can also be for sale. Key features: + Browsing for members with similar interests + Ability to vote on pages/collections: + Import items purchased on eBay + Here's one member's U.S. stamp collection Only issue so far is that tags and categories, even with the database being small, can lead to lots of false drops. + The tag "Washington" turns up stamps of the first president as well as historic football schedules for the University of Washington. + Will use of the tag "reissue" find and apply synonyms for the term? What exactly does reissue mean. Might it mean one thing for record collectors but something else for furniture collectors? + A search for "amps" (amplfiers) turns up several results. The distinction via items and pages (pull-down next to search box) might be confusing for some users. There is one amp page but several amp items. A search for amplifiers does not turn up the amp page or items. + Filters also need work. A search for "cards" offers well, hear, time, and legal as refinements. Not very helpful. + At this early stage, MyCollectibles would be an interesting place to try "controlled" or "fielded" tagging if (and it's a big one) people would do it. I'm not so sure. However, if tags are to help find related material (especially as a database grows larger) without some form of structure it might cause wasted time, the opposite of what it's supposed to do especially for novice users. Friday, June 09, 2006
Resources: Maps: Mapsolute Releases New AJAX API for Map24 & Company Also Relaunches Map24 Consumer Site One online map service that doesn't get as much credit as it should is Map24. It's a service that offers lots of cool features and useful services. Two annoucements from Mapsolute that will go live Monday but are already online. First, the release of an AJAX API and the launch of a developers network. This page has more info about the new API and network. Second, Mapsolute is relaunching (live right now) the Msp24.com service with lots of new features. We've mentioned Map24 for several years and find it to be an excellent resource for maps and driving directions. Their animated 3D feature is very cool. Perfect for demos. Map24 is also well established in the European market with sites and maps for the U.S., Canada, many European nations, Brazil, the Mid East, and Australia. New features include: + Single line entry search facility that can conduct searches even if words are misspelled or partial addresses given. + Specific Points of Interest (POI) such as tourist attractions or hotels can be found by simply typing in the name. I tried searching for the Space Needle and got a map, address, and phone number. Also, links to get directions. + Map24 now includes building outlines in city centers, known as City Maps. + Numerous personalization options (requires registration) + Animated 3D feature remains available + One thing that we couldn't find was an easy way to send links to maps and directions to a friend or colleague. It is possible with their Link2Map24 and MailMap24 but it would be better if it could be done quickly without the need to register.
Professional Reading: Scholarly Publishing: Nature Publishing Group Announces Open Peer Review Trial Two upcoming events from Nature. 1) A web debate on peer review Some archives stories from Nature are already online. 2) Limited trial of open peer review launching on Monday, June 6, 2006 From the announcement, " The trial will allow open comments on those submitted manuscripts selected for peer review. This trial, voluntary for authors, will run alongside the usual, confidential peer review process, and will close as this is completed for each submission. From 5 June, authors may opt for their submitted manuscript to be posted publicly for comment. Anyone in the field may post comments, provided they are prepared to identify themselves. The trial will allow Nature's editors to assess the value of including these open comments in their decision-making.
Professional Reading: It's Official: RLG Membership Votes and Approves Combining Forces with OCLC "We intend to combine the practices of RLG and OCLC in a very powerful way-by putting together the traditions of RLG and OCLC we'll create robust new venue for research institutions and new capacity that will provide unique and beneficial outcomes to the whole community," said James Michalko, former RLG President and now Vice President, RLG-Programs Development."
Professional Reading: Digital Preservation as an Albatross "This conference paper is about the concept of value in digital preservation and how up to this time it has not been considered enough when developing business cases for digital preservaiton projects. The authors maintain that value should be considered as a counterpoint to costs." Paper presented at the Archiving 2006; May 23-26 2006, Ottawa Source: University of Glasgow DSpace (via PADI)
Professional Reading: dLIST: Information Sciences Digital Archive Announces New Editors dLIST, an Information Sciences Digital Archive based at the Univesity of Arizona has announced a new and impressive team of editors for their digital library. The complete list of editors (and contact info) can be accessed here. Each editor will be responsible for a specific subject(s). + Editor-in-Chief Anita Coleman, University of Arizona, Tucson, Founding Editor + Charles W. Bailey, Jr., University of Houston, Houston, Subject Editor, Scholarly Communication + Marija Dalbello, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, Subject Editor, Digital Humanities, Digital Libraries + Fernando Elichirigoity, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Subject Editor, Science-Technology Studies + Kristin Eschenfelder, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Subject Editor, Social Informatics + Cheryl Malone, University of Arizona, Tucson, Subject Editor, Archival Science, Records Management, and Founding Editor + Paul Marty, Florida State University, Subject Editor, Museum Informatics + Michael May, Carnegie-Stout Public Library, Classics (Books) Editor + Soo Young Rieh, University of Michigan, Subject Editor, Information Behaviors From the news release, "Some dLIST features are: DL-Harvest, an open access aggregator, which brings together materials from 14 global and open access archives in the Information Sciences for meta-searching and access to the full-text. Detailed Usage Statistics,usage statistics of each item in dLIST. RSS feeds and subscription alerts for items deposited in dLIST areavailable both by individual subjects (example: Academic Libraries) as well as the entire archive and anybody can be alerted automatically and quickly about new dLIST works. Also, dLIST Classics is a new project that will be making fundamental andleading Library and Information Science texts openly accessible in dLIST.
Professional Events: Registration for the 29th Annual International ACM SIGIR is Now Avalable "Conference on Research & Development on Information Retrieval, Seattle 2006" will take place in the Emerald City August 6-11, 2006. The complete conference program is listed here and includes a keynote by a very important person in the history of web search, Jon Kleinberg. Some of Kleinberg's papers are linked here in the "Web Analysis and Search: Hubs and Authorities" section. His 1999 paper (co-authored with other members of IBM's Clever team), "Hypersearching the Web" is a favorite.
Professional Reading: Digitization: U.C. system signs on to Microsoft book-scan project (via News.com) "The University of California and the University of Toronto libraries have agreed to lend their collections of out-of-copyright material held in trust. In concert with the Open Content Alliance, Microsoft will scan and index the materials for use in its Windows Live Book Search, according to a Microsoft statement issued Friday." Much of this, in terms of partners, has been know for some time. Today's news appears to be an expansion of the UC and Toronto digitization projects. Here's the official news release. Quick Review: + Last October, the University of California Announced Its Involvement with the OCA and Scanning Books. Focus on American Literature. + Microsoft Became Part of the Open Content Alliance Last October At that time Microsoft said it was committing to digitize 150k books. + Microsoft will release Microsoft Live Books in the Future. They have just announced a program for publishers to submit material directly to them. Similar to what Amazon.com and Google Book Search offer publishers. + The University of Toronto (and other Canadian Libraries) Have Been Scanning Materials (for the Internet Archive and the OCA) for some time. See this page from the Internet Archive. Other IA text digitization collections here. + Cool! You can view a video of the University of Toronto book scanning robot in action. + In November 2005 the WSJ profiled a person who scans books at the University of Toronto + Yahoo and RLG are also members of the OCA. See Also: Other Digital Book Projects Like ebrary and NetLibrary See Also: The Online Books Page The source for out-of-copyright books. Look at how material is added daily.
Professional Reading: UNESCO Requests Comments about a World Day for Audiovisual Heritage "UNESCO has now launched a public consultation on the objectives, practicalities, costs and expected results of a 'World Day for Audiovisual Heritage' to be celebrated annually on 27 October to build global awareness of the various issues at stake in preserving the audiovisual heritage." Source: UNESCO See Also: UNESCO Also Needs a Slogan for World Information Society Day
Specialty Search: Farecast is a Descendant of Hamlet The other day we mentioned John Battelle's intro to Farecast, a new (early, closed) beta that claims to help users decide the right time to purchase an airplane ticket. When we posted that item we were reminded of Hamlet, a 2003 research project, from Dr. Oren Etizioni at the University of Washington. Today, thanks to some sleuthing and eagle-eye reading by ResourceShelf's Dan Giancaterino, we learn that Farecast is based on Etizioni's Hamlet research. From the Farecast site, "Farecast.com evolved from a University of Washington research project, led by computer science professor and internet search expert Oren Etzioni, into the online travel site you see today. We've spent several years developing state-of-the-art data-mining and predictive technologies with the objective of accurately predicting airfare pricing." Back in 2003/2004 lots was written and reported about Hamlet. Here are links to a few of those items: + Algorithms Key to Cheap Air Fare Comments from Etizioni on Hamlet's development and travel industry professionals who were skeptical of this kind of technology. + Dr. Etizioni's Research Paper: To Buy or Not to Buy: Mining Airline Fare Data to Minimize Ticket Purchase Price (Direct to Paper: PDF; 10 pages) + An 2003 NBC News Segment About Hamlet and Dr. Etzioni (WMV File) + How to Rumble the Airlines (via BusinessWeek 4/21/2003) + More on Hamlet: Airfare fluctuations launch startup that predicts prices (via Seattle Post-Intelligencer (October 8, 2004) Postscript: Why was it called Hamlet? "To Buy or Not to Buy" was their motto. :-) UPDATE: ResourceShelf's Dan Giancaterino has been using Farecast for the past couple of days and will be monitoring the service moving forward. Some of his early thoughts are posted on ResourceShelfPLUS.
