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- From: david@spireproject.com (David Novak)
- Newsgroups: alt.internet.research,sci.research,alt.answers,sci.answers,news.answers
- Subject: Information Research FAQ v.4.7 (Part 2/6)
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- Summary: Information Research FAQ: Resources, Tools & Training
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- Archive-name: internet/info-research-faq/part2
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- Last-modified: April 2002
- URL: http://spireproject.com
- Copyright: (c) 2001 David Novak
- Maintainer: David Novak <david@spireproject.com>
-
- Information Research FAQ (Part 2/6)
-
- 100 pages of search techniques, tactics and theory
- by David Novak of the Spire Project (SpireProject.com)
-
-
- Welcome. This FAQ addresses information literacy; the skills, tools and
- theory of information research. Particular attention is paid to the
- role of the internet as both a reservoir and gateway to information
- resources.
-
- The FAQ is written like a book, with a narrative and pictures. You have
- found your way to part two, so do backtrack to the beginning. If you
- are lost, this FAQ always resides as text at
- http://spireproject.com/faq.txt and with pictures at
- http://spireproject.com/faq.htm
-
- This FAQ is an element of the Spire Project http://spireproject.com,
- the primary free reference for information research and an important
- resource for search assistance.
-
- *** The Spire Project also includes a 3 hour public seminar titled
- *** Exceptional Internet Research. This is a fast paced seminar
- *** supported with a great deal of webbing, reaching to skills and
- *** research concepts beyond the ground covered on our website and
- *** this FAQ. http://spireproject.com/seminar.htm has a synopsis.
- *** I am in Europe, seminaring in Ireland and Europe though I
- *** will be returning to the US shortly, and South Australia for
- *** a seminar this October.
-
- Enjoy,
- David Novak - david@spireproject.com
- The Spire Project : SpireProject.com and SpireProject.co.uk
-
- NOTE FOR RETURN READERS: previously, we prepared this section by
- converting work originally prepared in html. This became unproductive
- so we have limited the internet links in this FAQ and direct you to the
- more lengthy articles prepared in html. All the required links and
- search tool forms reside in other parts of the Spire Project, like the
- websites and free shareware
- (http://spireproject.com/spire_latest_version.zip).
-
-
-
- Searching Specific Formats.
- Section 4
- On the second year of his training, Shakh began to piece together the
- many rules and guidelines to understanding hieroglyphs. He had thought
- the lessons would end once he learned the glyphs but no, there were
- long and convoluted rules governing the translation of sounds into
- glyphs. Simple rules govern the placement of glyphs on the wall -
- certain glyphs lose their meaning when placed apart.
-
- Then, there was the art of writing. The glyphs had to be the right size
- and shape. If you were about to finish the line, you could squish
- certain glyphs just a little to make room for the next glyph. If you
- did not plan well, you would leave the line hanging, a word unfinished,
- a sentence incomplete.
-
- Then Shakh started to learn hieratic - shorthand glyphs for less formal
- situations.
-
- It was all very complicated and cumbersome. Shakh did not like the
- technical nature of writing. So much to learn and still so far from
- writing clear, interesting results. His seasons in training went very
- slowly. The Nile rose then fell then rose again.
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- A great deal of dull information must be comprehended, absorbed,
- internalized. Nothing spectacular. Nothing of particular interest. Just
- a mass of rules and guidelines to help you move within the world of
- information.
-
- On the third year of medical school the aspiring doctor begins to
- memorize a vast linked-array of drugs, symptoms and afflictions. The
- next three years are spent developing this mental array; refining,
- building, adding experience, so that one day a doctor may look at a
- symptom, think of possible afflictions or drug reactions, then
- proscribe drugs or call for further tests. The whole process of
- learning this array is intensely dull.
-
- In the first part of this FAQ we explained in detail how an information
- search involves first selecting a suitable format (book, webpage, news,
- interview ...) then searching a few important tools that help us find
- information in that format. The first format we will look at is the
- humble book.
-
-
- Books
- Links and forms at http://spireproject.com/books.htm
- Shakh arrived in Edfu on a small boat in the company of his father. It
- was a short walk from the dock to the Edfu temple complex. A fantastic
- sight. A noble sight. The temple included a vast library of books and
- manuscripts - a warehouse of knowledge about Egypt.
-
- Not that there were many manuscripts in total. The time and expense it
- took to create even a single copy made the library a prohibitive
- expense open to only those in certain need. This was not a public
- library, but an elitist library, open only to those who could justify
- the gifts required to enter. There it was, open before them, long
- shelves of scrolls arranged by rough topic. Amazing indeed. Shakh
- shivered slightly in the cool air. This would be his life for the next
- few years.
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- Books have such meaning to us as a society. We have a vibrant emotional
- connection. Books exude a solid proof of value to a larger community.
- They are important resources but the additional awe is amazing to
- behold. Try ripping a chapter from a book you own in public. The stares
- and discomfort is almost tangible. Some book-lovers get upset about
- slight creases in books, treating books as if they were important
- museum quality manuscripts - something to hold with awe and treat
- gently.
-
- Being a book writer is similarly impressive. It is a mark of an expert.
- A knowledgeable expert. A knowledgeable expert we should listen too,
- should pay money for the chance to listen to, should pay, listen and
- carefully not crease their work.
-
- This attitude is silly.
-
- A book is a package of information, prepared along certain guidelines,
- with a purpose. In research we look for books on a topic that may help
- us answer a question. These books tend to be large, lengthy, detailed,
- verbose, heavy. Books are not good at describing cutting edge
- developments. They generally summarize popular consensus. They avoid
- criticism. When searching, they can make horrible resources.
-
- Books are also large and physical creations. They must be stored. They
- stick around. They have a limited shelf life but libraries are forever
- over-stocked with dated publications of limited use and value. They are
- also long - troublesome things to read.
-
- Books come in different flavors. There are the books by industry
- insiders who tell the truth, rip the facade about a particular
- industry. Such books make brilliant resources. There are also books by
- journalists, prepared without insider knowledge, more of a novel of a
- newsworthy situation. Such books tend to the verbose, circumstantial,
- light on facts.
-
- Certain questions simply beg to be answered by reading a book. Such
- questions are usually general, introductory, timeless. For such
- questions a stack of news articles would lack cohesion. A collection of
- articles would be too precise, not give you the larger picture. Such
- questions need the 100 pages of description, pictures and the
- considered framework that books embody.
-
- Finding a Book
- As an information format, there are certain tools and resources you
- need to be aware of to effectively search for books. Thankfully, many
- of these tools have emerged on the internet. These include:
-
- - A database of the free books on the internet from projects like the
- Online Book Initiative and Project Gutenberg. Includes many
- copyright-free classics (but not ebooks - a different concept).
