Tales from the Terminal Room

March 2002, Issue No. 30

Archives

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Tales from the Terminal Room (TFTTR) is a monthly newsletter, with the exception of July and August, which are published as a single issue. TFTTR includes reviews and comparisons of information sources and search tools; updates to the RBA Web site Business Sources and other useful resources; dealing with technical and access problems on the Net; and news of RBA's training courses and publications.

In this issue:

• The End of Free News?
• Updates to the RBA Web site
  • Trade Association Forum re-launched
  • LEDU and EDnet transfer to Invest Northern Ireland
  • JustBooks becomes Abebooks
  • Statistics sources for Austria and Belgium
  • Bank of England
  • HM Treasury
  • HBOS - Economic View
  • Bizguides - Start up Business Guides
  • Equifax Global Online
  • The Librarians Index to the Internet
  • Top 10 Business Sites
• These things are sent to try us
  • The wrong sort of telegraph pole: despatches from a friend
• Gizmo of the Month
  • Infominder - Monitoring Web Page Content
• Meetings and Training
  • Key Business Resources on the Net
  • Market Research on the Web
  • UKOLUG Conference - Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers: Exploiting the Online Environment for Maximum Advantage

The End of Free News?

Is it the end of free news on the Net? Not entirely, but some publishers are already charging for access to archival information. The Times, for example, charges for articles older than 7 days and its crossword section and it will soon start charging for access to law reports and a new World Cup section. But if you are not based in the UK you will soon have to pay to access all of its content.

"The free ride is over and the days of free content have gone", the general manager of Times Newspapers is quoted as saying in a recent article in the Media Guardian (http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,7496,669507,00.html)

Exactly how they are going to identify "overseas" visitors is not clear but they claim to be using technology that can identify overseas visitors with "90 per cent accuracy".

FT.com is another news Web site that is to start charging users. Visitors to the site will be able to view only the latest share prices and selected news stories free of charge. For around GBP 100 a year, subscribers will have access to archived material, sector analysis and financial information. The Lex column will be included in the subscribers-only area.

Right from the start, FT.com charged for some articles in its Global Archive but in September 2000 it announced that it was making the entire archive free of charge. The bad news was that a range of the priced publications were removed from the archive.

Iin Ireland the Irish Times Web site will start charging in May for a premium news service, comprising the online version of the newspaper, a searchable archive and microsites covering specific topics such as technology, sport, business and weather. Pricing has yet to be decided but charges may be in the region of GBP 100 with individuals being given the option to pay weekly, annually or monthly. S

o are any of the major UK newspapers still allowing free access? At present we still have The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/), The Daily and Sunday Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) and The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/).

To keep up with who is switching from free to fee, The End of Free at http://www.theendoffree.com/ monitors who is doing what, and the Media Guardian at http://media.guardian.co.uk/ provides news and comments on the sector.

Updates to the RBA Web Site

Trade Association Forun re-launched

The Trade Association Forum Web site (included in several sections of the Business Sources on the Net listings) has been re-launched at a new URL - http://www.taforum.org/

The site includes a searchable directory of UK trade associations. Information on each association includes address, telephone and fax numbers, main contact, and a link to the association's Web site. You can only keyword search the titles and descriptions of the association: the browsable index and industry categories that were available in the previous version of the site are no longer present. This is a pity because it is sometimes difficult to guess the keywords that might appear in a relevant association's title or description.

LEDU and EDnet transfer to Invest Northern Ireland

The LEDU and EDnet Web sites will be closed down at the end of March. (We currently have a link to these in the Company Directories listing). Much of the content is being transferred to the new Invest Northern Ireland Web site, which goes live on 3rd April 2002, URL: http://www.investni.com/

It will provide company information, sources of business support and advice, and guides on many aspects of starting up and running a business.

The new agency will be the result of merging LEDU, IDB, IRTU, the Company Development Programme and the business support activities of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

Miscellaneous Day to Day Essentials http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/misc.htm

JustBooks becomes Abebooks

In the Online Bookshops section JustBooks has become Abebooks with the new URL http://www.abebooks.com/. Abebooks specialises in used, rare, and out-of-print books. The service has access to over 35 million titles from over 10,000 sellers in 42 countries. I have used it on several occasions to track down long out of print books that I wanted to give as birthday or Christmas presents.

Statistics http:/www.rba.co.uk/sources/stats.htm

Statistics sources for Austria and Belgium have been added.

For Austria:

Austrian Statistical Office http://www.oestat.gv.at/
Austrian Federal Financing Agency http://www.oebfa.co.at/
Austrian Institute of Economic Research http://www.wifo.ac.at/
Institute of Advanced Studies http://www.ihs.ac.at/
Oesterreichische Nationalbank http://www.oenb.co.at/

For Belgium:

Statistics Belgium http://www.statbel.fgov.be/
Federal Planning Bureau http://www.plan.fgov.be/
Federal Ministry of Employment and Labour http://meta.fgov.be/
National Bank of Belgium http://www.bnb.be/

Several statistics sources have been added to the UK section.