Web Search: Google Labs Quietly Launches Browser Sync Add-On for Firefox New from Google a tool that syncs browser tabs, bookmarks, cookies, saved passwords, restore open tabs and windows and more across computers. Google addresses privacy issues in this section of the FAQ. A full review and comments via LifeHacker. Here are a few "related" Firefox add-ons that the ResourceShelf team uses: + Tab Mix Plus ||| Users Guide TMP also includes browser restoration, a feature that can save your butt (and lots of time) after a crash. + Foxmarks (used by our newest contributor, Carey Lening) as well as Session Saver Bookmark synching and browser restoration. + Sync2it + Sync bookmarks across computer, remote accessibility on the web, social networking options including tagging. + Available in seven languages + Search bookmarks, add notes, email + Auto check for dead links and dupes + Live Mobile Version, AvantGo access to!
Web Search: A A Quick Guide to Weather "Smart Answers" Available Ask.com Ask.com's "Smart Answer" guy, Scott Grieder, takes a look at the many weather related Smart Answers Ask.com presently offers. From current conditions to climate info. From ski conditions to seven day forecasts and more. Source: Ask.com Blog
Reports: More Gulf of Tonkin Documents Declassified & Available Online "On 30 November 2005, the National Security Agency (NSA) released the first installment of previously classified information regarding the Vietnam era, specifically the Gulf of Tonkin incident...On 30 May 2006, NSA released the second and final installment of Gulf of Tonkin materials. This final release includes additional articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, and other related memoranda."b Source: National Security Agency
Reports: More Gulf of Tonkin Documents Declassified & Available Online "On 30 November 2005, the National Security Agency (NSA) released the first installment of previously classified information regarding the Vietnam era, specifically the Gulf of Tonkin incident...On 30 May 2006, NSA released the second and final installment of Gulf of Tonkin materials. This final release includes additional articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, and other related memoranda."b Source: National Security Agency
Resources: 4INFO Offers World Cup Text Alerts; A Shortcut from Yahoo and a Smart Answer from Ask; Plus Loads of World Cup Fast Facts If your a soccer fan (or do you call it football?) in the U.S. and are primed for the World Cup, 4info.net is offering scores, standings, and more for free. 4info.net is also providing fee-based SMS alerts for all teams. This service is for Sprint and Cingular customers only. Register for both the free alerts and the fee-based service here. NOTE: FIFA is Also Offering Their Own Mobile Alert Service and Mobile Portals for the U.S., U.K., France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. They also offer Matchcast (real-time info for mobile). See Also: Fast Facts (all files PDF): World Cup Records, World Cup Origin, Stadiums, and much more. More Fast Facts in the Following Categories: + Statistics + Awards + FIFA History + Project + Women's Football See Also: More Stats via Infoplease.com See Also: Yahoo Has World Cup "Shortcut" on Web Results Pages; Ask.com Offers a World Cup Smart Answer + See Also: Opera Has a World Cup Version of Opera Mini (their Mobile Browser) Available for Free
Resources: Webcasts: N.R. Narayana Murthy, CEO of India's Infosys Technologies Limited Speaks at Stanford "N.R. Narayana Murthy, CEO of India's Infosys Technologies Limited, and named one of the Economist's top 15 most-admired global leaders named one of the Economist?s top 15 most-admired global leaders spoke at Stanford Business School in April. The video webcast is now online." Direct to Video (Real Media, 44 minutes). Thursday, June 08, 2006
Resource of the Week By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor If you're a librarian...or maybe even if you're not, you may be familiar with S.R. Ranganathan, who is often called "the father of library science." His "Five Laws of Library Science" are familiar to most of us who work in this field: 1. Books are for use. 2. Every reader his or her book. 3. Every book its reader. 4. Save the time of the reader. 5. The Library is a growing organism. Even if you think "outside the book" about online research today, Ranganathan's Laws still apply -- especially number 4, which could also mean "Save the time of the searcher." If you're a little unclear on the concept, this week's resource, which takes advantage of federated searching, is an excellent proof-of-concept. Toxicology and Environmental Health--Metasearch Federated Search Source: National Library of Medicine ToxSeek So, what is federated searching? Says EDUCAUSE: "Federated Search is a search system that allows you to search for documents from multiple (partner) collections, instead of having to search each one separately. You benefit by performing one search and getting integrated results at once. These search engines can search not only library catalog but also commercial abstracting and indexing databases, web search engines, and a variety of other databases, while often merging and de-duplicating (a.k.a. de-duping) results." ToxSeek allows federated searching of "diverse biomedical and environmental health resources...on topics related to toxicology and environmental health." This includes a wide range of databases from: + The National Library of Medicine's TOXNET + Other NLM databases such as Medline Plus, ClinicalTrials.gov, and PubMed Central + Resources from the National institutes of Health + Databases from other U.S. government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Energy, the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration + Databases from international agencies such as the World Health Organization and the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) + Resources from miscellaneous agencies , such as the American Chemical Society, the Air and Waste Management Association, and the National Safety Council ToxSeek's gloriously simple home page lists all the options; you can select as many or as few as you want via checkboxes. Some of these resources may be completely new to you; fortunately, the name of each one is a live link to the individual resource's home page, so you can actually easily click and become familiar with what you are searching. But, as they say on the late night infomercials, "That's not all!" ToxSeek presents its results as "clusters," that help you "more easily identify particular concepts." The clusters are based on "what is retrieved in the original query, and can be useful in uncovering a specific concept or focus for more in-depth searching." Our especially devoted ResourceShelf readers may be note that this is the third science-and-techonology federated search tool we've mentioned here lately. You may also want to take a look at Heriot-Watt University's TechXtra, "which can help you find articles, books, the best websites, the latest industry news, job announcements, technical reports, technical data, full text eprints, the latest research, teaching and learning resources and more, in engineering, mathematics and computing"; and PerX, "a pilot subject-based cross-repository search tool for resource discovery in engineering." Postscript: Two of the Databases ToxSeek Searches, Have Been Optimized for for Mobile Users + ToxNet + PubMed Other NLM Mobile Tools include: + NCBI Bookshelf "Downloadable versions of books from the NCBI Bookshelf for any mobile device." + Wiser "Software for Palm Powered or Pocket PC devices to assist first responders in hazardous material incidents."
Professional Reading: Reviews: Jacso Looks at Booklist Online and Revisits Scopus From the review: On Booklist: "It took a long time for ALA to get this useful review archive good software capabilities. They finally got it right, with some minor exceptions. It is not free to the public nor at a discount to ALA members. The reasonably priced subscription to the print edition of Booklist does not come with any online access privileges, either. Considering the many high-quality toll-based and open access options that offer multiple reviews from different sources for hundreds of thousands of books in one fell swoop (including many Booklist reviews), Booklist Online will be a very hard sell both for individuals and libraries." and On Scopus: "The enhanced software features, especially the swift and generous output functions, keep the rivalry with Web of Science/Web of Knowledge systems alive. But unresolved problems of source coverage undermine the most prominent claim of Scopus about its broad source base."
Professional Reading: The June/July 2006 Issue of the Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology Focuses on Vocabularies One of our favorite topics: Articles include: + Toward Terminology Services: Experiences with a Pilot Web Service Thesaurus Browser + Web Services for Controlled Vocabularies + Versioning Concept Schemes for Persistent Retrieval + Growing Vocabularies for Plant Identification and Scientific Learning + Toward Human-Computer Information Retrieval Source: American Society of Information Science & Technology
Information Industry: British Library Document Supply Center Announces 2006/2007 Pricing Also available is news about a new EPRINTS service Document Delivery Services
Academic Libraries:UK: JISC deal opens archive "The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has signed a deal with Oxford Journals to make a wide range of information available to UK higher education libraries." Source: Kable's Government Computing See Also: News Release
Specialty Search: The 100 Most Searched For Companies on Hoovers.com We all love lists and rankings! A little more "search intelligence" for your files. The Hoover's 100 appears to be a new monthly ranking. Of course, Hoover's also supplies data to many other sites. Source: Hoover's Resources: New York Public Library Adds Free Online Films for Card Holders NYPL joins the Denver Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library in offering this service for card holders. Direct to NYPL Audio and Video site. Like the other video services, the NYPL site is powered by OverDrive. Note: Remember, many libraries already offer downloadable books and audio books for free.
Multimedia: New, Listen Online: DC Court of Appeals Oral Arguments Now Available Online That's right, live webcasts!!! "The public may now listen to arguments held before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals without having to attend in person, thanks to new technology instated June 7 that provides real-time audio coverage via web streaming." Unfortunately, no archive presently exists. However, a user could easily record the arguments themselves using one of many tools like TotalRecorder. You could even record at a specific time using the Total Recorder timer. Source: DCBar.org. Thanks to Carey L. for the tip.