- - Three government publication databases for the US, UK and Australia.
- The US and Australian databases are comprehensive. The UK database is
- incomplete. The complete database is commercially available
- - The book databases of large online bookstores is incomplete but
- useful as a fast search of current books. Some include background
- information. I use Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Borders and the UK Internet
- Bookshop (of the WHSmith bookstore chain).
- - The largest libraries of the world, like the US Library of Congress
- and British Library hold more than 20 million publications stretching
- back many years. The online book catalogues are not good for the latest
- books, but are brilliant at earlier works.
- - Local libraries and state libraries are noteworthy as finding a book
- in their database also means you have found access to these books.
- - The definitive resource is the collection of national Books-in-Print
- databases like [US] Books in Print, Australian Books in Print, French
- Books in Print... These databases are commercially available online, as
- print directories (yuck) in libraries and often from publicly available
- to search from good bookstores
-
- Book Databases
- Information about new books is organized in a collection of national
- "Books in Print" databases. This information is publisher-verified,
- includes forthcoming titles, and is naturally updated far faster than
- the library and bookstore catalogues.
-
- Books in Print, produced by Bowker, delivers publisher-verified
- information on US books. British Books in Print is produced by Whitaker
- & Sons, delivers publisher-verified information on UK books. Further
- national book indexes include Australian Books in Print (Thorpe),
- Canadian Books in Print (University of Toronto Press), Les Livres
- Disponibles/French Books in Print (Electre), Italian Books in Print,
- German Books in Print and others.
-
- All these directories are available as print directories (not
- particularly convenient), as a commercial database (through database
- retailers), for subscription (bookstores frequently subscribe) or
- through Global Books in Print (through not really global, is a group of
- book databases).
-
- With regards to the print versions, there may be recent editions in
- your state library but don't bother. The directory is not user-friendly
- as you must page through each month's subject categories. A more
- convenient alternative access point is your favorite large bookstore.
- For about Au$4500/year, many bookstores subscribe to Global Books in
- Print on CD-ROMs, or a national 'books in print' database. There should
- be no cost for searching, but ask for the date and the database name so
- you have a clearer idea of what is being searched.
-
- Further Book Resources
- Book Reviews are a viable tool in a book search. The tools mentioned
- above will give you very little information indeed - mainly title,
- author, format and price. You will usually want more than this before
- you buy a book.
-
- Book reviews are published in a range of book-related journals and
- newspapers. These are compiled into a commercial database of Book
- Reviews, like the Book Review Digest by H.W.Wilson or Book Review Index
- by Gale Research, or individual book reviews from the like of the New
- York Review of Books (http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/). A state library
- may provide access to the Book Review Digest Database.
-
- Online book reviews are further discussed in Locating Book Reviews
- (http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/hss/guides/fsreview.htm) by Monash
- University Library.
-
- Barnes & Noble, and to a lesser degree Amazon, have additional
- information in their book database. Since it is free, it makes for a
- fine immediate alternative to searching book reviews.
-
- Future developments in book-related discussion groups holds out more
- promise in harnessing the opinions of a book-reading public. Quality
- issues remain (and the anonymous musings listed in Amazon.com and
- Barnes & Noble
-
- There are also book finding services with specialty book databases -
- like a database of second-hand books. Books on Demand is a directory of
- out-of print books available for reprinting (and includes price and
- order information.)
-
- Strategy
- Obviously title searches are not effective tools to discover new books.
- Not all books on Vincent Van Gogh include Vincent in the title. Subject
- searches, work well only if you can grasp the indexing.
-
- Apply these effective search techniques:
- 1) Browse the subject listing and select the subjects which interest
- you.
- 2) Read the subject listings off a book you know interests you - then
- search for other books in those subjects.
- 3) Search for other publications from suggestive authors (especially
- when the author is an association).
-
- Library catalogues, like LOCIS can illustrate these techniques. Let's
- say a title or subject search lands you with one of the books listed in
- LOCIS. This catalogue lists the applicable subject titles. Looking at
- books placed in the same subject category works well.
-
- A word about Book Types. Just as internet information comes in
- different qualities and formats, books also come in different styles
- and flavours. Books written by industry insiders are characterized by
- personal stories and expert wisdom from an author telling all the
- secrets. These books are worth looking for, and the short bio may give
- a clue. Books written by Journalists have a different flavour, slightly
- more newsy with less factual than, let say, Government books (far more
- factual than most), and frequently updated books (far more current than
- most). Try to find the style of book suited to your needs.
-
- Information Theory
- The book industry has reached a kind of plateau where fairly definitive
- databases exist for listing books. There are databases for government
- books, out-of-print books, second-hand books, current books. The
- internet has changed some elements of this mix, as business models try
- to support moving existing databases to free access, and others use
- this change to try to present more definitive databases. Book reviews
- have never properly been used by the book industry, so the big change
- appears to be a move from book titles (as in most book databases and
- library catalogues) to rich information (like Barnes & Noble) which
- includes reviews and readers comments.
- ___________________________________________________
-
-
- The Article
- links and more at http://spireproject.com/article.htm
-
- Articles hold a definitive value, a statement of quality and currency.
- Sometimes articles are long, unique and informative works. Sometimes
- articles are short, simple, trite; a rehash of common knowledge. There
- is a range of ways to access articles - though none are particularly
- inexpensive. We also have difficulties paying copyright - so most paid
- research assistance is restricted to certain, more expensive tools. In
- all, articles are cumbersome, cumbersome and time-consuming to work
- with. They can also be brilliantly rewarding.
-
- There are three difficulties with article searches:
- 1_ Finding the articles which interest us.
- 2_ Getting our hands on a copy. (Many articles you locate may be
- impractical to access in person while electronic access can be
- expensive.)
- 3_ Copyright permission, (which can be potentially simple or
- exceedingly expensive).
-
- Of course, the main stay of article research is photocopying an article
- directly from a journal. Find a library nearby which holds the journal
- then read or photocopy it then and there. This process can be improved
- by using the online library catalogues (to see if they hold the
- journal) and by searching a database of library holdings (often
- available for free by asking or calling a librarian at your state
- library). As you could expect, some commercial businesses will
- undertake this work on your behalf, for a fee.
-
- The difficulty with this process, of course, is this does not help you
- discover what articles will interest you - this only works if you have
- a useful bibliography to work from.
-
- In recent years, a concerted effort has been made to bring you full
- text articles electronically. Commercial databases in general have
- moved from being strictly bibliographic to many full text articles. A
- system of full text articles on CD-ROM has a brilliant future. Up to
- 500 journals are updated frequently in this inexpensive format. (Most
- Research Libraries have this station.)