Bank of England http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/
The Statistics section includes current and historical base rates (interest rates), exchange rates, domestic and international banking statistics, monetary statistics (includes MO and M4), balance of payments and a database of successive sets of data for series that make up the GDP (total imports, total exports, investment, private consumption, government consumption).

HM Treasury http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/
The Treasury's Web site provides details of the latest economic indicators, forecasts for the UK economy, GDP deflators and the government's economic strategy. The Economic Forecasts are a monthly summary and a comparison of figures published by a range of independent companies and organizations. In some issues, they include forecasts for the next 3-4 years. They present only the figures, though; if you also need a commentary try the HBOS Economic View (see below).

HBOS - Economic View http://www.hbosplc.com/view/economicview.asp
Many of the major UK mortgage lenders provide excellent overviews of the economy as background to their regular house price surveys. In particular HBOS, formed by the merger of The Halifax and the Bank of Scotland, produce some excellent documents on UK and global economies. Economic View includes an 'Outlook' that provides a five year view on the prospects for the global and UK economies, a House Price Index and The Factbook (XLS format).

The Factbook contains historical data covering the key UK economic indicators, housing and mortgage markets and personal savings. Also included is information on current and historical income tax rates, housing and savings tax regimes over the years and a league table of the top 20 UK residential estate agents by number of offices.

Support for SMEs http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/sme.htm

Bizguides - Start up Business Guides
With the demise of Virginbiz, these guides are now being hosted on the BIG Wales site at http://www.bigwales.com/parkes/index.html
As well as general information on setting up and managing a business there is also in-depth information on some specific types of business, for example starting a fish and chip shop, a driving school or hairdressing salon. For each business type covered there is an interactive 'Start-up Costs Calculator'.

Company Financials and Annual Reports http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/finars.htm

Equifax Global Online http://www.globalonline.equifax.com/
Equifax Global Online offers financial reports on businesses in 200 countries. Reports on UK and Canadian companies are available for immediate download. Other reports can be delivered online within a few days. Reports for companies in Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland will available for immediate download in April. Brazil, Denmark, Spain and Sweden will be added in June.

Sample reports are available. There is also a pdf file summarising the company filing requirements in various countries. Payment is by credit card or monthly invoice.

Keeping up to Date http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/uptodate.htm

The Librarians Index to the Internet http://lii.org/
This is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 9,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. The service is sponsored by the Library of California. There is a "New this Week" section, which as its name implies lists new sites that have been added to the index; a selection of these are circulated via a free, weekly email list. Details of how to join the list are on the Web site.

Top 10 Business Sites http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/top10/

At the end of our Business Sources on the Net workshop (13th March) the following were voted the Top 10 Sites:

1. Google http://www.google.com/
   Excellent general purpose search engine with a useful option to view its own cached copy of a Web page and for searching PDF files, other file formats and Usenet.
2. Companies House http://www.companies-house.gov.uk/
   Official UK companies register
3. BIRD Online (Business Information Resources Directory) http://www.bird-online.co.uk/
   Index of free sources of UK and Irish business information and links to pay-as-you-go access to ICC Keynote reports, company information and news from Lexis-Nexis.
4. Corporate Information http://www.corporateinformation.com/
   Starting point for locating business information of all types for countries world-wide
5. Yahoo UK & Ireland http://www.yahoo.co.uk/
   Good general starting point plus news and stock market information
6. Exportall http://www.exportall.com/
   Starting point for locating business information for 45 countries in Europe plus US and Canada
7. 192.com http://www.192.com/
   UK Directory for locating people, businesses and the UK Electoral Roll (incomplete).
8. Marketresearch.com http://www.marketresearch.com/
   Service that enables you to search for market research reports from a wide range of publishers and purchase individual reports or, in some cases, sections of reports.
9. Dialog/DataStar http://www.dialog.com/
   Well established priced service that provides access to a wide range of information.
10. RBA Business Sources on the Net http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/
    Erm.....business listing run by yours truly [fx: blush].

These things are sent to try us!

The Wrong Sort of Telegraph Pole: Despatches from a Friend

Hi Karen

It feels really strange losing your Internet connection in an unplanned way, but a passing truck kindly pulled one of my own and several neighbours' phone lines down last Thursday.

First thought was "Well, it will be fixed by tomorrow"

Naive? No, don't answer that!

As we were away at the weekend we thought "Well surely by Monday.."

Then the engineers told us that

(a) the telegraph pole supporting the lines was not safe to work on

and

(b) it was the wrong height, i.e. too short

Well, I think we had already worked out (b) for ourselves!

