Presentation: free search tools for research information

Edited highlights from my recent workshop on search tools for research information are now available. Please note that not all of the services, search tools, examples or issues covered in the workshop are included in this version.

Slides can be viewed on Slideshare  or authorSTREAM. 

My Online Information 2010 presentations

If you have not already spotted the links on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc  to the various presentations I gave at "Online" in London earlier this month here they are all in one place. I gave two talks as part of the free seminar programme that was part of the exhibition, a conference presentation and a pre-conference workshop. They all have a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial license assigned to them  (see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ for further information on the license).

Google's New Search Features: has it gone too far?
1st December 2010

This presentation was given in the exhibition area as part of the free seminar and masterclass programme. I have added comments to some of the screen shots so that they make a little more sense to those who were not there.

authorSTREAM
Slideshare

Challenges of Finding Quality Business Information
1st December 2010

A second presentation I gave as part of the exhibition free seminar programme. Again, I have annotated some of the screen shots.

authorSTREAM
Slideshare

Search Engine Wars: let battle commence
30th November 2010

This is a presentation I gave as part of the Online Information conference. It is quite different from the one I gave  with the same title to INFORUM in Prague earlier this year. I wish I could say it was because so much has changed since then: unfortunately very little has changed.

authorSTREAM
Slideshare

Guide to Using Social Media to Promote Your Organisation and Services
29th November 2010

This was a one day workshop pre-conference workshop. The slides merely formed a framework for the day.  There were more services and issues discussed within the group than are shown in the presentation.  The link given below, which is a direct link to a ppt file on the RBA Information Services web site, will not be available indefinitely.  The presentations on my social media page are updated every time I run a workshop or give a seminar on the topic.

PowerPoint Presentation (9.5 MB)

ILI2010 - social search presentation

My presentation on using social media search tools as part of research, which I gave at Internet Librarian International on 15th October 2010, is now available on the sites listed below. I have uploaded it to several different sites and services as I know some of you are not able to access one or more of them at work.

PowerPoint Presentation (6.3 MB) (download from rba.co.uk site)
authorSTREAM
Slideboom
Slideshare

If you want to catch up with #iili2010 tweets there is a Twapperkeeper at http://twapperkeeper.com/hashtag/ili2010

CLSIG Debate: Web 2.0 - the truth behind the hype

The presentation that I am giving at this evening's CLSIG meeting in Birmingham is now available:

PowerPoint (download from this site - 3.2 MB)
Slideshare
authorSTREAM

I have given the presentation a Creative Commons 3 non-commercial by attribution license, which means you are free to download and re-use it as long you cite me as the author and you don't sell it for a heap of cash!

The other speaker in the debate is Phil Duffy, Information Services Manager at Hammonds LLP.

Presentation: Citizens Advice - what we really do

A free evening event organised by CILIP in the Thames Valley

Date: Tuesday, 2nd March 2010
Time: 18.00 for 18.30
Venue: Great Expectations, 33 London Street, Reading, Berkshire  RG1 4PS
Speaker: Chris O'Hare

Chris O’Hare is manager at Henley & District CAB. Chris will consider the transferable skills from the information industry, the challenges and joys of working in a small local charity? If you are interested in volunteering, moving into the charity sector or the work of CAB come along and find out more.

Chris has worked in the information industry for more that 20 years, most recently on a freelance basis at Yell. Previous roles include Information Manager for Business Gateway in Aberdeen, Senior Lecturer at London Metropolitan University and Information manager for the Consumer's Association. Chris is trainer for TFPL. Her book Business Information Sources: A Beginner's Guide was published in 2007 by Facet.

These meetings are free and open to all.

Refreshments provided afterwards.

Please advise Norman Briggs,  Events Co-Ordinator Tel: 0118 987 1115 or nwbriggs@pcintell.co.uk, or Chrissy Allott, Chairperson Chrissy.Allott@berkshire.nhs.uk if you plan to attend

Slidefinder

Slidefinder  (http://www.slidefinder.net/) was recommended to me way back in August 2009 and I have been using it ever since to track down information inside presentations. PowerPoint presentations can hold a wealth of information: corporate structures, strategic plans, research activity, statistics, industry information etc. Using the advanced file format search options in the general search engines is one way of locating relevant presentations and there are also searchable presentation sharing sites such as Slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/) and Authorstream (http://www.authorstream.com/). Slidefinder (http://www.slidefinder.net/) is a similar service but locates and presents you with individual slides that contain your search terms. This means that you do not have to wade through the whole file to find the information you want.