-
- Some of the commercial full text databases have emerged online too.
- Northern Light presents this. Unfortunately, the better quality
- articles are not included in these databases. It is not an absolute
- rule but to date, many of these commercial databases are filled with
- regional business papers, newspapers or similar middle to low quality
- publications.
-
- There is another system for accessing articles, which comes to us from
- a very long time ago. Inter-library loans are a system worked out
- between libraries so articles can be exchanged between libraries.
- Naturally you need the assistance of a library - and a great deal of
- patience. Such requests can take over a month to arrive.
-
- Lastly, there is always the option of direct purchase of periodicals
- from the publisher.
-
- Commercial Services
- Carl Uncover service (fatback articles).
- CARL (http://www.carl.org) is one of the great library groups in North
- America established a service to provide articles by post or fax. Carl
- promises to fax articles provided you use their system to check one of
- their many libraries has the required document.
-
- Northern Light - online database of articles
- Northern Light (http://www.nlsearch.com) is a search engine of both the
- web and their own database of articles available for purchase. The
- rates are cheaper than Carl (up to $4.00 per downloaded document) and
- the articles are delivered over the internet (not faxed) but the range
- is smaller.
-
- Information Theory
- Many of the databases will begin to offer their services either as a
- pay-per-view, or through reasonable direct subscription methods on the
- internet. This has been predicted for years but depends on the
- emergence of a fine way to purchase cheap items on the internet:
- digital money. No effective digital money has emerged yet, and most
- databases will either wait, or try one of the existing incomplete
- methods. Essentially, critical mass has not yet arrived, and it now
- appears that the true fall in price of information is waiting on an
- effective digital money. In preparation, magazines and newspapers are
- purchasing all the rights possible - especially the electronic rights.
- More appears on this topic later.
- ___________________________________________________
-
-
- Webpages
- Links and forms at http://spireproject.com/webpage.htm
-
- Webpages are often of unknown age, of only guessed at quality and
- potentially the easiest information to retrieve. There are many points
- of entry to web resources, but search tools differ. Try to match your
- search tool to your question. To start, you will need to learn
- something of the different tools - described below - and four basic
- search techniques: Boolean, Proximity, Field Searches & Truncation.
-
- Global Search Engines
- Altavista (http://altavista.com) includes a very large, fast search
- engine. It allows for Basic Boolean AND + NOT - OR | Proximity " " ~
- (near - within 10 words of each other.) Several Fields: title:"Spire
- Project" domain:gov url:edu link:cn.net.au and Truncation/Wildcard (*)
- Of import, Capitals matter with Altavista.
-
- All-the-Web (http://www.alltheweb.com) is important because it is large
- - really large - with a flexible search facility. Allows Partial
- Boolean + - Simple Proximity " " and Several Fields a title field
- search normal.title:spire url field url.all:.au link text and link url
- fields normal.atext:spire link.all:cn.net.au All-the-Web is not case
- sensitive. The same database supporting All-the-Web supports Lycos.
-
- Inktomi (via http://hotbot.lycos.com) provides its substantial web
- directory through other companies, in this case, HotBot. also allows
- searches by region, by date, and more.
-
- Debriefing (http://www.debriefing.com) is our meta-search engine of
- choice. Use this to find names & named websites. Accepts Partial
- Boolean + - Simple Proximity " ". Capitals matter.
-
- Google(http://www.google.com/) is a new style of search engine which
- ranks sites with more care and concern. This works well for sites you
- know a little about in advance. Unfortunately, has no useful field
- searches. Allows Partial Boolean + - Simple Proximity " ".
- Unfortunately, No Truncation not even for plurals!
-
- When searching for a topic with precise descriptive terms, use a broad
- search engines. Always place the Boolean +symbol before each search
- word (like this: +word1 +word2) to insist all words appear in the
- results. Quotes keep words together ("word1 word2"). These two simple
- steps dramatically improve results. Keep adding words and search limits
- until the number of hits is reasonable.
-
- For more global search engines, there are numerous lists to consider
- like the W3 Search Engines page at the University of Geneva
- (http://cui.unige.ch/meta-index.html#INF) and the Industry Research
- Desk (http://www.rbbi.com/links/sengine.htm).
-
- Meta-Search Engines & Google
- If you know something of the destination already, like a title or
- company name or full name, try using a search tool that excels in
- finding named websites. There should be little difficulty in finding
- such sites with either Google or a Meta-Search engine, but don't get
- excited and use these on other occasions.
-
-
- Categorized Lists
- When searching for information that lends itself to a particular
- category or topic, start with resources which group information in
- categories. With few exceptions, these resources index websites, not
- webpages. Also, keep your search words simple as these are small
- databases.
-
- Yahoo (http://yahoo.com) is the largest of this type of directory tree;
- the definitive site. Accepts Partial Boolean + - Simple Proximity " "
- Truncation * and Several Field t: (for titles) u: (for urls) and a
- date field through a form.
-
- The Open Directory Project (http://dmoz.org) is a Netscape effort to,
- presumably, mute the strength of Yahoo. It is very good, and very
- similar to Yahoo.
-
- Looksmart (http://www.looksmart.com) is another significant directory.
-
- For an alternative, try the World Wide Web Virtual Library: Subject
- Catalogue (http://vlib.org/Overview.html), a distributed network of
- subject lists, not nearly as dominant as Yahoo, but far more
- "scholarly" shall we say. This virtual directory has been around many
- years, previously famous from www.w3.org.
-
-
- Reviewed Sites
- When seeking specific fields of study, when topics are clouded with
- many similar, low quality sites, start with resources with a greater
- degree of personal attention. Peer review and vetting produce resources
- with more quality but limited coverage, better suited to this
- situation. Also, keep your search words simple.
-
- The Scout Report (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu) is one of the oldest and
- most highly regarded e-newsletters introducing new internet resources.
- Residing at the University of Wisconsin, the Scout Report describes
- research, education & topical sites. The Scout Report Signpost provides
- a quick search of previously featured sites.
-
- BUBL (http://www.bubl.ac.uk) is a British site which reviews internet
- resources then indexes by Dewey decimal number. I prefer their Dewey
- presentation but the collection is not large (though the largest of the
- library projects I have seen).
-
- The Argus Clearinghouse (http://www.clearinghouse.net) is a vast
- collection of internet guidebooks. We can search the titles &
- descriptions, but then click on the highlighted keywords to find
- related guides. I suspect Argus is not successfully keeping pace with
- internet development.
