Sage journals go mobile

Sage’s entire online journal collection is now available in a mobile-optimised format.
From now on, users accessing the journals via mobile devices (iPhones, smartphones and androids) will find themselves viewing content in a format designed specifically for mobile access. They will still, however, have access to the full text content of the current issue.

Using social media to find business information

In social media for company research, (BIR 28, 3) Scott Brown described how three key social media tools (LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube) can be used to locate key business information.

Scott is also a blogger for the SLA and in his latest blog post he presents a case study on searching for information about Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (Philips) using ‘non-traditional sources such as LinkedIn and Facebook.

Competitive Intelligence

For all of you who were interested in the recent articles BIR has run on Competitive Advantage and Competitive Intelligence I thought it might be helpful for you to be aware of a major International Conference on Competitive Intelligence which is coming up in March 2012. Being run by the Institute for Competitive Intelligence (ICI) it is the second time the conference is being held in English – the first time being in 2011. I attended the conference last year and there were some really thought provoking sessions across the two event packed days. Also plenty of time for networking. Held in the beautiful spa town of Bad Nauheim (just outside Frankfurt, Germany) the event promises to be good for both seasoned practitioners, academics and those new to the discipline. Full details on the conference website (www.conference2012.competitive-intelligence.com) including an upbeat video of the highlights of the 2011 conference.

STM publishing experiences growth

Simba Information has published its latest report on the state of Scientific, Technical and Medical (STM) publishing.

Global STM Publishing 2010-2011 includes

  • Analysis of market size and structure
  • Revenue and market share rankings of leading publishers
  • Detailed profiles of 20 leading STM publishers worldwide
  • Projections for market growth

Key trends identified in the report include:

  • The demand for full-text resources
  • The transition of e-publishing
  • Library cost pressures
  • The use of social networking in STM fields
  • The outlook for pharmaceutical advertising
  • Impact of new information technology initiatives in health care

Financial Times launches new Android app

The Financial Times has launched a new version of its Android app which has been designed to maximise the user interface and other features of Android devices.

The app includes features which are increasingly popular with magazine and newspaper apps including automatic content updates and offline access.
Mobile access is a key area of growth for the Financial times and is now the biggest channel for digital subscriptions.
More on this story from Paid Content.

EBSCO releases Business Source Corporate Plus

EBSCO Publishing (EBSCO) has expanded its collection of corporate research solutions with the release of Business Source Corporate Plus.
Business Source Corporate Plus (BSC+) provides researchers with corporate information, latest business news and trends.
BSC+ includes full text from 4000+ quality business journals and trade publications as well as 1,100 full text newspapers and 940,000 full text TV and news radio analyses and as well as many other features.
The company view provides a directory style view of a company. Users can find information on more than 1.1 million public and private companies with detailed company profiles, as well as related industry and market reports. BSC+ will be updated approximately 100 times per day.
For more information on BSC+ visit the website.

Celebrating social science research


The Festival of Social Science 2011 takes place in London during the week 20th October to 5th November.
Coordinated by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) the events provide insights into the impact that social science research has on economic, social and political policies.

As part of the event, Sage and the British Academy (in association with Times Higher Education) will be hosting a debate on 31st October at the British Academy. How Can Social Scientists ad Government Work Together to Strengthen Public Trust in Scientific Evidence will be chaired by Evan Davis and speakers from academia, government and policy will be represented.
Other events at the Festival are listed here.

Sifting email archives

The latest issue of The New Scientist reports the release of Memories Using Email (MUSE). Developed by Sudheendra Hangal and colleagues at Stanford University, the tool allows email archives to be sorted and grouped to help users ‘reminisce on [their] digital past’.
Data will be stored on your own computer, so there are no confidentiality concerns. The software identifies emotions, creates timelines and groups contacts together based on shared messages.
The developers acknowledge that more personal communication is now taking place outside of email and through social networks, but that MUSE could possibly be adapted to work with Facebook.