Documents in the News: US has woven clandestine 'spider's web' of detentions and transfers, with collusion of Council of Europe member states, says Parliamentary Assembly Committee "The United States has progressively woven a clandestine 'spider?s web' of disappearances, secret detentions and unlawful inter-state transfers ? spun with the collaboration or tolerance of Council of Europe member states, the Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) said today. You'll find a video press conference, images, recommendation, and two memorandums. Source: Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly See Also: US blasts Council of Europe report on secret CIA flights (via AFP)
Documents: Health: New Easy-to-Read Booklets on Alzheimer's Disease, Memory Loss Offered by National Institute on Aging + Title: Understanding Memory Loss + Title: Understanding Alzheimer's Disease
Research Guides: Economic Indicators [Australia] on the Internet This e-brief was just updated by Guy Woods, Information/E-links Statistics Group Source: Parliamentary Library, Australia Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Professional Reading: Personalization and Accessibility: Integration of Library and Web Approaches' This paper and poster were presented at the 15th International World Wide Web Conference a couple of weeks ago. From the abstract: "This paper describes personalization metadata standards that can be used to enable individuals to access and use resources based on a user's particular requirements. The paper describes two approaches which are being developed in the library and Web worlds and highlights some of the potential challenges which will need to be addressed in order to maximise interoperability. The paper concludes by arguing the need for greater dialogue across these two communities." The materials were written by: + Ann Chapman, UKOLN + Brian Kelly, UKOLN + Liddy Nevile, La Trobe University + Andy Heath, Sheffield Hallam University Source: UKOLN
Professional Reading: Application Insight: The Revolution Will Not Be Podcast Source: Intelligent Enterprise
Citation Briefs: Science in Australia, 2001-05; Journals Ranked by Impact: Economics and More + Scotland Ten most-cited papers and corresponding graph ranked by citations for the last 10 years in ALL FIELDS where all authors of the paper were from Scotland. + Science in Australia, 2001-05 + U.S. Universities with Highest Concentrations in Literary Studies, 2001-05 + Canadian Universities: Highest Impact in Oncology, 2001-05 + Journals Ranked by Impact: Economics + What's the Hot Paper in Chemistry + What's the Hot Paper in Physics?
Guides: A Guide to Web 2.0 Resources and Tools In the past we've posted about both the amazing list of Web 2.0 apps (definitions vary) from the Web 2.0 Awards (thanks Rand) and from Andreas Dittes (wow). Today, a link to Chris Smith's nicely organized list. Chris also has a smaller list of 2.0 apps being used in education. Btw, don't forget the Fourio Web 2.0 innovations map. Interesting apps? Useful tools? For sure. From a business standpoint it would be an interesting research report for an MBA student (or someone else) to track these companies over time and see how they're doing (acquired, out of business, merged, etc.).
Specialty Search: Lists & Rankings: What Search Terms are People Using When They Search the CIA's Electronic Reading (FOIA) Collection? The CIA offers two lists, both updated monthly, from their FOIA Electronic Reading Room. The first lists the 25 most popular search phrases and the other ranks the 25 most popular documents. Current Top 10 Search Phrases soviet analysis: 1647 ufo: 1066 iran: 690 cuba: 652 south africa: 457 assassination: 400 brazil: 367 iraq: 366 area 51: 364 soviet+analysis: 358
Specialty Databases: Census Data: IPUMS-International Adds More Data "IPUMS-International project would like to announce a major new data release. On June 1 we added 19 new samples from Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, South Africa, and Venezuela to the data series. IPUMS-International now contains 47 samples from 13 countries, with 143 million person records. We are on schedule to add approximately 100 more samples in the next 4 years." IPUMS stands for Integrated Public Use Microdata Series and comes from the University of Minnesota. See Also: IPUMS-USA
Specialty Search Tools: Travel: An Intro to Farecast Mr. Battelle introduces Farecast, a new service, still in private beta (you can register) that promises to help consumers decide the best time to purchase a plane ticket. Something we all know is almost impossible is finding THE lowest fare. Sounds very interesting and useful if it works. If it also sounds like something you've heard before (in terms of the concept), you are correct. Back in 2003, Oren Etzioni, at the University of Washington was building a tool called "Hamlet." Not sure if this technology or concepts power Farecast. I don't think Hamlet ever made it to the end user. This Wired article has more on and Etzioni's 2003 effort along with comments from travel professionals, who at that time, seemed skeptical. Stay tuned! See Also: An 2003 NBC News Segment About Hamlet and Dr. Etzioni (WMV File) See Also: Dr. Etizioni's Research Paper: To Buy or Not to Buy: Mining Airline Fare Data to Minimize Ticket Purchase Price (Direct to Paper: PDF; 10 pages) See Also: How to Rumble the Airlines (via BusinessWeek 4/21/2003) See Also: More on Hamlet: Airfare fluctuations launch startup that predicts prices (via Seattle Post-Intelligencer (October 8, 2004) Postscript: Why was it called Hamlet? "To Buy or Not to Buy" was their motto. :-)
Specialty Search:Legal: New Consumer Oriented Legal Search Database in the Works Greg Sterling has the details on the SEW Blog about Avvo.
Web Search: Yahoo Rolls Out My Web 2.0 in India The team in Sunnyvale continues to roll-out their personal web save/tagging/sharing service around the world. This time around, it's India. Also, the entire Web 2.0 service has just released a bunch of new features. Details here. Sources: Times of India, Searchblog, and MyWeb Blog.
Professional Reading Shelf: Public Libraries: Data based at the library: Electronic databases are telling at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library We're always happy to read when library resources, services, and librarians get some media attention. Last week we had two more examples including one in BusinessWeek. Source: Business First of Buffalo See Also: The best deal in town -- free business information (via Greater Triad Business Journal)
Statistics: Costs of Incarceration and Supervised Release, United States "In fiscal year 2005, it cost up to $23,431.92 to keep a federal inmate incarcerated and $3,450 for a federal offender to be released under the supervision of a probation officer." Source: U.S. Courts
Reports: New, Projections of Net Migration to the United States "This paper, requested by the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, is one of several reports by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that present facts and research on immigration to help inform the agency?s projections of the economy and the federal budget. The paper examines projections of net migration. In keeping with CBO?s mandate to provide objective, nonpartisan analysis, the paper makes no recommendations." 18 pages; PDF. Source: Congressional Budget Office
Reports: Trafficking in Persons Report 2006 "The Department of State is required by law to submit a Report each year to the U.S. Congress on foreign governments? efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. This Report is the sixth annual TIP Report. It is intended to raise global awareness, to highlight the growing efforts of the international community to combat human trafficking, and to encourage foreign governments to take effective actions to counter all forms of trafficking in persons. The Report has increasingly focused the efforts of a growing community of nations on sharing information and partnering in new and important ways. A country that fails to make significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons, per U.S. law, receives a "Tier 3" assessment in this Report. Such an assessment could trigger the withholding of non-humanitarian, non-trade-related assistance from the United States to that country." Source: U.S. State Department
Tools: Need 3GB of E-Mail Storage for Free? Walla.com, a major Israeli portal, offers 3GB of storage. Registration takes just a few seconds. Note: After we registered and logged-in we noticed 5GB of storage in our account. More info here. Not the most robust set of features but it seems to work well. Some filters would be a welcome addition. Tuesday, June 06, 2006
National Archives and Records Administration CIA Declassifies Operational Materials As a Result of New Disclosure Policy under Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act "The interagency group (IWG) responsible for locating, declassifying, and releasing U.S. records related to Nazi and Japanese war crimes and criminals will hold a briefing to discuss the recent release of CIA operational records." See Also: The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group See Also: Additional CIA Name and Subject Files released by IWG See Also: CIA papers: U.S. failed to pursue Nazi (via CNN), Video Report Also Available See Also: U.S. Congress Extends Effort to Open Secret WWII War Crimes Records Two More Years to Declassify and Open CIA Documents Source: NARA and CNN
Information Industry: New and Forthcoming Titles from OCLC's NetLibrary ebook Service Hundreds of new ebooks from NetLibrary. + Browse New Titles + Forthcoming Titles Note: Many libraries offer free remote access to NetLibrary.
The Stored Communication Act: New Considerations for Webmasters "CIOs, webmasters and managers responsible for establishing and administering policies for websites, intranets and extranets should take note of a recent federal decision regarding the Stored Communications Act. The details of your online use policies could mean the difference between protection or exclusion from this federal law." Source: Modern Practice (FindLaw) Stored Communication Act--Webmasters
Specialty Search SEC Web Site Adds Beta: Full Text Search Two Years of EDGAR Filings New on the SEC EDGAR web site (via SEC.gov) is the option to full text search two years (only) of EDGAR filings. Most free EDGAR sites only search headers and other portions of the filing. This recent post (about another free full text EDGAR service) explains more courtesy of Virtual Chase Alert. Also new from SEC.gov is access to Effectiveness Notices. Source: SEC
Web Search: New French and UK Lawsuits Against Google Digitization Efforts Danny at SEW offers a roundup of new lawsuits from France's La Martiniere and another group of UK publishers. What you might think of the Google plan is one thing, but we often wonder if some of these groups understand how it all works. We also think that it points out that Google's plans (the one to digitize library books as well as offer access to new books) is as much about selling books (that's what a Google exec implied) as it is about anything else. Don't forget this quote from Google's David Drummond from last November. Mr. [Allan] Adler [a vice president for legal and governmental affairs at the Association of American Publishers] said Google's contention that its search program might somehow increase sales of books was speculation at best. "When people make inquiries using Google's search engine and they come up with references to books, they are just as likely to come to this fine institution to look up those references as they are to buy them," he said, referring to the Public Library. To which Google's Mr. Drummond [Google's general counsel] replied, "Horrors." Postscript: In-copyright books shared with Google Book Search direct from publishers do not offer links to library holdings. Some library program books do offer info about local library holdings but others don't.