-
- AlphaSearch (http://www.calvin.edu/library/searreso/internet/as/) is
- similar to Argus. This one indexes important nexus sites and should be
- browsed.
-
- The Britannica.com (as in Encyclopedia Britannica
- http://www.britannica.com) has been remolded as a free guide to books,
- periodicals, web and their encyclopedia. This encyclopedia is perhaps
- the best.
-
- FAQs can be searched from an FAQ database like the one at
- http://www.faqs.org
-
- WebRings list sites by topic. Each webring is maintained by a volunteer
- at an uninvolved site using standard software. The primary sites are
- currently Webring.com and bomis.com
-
- Specialty Tools
- For issues with a particular government, url or language origin,
- consider using tools designed with this in mind.
-
- * Altavista can be limited to specific domains (gov edu au) with their
- "domain:domainname" field search. "url:url-segment" is also useful.
- Read the Altavista Fancy Features for Typical Searches.
-
- * GovBot (http://ciir2.cs.umass.edu/Govbot/) as developed by The Center
- for Intelligent Information Retrieval (CIIR) is a search engine which
- indexes exclusively a great number of government webpages, a unique
- resource.
-
- * Altavista also allows for a field search by language. Searching for a
- Japanese site? Consider searching only webpages in Japanese.
-
- * Purely regional search engines may also be the answer. Aussie.com.au,
- for example, is a search engine indexing only Australian websites.
- There are fine lists of regional search engines and directories like
- SearchEngineCollossus, Search Engines WorldWide, SearchEngineWatch and
- Yahoo.
-
- * Topic-specific search engines, a new arrival, has a very promising
- future. Ideally you will find a search engine like ChemGuide
- (http://www.fiz-chemie.de/en/datenbanken/chemguide/)covering over a
- million chemistry related pages. Search Engine Guide
- (http://searchengineguide.com) and Gary Price's Direct Search.
- (gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~gprice/direct.htm) list topical search engines.
-
- * Lastly, there are some commercial databases aimed at the software and
- internet industries. Consider OCLC's NetFirst (articles from magazines
- describing the internet).
-
- Conclusion
- For many of us, searching the web is simply typing words into a search
- engine. I hope I have shown there is more to it than this. What may not
- be clearly evident from a brief overview of resources is that each
- resource has a particular difference, a particular focus, a particular
- angle that helps us answer certain questions faster than other tools
- and searches.
-
- Yes, in the simple world of Yahoo and Altavista you pay no attention to
- the specific differences between alternatives - you are left with the
- worst of these two tools. Your results are general, timeless and
- imprecise.
-
- Contrary to myth, global search engines are not the best place to start
- most of the time - just some of the time. On other occasions, start
- with a directory, a meta-search engine, a guide, an FAQ... We should be
- able to identify which tools excel at locating what kinds of webpages.
- (There is no simple search of everything.)
-
- There are more insights into effective internet research. Information
- clumps; Information is not established in isolation but instead
- develops in context, is reinforced, and becomes a trend. The publishing
- motivation & promotion purpose can help us rapidly judge the content of
- a website. The webpage address can tell us a great deal about both the
- website structure and the type of publisher.
-
- Once skilled, you can segment and search the most promising areas of
- the web quickly and efficiently. If you do not quickly find your
- answers there may be other, more appropriate resources. Consider asking
- for help in an appropriate discussion group, or reviewing printed
- literature instead. The Web is only one resource among many.
-
- If your primary interest is Search Engines, consider reading A Higher
- Signal - To - Noise Ratio
- (http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dlcl/lbstat/search1.html) by Bob Bocher
- & Kay Ihlenfeldt, Sink or Swim: Internet Search Tools & Techniques
- (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/info/training/finding/sink.htm) by Ross Tyner
- and The Search is Over
- (http://www.zdnet.com/pccomp/features/fea1096/sub2.html) by Adam Page.
- For even more, read Searching the Internet
- (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/toolkit/searching/) a publication in the
- Scout Toolkit and browse Search Engine Watch.
-
- Strategy
- Searching the web is more skill than most of us acknowledge. The web is
- a manifestation of the demon professional researcher's work with all
- the time in the commercial information market. There is constantly the
- fear you have missed that single important site with everything.
- Consider the researcher's motto:
-
- Someone, somewhere, probably knows the answer.
-
- But how long do we search for gems, and where do we look? To decide, we
- must learn about internet structure and organization. Why is
- information published on the web? Why is it promoted? Let's review the
- reasoning behind effective internet research. There is so much more
- than putting words into search engines.
-
- #1 Motivation
- We can make some very astute generalizations about a webpage very
- quickly if we can judge the reason it was published. Not only is this
- an important step in analyzing any information, but this tells us a
- great deal about the contents of the webpage.
-
- Yes, merely determining a site belongs to an association actually
- specifies the quality, motivation and type of information we will find.
-
- Associations either publish what is termed 'brochureware' (promotional
- material), or if well advanced, present research work previously
- restricted to the association library: important research studies & the
- like. Commercial interests have much more difficulty delivering useful
- resources. The importance of projecting a corporate image comes first
- (lots of 'brochureware'), and service descriptions come second. On
- occasion, commercial interests will support a worthwhile service tied
- closely to their own service - thus banks present interest rates -
- bookstores present their book database.
-
- The certainty with which we can make these judgments will astound you.
- Corporate websites never publish "changes to patent law". They simply
- don't have the motivation. Only an individual would publish this, most
- likely not on the web but though a mailing list.
-
- Information is not distributed randomly. Consider Format, Preparation,
- Motivation and Promotion. Consider this, then Visualize the information
- you seek.
-
- #2 Promotion
- We can make further snap judgments about web information from the way
- you get there. Promotion is very difficult on the web, and it is hard
- to find poorly promoted information. The tools you use to reach
- information pre-determines the type and quality of information you will
- find.
-
- Search engines index webpages indiscriminately. Advertised websites
- must have a pay-off. Directories focus on established websites (not
- webpages). Link pages also link to established websites but put more
- thought into the selection of resources. Both usually focus on general
- sites. For specific or current resources, we need to move to mailing
- lists or active nexus point.
-
- Yes, when we find a webpage through the Scout Report (a prominent
- resource discovery newsletter), we can assume the webpage has a high
- quality of information, is reasonably current and has a general appeal
- (within the interest of the newsletter readers).
-
- Let's put this in reverse. If we are looking for a recent document by a
- prominent library committee, we will not find it through Altavista,
- Yahoo, or normal link pages (except accidentally). We may find it
- through specialist newsletters, active nexus points, or through mailing
- lists.
-
- #3 Visualize
- When an artist begins to paint, they visualize the image. They already
- have a concept of the finished result. Internet research is no
- different. We start by building a vision of the information we seek.
