Information Today back issues from March 2008:
Facebook 101: ten things you need to know about Facebook.(www.facebook.com)
Mar 01, 2008; ... When Mark Zuckerberg was 19 and a student at Harvard University, he wanted to find a way for his fellow Harvard colleagues to connect with each other. So in February 2004, Zuckerberg introduced Facebook (www.facebook.com) and a new era of networking began. Today, the social ...
Outsell, Inc. broadens its reach with new acquisition.(Eduventures Inc.)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Outsell, Inc., based in Burlingame, Calif., and London, recently acquired the business research division of Boston-based Eduventures, Inc., one of the company's several divisions, in a deal that Outsell officials say will be accretive to Outsell's sales in 2008. Outsell's 2007 ...
SIIA information industry summit: state of the industry.(REPORT FROM THE FIELD)(Software and Information Industry Association)(Industry overview)
Mar 01, 2008; ... As the rest of the nation wrestled with the possibility of a recession, the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) members sat down for the 7th annual 2-day Information Industry Summit in late January, ready to find out what kind of impact the information industry would weather ...
Yahoo! rejects Microsoft's bid.(News Bytes)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Yahoo! released a statement that said Microsoft's $40 billion-plus offer "substantially undervalues" Yahoo!'s brand, audience, investments, and potential business. The vote against the offer was unanimous by Yahoo!'s board of directors. This represents the largest bid offered by Microsoft ...
Siperian secures expansion funding.(News Bytes)(Siperian MDM (Master Data Management) Solutions)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Siperian, Inc. announced that it closed an oversubscribed $25 million Series E financing. The company develops and supports a master data management (MDM) platform used by several Fortune Global 500 corporations. A new investor, Investor Growth Capital (IGC), led the funding push, with ...
Tessera to acquire FotoNation.(News Bytes)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Tessera Technologies, Inc. agreed to acquire the Burlingame, Calif.-based FotoNation, Inc., a provider of embedded imaging solutions for digital camera and mobile phone applications. Tessera will pay $29 million in net cash with up to $10 million of additional consideration, contingent ...
Researchers want to improve peer review.(News Bytes)(Publishing Research Consortium)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... A recent report from the Publishing Research Consortium titled "Peer Review in Scholarly Journals--perspective of the scholarly community: an international study" found that the majority of researchers are not in favor of drastically changing the current peer-review system. The researchers ...
Mobile advertising alliance formed.(News Bytes)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... The Mobile Advertising Alliance is a collaborative venture among software vendors Anam, Cibenix, Mobile Cohesion, Openet, and SLA Mobile. Each of the member firms provides a component of a mobile advertising platform that will allow mobile operators to secure positions in the mobile ...
Collexis acquires Lawriter.(News Bytes)(Collexis Holdings Inc.)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Collexis Holdings, Inc. acquired Lawriter, LLC, owner of the legal research service Casemaker, which is currently used by 28 state bar associations. Total consideration for the acquisition ...
Generate and NETSEA form alliance.(News Bytes)(New England Technology Sales, Marketing, and Business Development Executives Association)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Generate, Inc. announced a formal alliance with the New England Technology Sales, Marketing, and Business Development Executives Association (NETSEA). Generate will provide NETSEA with a daily newsletter service powered by Generate's gDaily technology. The newsletter will provide targeted ...
ProQuest acquires RefWorks.(News Bytes)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... ProQuest recently acquired RefWorks, LLC, a company that provides web-based research management, writing, and collaboration services for the academic and research communities. Although ProQuest's parent company, Cambridge Information Group, had a partial ownership position in RefWorks ...
Swets becomes global sales partner for Wiley's OnlineBooks.(News Bytes)(Swets Subscription Service)(John Wiley & Sons Inc. Wiley InterScience)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Wiley selected Swets as its global sales partner for its OnlineBooks on the Wiley InterScience's web platform. Customers will be able to order all these publications directly through Swets. With more than 2,900 titles, Wiley InterScience offers ...