It covers publicly available PowerPoint presentations that are on the web but does not include services such as Slideshare or Authorstream. The default simple search is straightforward. Type in your search terms and relevant slides are displayed as thumbnails. The advanced search enables you to search by slide title, text, notes, presentation name, keywords, language and site. To see a larger version of a slide and any notes associated with it move the cursor over a slide, or you can download the entire presentation if you wish.

There are also options to restrict your search to university sites. These are listed by country in regions (Europe, North America, Oceania and Asia) but it is not comprehensive. Once you have identified the university you want you can either browse the title slides or keyword search the available presentations. Phil Bradley has already reviewed the service and he commented that no UK universities were listed. This is obviously a part of the service that is under continual development and I note today that  two universities have been added to the UK list since I last looked. It is not clear how the universities are selected for inclusion (there are only 47 for the UK) and many major institutions such as Reading University are missing from the list.

Slidefinder is powered by Slide Executive (http://www.slideexecutive.com/) and is a showcase for Swedish company Novatrox’s desktop and enterprise presentation management tools. They are essentially search tools for presentations stored on your own computer or networks but they also enable you to build new presentations from existing slides and manage “libraries”. There are a range of products depending on the number of users and how you wish to create and organise your files. They are all priced but you can download free trials. I am currently looking at the single user desktop edition and although I know my own presentations inside out and their location I am finding Slide Executive very useful for presentations given to me by co-workers and colleagues. The question for me now is whether or not it is worth 249 Euros. Possibly not, but the free Slidefinder is definitely worth adding to your search toolkit.

Web 2.0 - the truth behind the hype

CLSIG is re-running the popular Web 2.0 event it held last year in London. Both Phil Duffy and I are presenting again but this time it is to be held in Birmingham. Details are as follows:

Event: Web 2.0 - the truth behind the hype

Date: Monday 1 March 2010, 6.30-8pm. (Doors open 6 pm)

Venue: Hammonds, Rutland House, 148 Edmund Street, Birmingham B3 2JR.

What is web 2.0 and what isn’t it?

In this seminar Karen Blakeman, Independent Information Trainer and Consultant at RBA Information Services, and Phil Duffy, Information Services Manager at Hammonds LLP will debate the pros and cons of using web 2.0 tools and technologies. This event was sold out and highly rated by attendees in London earlier this year.

There will be a networking reception after the event.

Booking Details


All seminars are £10 for CLSIG members, £15 for non-members and half-price for the unemployed. To book or for more information please email events@clsig.org.uk.  Cheques should be made payable to CLSIG and sent to Irena Valouchova, Denton Wilde Sapte LLP, One Fleet Place, London, EC4M 7WS or DX242 City. Please note that refunds are only available up to a week before the event. Travelling details: http://www.hammonds.com/Default.aspx?sID=259&cID=952&ctID=11

CLSIG website: www.clsig.org.uk

Presentation: Internet Search - a challenging and ever changinglandscape

CILIP in the Thames Valley, 6th October 2009, Great Expectations, Reading

The presentation I gave to CILIP in the Thames Valley on 6th October is now available in a number of locations. At least one of these should be accessible through your firewall!

PowerPoint presentation - RBA web site
Slideshare
Authorstream
Slideboom

Some of the slides have annotations from my blog and new comments so make sure you check out the notes to the slides. Many of the slides are screen shots so they won't make much sense without the notes or unless you were at the live presentation.

Internet Search: a challenging and ever changing landscape

CILIP in the Thames Valley evening meeting

Date & Time: Tuesday 6th October 2009,  1800 for 1830 hrs
Location: Great Expectations, 33 London St, Reading

Google threatens to go hyper with its “caffeine” search. Bing is taking over Yahoo. Image search options are expanding: creative commons, colour, similar images. More specialist search tools for the “hidden web” are emerging and Web 2.0 is now an essential part of the search mix. Karen Blakeman will look at the new services that are being pushed out by the major search engines and the alternatives.

This is a free event followed by free refreshments and networking opportunities with colleagues.

An invitation is extended to anyone with a professional interest in the topic

Contact: Norman Briggs, nwbriggs@pcintell.co.uk to advise attendance for catering purposes.