--------------

Hi Karen

Now they say that they need to put up a new, 'proper' telegraph pole, which needs planing permission.

--------------

I have now cobbled together - with a long modem extension cable - a connection to my other phone, which is already on a very long extension to another socket, which probably explains why it sounds muffled and echoey. Anyway, should be getting free BT line rental for several months (one month per day if not fixed in 24 hours they say) and at least I am back online.

---------------

Have been limping along on a 'string and elastic band' connection to my other phone line. Unfortunately the double phone jack doesn't work, so I have to keep swapping the connections. Both phones were down all day Saturday while they replaced the pole. My line is still as dead as the proverbial while a neighbour's is back on.

So I rang BT again this afternoon, to be told, and ...

I JUST DON'T BELIEVE IT, I DO NOT BELIEVE IT!!!

...the pole is the wrong height and will have to come out again! They can't say when, but it has been 'prioritised'.

---------------

The engineers have just re-appeared - the same ones that put up the new pole. They say that "of course it's the right pole", even claim they'll have it fixed in "5 minutes".

We'll see....

Gizmo of the Month

Infominder - Monitoring Web Page Content

Some readers may recall Mind-it, a very useful free Web based service that monitored the content of selected Web pages for you and notified you when they changed. This is now a priced service starting at USD 19.95 a year and enables you to monitor an unlimited number of Web pages.

An alternative is Infominder, which is free for monitoring up to 20 pages. You can monitor individual URLs or a collection of bookmarks and favorites. You are notified by email when a monitored page changes, and the text that has changed can be included in the email. A link in the email takes you to a copy of the Web page on the Infominder site where the changes are highlighted in red.

There is also an add-in for Internet Explorer that enables you to right click on any page and create the minder for the current page or a link in the page.

The "Professional" version, which allows you to monitor up to 5000 pages, costs USD 50 a month for a site license.

Further details are on the Infominder site at http://www.infominder.com/.

Training and Meetings

Workshop: Key Business Resources on the Net
Organiser: RBA Information Services
Course leader: Karen Blakeman
Venue: Information Skills Suite, Aston University, Birmingham
Date: Wednesday 10th April 2002, 9.30 - 16.30
URL: http://www.rba.co.uk/training/bii.htm

This one day workshop concentrates on Internet resources relevant to business applications, and in particular portals and the so-called "invisible web". The emphasis will be on pay-as-you-go and free services. The workshop will benefit anyone who plans to use, or already uses, the Internet for gathering essential business information.

The programme will include:

• Key starting points, evaluated listings and portals
• Company information
• Directories
• Newspapers, magazines and news digests
• How to use Usenet and discussion groups effectively
• Official statistics and market data
• Government information and publications, support for SMEs

Cost: GBP 195 + VAT (Total cost GBP 229.12)

Workshop: Market Research on the Web
Organiser: RBA Information Services
Course leader: Karen Blakeman
Venue: Information Skills Suite, Aston University, Birmingham
Date: Thursday, 11th April 2002, 9.30 - 16.30
URL: http://www.rba.co.uk/training/markres.htm

This one day workshop offers practical guidance on how to find and evaluate Web based statistical and market research information, both free and fee based.

Topics to be covered include:

• Sources of anonymous statistical data
• Where to look for free and fee based market/industry information
• Using search engines to find market data
• Priced services: content aggregators versus individual publishers
• Commissioning bespoke research

Cost: GBP 195 + VAT (Total cost GBP 229.12).

UKOLUG Biennial Conference
Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers: Exploiting the online environment for maximum advantage
Date & Venue: 20-21 June 2002, Jurys Inn, Birmingham
URL: http://www.ukolug.org.uk/meetings/Conference2002.htm

The 2002 UKOLUG Biennial state of the art Conference will explore the latest trends and technologies in online information provision. There will be the opportunity to see these innovative technologies in action alongside practical papers delivered by key players in the information industry.

Bob McKee from CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, will set the stage with his keynote speech. Speakers include Laurence Bebbington, Karen Blakeman, Phil Bradley, Alan Gilchrist, David Snowden, Sheila Webber, Martin White. Many of the topics will be backed up by live demonstrations of software and systems in action so you can see if it really works!

The conference is suitable for all librarians, information professionals and knowledge workers in any sector including arts, humanities, education, research, business, commerce, law, science, engineering and health.

Further details of the programme and a booking form are on the UKOLUG Web site (http://www.ukolug.org.uk/)

TFTTR Contact Information

Karen Blakeman, RBA Information Services
UK Tel: 0118 947 2256, Int. Tel: +44 118 947 2256
UK Fax: 020 8020 0253, Int. Fax: +44 20 8020 0253
Address: 88 Star Road, Caversham, Berks RG4 5BE, UK

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