Web Search: ITConversations Chats with Ask.com's Apostolos Gerasoulis, Vice President for Search Technologies, Ask.com Apostolos (aka "AG"), the person you've also seen in the Ask.com tv spots, chats with Dr. Moira Gunn about Ask.com technology. Dr. Gerasoulis is also the creator of Teoma technology that powers Ask.com. The program runs 26 minutes. See Also: An interview with Ask.com CEO, Jim Lanzone (via CNBC) See Also: Reading List + "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).
Web Search: Kozoru Opens Public Beta Testing Of Byoms via Search Engine Watch Blog See Also: Kozoru Will Release IM Answers Software In this post we talk not only about Kozoru but numerous other choices for IM answer tools and the fact that many SMS (text message tools) offer a chat "like" experience. The other issue that comes to mind today is how many non-geeks (at least for now) will take the time to build these tools? We will see. Will they do better than OpenSearch from A9? I also wonder about selection choices. We're not sure how asking a question to a blog like Huffington Post would be of value. We tried a few "factual searches" using byoms (remember, this is a beta) + Who won the Academy Award for Best Actor, 1972 (Database: IMDB) Wrong answer, we received the best cinematographer award winner + When do the Baltimore Orioles play at home in September (Database: Ticketmaster) No answer + Plays in Chicago (Database: Ticketmaster) No answer + Prime Minster of Canada (Database: Wikipedia) We received the first few sentence and a link to the entry but as far as a name, no name was provided. + When was Hank Aaron born (Database: Wikipedia) Winner. Hammerin' Hank's bday was provided. + Founders of Yahoo No mention of Mr. Yang or Mr. Filo. Overall, promising idea but like we said last week, it will require a learning curve, intense marketing, and improved technology to play with what others are already offering and developing. + Finally, byom's via Wikipedia could also benefit from a spell check. This would be extremely useful in an IM enviro. + Choking (Database WebMD) Potentially useful result but the content can only be read if you have a web browser. In other words, the byom result is primarily a web link to WebMD.
Web Search: Presentations from the Workshop: The Future of Web Search This event brought together researchers from around the globe. It was held in Barcelona -- May 19-20, 2006. Many presentations. Here are a few that caught my eye at first glance. Visit this page to find links to all of the presentations. All presentations are PDF files. + Keynote: From query based Information Retrieval to context driven Information Supply by Andrei Broder, Yahoo + Keynote: Efficient Top-k Queries for XML Information Retrieval by Gerhard Weikum, Max Planck Institute, Germany + Using Rank Propagation and Probabilistic Counting for Link-based Spam Detection + Estimating Corpus Size via Queries + "Tuning": Error Optimisation in Ad-Hoc Retrieval + Mobile Search on Ubiquitous Collaborative Annotations of Space + Image Search "Live" + Boosting Performance of Web Search Engines Using Query Logs Many more presentations listed here.
Mobile Resources: Amtrak Train Tracking and Reservations Go Mobile Access to Amtrak's real time tracking service along with the ability to make reservations on a Blackberry or Treo are now live. Simply point your mobile browser to http://www.amtrak.com. Screen caps here. As we noted a few weeks ago, you can also track Amtrak trains in real time using the interface listed here.
Lists and Rankings: Airlines "Blacklisted" from the European Union "In 2006, the European Union banned 92 airlines, the vast majority of them from Africa. Declared unsafe according to international standards, they are not permitted to land at European airports. Most of the airlines are African, and include all 50 airlines from the Democratic Republic of Congo." Source: The Official Journal of the European Union (via InfoPlease.com)
Lists and Rankings: Most Expensive Cities for Gasoline in the U.S. Pain at the Pump: Which Cities Hurt the Most "We're all feeing the pain at the pump, but some cities are getting hit worse than others since they depend more on the automobile for transportation. So how does your home town stack up? The city experts at Sperling's BestPlaces not only looked at the cost of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline in 80 major U.S. cities, but also analyzed the number of miles driven by daily commuters, plus the effect of rush-hour congestion. What they found was that Atlanta commuters can spend over $5,700 annually on gas, for a family which includes two daily drivers, earning it the title of the most expensive city for driving." Direct to complete list of 80 metro areas, ranked from most to least expensive See also: Best Places for Teleworking Cities--United States--Gas Prices Source: Sperling's BestPlaces
The Very Best of ResourceShelf's DocuTicker DocuTicker is ResourceShelf's sister site and is updated daily with a wide variety of new full text reports on many topics from government agencies, think tanks, ngo's and many other organizations. Here's a small, very small, sample of what we've posted during the past week. + Jefferson Rebuffed - The United States and the Future of Internet Governance (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard) + Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities in Construction, 2004 + Characteristics of Drivers Stopped by Police, 2002 + Internet Scams and Hoaxes: Some Information for Your Everyday User + Full Text of Complaint: Net2Phone Sues Skype Over Patent Infringement + The Relative Effectiveness of 10 Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Programs in the United States + Report to the President: Death of Slobodan Milosevic + Online Fraud Report + Birmingham, AL; Louisville, KY; and Austin, TX Lead Local Markets for Frequent Fast Food Restaurant Patronage + Report to Congress: Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq
Resources: Same-Sex Marriage Debate Resources A collection of HTML and PDF documents (many legal documents included) Source: FindLaw
Resources: Media Ownership Regulation in Australia (Updated) "This e-brief provides background on the issue, together with links to relevant sites and documents. For a comprehensive, well-presented, study released in April 2006 and covering the same ground as this e-brief, see Content, Consolidation and Clout: How will regional Australia be affected by media ownership changes? The Executive Summary and key findings are available online here." Source: Parliamentary Library of Australia Media--Australia
Articles: Unclassified Articles from CIA's Classified Studies Articles include: Book Review: The CIA and Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy Book Review: Geographic Handbook of the CIA (Geograficheskiy Spravochnik TsRU) Article: The Intelligence Officer's Bookshelf Volume 50, Number 1, 2006 Source: CIA Intelligence CIA Unclassified Material
Web-Based Tools: Google Set to Launch Web-Based Spreadsheet Program Will be a new Google Labs experiment. A service we blogged about several months ago, Zoho Sheet (part of the Zoho set of products) also offers a collaborative spreadsheet service (free). More cool Zoho services (most free) here. Zoho Writer is a fave. See Also: Zoho Writer; Zoho Creator (Create your own apps), Zoho Planner, Zoho Chat, and Zoho Virtual Office. Monday, June 05, 2006
Professional Reading: Talis Announces Library 2.0 Mashup Competition As they say, GO FOR IT and have some fun. Judges include Jenny Levine, Andrew Pace, Chris Pirillo, Jon Udell, ResourceShelf's Gary Price, and others. The deadline for entries is 18 August 2006. Additional details here. We also hope that while Library 2.0 (as a whole, not this competition) also considers something else that's equally if not more important than the technology itself. A) Knowledge and an understanding that librarians are still important (for example, as educators) in today's self-service world. 2) People can only use what they know about. Often, tech-geeks only build things for other tech-geeks. Fun? You bet. But without the understanding that the world of the library and librarian extend beyond the four walls of the building, they often go unused.
Professional Reading: The June Issue of the Internet Resources Newsletter is Now Online News and several heaping helpings of high quality web resources from Roddy MacLeod and crew from the Heriot-Watt University Library in the UK.
Microsoft Announces Winners of Microsoft Live Labs "Accelerating Search in Academic Research Awards" Congrats to the 12 winners who will receive query logs and some grant $$$. Topics that will be researched include: + Discovering and Using Meta-Terms + Deepening Search: From the Surface to the Deep Web + Incorporating Trust into Web Authority + The Truth is Out There: Aggregating Answers from Multiple Web Sources You can read brief intros about each of the 12 research projects here. Source: MSN Search's WebLog and this News Release See Also: While We're On The Topic of Microsoft Live Search Nothing major, but the typos that we first reported one month after the launch of Academic Live search still remain on the site's home page some seven weeks after launch. Kind of amazing that it would take this long for someone in Redmond to add one letter to the home page.