- Who would publish it. What is their motivation? Who would promote it?
- Where would I find it?
-
- Information Clumps. Information is created, nurtured, develops, gets
- transplanted, gets arranged and becomes visible through a process which
- brings similar information together. Your understanding of this
- process, including motivation and promotion, must guide your search of
- the web. Only then will we know where to look, and quickly know if the
- answers are on the web.
- ___________________________________________________
-
-
- News
- links and more at http://spireproject.com/newswire.htm
- Shakh was invited to travel with the army on the conquest of Nubia. The
- Egyptian army was not in need of further soldiers but there was a need
- for a witness. Shakh would write the official chronicles of the army's
- exploits. He would be expected to send a simple diary on papyrus back
- to the palace and then to compose numerous descriptions for memorial
- walls. He may also be consulted for paintings on the pharaohs tomb. It
- was a fine offer, and he relished in the prospect of increasing his
- value exposure.
-
- The war was not swift, nor was it entirely one-sided. In the end,
- superior numbers had its effect and Nubia was once again reunited with
- Greater Egypt. Reporting was initially a challenge, since very little
- happened from day to day. Slowly, Shakh got a handle on the process and
- focussed on the grandness of the venture. Two years after floating up
- stream, Shakh was able to do his finest work, the parade of captured
- soldiers past the Pharaoh's representative.
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
-
- News articles are typically light and biased. Do not believe a news
- item is a great critical analysis of current events. Most news is
- produced under time restrictions, for prompt consumption. In research,
- news often proves particularly useful for locating information about
- individuals or businesses. News is also critical in creating a timeline
- of events, in recording events of regional/national/international
- importance.
-
- News prepared by individual reporters is collected together by large
- news organizations, then delivered to other news organizations around
- the world. Your local news organization does not have a reporter in
- Iran, but rather buys the story off a newswire, then packages it in
- your evening news hour or morning newspaper.
-
- You have probably heard of: United Press International (UPI), Reuters
- Global News, Agence France Presse, Associated Press and Xinhua Chinese
- Newswire. These very large organizations make their information
- available to you in a variety of ways. News collects in commercial
- databases of past news, some single source, others, large multi-source
- databases. Current news is also packaged into large multi-source
- systems delivered by email or newsgroups. Many newswires are available
- online free of charge.
-
- Free News
- Critical to the changes on the internet is the emergence of free access
- to text news. Individual newspapers present news free. Newswires
- present news free. News sections to larger sites like Yahoo present
- news from many sources, free. News-only search engines will help you
- find information from a great many sites with news.
-
- The process of finding current news is about as slick as imaginable.
- Here are a few players in the market:
-
- * Yahoo News (www.yahoo.com/headlines/) is leading this field with web
- delivery of current news from Reuters, Associated Press, and others.
- Yahoo also includes a free search for one week's news.
-
- * Voice of America Newswire (VoA and now voanews.com) delivers news in
- English & many other languages.
-
- * The Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) offers their own current
- news for searching, as well as the Associated Press wire, each searched
- separately for the past week.
-
- * Fox News (www.foxnews.com) presents current news online (both current
- events and sport news). CNN news (www.cnn.com) is another searchable
- site. Both repackage some newswires and present them online. C|news
- (www.news.com) does this too.
-
- * Newsbytes (www.newsbytes.com) is a newswire solely on computer
- topics, computer, telecom and online world. InternetWire and other
- specialty newswires also present news from their website.
-
- * United Nations Radio: The World in Review is one of many news shows
- with the transcripts online. Unusually, the Vatican's newswire is not
- free online.
-
- * Obviously many more exist - and thankfully we don't need to create a
- list or manage the sources. The Spire Project has a clickable map of
- English language newspapers. There are definitive lists of global
- newspapers like Gary Price's
- http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~gprice/newscenter.htm#International
- http://dailyearth.com and http://ipl.org/reading/news/
-
- Commercial Resources
- The commercial segment of the news market is obviously being squeezed
- by the copious quantities of free news online. There are, however,
- still some viable markets, principally enterprise solutions (companies
- are willing to pay for slight improvements), past database access, and
- surprisingly the Wall Street Journal (US$49/yr).
-
- To these markets we have Clarinet and Newspage. World News Connection
- is US Government service presenting translated news (quite a gem) as a
- searchable database. Unusually, prices start at US$25/7days - yes one
- price for the news!
-
- Of course news alerts can be arranged from the commercial news
- databases through the database retailers, and each newswire like Agence
- France Newswire, Canada Newswire, Xinhua News and Associated Press all
- are unique databases, and all stretch back many years. Further
- databases like Newswire ASAP and what used to Global Textline are
- massive databases of multiple newswires and newspapers. I recall at one
- stage Textline had over 4 billion pages.
-
- Conclusion
- News articles are typically light and biased. The sheer quantity of
- news in the large news databases make this a useful resource to fall
- back for any tightly focused research topic. I once discovered an
- obscure scientist working in a unique field from a small 3 paragraph
- article in a local farmer's newspaper in England (Global Textline
- Database).
-
- Newswires and News Databases are just two elements of a large industry
- which extends to the your local newspaper and to further specialty
- databases. Most newspapers maintain their own local news database, and
- some make this available electronically. A manual clipping services may
- also be the option - certain firms manually page through local papers
- looking for advertisements or articles.
-
- While on the topic, certain newswires like Business Wire and PR
- Newswire essentially distribute certain types of news for money. Yes,
- anything in these newswires is there because the company paid for it to
- be there - $500 and up most likely. Other newswires earn money in the
- reverse process: from the media who read or publish their work.
- Associated Press or Reuters are created from news organizations. Others
- like Voice of America (VOA) are alternatively funded, but with
- reasonable reliability.
-
- There are also a range of focused newswires such as Newsbyte (computer
- issues), PR Newswire (product releases), and Middle Eastern newswires.
- Further newswires can be found at Yahoo.
-
- Strategy
- I can think of four ways to use this information for research:
-
- 1) As an alternative to your evening news or morning newspaper. Online
- news is available 24 hours a day, in more detail, from respected news
- organizations.
-
- 2) Search past news to locate information unlikely to emerge in
- journals or magazines. News includes a great deal of local detail and
- personal information unlikely to be found elsewhere.
-
- 3) As a historical record of events, perhaps the basis of a timeline.
-
- 4) Current Awareness and Alerts so articles come to you as they are
- reported. News stories by email will become a large industry over the
- next two years.