Invisible web or just an invisible information industry?(Up Front)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Back when I was a pup, all the way back to my days in library school, the teacher who taught reference work turned to one source and one source alone as her bible. And in my decades as a working reference librarian in a traditional (though hardly hidebound) environment, a copy of that ...
Social networking, openness, and M&A activity lead the news.(NewsBreak Update)
Mar 01, 2008; ... The Library of Congress (LC) captured front-page billing on MSNBC recently, as well as other respectable coverage in most major news media. It was great to see a Web 2.0 story featuring the venerable institution. LC has teamed up with Flickr, the photo-sharing and social networking site in ...
Digication and Davis team up to create textbook 2.0.(News Bytes)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Digication, Inc. and Davis Publications, Inc. partnered to combine e-portfolios and Web 2.0 technologies with traditional textbook content. Teachers can use the Digication platform to access Davis etextbooks, create and customize lesson plans, share customized curriculum (with other ...
News from WebFeat.(News Bytes)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... WebFeat posted its 10th consecutive year of growth in fiscal year 2007, according to figures released by the company. Revenues increased by 55%, database searches increased by almost 200% (from 88 million to 170 million), and 330 new client systems were added. WebFeat systems are currently ...
SIIA introduces NetGain for content and software providers.(News Bytes)
Mar 01, 2008 ... The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announced the debut of the conference, SIIA NetGain: The Convergence of Software and Content, to be held May 18-20 in San Francisco. Content publishers and aggregators are encouraged to ...
Emerald and EFMD announce award winners.(News Bytes)(Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.)(European Foundation for Management Development)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Emerald Group Publishing, Ltd. and the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) recently announced the winners of the Outstanding Doctoral Research Fund Awards 2007. More than 100 applications were received from institutions around the world. Anyone who had completed ...
Netcraft reveals new fraud scheme.(News Bytes)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Netcraft, Ltd. revealed a website created by a group based in Morocco, operating under the moniker "Mr-Brain," that appears to provide scripts to help other phishers commit their crimes, but it actually sends any information collected back to Mr-Brain for its own use. By providing ...
WikiAnswers fastest growing U.S. Website.(News Bytes)(Website overview)
Mar 01, 2008 ... The Answers Corp. announced that its WikiAnswers website (http://wiki.answers .com) had the highest rate of growth among U.S. websites in 2007, according to comScore data for 2007. The data covers the top 1,500 U.S. web domains, and it showed that WikiAnswers unique monthly ...
Questex acquires FierceMarkets.(News Bytes)(Questex Media Group)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Questex Media Group, a B2B media and information provider based in Newton, Mass., acquired online B2B media company FierceMarkets, Inc. The company assists marketers in reaching targeted audiences through email newsletters, websites, webinars, and live events ...
Retrospective: 25 years ago in information today.
Mar 01, 2008 ... As Information Today celebrates 25 years in print this year, we're taking a closer look at the hot news from 1983, gleaned from the actual issues. The front-page headlines herald upcoming corporate spins from enterprises that are still making news today. For example, this comes from ...
Adobe InDesign CS3: collaboration in action.
Mar 01, 2008; ... In a David versus Goliath scenario, Adobe InDesign emerged in 1999 as a competitor to QuarkXPress in the professional desktop publishing software application arena. But the process of getting designers to switch allegiance from then-market standard QuarkXPress wasn't easy. So ...
Letter to the editor.(Letter to the editor)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Michael Baumann's article "The Wired Bunch" doesn't say when he visited the sites to capture all that data, and with most of them updating daily, I'm really surprised that the date or time frame of his visit and analysis wasn't included. Based on the number of Facebook friends, I'm ...
Just say 'OK'.(Column)
Mar 01, 2008; ... I was busy working on a present for a few close friends recently when an alarming message popped up on my computer screen. The iTunes message informed me that "my" license permitted me to make only seven copies of the playlist I was burning. Unfortunately, the gift I was putting together ...