Information Industry: New Collections from ebrary; ProQuest, and New Newspaper Printing Options + ebrary: "two new subscription e-book databases for the corporate marketplace: Leadership and Management (770 titles) and Sales and Marketing (680 titles)." + ProQuest Introduces Newspaper Printing Service for Libraries See Also: ND Press See Also: Newspapers Explore New On-Screen Replica Possiblities (via Editor & Publisher) Source: InfoToday NewsBreaks
Professional Reading/Listening: Thom Hickey discusses OCLC Research, projects, technology, and licensing with Educause's Matt Pasiewicz "In a 23-minute interview, OCLC's chief scientist covers such topics as OCLC's Open Source Software offerings and licenses, FRBR and other projects, grid computing and Ajax." Direct to audio (MP3) Sources: OCLC Research, EDUCAUSE
Web Search: Endeca's Guided Navigation Awarded Patent and More Published Patent Applications It has been a couple of weeks since our last report. Here's a look at one awarded patent and a bunch of just published patent applications. Awarded Patent Patent Awarded to Endeca Hierarchical data-driven navigation system and method for information retrieval Filed: May 18, 2000 From the abstract, "A data-driven, hierarchical information navigation system and method enable search of sets of documents or other materials by certain common attributes that characterize the materials. The invention includes several aspects of a data-driven, hierarchical navigation system that employs this navigation mode. The navigation system of the present invention includes features of an interface, a knowledge base and a taxonomy definition process and a classification process for generating the knowledge base, a graph-based navigable data structure and method for generating the data structure, World Wide Web-based applications of the system, and methods of implementing the system." News Release Note: Want To Demo Endeca Technology in a Library Environment? The library catalog at North Carolina State University is powered by Endeca. Read More. Published Patent Applications Vocabulary-independent search of spontaneous speech Assignee: Microsoft Filed: November 29, 2004 Abstract: "A method of identifying a location of a query string in an audio signal is provided. Under the method, a segment of the audio signal is selected. A score for a query string in the segment of the audio signal is determined by determining the product of probabilities of overlapping sequences of tokens. The score is then used to decide if the segment of the audio signal is likely to contain the query string." Utilizing information redundancy to improve text searches Assignee: Microsoft Filed: January 20, 2006 From the abstract: "Architecture for improving text searches using information redundancy. A search component is coupled with an analysis component to rerank documents returned in a search according to a redundancy values. Each returned document is used to develop a corresponding word probability distribution that is further used to rerank the returned documents according to the associated redundancy values. In another aspect thereof, the query component is coupled with a projection component to project answer redundancy from one document search to another. This includes obtaining the benefit of considerable answer redundancy from a second data source by projecting the success of the search of the second data source against a first data source. Method of controlling an Internet browser interface and a controllable browser interface Assignee: Yahoo Filed: February 2, 2006 Internet search environment number system Assignee: NA From the abstract, "The present invention discloses an Internet search environment number ("ISEN") system that provides researchers with a tool to locate and search relevant, evaluated online databases. The ISEN system is a portal that comprehensively catalogs the Internet's databases thereby making information located on the Internet readily accessible from both visible and invisible database resources" Filed: November 28, 2005 Title: System and method for property-based focus navigation in a user interface Assignee: Microsoft Filed: November 19, 2004 Lexicon-based new idea detector Assignee: NA Filed: October 12, 2005 Lexicon-based new idea detector Assignee: NA Filed: October 12, 2005 Method for search result clustering Assignee: NA Filed: November 1, 2005 Search query processing to identify related search terms and to correct misspellings of search terms Assignee: NA Filed: January 6, 2006 Method and system for internet publishing and advertising forums Assignee: NA Filed: November 27, 2004 Method and system for ranking messages of discussion threads Assignee: Microsoft Filed: May 16, 2005 From the abstract, "The ranking system defines an equation for attributes of a message and an author. The equations define the attribute values and are based on relationships between the attribute and the attributes associated with the same type of object, and different types of objects." Method for gathering and summarizing internet information Assignee: U.S. Government Funded Research, Office of Naval Research Filed: November 3, 2005 System and methods for data analysis and trend prediction Assignee: NEC Research Filed: March 22, 2005 Methods and apparatus for assessing web page decay Assignee: IBM Filed: November 22, 2004 Note: Dr. Andrei Broder listed as an inventor now works at Yahoo Research. From the abstract, "Systems and methods are herein disclosed for assessing the staleness of a web page. In particular, in one method of the present invention, the staleness of a web page is assessed by examining internal date references within the web page. In another method of the present invention, the staleness of a web page is assessed by examining the meta-data associated with the web page. In a further method of the present invention, the staleness of a hyperlinked web page is determined by examining the link status of the hyperlinks. If the web page has a relatively large number of dead links, it is assessed as being a stale web page. In a still further method of the present invention, the link status of web pages in the neighborhood of the web page being assessed is likewise examined."
Lists & Rankings: Contributions To Colleges And Universities [U.S.]: Up By 4.9 Percent To $25.6 Billion The nation's top ten fundraising universities and dollars received are: + Stanford University ($603.59 million) + University of Wisconsin-Madison ($595.22 million) + Harvard University ($589.86 million) + University of Pennsylvania ($394.25 million) + Cornell University ($353.93 million) + Columbia University ($341.14 million) + University of Southern California ($331.75 million) + Johns Hopkins University ($323.10 million) + Indiana University ($301.06 million) + University of California, San Francisco ($292.93 million) Source: Council for Aid to Education See Also: Top 50 College and University Endowments, 2004
Lists & Rankings: 50 Smart Places to Live "You told us you wanted good value in home prices and a reasonable cost of living -- not surprising, considering that choosing a place to live is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll ever make -- combined with a great quality of life. To find such cities, we joined forces with Bert Sperling, co-author of Cities Ranked & Rated (Wiley, $25) and host of BestPlaces.net, to compile a database with an eye to these elements. Among other things, we looked for places where you could buy an attractive house for $300,000 to $400,000 or less. Access to quality health care was also a must, as was a strong economy. Next, we traveled to the cities that bubbled to the top of the list, to speak with residents and savor the flavor of their neighborhoods." Direct to list of Top 50 Smart Locations Source: Kiplinger's Personal Finance Cities--United States--Ranking
Reports: Just Released, The Condition of Education 2006 (United States) "The Condition of Education 2006 summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available data. The report presents 50 indicators on the status and condition of education and a special analysis on international assessments. The indicators represent a consensus of professional judgment on the most significant national measures of the condition and progress of education for which accurate data are available." Source: National Center for Education Statistics
New, Reports: Changing Patterns in the World of Work 85 pages; PDF. From the intro, "This Report aims to help us all put our own experiences and knowledge about work in the global perspective of today. It describes a time of opportunity and uncertainty in which some of the barriers that have prevented women and men from fully realizing their capabilities are coming down, but in which good jobs that provide the foundation of security to build better lives are increasingly difficult to find." Source: ILO via IWS News Service
Guides: Introduction to Networking Resources Various resources including articles, glossary, webcasts, tech advice, and more. See Also: Several Guides to Wireless Networking Source: SearchNetworking.com Sunday, June 04, 2006
Professional Reading: Law Libraries: The June Issue of AALL's Spectrum is Now Online Articles Include: + Practicing Law Librarianship: Podcasting, Vodcasting, and Law Libraries + Perspective: The Ethics of Electronic Record Sharing Source: American Association of Law Libraries
Resources: Ready Reference: The June Issue of The World Almanac Newsletter is Available A must for the reference desk or fact "geek." Newsletter contains a chronology of June events and holidays, "This Day in History (June)," and much more. See Also: Back issues and subscription info (free) Terms: Fast Facts, Chronologies
Resources: Database: Esquire Magazine's Drink Database Browse by drink name or search by: + Spririt + Mixer + Glass Type + Scenario Source: Esquire Magazine (via Yahoo Picks)
Resources: Imagery: Curator's Choices Selections from the NY Public Library Digital Image Gallery The award-winning NY Public Library Digital image collection celebrated its first birthday in March. Each month the database curator selects a series of Images as "Curator's Choice." Here's a set of direct links to a few "Curator's Choice" compilations from the past year. Wow! + Illustrated Classics of Engineering from the William Barclay Parsons Collection and Others (over 1000 images) + On Stage and Screen: Photograph File of the Billy Rose Theatre Collection "...several thousand photographs of actors and actresses, in character and as themselves, from the 19th century to recent years. These images from the Billy Rose Theatre Collection of the NYPL Library for the Performing Arts include - in addition to theatre and Hollywood publicity stills, circus photographs, and vaudeville productions -- many rare photographs from the early years of cinema." + Asia and the Pacific Rim in Early Prints and Photographs "This featured collection contains over 1,000 prints and photographs (mostly albumen, hand-colored albumen and gelatin silver prints) of East, Southeast and South Asia from the 18th century to the early 20th century, drawn from portfolios, photographic albums, photographically illustrated books and archival collections." + Walt Whitman Manuscripts "Over 1,000 items, including manuscripts, printed works, and portraits of Walt Whitman (1819-1892), the leading American poet of the 19th century." + American Popular Song Sheet Covers, 1890-1900 "This collection guide features thousands of examples of the covers of popular American sheet music from 1890-1900." See Also: ResourceShelf Resource of the Week Entry (3/2005) See Also: PictureAustralia the massive imagery database from Australia (another WOW! site) offers subject-based collections called Picture Trails. Terms: Databases, Images, Digitized Collection