-
- Information Theory
- Just how inexpensive can news become? US$25 gets you access to past
- translated news! VoaNews.com keeps a searchable directory back a month
- for free. Many newspapers still have extensive archives of news, though
- they hope to one-day charge for them. In a way, no-one is making money
- from news. It is only worth the advertising revenue for distracting you
- from reading the news - and that is falling too. With the freedom of
- moving information through the internet, several free services will
- send you email when an news article matches your interests (an Alert).
-
- The future will see much more "compile your own" newspaper - especially
- since it could conceivably be compiled at minimal to no expense
- depending on the technology (frames anyone?) An intriguing lawsuit
- recently stopped TotalNews (a news only search engine) from displaying
- news articles in a frame.
-
- If allowed to speculate for a moment, News-for-Pay may also become a
- viable businesses. Perhaps this is just being cynical of journalistic
- standards and the accepted standards of promotion. Perhaps it is also
- recognition that Businesswire and PRWire are just two of several
- newswires where you pay to have your news included. Obviously news
- today is biased towards advertisers (through advertorials) and
- promoters. Perhaps this will become automated some day - like Yahoo's
- "we will look at your site right away for $200".
-
- Naturally, the links and many of the forms to news resources discussed
- here can be found at http://spireproject.com/newswire.htm and also our
- All-in-one page: http://spireproject.com/spir.htm
- ___________________________________________________
-
-
- Theses and Dissertations
- links and more at http://spireproject.com/discuss.htm
-
- Theses and dissertations are professional papers completed for higher
- degrees. That is to say, they are long, dense and often very esoteric
- and convoluted. Trouble is, most theses and dissertations have no more
- than 12 copies ever - one always to the University Library, one with
- the author, but others scatter to the wind.
-
- All University Libraries hold a copy of past theses undertaken at their
- university. This gives rise to the unfortunate but necessary pastime of
- searching each local university library for relevant theses. The
- advantage here is masters and occasionally honours theses are indexed.
- Most often, just undertake a keyword search then add "thes*"
- (truncation of theses or thesis).
-
- Electronic Theses Databases:
- Dissertation Abstracts Online, produced by UMI, delivers abstracts to
- most every doctoral dissertation/thesis in North America, some master's
- theses and some international theses. This is the definitive site to
- search, though you will need the help of your library to see more than
- the abstract. Some libraries will have subscribed to Dissertations
- Abstracts OnDisc - the CD-version of this database.
-
- The [British] Index to Theses with Abstracts is a print directory by
- ASLIB. This publication is also available as a database, available for
- site licenses through Theses.com (www.theses.com). This source is quite
- comprehensive as can be seen with the University List.
-
- Several other national databases do exist. Here in Australia, a list of
- theses was maintained from 1966 to 1991. The Gale Directory of
- Databases also lists THESA, a database of French theses, and
- Dissertations and Theses of the ROC (Taiwan).
-
- The Australian Education Index (1978+), produced by ACER (Australian
- Council for Educational Research), is a directory listing citations and
- some abstracts to Australian work in education. Also available as a
- commercial database, AEI is bundled into Austrom, a common collection
- of Australian databases.
-
- Digital Archives of Theses
- In theory, some theses should be available on the internet,
- particularly theses lodged electronically. There is a push for
- universities to accept electronic thesis submission, and to build
- digital archives of theses. The embryonic National Digital Library of
- Theses and Dissertations (NDTLD - www.theses.org) is just one such a
- project. There is a distributed and sequential keyword search to
- participating universities through its not particularly functional. In
- theory, this is an incremental improvement to searching library
- catalogues.
-
- Conclusion
- Getting a thesis can be very difficult. You will need the help of a
- document delivery through a library and many theses will not be
- available to borrow. You can also buy theses. Read Obtaining Copies of
- Dissertations (http://www.library.yale.edu/ref/err/disscops.htm) by
- Yale University Library for more. For an alternative look at theses,
- consider Locating Theses
- (http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/hss/guides/fstheses.htm) by the Monash
- University Library.
-
- A note on developments in this field: some Theses abstracts are
- emerging online already. Projects like the LA Theses Database
- (Landscape Architecture Theses Archive) have much promise but poor
- coverage. Full text theses presentation also have promise with the US
- Department of Education funding a National Digital Library of Theses
- and Dissertations and Virginia Tech starting to request electronic
- submission of all theses.
-
- UMI (the producers of Dissertation Abstracts Online) has backed this
- move with a direct delivery service of electronic theses to US
- libraries for $26, but only theses held in their digital archives are
- available. Eventually, large digital Theses archives will be the norm,
- but until then, very little will happen in this field.
-
- A thesis is a tightly constrained information package, produced in the
- university environment with limited appeal. For economic reasons, we
- should not be surprised theses databases are incomplete. The emergence
- of theses archives sounds interesting - a good use of the internet -
- but does not represent a financial opportunity that could be explored
- without government assistance. Consequently, this small area of the
- information sphere is government grant-driven.
- ___________________________________________________
-
-
- Patents
- links and more at http://spireproject.com/discuss.htm
-
- A patent discloses certain facts about a commercially important
- invention in exchange for certain rights to exploit the invention. This
- is a little simplistic, but explains why patents are factual, unique
- from other research resources, and a little vague in certain specifics.
- If you have never seen a patent before, see a sample US patent ,
- Australian patent, and this brief description
- (http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents/P_home.htm).
-
- There are three primary resources involved in patent research. Firstly,
- we have the free internet resources. Secondly, we have the national
- patent agency resources. Thirdly, we have the commercial patent
- databases.
-
- Free Patent Databases
- The concept of free patent databases has surely come, and while many
- countries are only slowly moving this direction, the movement is
- inevitable.
-
- * The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) provides a US Patent
- Bibliographic database at patents.uspto.gov with full use of fields,
- date and abstract text searching. Choose between their Boolean search,
- advanced (field) search or by US patent number. They also maintain a
- fulltext [US] Aids Patent Database and other resources.
-
- * The IBM's Patent Server is a public service providing a different
- patent database of US Patent abstracts. The IBM service is similar but
- different from the USPTO service - certainly not less powerful.
-
- * The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) maintains the
- Canadian Patent Fulltext Database from '89. This database is on par
- with the US Patent Database, with perhaps even better searching
- technology.
-
- * The Japanese Patent Office (www.jpo-miti.go.jp) has a searchable
- database of Japanese patent abstracts, including patent number, title,
- inventor, company, and abstract of the patent.
-
- Patent Authority Services
- Patent libraries are an important and cost-effective patent resource.
-
- * IP Australia (www.ipaustralia.gov.au) (formerly the Australian
- Industrial Property Organisation (AIPO)) has a patent library in each
- Australian state capital. Each library provides free access to the APAS
- database (Australian Patent Abstract Search) and includes a complete
- microfiche copy of all Australian patents and the Australian Official
- Journal of Patents, Trademarks & Designs (the official Australian
- patent gazette).