Infotoons.(Cartoon)
Mar 01, 2008 ... $42 BILLION NOPE. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] OK, $50 BILLION? NOPE. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] OK, ...
A busy year for NIH.(Focus on Publishing)(National Institutes of Health)(Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008)
Mar 01, 2008; ... The National Institutes of Health (NIH) moved quickly after President Bush signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 on Dec. 26, 2007. The act made the NIH's voluntary Public Access Policy (NOT-OD-05-022) mandatory. The new policy was posted on Jan. 11, 2008, and takes effect on ...
Patent reform in 2008?(Legal Issues)
Mar 01, 2008; ... After several years of fits and starts, proposals and counterproposals, and debates and hearings, the possibility of substantial patent reform is on Congress' front burner again. Since a patent reform proposal has already passed in the House, the Senate's proposal may soon work its way out ...
Don't shoot the messenger.(Internet Waves)(Column)
Mar 01, 2008; ... I f you're a writer and your work appears publicly in print or online, people who like or don't like something you have written will tell you about it sooner or later. Considering how long I've been writing for Information Today, writing for other publications, writing books, or ...
J. J. Keller: regulatory/compliance by the book.(Insider's Perspective)
Mar 01, 2008; ... On Jan. 14, 2001, in the waning days of the Clinton administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) ergonomics program standard went into effect. Regulatory/compliance publishers savored the prospect of a new regulation that affected almost every industry. Based ...
Seriously, what's so great about Gmail--Part II.(Library Stuff Revisited)(Column)
Mar 01, 2008; ... [Here's Part II of a two-part series on Steven M. Cohen's insights about Google's Gmail. Part I appeared in the February issue of IT.--Ed.] In my last column, I discussed some Gmail applications that many users might not know about. With a few setting changes, these tools make ...
Magpie builds its brand as it helps companies build theirs.(IT Spotlight)(Company overview)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Here's another high-tech company with an innovative service that offers a special method for tracking the online chatter about an enterprise, product, or service. FOUNDER CEO Giles Palmer has guided his company through an evolution of product offerings and name ...
We're all members of the Google generation.(International REPORT)
Mar 01, 2008; ... All age groups seem to be equally as impatient when it comes to dealing with search and navigation tools. The Google generation does not have a monopoly on poor information-seeking behavior, according to a new study. However, the young still exhibit a lack of critical and analytical skills ...
Lights, camera, action ...(News Makers)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Take one best-selling book about cybercrime and then add its highlights to a trio of CDs. The result is a tutorial on how to "Protect Yourself Online: Viruses, Scams and Social Networking." Video Professor, a firm specializing in computer tutorials, ...
Thomson Scientific sponsors SLA award.(News Makers)(Special Library Association)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Thomson Scientific announced its continued sponsorship of the Australia and New Zealand chapter of the Special Library Association's (SLA) Informational Professional of the Year award. Thomson has sponsored the award since 2005. It is open to all ...
SIIA survey tracks business use of web 2.0 technologies.(News Makers)(Software & Information Industry Association)(Survey)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) completed a survey of 134 content companies in conjunction with the January 2008 SIIA Summit in New York City to find out how enterprises were using Web 2.0 technologies including wikis, blogs, social networking, and user-generated ...
Quotables: Google poses questions.(News Makers)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... "Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies--and then leverage its dominance into ...
A plethora of early spring conferences.(Conference Circuit)(Calendar)
Mar 01, 2008; ... As surely as spring follows winter, April's conference scene is one of the annual highlights of the information industry. This year, the first week of April showcases a number of interesting meetings. But first, we should mention a few notable conferences in March. ASIDIC and ...
Conferences around the world.(Conference news)(Calendar)
Mar 01, 2008 ... For information on ITI's conferences, turn to page 24. March 16-18: Las Vegas (Wynn Hotel and Resort). The ASIDIC Spring Meeting is billed as an "opportunity to be part of an intimate gathering of thought leaders from across the information industry." This year's ...
