Information Today articles from March 2008

Information Today archives from March 2008

Facebook 101: ten things you need to know about Facebook.(www.facebook.com)
March 1, 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...

Outsell, Inc. broadens its reach with new acquisition.(Eduventures Inc.)
March 1, 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...

SIIA information industry summit: state of the industry.(REPORT FROM THE FIELD)(Software and Information Industry Association)(Industry overview)
March 1, 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...

Yahoo! rejects Microsoft's bid.(News Bytes)
March 1, 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...

Siperian secures expansion funding.(News Bytes)(Siperian MDM (Master Data Management) Solutions)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

Tessera to acquire FotoNation.(News Bytes)
March 1, 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...

Researchers want to improve peer review.(News Bytes)(Publishing Research Consortium)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

Mobile advertising alliance formed.(News Bytes)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

Collexis acquires Lawriter.(News Bytes)(Collexis Holdings Inc.)(Brief article)
March 1, 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 was $9 million, including cash, common stock at 75...

Generate and NETSEA form alliance.(News Bytes)(New England Technology Sales, Marketing, and Business Development Executives Association)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

ProQuest acquires RefWorks.(News Bytes)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

Swets becomes global sales partner for Wiley's OnlineBooks.(News Bytes)(Swets Subscription Service)(John Wiley & Sons Inc. Wiley InterScience)(Brief article)
March 1, 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)
March 1, 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...

Social networking, openness, and M&A activity lead the news.(NewsBreak Update)
March 1, 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,...

Digication and Davis team up to create textbook 2.0.(News Bytes)
March 1, 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,...

News from WebFeat.(News Bytes)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

SIIA introduces NetGain for content and software providers.(News Bytes)
March 1, 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)
March 1, 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...

Netcraft reveals new fraud scheme.(News Bytes)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

WikiAnswers fastest growing U.S. Website.(News Bytes)(Website overview)
March 1, 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...

Questex acquires FierceMarkets.(News Bytes)(Questex Media Group)(Brief article)
March 1, 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,...

Retrospective: 25 years ago in information today.
March 1, 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...

Adobe InDesign CS3: collaboration in action.
March 1, 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...

Letter to the editor.(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 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...

Just say 'OK'.(Column)
March 1, 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....

Infotoons.(Cartoon)
March 1, 2008... $42 BILLION NOPE. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] OK, $50 BILLION? NOPE. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] OK, $60 BILLION? HMM. HANG ON... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WELL, WHICH ONE DO YOU LIKE THE BEST, BOSS? ...

A busy year for NIH.(Focus on Publishing)(National Institutes of Health)(Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008)
March 1, 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...

Patent reform in 2008?(Legal Issues)
March 1, 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,...

Don't shoot the messenger.(Internet Waves)(Column)
March 1, 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...

J. J. Keller: regulatory/compliance by the book.(Insider's Perspective)
March 1, 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...

Seriously, what's so great about Gmail--Part II.(Library Stuff Revisited)(Column)
March 1, 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...

Magpie builds its brand as it helps companies build theirs.(IT Spotlight)(Company overview)
March 1, 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...

We're all members of the Google generation.(International REPORT)
March 1, 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...

Lights, camera, action ...(News Makers)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

Thomson Scientific sponsors SLA award.(News Makers)(Special Library Association)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

SIIA survey tracks business use of web 2.0 technologies.(News Makers)(Software & Information Industry Association)(Survey)(Brief article)
March 1, 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,...

Quotables: Google poses questions.(News Makers)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

A plethora of early spring conferences.(Conference Circuit)(Calendar)
March 1, 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 around the world.(Conference news)(Calendar)
March 1, 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...

IFLA: libraries on the agenda.(Interview with Claudia Lux)(International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions)(Interview)
March 1, 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....

SirsiDynix introduces Client Care portal.(Product News & Reviews)
March 1, 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...

CrossRef debuts free citation tool for bloggers.(Product News & Reviews)
March 1, 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.
March 1, 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...

Scopus adds 600 key titles to database.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

HarperCollins Publishers offers 'free access' program for Ebooks.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

Thomson Scientific launches ResearcherID.com, expands techstreet offerings.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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"...

Lingoport: taking the guesswork out of i18n.(Product News & Reviews)
March 1, 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...

NPG launches Nature India.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

ProQuest adds Philadelphia newspapers to ProQuest Newsstand.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

Thomson adds B2B social networking to its portfolio.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

Obesity journal unveils new design and new team.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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,...

MuseGlobal unleashes the hounds.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

SirsiDynix updates horizon.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

Elsevier expands Ebooks and scopus.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

SIIA announces 2008 Codie finalists.(Product News & Reviews)(Software & Information Industry Association)
March 1, 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...

News from ProQuest.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

StrikeIron adds Gale services to offerings.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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,...

Thomson Innovation: one-click patent discovery.
March 1, 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...

Thomson West releases Federal Civil Rules Handbook.(Product News & Reviews)(Brief article)
March 1, 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...

Free Pint: the FUMSI generation.(Product News & Reviews)
March 1, 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...

Safari online: adventures in elearning.
March 1, 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,...

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)
March 1, 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...

Website chronicles one of baseball's biggest flakes.(CyberSports)
March 1, 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...

Teenage brains on the loose.(Cover Notes)(Book review)
March 1, 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...

Serendipity.(In Other Words)
March 1, 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...

David (Skip) Prichard.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Ingram Book Group, Inc. appoints David (Skip) Prichard as president and CEO)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ingram Book Group, Inc. announced that David (Skip) Prichard is its new president and CEO. Prior to this, Prichard was COO at Ingram Book Group, where he oversaw finance, operations, and information technology....

Ingenta announced that Rebecca Lenzini has joined the company as director of business development, publisher services.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Ingenta announced that Rebecca Lenzini has joined the company as director of business development, publisher services. Most recently, Lenzini was publisher of The Charleston Advisor and co-founder and sponsor of the Fiesole Collection...

Grant Hunter.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Knovel Corp. appoints Grant Hunter as vice president of product marketing)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Knovel announced the appointment of Grant Hunter to vice president of product marketing. Hunter has more than 12 years of experience in executive roles including vice president of the enterprise solutions business...

Achievo Corp. announced that British technologist David Kynaston has joined its board of directors.(People Line & the Executive Profile)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Achievo Corp. announced that British technologist David Kynaston has joined its board of directors. Currently, Kynaston is a director of ANT Software, Ltd. Most recently, Kynaston was president of Solectron Europe, where he helped drive...

Nirvanix announced that it has made two appointments. Daniel Havens is the vice president of sales and Craig Halliwell is the senior director of alliances.(People Line & the Executive Profile)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Nirvanix announced that it has made two appointments. Daniel Havens is the vice president of sales and Craig Halliwell is the senior director of alliances. In these positions, Havens and Halliwell will expand the...

Barbara Wasserman, Executive Vice President of Operations, Knovel.(The Executive Profile & the Executive Profile)
March 1, 2008... The information industry is in a unique position as the business world adjusts to the changing ways of accessing content. Just ask Barbara Wasserman, Knovel Corp.'s new executive vice president of operations. "What makes me so excited about my...