-
- Most offices also hold US Patents on microfiche! Staff will help you
- use the APAS database, arranged for free text searching by
- International Patent Classification. A particularly useful service by
- IP Australia is the delivery of copies of many foreign patents for
- AU$15. You will need the patent number, country and title for this.
-
- * The US Patent and Trade Mark Organization (USPTO) has the Patent and
- Trademark Depository Library Program (PTDL's) placing the CASSIS
- database (The USPTO patent abstract database on CD-ROM) and US patents
- around the US.
-
- The US patent libraries also hold the Official Gazette of the U.S.
- Patent and Trademark Office, The official US patent gazette.
- Importantly, the gazette is fully online and searchable from 1995.
-
- * The [UK] Patent Office (www.patent.gov.uk) provides for the Patents
- Information Network (PIN) which hosts patent information in the UK. The
- British Library is just one listed source of UK patents (further
- information online) and delivers some patent services.
-
- * The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) (cipo.gc.ca)
- produces the Canadian Patent Index (CPI). They also publish The Patent
- Office Record, Canada's official patent gazette.
-
- * There are many more national & international patent organizations
- like Intitut National de la Propriete Industrielle [France], World
- Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and European Patent Office.
- Thankfully there are fine lists of patent libraries and patent
- websites.
-
- Commercial Patent Services
- One of the most invaluable resources in serious patent research is
- access to several of the very large commercial patent databases.
-
- * Lexis-Nexis (www.lexis-nexis.com) retails several patent databases.
- Thanks to Patscan (University of British Columbia), we also a guide to
- searching patents on Lexis-Nexis.
-
- * The Dialog Corporation (www.dialog.com) retails a collection of
- patent databases including: Derwent World Patents Index, Inpadoc,
- Claims/U.S. Patents and European Patents FullText.
-
- * CASSIS is the USPTO database. For a little more information on this,
- consider the Patent Guide to Using CASSIS, at the University of
- Michigan.
-
- * Derwent Scientific and Patent Information (www.derwent.co.uk) is a
- prominent publisher of Patent and scientific information including
- commercial databases.
-
- * Questel-Orbit (www.questel.orbit.com) also retails patent databases.
-
- * CAS/STN (www.cas.org) retails a collection of patent databases
- including Chemical Patents Plus for U.S. Chemical patents.
-
- In addition to the database retailers and producers, there is a lively
- industry of patent services.
- * The Patent Libraries will assist you with some services. IP
- Australia, for example, will retrieve most full patents from other
- countries for AU$15.
-
- Conclusion
- Until recently, the legal profession has had a complete monopoly on
- patent work. As you can see, this need no longer be the case. Casual
- researchers will find the free patent databases easy to use, and more
- experienced researchers should not be dissuaded from searching the
- commercial databases or patent libraries themselves. The very large
- commercial databases, like Inpadoc, are particularly easy to use.
-
- Of course, there are occasions when patent searches are critical, and
- experts should be sought. Certainly legal assistance is required if you
- are preparing to lodge your own patent, but patent data as a source of
- information is another matter.
-
- As an industry, patent research is still deeply entrenched in the
- high-price commercial database and database-centered services. I am
- mildly surprised the emergence of free databases like the USPTO's
- patent database has not led to a fall in the costs of the high-end
- databases (which remain some of the most expensive databases in
- publicly accessible). It appears this industry, as indeed several
- others, has no intent to drop the price of retail database access to a
- more supportable level. I can only predict this rests on economic
- grounds. Patent information purchases are price insensitive.
- ___________________________________________________
-
-
- Statistics
- links and more at http://spireproject.com/stats.htm
-
- Statistics allow us to lie with confidence. Dense and factual,
- carefully interpreted statistics are also far more reliable than
- personal experience. The expense of collecting meaningful statistics
- limits the types of organizations involved in this work. This divide is
- also a very elegant way to divide this field.
-
- #1 National Statistical Agencies,
- #2 Government Agency Statistics,
- #3 Commercial Statistics,
- #4 Association Statistics.
-
- Statistical Directories
- Statistical Abstracts (statistical bibliographies and statistical
- directories) describe sources of statistics.
-
- Instat publishes "International Statistics Sources: subject guide to
- Sources of International Comparative Statistics" but I found this less
- than brilliant. A better link is Statistical Sources (by Gale
- Research), a basic and very large statistical abstracts directory.
-
- On the internet, US government statistics are well recorded in
- Statistical Abstract of the United States 1999
- (http://www.census.gov/stat_abstract) a 1000+ page document made
- available online in pdf format by the US Census Bureau.
-
- Statistical Venues
- Many statistics appear regularly in journals, annual reports and
- newspapers. Specialty libraries, particularly specialty librarians, may
- be aware of additional statistics.
-
- If an expert goes through the effort to collect statistics, you are far
- more likely to locate them by undertaking an article search, (looking
- particularly for journal articles) and a book search. In both cases,
- limit your search to only the last couple of years or you will locate
- very old, dated statistics. A particularly sophisticated approach could
- be to ask BusLib-l (Business Librarians' Electronic Discussion List)
- since this is a mailing list of librarians. Use this resource
- sparingly, and only after having exhausted other avenues.
-
- National Statistical Agencies
- Most every country in the world has a single government agency
- dedicated to collecting, collating and publishing national statistics.
- Statistics Canada, Australian Bureau of Statistics, The US Census
- Bureau, The (UK) Office for National Statistics; we have a fine page on
- national statistical agencies (http://spireproject.com/bureau.htm).
-
- These organizations manage the census, watch the movement of money and
- goods in and out of the country, and undertake a wide range of other
- surveys. Finding these statistics is relatively straight forward, with
- several directories on the internet.
-
- Government Agency Statistics
- Most government agencies collect reams of data on the industries they
- monitor. Sometimes these statistics are published, sometimes you have
- to ask for them, only rarely are they considered private or
- unavailable.
-
- Here in Western Australia, the government departments for Tourism,
- Labour, Small Business and Big Business all publish top-rate statistics
- free to interested parties. Our Dept of Tourism keeps a directory of
- future tourism related projects.
-
- When government statistics are bound and published, try the government
- book databases. Remember MOCAT, AGIP and part of UKOP are free online.
- Again, some US government statistics are well recorded in Statistical
- Abstract of the United States 1999 by the US Census Bureau, online in
- pdf format.
-
- Association Statistics
- Valuable statistics only come from motivated sources, and associations
- are certainly motivated. Start with a list of likely associations, then
- call up and either explain you needs or ask for their price list for
- publications and statistics. For AU$25, the Australian Booksellers
- Association publishes a brilliant analysis of the book industry.