Industry News: Nature Magazine archive reaches 1950, and keeps going back... "Nature Publishing Group announces the online publication of the Nature archive back to January 1950. In addition, digitization back to the first issue of Nature has begun. The archive is expected to reach November 1869 by late 2007." Direct to Nature Archive. Source: NPG
Report: Long Distance Transportation Patterns: Mode Choice From the intro, "Americans total 1.3 trillion person-miles of long distance travel a year on about 2.6 billion long-distance trips. Long-distance trips are journeys of more than 50 miles from home to the furthest destination. More than half of long-distance trips are taken for pleasure, while fewer than one out of five long-distance trips is for business. While most long-distance trips are made by persona 5b4 l vehicle, the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), conducted in 2001 and 2002, explored the choices that travelers make for their long-distance travel." Also available as PDF with stats in XLS format. Source: BTS
Multimedia Shelf: Webcast Lectures by Madeline Albright and Supreme Court Jutice Stephen Breyer at Princeton Two just released lectures (video webcasts) from Princeton University: + James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions: Stephen Breyer, United States Supreme Court Justice: "Active Liberty: A Conversation with United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and Professor Robert P. George." -- + Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs: Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State Terms: U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. State Department, Webcasts, International Affairs Saturday, June 03, 2006
Events: eBooks Coming this Summer: Free Access to Thousands of eBooks via The World eBook Fair As Project Gutenberg celebrates its 35th anniversary this summer (yes, e-books are hardly a new idea and congrats to Gutenberg founder Michael Hart) The World eBook Fair will work to promote eBooks around the globe. From the World eBook Fair site, "July 4th to August 4, 2006, marks a month-long celebration of the 35th anniversary of the first step taken towards today's eBooks. 35 years ago the United States Declaration of Independence was a first example of hundreds of thousands of eBooks downloadable on the Internet today in a variety of languages totalling over 100. The World eBook Fair welcomes you to absolutely free access to a variety of eBooks unparalleled by any other source. 1/3 million eBooks await you, all free of charge [as PDF files] for the month of July...This event is brought to you by the oldest and largest free eBook source on the Internet, Project Gutenberg, with the assistance of The World eBook Library, the providers of the largest collection, and a number of other eBook efforts around the world. The World eBook Library normally charges $8.95 per year for their online collection, and allows unlimited permanent downloading. During The World eBook Fair all these books are available free of charge through a gateway at http://www.gutenberg.org See Also: Learn More/Subscribe to The World eBook Library
Resources: Real-Time Database Collection, Part 4 Another helping of databases, cameras, and tools that update in real or near-real time. + Real Time Access to the Calfornia Highway Patrol Incident Database + Keynote Internet Health Report Opt-in email alert service also available. + NextBus Real time access to bus and other public transit info. Tells you when the next bus (or train is approaching). Wireless access also available. NextBus database is available for selected public transit systems in 15 states. More next week. See Also: Links to Collections 1 ||| 2 ||| 3
Web Search:Travel: SideStep Adds Travel Guides Beta, Names SVP of Engineering The battle of features in travel search continues with SideStep launching Travel Guides Beta. Most of the content is licensed from Frommer's with additional information courtesy of hotel partners. This launch by SideStep comes just about a month after the company announced its activities search." Source: SearchEngineWatch Blog
Chemical Genetics--Database Source: Broad Institute, Harvard and MIT ChemBank "ChemBank is a public, web-based informatics environment created by the Broad Institute's Chemical Biology Program and funded in large part by the National Cancer Institute's Initiative for Chemical Genetics (ICG). This knowledge environment includes freely available data derived from small molecules and small-molecule screens, and resources for studying the data so that biological and medical insights can be gained. ChemBank is intended to guide chemists synthesizing novel compounds or libraries, to assist biologists searching for small molecules that perturb specific biological pathways, and to catalyze the process by which drug hunters discover new and effective medicines."
Resources: New from Weather.com; Searching for Weather Data Info via IM A couple of months ago we mentioned the new WeatherBug Labs offering a cool plug-in with weather data (free) for Firefox. Not to be forgotten are these weather info tools from Weather.com. + Local Weather RSS Feeds + Mozilla Add-On (1-ClickWeather) + Weather.com (Weather Channel) Podcasts About podcasts available. UPDATE: Earlier this week we posted about upcoming and already available tools offering various search servcices via IM. One we failed to mention was WeatherBug's IM Weather Search. It's currently available for AIM and Skype. Details here.
Resources:Webliographies: Astronomy Source: Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A./VirtualPrivateLibrary.com Astronomy Resources (PDF; 795 KB) "This June 2006 column Astronomy Resources is a comprehensive list of astronomical resources and sites on the Internet including astronomy resources, astrophysics resources, bioastronomy resources, radio astronomy resources, and roboscopes."
Web Search: More Good Press for Ask.com First, Mr. Bill Gates has good things to say about Ask at the D Conference last week. Source: ZDNet.com Next, Ask.com: Google's up-and-coming rival From the article, "Jim Lanzone, Ask.com's hyper-enthusiastic CEO, has a simple explanation: "What really differentiates us is our focus on search. Other companies are partnering with content companies and launching wi-fi networks. But we're not building a rocket ship. We're building a better car. It's not what people will want in five years. It's what they want now." Source: CNN/Money Postscript to the Library Community from Gary: Although ResourceShelf remains INDEPENDENT of my role at Ask as Director of Online Information Resources (note we still cover all engines big and small), I am here to demo and discuss Ask.com services with others in the library and online info world. We would love to hear from you. Email about Ask.com should go to this address gary.price@ask.com. While I can't promise a detailed reply to each email, I'll do my best to get it to the right person in an expedited manner. Friday, June 02, 2006
Resource: Digitized Newspapers Database: NewspaperArchive.com Blasts Off With SpaceProgramArchive.com Hardly a week passes any more without the good folks in Cedar Rapids, IA, offering up another massive archive of digitized newspapers about a specific topic. Full text search, full image, save/copy/print from hundreds of newspapers. All free. This week, NewspaperArchive.com offers up an archive with over 50,000 articles about the space program. Search, browse the timeline (cool), or read a hyperlinked narrative. An advanced search interface is also available. See Also: Links to Other ResourceShelf Posts About NewspaperArchive.com Databases (Free)
Web Search: Kudos and Congrats to Philipp Lenssen on His New Book about Google Congrats to ResourceShelf friend and the editor of one of the VERY best blogs covering Google and other web search issues, Philipp Lenssen, on the publication of his new book, 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google. Those of you who read ResourceShelf regularly know that he's not only a Google guru but also the creator of the wonderful GamesfortheBrain site. Kudos, P.L., well done! We just ordered a copy.
Web Search:Business Research: A Quick Look at Google's Lobbying Efforts in the U.S. Congress 2003-2005 When a person or company hires a lobbying firm (or registers to lobby on their own behalf), that firm and its lobbyists have to file documentation and disclose their clientele and just who they spoke with. This information is available from the U.S. Senate's Office of Public Records. Reports must be filed twice a year. The records (for any company lobbying Congress (full image)) are available via this database (free). This page has more about what is and is not disclosed, the registation process, and more. These records can provide glimpses into issues involving the U.S Congress that the company is or was interested in at a given time. Let's begin with Google. More reviews for other companies are forthcoming. Google is listed twice in the database, once as Google and the other as Google Inc. The links below go to year-end reports from several lobbying firms. This page also includes links to registrations, mid-year reports, and amendments. In 2005, lobbying for "Google Inc." was done by: PodestaMattoon (Year-End Report) We learn that: + Google spent approx. $40,000 with this firm. + Specific lobbying issues: Internet Access, Privacy, Compensation Issues, and issues relating to China Other Lobbying Firms 2005, Capital Tax Partners + Approx. $20,000 spent with this firm + Specific lobbying issues: Tax 2005, Public Policy Partners + Approx. $100,000 spent with this firm + Specific lobbying issues: Spyware, Privacy, On-Line Pharmacies, Net Neutrality, Data Breech/Security, Copyright, Patent Reform, Trademark Dilution 2004, Public Policy Partners + Approx. $100,000 spent with this firm + Specific lobbying issues: Spyware, Internet Taxation, Privacy, On-Line Pharmacies, Off-Shoring Data, Net Neutrality, Anti-Counterfeiting, Database Piracy, Copyright, Patent Reform, Global Internet Freedom Act, 2003, Public Policy Partners + Approx. $60,000 spent with this firm + Specific lobbying issues: Spam, Privacy, Internet Gambling, Intenet Taxation, FTC Reauthorization, Digital Rights Management, Database Protection, Stock Option Expensing, FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) Reauthorization, State Dept. Reauthorization. In addition to hiring these lobbying firms, Google officially opened a DC office in 2005. It's discussed in this Google Blog post. Btw, these reports also include the government departments or agencies that were lobbied on behalf of Google. Coming Soon: Quick looks at Congressional lobbying by Yahoo, Microsoft, and many others.
Digital Maps and Imagery: 360 Degree Location Views anb Virtual Walks from SuperTour At first SuperTour might look like just another site offering hotel reservations. However, it's not. Along with the chance to book your room, this database offers 360 virtual views of the location and nearby surroundings. Adena at AllPoints links to this interview who says, "SuperTour combines the 500-foot map view with a human level walking experience." SuperTour uses proprietary technology called Panamorph. From the interview, "SuperTour's proprietary technology is called Panamorph and it allows users to rapidly create and edit photorealistic 3D scenes from 2D images in a fraction of the time and effort normally required to create 3D graphics." At the moment, "tours" are available for: + Las Vegas, NV (Preview) + Miami Beach, FL + The Bahamas + San Juan, Puerto Rico + Pisa, Italy + With more on the way (NYC, LA, SF, Seattle, Boston, Waikiki Beach) See Also: Forget Static Street-Level Imagery (via RS, 4/2006) Thanks to AllPoints for the news tip.