IFLA: libraries on the agenda.(Interview with Claudia Lux)(International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions)(Interview)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Claudia Lux, director-general of the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin (ZLB, Central and Regional Library of Berlin), began her term as president of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) in August 2007. After her keynote at the 9th International ...
SirsiDynix introduces Client Care portal.(Product News & Reviews)
Mar 01, 2008 ... SirsiDynix announced the release of the SirsiDynix Client Care portal for SirsiDynix integrated library system users. The state-of-the-art portal offers enhanced capabilities that make technical support resources easy to search, discover, and access. The portal features include the ...
CrossRef debuts free citation tool for bloggers.(Product News & Reviews)
Mar 01, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CrossRef recently released a beta version of a plug-in that lets bloggers look up and insert DOI-enabled citations as they are posting stories to a blog. The plug-in, which is free, is now available at ...
BUDDIE winners expose federal flaws.
Mar 01, 2008; ... Dear Readers: It's time again to announce the long-awaited, long-anticipated BUDDIE award for the Best Unknown Database. It's been a dicey year for awards: The Oscars were jeopardized by the writers' strike and the Grammies were threatened by lots of bad music. Nevertheless, BUDDIE is back ...
Scopus adds 600 key titles to database.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Scopus announced that it will be adding 600 titles to its database of 15,000 peer-reviewed journals this year. This was a result of Scopus putting "the research community's voice at its core." Librarians and researchers suggested the addition of more than 1,700 titles; the Content ...
HarperCollins Publishers offers 'free access' program for Ebooks.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... HarperCollins Publishers announced several promotions that will allow consumers to view a limited number of books online. In the Full Access Program, readers can read a select number of books in their entirety for a limited time; in the Sneak Peek Program, readers can view up to 20% of ...
Thomson Scientific launches ResearcherID.com, expands techstreet offerings.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Thomson Scientific launched ResearcherID.com, a web-based environment that allows researchers to create stable personal identifiers to present their works and manage personal metrics for the public. The ID number is a digital "calling card" that the researcher can add to a personal ...
Lingoport: taking the guesswork out of i18n.(Product News & Reviews)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Lingoport recently released its new Globalyzer Diagnostics at a good price: It's free, at least for a time. This new tool can help companies assess their source code readiness for global markets to guarantee that their apps can make the multilingual leap. This way, software professionals ...
NPG launches Nature India.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Nature Publishing Group (NPG) launched a new website called Nature India (www.nature.com/natureindia). The site is designed to focus on the best scientific research in India; it is the first site dedicated to this purpose. According to Thomson Scientific's Essential Science Indicators, ...
ProQuest adds Philadelphia newspapers to ProQuest Newsstand.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... ProQuest added The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News dating from 1983 to its ProQuest Newsstand titles, expanding the collection with in-depth editorial coverage of Pennsylvania and the Northeast. The Inquirer, which has won 18 Pulitzer prizes, is the third-oldest ...
Thomson adds B2B social networking to its portfolio.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... The Thomson Corp. added Boston-based Contact Networks and ContactNet, its enterprise relationship management (ERM) product, to its portfolio. ContactNet automatically uncovers, aggregates, and prioritizes a firm's internal relationships with external business contacts. Finding out ...
Obesity journal unveils new design and new team.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... The Obesity Society and the Nature Publishing Group (NPG) introduced several changes in the journal Obesity beginning with the January 2008 issue. The journal, which remains focused on peer-reviewed scientific articles about obesity research, now contains editorials, reviews, and ...
MuseGlobal unleashes the hounds.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... MuseGlobal has long been known for its content integration platforms, but the company has recently added two new products to its repertoire: News Hound and Blog Hound. The two hounds are designed to aggregate, integrate, enrich, and deliver timely and relevant content to customers. "This ...
SirsiDynix updates horizon.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... SirsiDynix recently released SirsiDynix Horizon 7.4.1 and Horizon Information Portal (HIP) 3.09 and 4.13 for North American sites. The Horizon updates add enhancements, including support for Windows Vista, updates to the ACS SIP2 client, and new waiver and transcript receipt ...