CLSIG Web 2.0 blog postings

If you weren't able to attend the CLSIG Web 2.0 debate on September 17th there are two blog postings so far of the event:

CLSIG Seminar: Web 2.0 – the truth behind the hype « Organising Chaos

The Running Librarian: Web 2.0 - the truth behind the hype

Added after above posted to blog:

VIP LiveWire: Web 2.0 - hype and truth

CLSIG Web 2.0 slides and screenshots

Web 2.0 - the truth behind the hype. Evening meeting held at Hamonds LLP, Devonshire Square, London, EC2M 4YH. Speakers: Phil Duffy, Karen Blakeman

The slides and screenshots that I showed at yesterday's CLSIG evening meeting as part of the Web 2.0 debate are now available in various places:

PowerPoint presentation on my own RBA web site

Slideshare
Authorstream

As usual, they are mostly screenshots so won't make much sense unless you were there to hear the discussion.

PATLIB 2009 presentations

The presentations that I gave at PATLIB 2009 in Sofia, Bulgaria lastweek are now available at http://www.rba.co.uk/patlib2009. There are two: a 25 minute  presentation that was given as part of the main conference and the longer half day pre-conference workshop. As usual, many of the slides will probably not make sense without my commentary but you are welcome to email or Twitter DM me if you want more information.

There is also a two page "Getting started with Twitter" document. Yes, I know that there is a plethora of  how-to-twitter pages on the web but almost none of them answer the questions that I am asked on my workshops. The best and most succinct that I have found so far is the two page http://portfolio.ginaminks.com/job_aides/twitter_cheat_sheet.pdf

BBOD mashups presentation

My presentation on mashups, which I am giving at the BBOD evening meeting today (5th May 2009), is now available on Slideshare, authorSTREAM and Slideboom. Choose your favourite presentation site and download.

It consists mostly of screen shots so it probably won't make much sense on its own. You'll have to come to the meeting!

Mashups: delicious digital recipes for 2009

View more presentations from Karen Blakeman.

Mashups - a free evening seminar from CILIP BBOD

I am giving a presentation on mashups at next Tuesday's CILIP BBOD evening meeting.

Date: Tuesday 5th May 18.00 for 18.30 (postponed from February)

Presenter: Karen Blakeman

Venue: Great Expectations, 33 London Street, Reading, Berkshire RG1 4PS www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=471801&y=173139&z=0&ar=Y

Please advise Norman Briggs, BBOD Events Co-Ordinator Tel: 0118 987 1115 or nwbriggs@pcintell.co.uk
or Chrissy Allott, BBOD Chair Chrissy.Allott@berkshire.nhs.uk if you plan to attend

Seminar details

Mashups - tasty recipes for 2009

Mashups are not just for the remnants of your Christmas or Sunday dinner! A mashup is also a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool, and you may be surprised at how commonplace they have become. Blogs, Yahoo Finance, Facebook, Geograph, and the latest UK police forces’ crime statistics all use mashups.

Karen Blakeman will look at examples from a variety of sectors and subject areas and show how easy it is to create your own. The issues of quality and ownership of data will also be addressed.

BBOD meetings are free and open to all with a professional interest in the topic.

Refreshments provided afterwards.

"Hurricane Obama hits offshore tax havens"

I spotted this article in the hard copy of the Daily Mail while I was on the plane back from Glasgow last night. It particularly caught my attention because we had been discussing International filing and disclosure requirements at the workshop I had been running in Glasgow. According to the article a new bill - the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act 77 - is passing through the US Congress with presidential backing.

The article singles out four regions in particular: Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Cayman Islands, Delaware and the City of London.

Switzerland is in the list because of its "banking secrecy laws", and Liechtenstein is one of three tax havens listed as uncooperative by the OECD. The other two countries are Monaco and Andorra.

The Cayman Islands should come as no surprise, but I am still amazed at how many analysts and researchers keep asking me why they can't find any financials or detailed information on companies that are registered there. Just take a look at Cayman Islands Companies: Formation & Registration:

"The Registrar of Companies can only release the name and type of company, its date of registration, the address of the registered office and the company’s status. Disclosing any other information is prohibited unless requested by a law enforcement agency."

The US state of Delaware is another well known "haven".  The Delaware Division of Corporations refers to its "modern and flexible corporate laws" and "a business-friendly State Government". Roughly translated it means that you will have a hard job finding accurate, up to date or sometimes any information on companies registered there.  Many of the companies I have looked up on their register don't give any proper contact details or give fictitious names. But perhaps Homer and Marge Simpson really are directors of multiple businesses in a wide variety of sectors?