Professional Reading: Schneider on What's Wrong With OPACS (aka Why They Suck) An online discussion on LawLibTech by Karen Schneider about what's wrong with online public access catalogs. As many of you know, Karen is Director of the essential Librarians' Internet Index. We haven't had a chance to read Karen's postings yet (we will for sure) but one way the library community as a whole blew it (in the early days of the web) was by not adding more direct links to OPACS. In other words, not only linking to the web site of a serial that was available but also directly adding notes to those entries and separate entries as well and directly linking to specific features. For example, a link to Forbes (the physical item) would also contain direct links to lists and rankings that Forbes produces. I still think adding items to an OPAC from the LII (for example) might not be a bad idea at all. Thanks to TVC Alert for the news tip.
Professional Reading: New Articles from June 2006 Issue of Searcher Now Online The June issues of Info Today's Searcher magazine (edited by Barbara Quint) is now available. Online you'll find: + Is the Price of Cheap Chicken Bird Flu? (via Searcher) Resources to monitor and learn about the avian flu. + A Failure to Communicate: Politics, Scams, and Information Flow During Hurricane Katrina (via Searcher) "As Paul Piper and Miguel Ramos note, Katrina was two devastating disasters in one. On top of the hurricane itself was the horrendous lack of response and communication after the fact. Piper and Ramos examine what happened, and more often didn't, in Katrina's wake from an online perspective, addressing issues such as housing and missing persons as well as the fraudulence that seemed to permeate from all angles." + Searcher's Voice BQ has a few thoughts. NOTE: Not available on the web is an extended interview with the founder and editor of this publication. We will see what we can do about gaining online access.
Documents:Federal Communications Commission: What Do People Complain to the FCC About? Recently released, Quarterly Report on Informal Consumer Inquiries and Complaints. 18 pages; PDF. From the intro, "Wireless complaints decreased from 4,956 in the 4th quarter to 4,616 in the 1st quarter. There were decreases in each of the Wireless categories. Wireline complaint receipts increased from 21,726 to 23,358. The number of Radio and Television Broadcasting complaints significantly increased from 44,287 in the 4th quarter to 275,257 in the 1st quarter. The biggest increase occurred in the Obscenity/ Indecency/Profanity category, from 44,109 to 275,131. Cable and Satellite Services complaints increased from 225 in the 4th quarter to 290 in 1st quarter. There were increases in each of the categories, except Cable Modem Service Issues.
Documents in the News: Full Text of Complaint in Net2Phone Lawsuit Against Skype/eBay (via DocuTicker) Patent infringement case. More new full text reports and documents on DocuTicker.
Documents:HIV/AIDS:Statistics: AIDS at 25: Media Campaigns, New Trend Data and Other Resources "To mark the 25th year of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Kaiser Family Foundation is releasing two new documents that provide historical perspective on the epidemic in the United States: a new report on the history and development of national HIV/AIDS-focused media campaigns and a chart pack of key trends in the U.S. epidemic. A resource page with HIV-related materials, including the Foundation's up-to-date interactive timeline of the epidemic, has also been created." Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
Digital Maps: NBC News Looks at Digital Mapping and Driving Directions (Video) NBC News reporter, Tom Costello, spends some time with Navteq employees who drive around looking for new roads and updating older data. Navteq and TeleAtlas are the two main suppliers of this type of data. See Also: The report mentions Google Maps and Yahoo Maps but also take a look at Ask.com Maps. Two features might be of special interest (along with some impressive aerial imagery). 1) Dynamic relocation. Just drag the location "pin" to another point on the map and the location recalculates. 2) Walking directions along with driving directions. See Also: Other General Purpose Map Sites Worthy of Your Attention: + Maps24 + Mappy + Multimap + Maporama
Resources: Legal: 60 Sites in 60 Minutes 2006 Complete Listing "Year after year, one of the most popular sessions at ABA TECHSHOW® is 60 Sites in 60 Minutes. This session is a fast-paced and often irreverent look at web sites that may be of interest to lawyers. Many of these sites are incredible legal or law-practice related resources while others range from interesting to just plain wacky. Here is the complete archive of the various 60 Sites in 60 Minutes presentations for 2006." Source: American Bar Association (TechShow)
Resources:Fast Facts: Hurricane Season in the United States A new FF report loaded with stats. The official hurricane season began yesterday in the US. Stats include: + 34.6 million Estimated July 1, 2005, population of the area most threatened by Atlantic hurricanes -- the coastal portion of the states stretching from North Carolina to Texas. At that time, 12 percent of the nation's population resided in these areas. (Source: Special tabulation) + 487% Percentage growth of Florida's coastal population between 1950 and 2000 + 38,000 Population of Galveston, Texas, at the time of the city's devastating hurricane of 1900. At that time, Galveston, Dallas, and Houston had similar populations. + Many More Source: U.S Census
Lists & Rankings: Edmunds 2006 Used Car Best Bets From press release: "Edmunds.com editors emphasized reliability, safety and availability as the most important criteria when developing this list. Based on these considerations, as well as the fact that vehicles incur the most rapid depreciation in their first few years, a low-mileage two- or three-year-old car or truck tends to be the best choice." Source: Edmunds.com
Public Libraries: Library of love: Couple to be married inside meeting room "Laura Kirchoff wasn't planning on planning a wedding this summer. She and her fiancé David Liedtke knew they'd get married (they've been planning to for the past five years, longer if you know their history) and hoped to do it in the only place that made sense, the place where they first met nearly a decade ago -- the library." Source: The Racine Report (WI)
Full Text Books: Two New Full Text Books From National Academy Press Source: NAP Both of these titles can be searched and read (full text) online at no charge. + The Quantum Zoo: A Tourist's Guide to the Neverending Universe Direct to Research Dashboard for this title. -- + The Secret Life of Numbers: 50 Easy Pieces on How Mathematicians Work and Think Make sure to visit the Research Dashboard for this book and all others. What is it, "Use [a] book's key terms to search within this book, across our collection, or across the Web." Thursday, June 01, 2006
Resource of the Week By Shirl Kennedy, Deputy Editor Our loyal ResourceShelf readers know that we are big fans of digitization projects. Well, one that crossed our radar screen recently happens to be of personal interest to me, and it's my pleasure to share it with you this week. Sheet Music--Collection Source: UCLA, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University Sheet Music Consortium We have, within our extended family, a lyricist whose name graced many a colorful sheet music cover in the early 20th century. My cousin, who is the niece of this man, has a large framed collection of this sheet music hanging on the walls of her house. While exploring this website, it was amazing to see some of these same pieces of sheet music in digital format here, thanks to the Sheet Music Consortium -- "a group of libraries working toward the goal of building an open collection of digitized sheet music using the Open Archives Initiative:Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI:PMH)." You can do a simple keyword search, or browse the collections using dropdown menus to choose criteria. An advanced search form offers more options. When I used the dropdown menu to search on my cousin's uncle's name, I was able to retrieve 97 entries for James Kendis. Each brief entry contains the title of the music, the composer(s) and lyricist(s), the publisher, date of publication, and the collection in which it is found. Click on the "more info" link, and you get an expanded entry that also provides subject terms. If you've created an account here (free), you can add a notation of your own in the box provided and save the entry to your "virtual collection." Not every item in the database has been digitized. A checkbox allows you to search only for digitized materials. An "access online" link towards the end of the entry takes you directly to the entry and/or image, at the hosting library. You can explore an image by zooming in and out; different collections have different ways of doing this. Every image I looked at was very sharp (although some of the links to the images were not working). If you've ever seen old sheet music like this, you know how charming the covers can be. It is only fitting and proper that the sheet music for My Little Kangaroo is housed at the National Library of Australia. My cousin, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, has this geographically appropriate one on her wall. If you click on the "Sheet Music on the Web" link at the bottom of the gray navigation frame on the left side of the home page, you'll find three very interesting links (in order): + About Sheet Music ("Musical taste is, like art and fashion, subject to extreme changes and subtle nuances. On this basis then, sheet music is best described as single sheets printed on one or both sides, folios (one sheet folded in half to form four pages), folios with a loose half-sheet inserted to yield six pages, double-folios (an inner folio inserted within the fold of an outer folio to make eight pages) and double-folios with a loose half-sheet inserted within the fold of an inner folio to produce ten pages.") + Other Sheet Music Sites and Projects + Sheet Music Links If you click on the "Sheet Music on the Web" link on the left side of the main home page frame (below "About the Consortium"), you'll be taken to a large page of annotated links to Sheet Music Collections from the Music Library Association.