Elsevier expands Ebooks and scopus.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Elsevier announced plans to continue expanding its electronic book content offerings through 2008, with the complete program to be in place by 2009. The company made more than 4,000 ebooks available in 2007 through ScienceDirect and other third-party platforms. In 2008, the company plans ...
SIIA announces 2008 Codie finalists.(Product News & Reviews)(Software & Information Industry Association)
Mar 01, 2008 ... The first round of voting has been completed for the 2008 finalists for the 23rd Annual Codie Awards. The winners will be announced at the SIIA NetGain this May in San Francisco. In the content category, here are the finalists: Best Content Aggregation Service * ...
News from ProQuest.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... ProQuest announced several new product developments for 2008 that include the following: * The content searched by CSA Illustrata will now offer a technology collection with subject areas ranging from aerospace and engineering to high technology and materials science. ...
StrikeIron adds Gale services to offerings.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... StrikeIron, Inc. added two new data services from Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, to its Web Services Marketplace. The services are the Gale Business Intelligence Web Service, which provides corporate information on contact persons, shareholders, auditors, law firms, CEOs, CFOs, and ...
Thomson Innovation: one-click patent discovery.
Mar 01, 2008; ... In an age when information is power, staying on the cutting edge of innovation is more critical than ever. And when Thomson Scientific rolled out Thomson Innovation last December, researchers of all calibers could unleash a floodgate of patent data in manageable channels any way they ...
Thomson West releases Federal Civil Rules Handbook.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Thomson West recently published the Federal Civil Rules Handbook, 2008 edition, to help lawyers negotiate the changes that went into effect December 2007. The text, which marks its 15th anniversary, includes the new rules as well as analysis and commentary. For each rule, a "road map" ...
Free Pint: the FUMSI generation.(Product News & Reviews)
Mar 01, 2008; ... After a decade in the global publishing arena, Free Pint is hardly resting on its laurels. The U.K.-based publisher recently announced the official launch of its latest product called FUMSI, "Tools and resources for people who find, use, manage and share information." The acronym ...
Safari online: adventures in elearning.
Mar 01, 2008; ... With today's ever-changing technology, traditional classroom learning just doesn't provide emerging skill sets fast enough. So businesspeople are turning to blogs, wikis, and online communities to get the information they need quickly. In fact, according to Dennis Kilian, the education ...
Web users are getting crafty: Etsy' mission in 'to enable people to make a living make things, and to reconnect makers with buyers'.(Link-Up@Home: Your Personal Guide to the Web)(Website overview)
Mar 01, 2008; ... The world is using one of its most sophisticated information and communications technologies to draw attention to some low-tech, homemade items, including a pure beeswax candle in the shape of a toad on a toadstool, a pillow cover with a colorful hibiscus print, and a change purse made ...
Website chronicles one of baseball's biggest flakes.(CyberSports)
Mar 01, 2008; ... For whatever reason, baseball is a game that seems to breed ... flakes. (I'm not sure how else to say it.) The history of the game is filled with Characters with a capital "C," from Rube Waddell (who supposedly missed a game because he was chasing firetrucks) to Dizzy Dean (whose mangling ...
Teenage brains on the loose.(Cover Notes)(Book review)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Sex, Brains, and Video Games: A Librarian's Guide to Teens in the Twenty-first Century by Jennifer Burek Pierce Chicago: ALA, 2008 ISBN: 978-0-8389-0951-5 130 pages; $35, softcover Most of us encounter teenagers on a regular basis whether they are our own children, students at ...
Serendipity.(In Other Words)
Mar 01, 2008; ... I love the word "serendipity." It's fun to say and I like the concept of it: Finding something unexpectedly or by chance. Usually, serendipity has a positive connotation, but in some instances, especially those involving end users and the internet, it can be less than satisfying. The ...