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This month I look at two books
to help you find business information on the
Web, a great student guide to Google, and a
book for those techies looking to implement
RDF.
The Core Business Web:
A Guide to Key Information Resources
edited by Gary W. White
ISBN: 0-7890-2095-5
Published: 2003
Pages: 325 pp.; softcover
Price: $29.25
Available from: Available
from Haworth Information Press, 10 Alice St.,
Binghamton, NY 13904-1580; 800/429-6784 or 607/722/5857; www.haworthpress.com
As the title states, this book aims to describe
the best Web sites within 25 different areas
of business. A different business librarian,
all but one working in U.S. academic institutions,
authors each of the 25 topic-specific chapters.
(The book is also available as Journal of
Business & Finance Librarianship, Vol.
8, No. 2 and Nos. 3/4.) Each chapter follows
the same guidelines in determining the "best" sites
in their areas. The criteria include authority
of the source, quantity of information, organization
and ease of use of the site, currency, and
price. Most of the sites are free, or at least
partially free. In some instances, particularly
valuable fee-based sites have been included.
The chapters cover the spectrum of business
topics, including accounting, banking, statistics,
demography, career and salary information,
economics, company and industry information,
labor, real estate, taxation, and more. Each
chapter lists approximately 20 to 30 resources,
with a paragraph or two of annotation. There
is an index, but no separate list of the resources
covered in the book, nor is the list of links
available online.
If you are new to business resources, or
only occasionally need to retrieve information
in this area, then this book is a handy reference
to get you started on the major sites. For
experienced business researchers, you will
get more out of the following book, Business
Statistics on the Web.
Business Statistics on
the Web: Find Them Fast—At Little or
No Cost
by Paula Berinstein
ISBN: 0-910965-65-X
Published: 2003
Pages: 244 pp.; softcover
Price: $29.95
Available from: CyberAge Books, Information
Today, Inc., 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford,
NJ 08055; 800/300-9868; www.infotoday.com
This book is much more than just a list of
Web sites for business statistics, although
it does list and describe plenty of them. It
also gives sound advice on how to find the
information you are seeking, including interesting
case studies that show how the author would
approach a particular question.
The book covers primarily U.S. sources, but
does include some other English-language sources
from the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand,
Canada, Europe, and a few from other countries.
There is an entire chapter devoted to non-U.S.
sources.
The book is divided into 12 chapters. First
there is a "Quick Start" chapter describing
some of the major sites from governments and
trade associations. Then comes a primer on
statistics that will be a real help to those
new at this game. This is followed by explanations
of who actually generates statistics and then
general search tips. The author primarily relies
on Google and rarely mentions any other search
engine, although she does give some tips for
searching specific sites like Factiva and FindArticles.
The middle of the book is devoted to Web
resources, divided into U.S. Industry Sources,
Non-U.S. Industry Sources, Market Research
Resources, Economic and Financial Statistics,
Company Information, and Demographic and Population
Statistics. The last chapter is my favorite,
as it describes how to estimate numbers that
you can't actually find.
If you need any kind of business information,
this is the book for you. Both novice and experienced
searchers will learn from the tips and tricks
provided.
Practical
RDF
by Shelley Powers
ISBN: 0-596-00263-7
Published: 2003
Pages: 350
pp.; softcover
Price: $39.95
Available from: O'Reilly & Associates,
Inc.,
1005 Gravenstein Highway N., Sebastopol, CA 95472; 800/998-9938 or 707/827-7000;
www.oreilly.com
If you don't know what RDF stands for, skip
this book. It is an intermediate-level book
designed for those ready to implement RDF solutions,
whether for large-scale information aggregation
or smaller projects such as Weblog syndication.
The Resource Description Framework (RDF)
is a structure for describing and interchanging
metadata on the Web. Dublin Core can be considered
a child of RDF, as both are compatible specifications.
RDF is a way to describe the model of metadata
interchange, while Dublin Core defines the
elements.
The first part of the book contains an introduction
to RDF and details of the specification documents,
including a historical perspective of how RDF
came about. This includes relating RDF to XML
and describing the basic elements required
in the RDF syntax specifications. The RDF vocabulary
or schema is described, including a comparison
of the Dublin Core and PostCon elements.
The second part of the book focuses on tools
for editing, parsing, browsing, and managing
RDF data. These include individual tools such
as BrownSauce for browsing, ARP2 and ICS-FORTH
for parsing, and IsaViz and REJ for editing,
as well as the full-featured Java-based Jena
API for RDF.
The last part of the book looks at some applications
of RDF in both commercial and non-commercial
settings. Included here is a discussion of
RDF Site Summery (RSS) applications for news
aggregation and Weblogging. The author also
describes some tools for creating your own
syndication.
If you are involved in managing large amounts
of Web content that you want to share with
others, then you should be looking at RDF.
If you are looking at implementing RDF, this
practical book will help you along.
Google Pocket Guide
by Tara Calishain, Rael
Dornfest & DJ Adams
ISBN: 0-596-00550-4
Published: 2003
Pages: 129 pp.; softcover
Price: $9.95
Available from: O'Reilly & Associates,
Inc.,
1005 Gravenstein Highway N., Sebastopol, CA 95472; 800/998-9938 or 707/827-7000;
www.oreilly.com
This book is written by two of the same authors
as Google Hacks, reviewed in
my July/August 2003 column. If that book was
too much for you, try this tiny one. Most of
the search techniques and features covered
in Hacks are also covered here, but
all of the programming and really detailed
stuff is left out. This makes the Pocket
Guide much more suited to those just wanting
to get the most out of searching Google.
The Pocket Guide is tiny but it covers
a wealth of material. It is ideal for putting
next to your public terminals, although you'll
have to figure out a way to tie it down. This
book is definitely going to walk.
The book is divided into four parts. Part
One is an introduction of what Google can do,
including some sample searches in both Basic
and Advanced mode. Part Two, "Asking for What
You Want," gives descriptions of the special
syntax used by Google to search only in specific
parts of a page or specific types of material.
A list of these is also included in the Appendix.
Part Three explains what you get in your
search results, including setting preferences
and URL construction. Part Four focuses on
additional Google services, such as searching
Google Groups, Directory, Images, Froogle,
Stocks, Phonebook, and so on.
This handy guide is useful for those who
have advanced past typing in one word and clicking "search." It
provides enough detail to help you find what
you seek, without overwhelming you with explanations.
Librarians may often want more details, but
for students and researchers, this book will
be enough.
 Deborah
Lynne Wiley (deb@consultnw.com) is
Principal of Next Wave Consulting, Inc.
Comments? Email the editor at marydee@infotoday.com. |