Ask.com Launches Blog & Feed Search Service by Gary Price Since beginning my job at Ask.com I've been working with several teams to help test (and make a suggestion every now and then) the new Ask.com Blog & Feed Search Today, this new service becomes publicly available on Bloglines.com or http://www.bloglines.com/search or on Ask.com at Ask.com. You'll also find a direct link to it on the Ask.com customizable "search tools" list located on the right side of the Ask.com home page. Both sites will use the same index and ranking algorithms but each offers different search options and features and improvements will be made (make sure to send your feedback to the Ask.com team or directly to me at askblogandfeedsearch@myway.com and I'll forward) but I'm quite excited with how things have progressed and what's being released today. Overall, the past few several weeks of testing and tweaking have shown me (at least) a massive improvement in what you're seeing today. However, even after launch, I will not stop testing and suggesting. I invite you to do the same. I'm also happy to see that the powers that be at Ask.com chose to name the product Ask.com Blog & Feed Search. Why? Because it describes just what's available. One of the biggest and more dynamic challenges these days (and in days to come) is trying to decide what is a "news" feed vs. what is a "blog" feed. What is the difference: regardless we have a Post tab and a Feed tab. These days there is lots of overlap. Some feeds are subject to the views of the reader where they fall. The bottom line is that this new product offers a massive amount of feeds from both the blogosphere and traditional info sources and the tools to help you get to specifically what you're looking for easily and quickly. One thing that comes into play here is that every feed (both news and weblog) in the database has been subscribed to by a Bloglines user.) In fact, you can limit your search to feeds with "many subscribers" or "at least two subscribers." A lot of the mindset that was used to build Ask.com Blog & Feed Search goes back to Jim Lanzone's set of blog posts from last summer where he talks about "feeds that matter." In other words, if someone takes the time to subscribe to a feed it is more likely (but not a guarantee) of someone finding the feed useful. Jim's first post from July 19, 2005, is here. More stats and comments here. Of course, these numbers have changed but I think this mindset is interesting and something that will hopefully offer you better results. Apostolos Gerasoulis, the person in the Ask.com tv commercials and executive vice president of search technology at Ask.com puts it this way in a news release, "This 'collective human intelligence' provides a natural defense against spam, as people typically do not subscribe to low-quality content." OK, now let's take a very quick look at some of what Ask.com Blog & Feed Search offers via the Bloglines interface. I'm focusing on the Bloglines interface because we know MANY ResourceShelf and DocuTicker readers use Bloglines all of the time. However, I hope you also spend some time looking at the Ask.com interface. While you're visiting, take a few minutes to check out some of the other things we're up to. I highlighted many of them in this post. For example, if you haven't tried Ask.com Maps yet, give them a try. Lots of features (including dynamic location recalculation and both walking and driving directions. We're also constantly increasing the number of Smart Answers we offer. Here are a few that might be of value to the business searcher. Remember, my role at Ask as Director of Online Information Resources is to listen to you (specifically, the library and education communities) and work to make Ask.com services more useful to these groups. + First, note the pull-down next to the search box. You can search all blogs or better said "feeds," search for feeds (a directory of sorts), search the blogs you subscribe to (via Bloglines), search the web with Ask.com, or subscribe to a feed. You can also enter a URL and find who is citing that post. Btw, a quick note for advanced searchers, Ask.com Blog & Feed Search crawls RSS and ATOM feeds. If the feed itself is not full text, you will not be searching the full text. In those cases you're likely to be searching the title and/or title and a brief snippet. Most feed/blog engines work in this manner. One thing I would like to see is for some of the most popular blogs that don't syndicate the full text, for Ask to go out and crawl the full text and update the database in a rapid manner. I would also like to see if Zoom related search (narrow, expand, find related names) might be useful in the feed search world. + Second, let's run a search. Here's one for "David Letterman". Now, a review of the results page. + Results. Click the "+" sign to see more text. Handy! + Each feed title is hyperlinked. Click it and go directly to the source + Below each results several very helpful (IMHO) links ++ More Info: Click to quickly check the number of cites and Bloglines subscribers to the feed ++ Email Post: One click and send to a friend, colleague, etc. ++ Clip post: One click to add to your Bloglines clip blog or Digg, ++ Del.icio.us, and Newsvine Preview feed: Very cool. See the last 4 or 5 posts on the blog. The Ask.com interface will offer Ask's binoculars feature where you can mouse over the binocs icon and preview the feed. ++ No ads or paid links ++ A List Updated Hourly of the Most Popular Searches + Third, look to the upper right side of the page. You'll notice that offers three ways to sort results. Relevance, Time (when the item was posted, that's the default), and Popularity (feed subscribers). Just click a link and re-sort your results. Easy. + Fourth, directly below the popularity link notice the "filters" link. Here you can tell Bloglines search precisely what you want to search. ++ Feeds with many subscribers ++ Feeds with at least two subscribers ++ No filter You can also select if you do or do not want news feeds (again, what is a news feed vs. a blog feed is far from a perfect science). Want more? The Ask.com Blog & Feed Engine has got it. + You'll also find related news stories (based on your search). + In some cases, posts by the person you're searching. In this case, I think posts by David Letterman involve content from the Letterman show or video recorded from the show available on Google Video. + Subscribe to your search and get new results delivered via RSS. The Ask.com interface has MANY of the same tools and features. Including: ++ Post to: One click to add to your Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsvine and others. ++ Subscribe to feed: One click. ++ Spelling suggestions (even blog and feed searchers can make typos). Btw, spelling suggestions are also available for Bloglines users. NOTE: As mentioned a moment ago, the default sort using Bloglines is by date. The Ask.com interface uses relevance as the default sort. Of course, it's easy (just a click) to change the sort. Finally, an advanced search interface is available using either the Ask.com (via an Ajax-powered drop-down menu) interface or the Bloglines interface. Here you'll find more options including the ability to limit to specific date, time/date ranges (posts in the last hour for example), limiting to words in the url, terms in the title, and more. Also, the Ask.com interface supports limiting to content in 7 languages (Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish). Bloglines offers the option to limit to content in 20 languages. Of course, we can talk about what Ask.com Blog & Feed Search offers until we're blue in the face. Give both interfaces a whirl and see which one works best for you. Think about how they compares to what else is out there in terms of freshness, relevance of results, number of search options, ease of use, and advanced features. Yes, I'm thrilled to have been a small part in the early stages of building this product. I plan on participating more in the future. Now, it's your turn to join in. Update 1: The mobile version of Bloglines (a tool I've been writing about for years) is now search capable. Also, Ask.com Blog & Feed Search is also launching today on Ask.com Deutschland, Ask.com Espana, Ask.com France, Ask.com Italia, Ask.com Nederlands, and Ask.com UK. Update 2: One thing I've been impressed by is the amount of time it takes for a post to become searchable. This post was available for searching (and finding) within minutes of the time I first pressed the publish button. See Also: Chris Sherman Offers His Review at SearchDay See Also: Ask.com Blog & Feed Search Intro (via Ask.com Blog)
Professional Reading Shelf Archives Source: ICA Radioactive Waste Information: Meeting our Obligations to Future Generations with Regard to the Safety of Waste Disposal Facilities (ICA Study 18) 47 pages; PDF. "This study is the result of a project run by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 2002 to investigate the issues surrounding the preservation and transfer to future generations of information important to the safety of radioactive waste disposal facilities. The study highlights the critical role played by contextual information and suggests means by which it may be better utilized. The principal authors, Gavan McCarthy and Ian Upshall, brought substantive experience from both the archival profession and the radioactive waste industry so it was deemed appropriate that the work be also published by the International Council on Archives (ICA)." -- Digital Science British Library Source: ARL International Dimensions of Digital Science and Scholarship: Aspirations of the British Library A keynote address by Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library at the Association of Research Libraries 148th Membership Meeting, May 2006. See Also: Address by LC's Deanna Marcum -- Digital Preservation Source: LC The June Issue of Digital Preservation News is Now Online Includes link to interview with the MetaArchive team at Emory University in Atlanta. "MetaArchive Project is a collaborative venture of Emory University, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Florida State University, Auburn University, University of Louisville, and the Library of Congress. The project is part of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) supported by the Library of Congress."
Resources, Reports, Tools, Lists, and Full Text Internet Filtering--Maps Censorship Source: OpenNet Initiative Internet Filtering Map (Global) Cool. Search or browse. Two maps available: + Filtering Technology + Global Filtering Map -- Electronic Commerce--United States--Statistics Source: U.S. Census Recently Released, 2004 E-commerce Multi-sector Report "The official source of e-commerce for key sectors of the economy." Complete Report ||| Tables ||| Forms -- Information Technology Source: Red Herring New, Red Herring 100 (North America), 2006 See Also: Red Herring 100 (Europe) -- Sport Utility Vehicles--United States--Rollover Ratings Source: NHTSA Just Released, New 2006 Rollover Rankings Show Improvement -- Higher Education--United States--Statistics Source: NCES Just Released, Student Financing of Graduate and First-Professional Education: 2003-04 "This report uses the 2003-04 NPSAS data to describe the characteristics of graduate and first-professional students and how they finance their education, with a section focusing on students who attend exclusively part time. The report also includes a compendium of tables providing detailed data on student and enrollment characteristics, types of financial aid, sources of financial aid, and employment while enrolled."
Search Briefs + The Latest From MSN Live Local Most of what's here has been mentioned on ResourceShelf in the past (along with a few more goodies). Still a good review. -- + Get Ready for Gmail in Hebrew and Arabic (thanks to G.R. and P.L. for the news tip)
Briefly + Coming From Overdrive This Summer: Digipalooza 2006 in Cleveland, Celebrating Digital Media in the Library Check out the schedule here. Great idea, btw. + Now Available: H.W. Wilson's Biography Index: Past and Present |