- Association statistics are financially informative, as the intended
- audience is association members.
-
- Commercial Statistics
- Statistics created for sale are frequent in the financial sector but
- exist in a number of further situations. Banks use more professionally
- prepared market reports such as reports by the Australian economic
- consultancy firm Syntec Economic Services, Guide to Growth, which
- examines Australian industries financially with forecasts. IBIS
- (www.ibis.com), another economic consultancy, also publishes to this
- market.
-
- Professionally prepared market reports are also emerging, with the full
- text immediately from the commercial information market. Each database
- retailer has several such databases, but often these databases are
- focused globally or in a different country. Sheila Webber
- (http://www.dis.strath.ac.uk/people/sheila) has a very good list of
- firms which market research reports.
-
- Conclusion
- Central to the Internet Revolution is the liberation of just this kind
- of information. Increasingly, we will see the publishing of such
- documents on the internet, but for the few statistics currently online,
- there is no effective search. You can only browse government websites.
- Away from the internet, you must either contact the agencies directly
- (in the hope they do collect statistics), look at the statistical
- directories or seek agency statistics in other documents: books,
- pamphlets, newsletters.
-
- Once you have proceeded this far, it is wise to stop looking for
- statistics, and begin again at sophisticated commentary - which is
- likely to include supporting statistics or references to statistics
- anyway. Seek expert guidance from others who would know of hard-to-find
- statistics.
-
- One approach to finding statistics is to reverse the process. Who would
- prepare the statistic? Statistics are created in a logical manner, in a
- very expected manner. Tourism statistics? - most likely undertaken by
- either the government tourism authority, a tourism association or the
- national statistical agency. There are few others who could even
- consider preparing tourism statistics. If you can think through the
- preparation process, you can usually identify who would have created
- the statistic. (Internet statistics are the exception - too many
- organizations are creating statistics of worth.)
-
- Let's move on to specific fields of statistics.
-
- National Statistical Bureau
- The Spire Project has a fine html article on the National Statistical
- Agencies (http://spireproject.com/bureau.htm). Australia
- (www.abs.gov.au), United Kingdom (www.ons.gov.uk), Canada
- (www.statcan.ca) and United States (www.census.gov) all have national
- statistical agencies. Each organization collects and publishes
- statistics on many facets of their respective countries. This article
- should simplify your work in searching, selecting and appraising these
- sources.
-
- Each statistical agency organizes their statistics in a distinct way.
- The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has an annual Catalogue of
- Publications but also a search function, specialized statistical
- category guides and several periodicals on new resources. The UK Office
- for National Statistics (ONS) has a statistical overview, product
- catalog and a search. The US Census Bureau has a collection of very
- large publication catalogues, directories and periodicals. Statistics
- Canada has several searches, publications and a catalogue
-
- The two further elements to the statistical agencies are the
- statistical libraries and the unreported commercial statistics. The ABS
- has a dedicated statistical library within each Australian state, and
- collections of ABS documents within most public and school libraries.
- While the ABS documents within libraries are limited, the ABS libraries
- are very detailed with most every publication they create available for
- review. This is standard throughout the world.
-
- While publications are sold by each statistical agency, and the
- publication catalogues are available online, each agency has data they
- sell in other formats. CD-ROMs of popular geographical and statistical
- distribution have become very popular, as have small area population
- statistics. Some of these services are packaged and sold for specific
- purposes, like 4-site by the ABS used in describing business locations.
- Even further, statistics can be generated specific to your needs. This
- might include ABS import and export statistics for specific
- commodities, or specific results from any of their surveys.
-
- Lastly, Usinfostore.com presents a collection of economic indicators as
- time-series data. The statistics originate from several government
- agencies and is best considered as a value-added service: an intriguing
- beneficial trend?
-
- National Statistical Agencies are certainly not the only source of
- statistics. They are, however, some of the easiest to access. These
- agencies also have several traits that distinguish them from other
- information sources.
-
- Firstly, these agencies are legally required to disguise their
- statistics to protect the identity of specific businesses and
- individuals (with the exception of the Business Register). If there is
- only one or two timber exporters in Western Australia, the ABS will not
- give you timber exports from Western Australia. Specifics are found in
- directories like Kompass, commercial databases, or insider information
- (experts and articles by experts).
-
- Secondly, national statistical agencies have a tendency to be old. Most
- surveys are not completed annually, but rather every two, three or more
- years. Census data is older still. The analysis process also adds a
- delay. The ABS tends to take a year or more to collate and analyze
- statistics. For Legal and Accounting Services Australia we have '92-'93
- statistics, and the '95-96 statistics are due to be released early Nov
- 1997. Certain statistics like National Indicators are rapidly produced,
- but most are not.
-
- Thirdly, national statistical agency publications are detailed - far
- more than most statistical publications. Commercial statistical sources
- often neglect supporting information like sample size and demographic
- breakdown, but expect these publications to include this and more.
- Publications may still require further analysis, and may occasionally
- come from inferior sources of information, but they are professionally
- delivered.
-
- There are several ways to search each agency: (1)
- Each agency has thoughtfully provided their catalogue of publications
- online. The links are above.
-
- (2) Each agency collects certain information for analysis. It is
- helpful to become familiar with the various surveys and information
- sources used by each agency.
-
- Besides the Census, the ABS conducts surveys of weekly household
- expenditure, agricultural land-use surveys, R&D surveys, and periodic
- surveys of various segments of the economy (like Legal and Accounting
- Services, Australia 1992-93). They also collect landing cards (tourism
- information), export and import documentation, regional hotel occupancy
- rates and more. Each statistical agency is similar.
-
- If the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has not yet conducted a
- survey of hospital occupancy, they will not have this information.
-
- (3) Agencies publish guides to information on a particular topic. They
- also publish various newsletters of recent releases and annual
- yearbooks too.
-
- National Statistical Agencies are not the only statistics, nor
- particularly the best. They are, however, often the best source for
- demographic data, widely used by government and frequently re-published
- in other government documents. These agencies also provide a range of
- sample and national summary data directly from their website. Online
- statistics have not yet been organized, so I rather expect browsing the
- website for free information will be unwise, unless you are looking for
- simple national data.
- ___________________________________________________
- This document continues as Part 3/6
- ___________________________________________________
- Copyright (c) 1998-2001 by David Novak, all rights reserved. This FAQ
- may be posted to any USENET newsgroup, on-line service, website, or BBS
- as long as it is posted unaltered in its entirety including this
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- Please send permission requests to david@spireproject.com
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