The naming and shaming of the City of London came as a surprise, though. The UK is the last place that most of its citizens would regard as a tax haven but the article is referring to the so called "non-dom" laws. A non-dom, or non-domiciled person, is someone who is resident in the UK but claims it is not their home, their  'domicile' being in another country. As a non-dom they pay no UK tax on their overseas earnings unless they bring the proceeds into the UK. UK Chancellor Alistair Darling's announcement last year on proposed changes to the tax laws for non-doms caused an uproar and there have been many subseuqent "clarifications" and amendments to the proposals. I won't bore you with the details here but if you are interested go to Chipwrapper and search on non-dom Alistair Darling and select Past Year as the time slice.

For the majority of us, tax havens will remain a dream. Substantial donations to the author of this blog would be gratefully received - used notes in a suitcase preferred :-)

Hants & Isle of Wight Web 2.0 Session

A reminder to all of you who attended the CILIP Hampshire & Isle of Wight evening meeting on Web 2.0 and social networking that the PowerPoint can be downloaded from http://www.rba.co.uk/hiow/ . Anyone is free to download it if they wish but it probably won't make much sense unless you were there and heard my commentary! It is also available on SlideShare at http://www.slideshare.net/KarenBlakeman/cilip-hants-isle-of-wight-social-networking

CILIP Hants & Isle of Wight - Social Networking

View more presentations from Karen Blakeman. (tags: hiow cilip)

You might also like to view the twitterstream that evolved over the evening by going to http://search.twitter.com/ and searching on the hashtag #hiow . You will note the participants had their  priorities right by tweeting on the quality of the biscuits and tea/coffee :-)

A big thank you to all of you around the world who tweeted to us at the seminar about where you were, what you were doing and how you use Twitter. It really showed how great Twitter can be.

Mashups - tasty recipes for 2009!

I am giving a presentation on mashups to the Berks, Bucks & Oxon District branch of CILIP on Tuesday 3rd February, 18.00 for 18.30. Details are as follows:

Venue: Great Expectations, 33 London Street, Reading, Berkshire RG1 4PS http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=471801&y=173139&z=0&ar=Y .

Refreshments provided afterwards.

Mashups are not just for the remnants of your Christmas or Sunday dinner! A mashup is also a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool, and you may be surprised at how commonplace they have become. Blogs, Yahoo Finance, Facebook, Geograph, and the latest UK police forces’ crime statistics all use mashups.

Karen Blakeman will look at examples from a variety of sectors and subject areas and show how easy it is to create your own. The issues of quality and ownership of data will also be addressed.

BBOD meetings are free and open to all with a professional interest in the topic.

If you plan to attend, please advise Norman Briggs, BBOD Events Co-Ordinator Tel: 0118 987 1115,  nwbriggs@pcintell.co..uk or Chrissy Allott, BBOD Chair Chrissy.Allott@berkshire.nhs.uk

Workshop on Advanced Search Strategies, London

Several people have asked me when I am next running my workshop on advanced search strategies (sometimes known as Google and Beyond) in London. The next date for London is Wednesday, 18th February and there are still some places left. The venue is InTuition House, Borough High Street, London SE1 1JX, which is close to Borough tube station and London Bridge. The cost is £150 + VAT (total: £172.50) and includes refreshments and a buffet lunch.

Full details of the workshop together with a booking from are on my web site at http://www.rba.co.uk/training/searching.htm . You can pay by credit card, PayPal or request to be invoiced for the event.

For those of you who live in the Manchester area, I am running a similar event for UKeiG on April 1st. Details are at http://www.ukeig.org.uk/training/2009/April/GoogleandBeyondManchester200904.html

Online 2008 presentations available

The three presentations I gave at Online Information 2008  are available on Slideshare and authorSTREAM. Details are as follows:

Pre-conference workshop, 1st December 2008: Making Web 2.0 Work

Slideshare
authorSTREAM

Wednesday 3rd December, 11.15-11.45, Gallery Rooms
Competitive Intelligence: Can Free Sources do the Biz?

Slideshare
authorSTREAM

Wednesday 3rd December, 13:45-14:15, Theatre  C
Impact of Web 2.0 on Search

Slideshare
authorSTREAM

The Research Practioner Skills Day Presentation

Those of you who attended The Research Practitioner Skills Day at Chelsea Football Club on 26th November should have received all of our presentations by email. If not, mine (Using the Web) can be viewed or downloaded from either Slideshare or authorSTREAM.


Uploaded on authorSTREAM by karenblakeman