SUBSCRIBE NOW! Vol. 28 No. 4 — July/August 2004 Industry News Compiled by Suzanne Sabroski

Keeping Track of the Blogosphere
Intelliseek, capitalizing on the blogging boom, has created BlogPulse.com to track trends, issues, and personalities in the blogging community. BlogPulse is a free online search and tracking tool that measures and ranks "buzz" about key issues, people, phrases, and links that show up in blogs. Updated daily, BlogPulse offers a new set of tools to identify and measure what people are thinking and writing about in their blogs. BlogPulse's "trend mining" is based on Intelliseek's machine-learning and natural language processing technologies [www.intelliseek.com; 513/618-6716].

OneSource Joins the infoUSA Family
In a deal worth $103 million, infoUSA acquired OneSource for $8.85 per share, higher than the $8.40 per share previously offered by ValueAct Capital Partners. OneSource will keep its Concord, Massachusetts, office, although some back-end operations will move to infoUSA's Nebraska headquarters. OneSource aggregates business information from over 2,500 sources, culled from some 30 data providers, but has little customer overlap with infoUSA. It's likely that some content changes will occur as a result of the acquisition. Since OneSource will be place under the Donnelley Group within infoUSA, Donnelley data should replace company information now licensed from D&B. Additionally, idEXEC, profiled by Mary Ellen Bates on page 64 of this issue, will join the OneSource providers [www.onesource.com, www.infousa.com].

Starring Now on NewsStand
Stern Magazine, the most-read weekly publication in Germany, with approximately 7.4 million readers, is now available in digital format via NewsStand, Inc. The electronic edition will place photos, headlines, articles, and advertisements in the publication's original layout by 6 a.m. German time each Thursday, getting it to readers in a more timely fashion than its print equivalent. Stern is published by Gruner + Jahr AG & Co. KG, the largest European magazine publisher [www.stern.de].

Search Engines

GlobalSpec, a specialized online resource for engineering, has launched a new interface, added more powerful search functionality, and introduced a specialized search engine called The Engineering Web, which it says provides "engineering context and relevancy" and access to hidden Web resources. It searches more than 100,000 engineering and technical Web sites and provides searching of specialized content the company says is not available on any other search engine—application notes, patents, material properties, and standards [518/880-0200; www.globalspec.com].

Google Image Search, featuring more than 880 million images, now displays current news images and links to news headlines related to a user's query. Because news is time-sensitive, images and news articles may appear on any particular day, and sometimes several times within a single day. Google's algorithms determine whether there are any images in the news relevant to the query at that time, and if so, up to three news images appear on Google Image Search above the standard image search results [www.image.google.com].

Peopleware

Wolters Kluwer Health named Gary Foster as president and chief executive officer of its global Medical Research division, which includes Ovid, provider of medical information solutions, and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) journal publishing.

Richard "Chip" Berry has joined NewsStand, Inc. as director of magazine sales for North America with the responsibility for expanding the company's inventory of magazine titles for digital delivery.

Dialog announced that Craig Lathrop has been appointed chief technology officer to manage the company's global technology infrastructure. Lathrop originally joined Dialog in 2000 as vice president, new technologies.

HighBeam Research, LLC, announced that Joseph B. McWilliams, Jr. has joined the company as vice president of advertising. He was formerly vice president of advertising and e-commerce sales for Hoover's, Inc.

Sci-Tech

Thomson Derwent World Patents Index First View (DWPI First View), the new alerting companion file to DWPI, launched as WPIFV on STN International and as File 331 on Dialog. Searching DWPI First View in combination with Derwent World Patents Index provides a comprehensive and timely overview of global patenting activity. The file, which contains 60,000 to 90,000 records and images on a rolling basis, will be updated every 3-4 days. Additionally, Thomson Derwent announced that LitAlert, a unique database of value-added U.S. litigation affecting intellectual property, is now available on STN International (STN file name LITALERT). LitAlert records are created by collecting details from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on patent and trademark infringement lawsuits filed in the 94 U.S. District courts; the records will then be supplemented with additional details that assist researchers. LitAlert covers lawsuits filed since 1973 and is updated weekly [Thomson Derwent: 215/386-0100,
www.thomsonscientific.com/litalert; Fiz Karlsruhe: +49 7247 808 555,
www.fiz-karlsruhe.de].

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) selected Techstreet to distribute ASCE standards online. ASCE members and customers can now search, order, and download individual ASCE standards in PDF format or sign up for a company-wide, multi-user, Web-based subscription. In addition, there are thousands more downloadable standards from related publishers. One of the hallmarks of the new store is the multi-user, Web-based subscription service that features more than 15,000 engineering standards and provides online access to an entire corporate enterprise without having to manage a paper library [www.asce.org; www.techstreet.com].

Alliances & Deals

The U.S. Dept. of Education awarded a 5-year, $34.6-million contract to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) of Rockville, Maryland, to develop and operate a new database system for ERIC. During the development and transition to the new ERIC, the database will continue to be available, and materials selected in 2003 will continue to be added. Until the new model is operational in 2004, no new materials will be accepted for the database [www.eric.ed.gov].

ProQuest Information and Learning and Extenza e-Publishing Services announced a strategic alliance to offer a broad portfolio of e-journal and database services for publishers and libraries. It will offer traditional subscriber access to publishers, reaching into the broad end-user space and associated pay-per-view traffic and augmented by the power of an aggregated database service [ProQuest: 800/521-0600; 734/761-4700; www.il.proquest.com; Extenza: +44 (0) 1235 857532; www.extenza.com].

U.K.-based i-documentsystems (IDOX) has acquired TFPL, a consultancy and executive search firm focused on the library, information, and knowledge management industry.

Three international economic and financial database powerhouses have joined forces to produce WorldData. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has allied with EcoWin and Alacra to collect and array economic statistics for 150 countries and 45 regions. Targeted at the university market, as well as corporate users, the new Web-based service provides near-real-time updates for time series and forecast data, totaling over 120,000 series with forecasts of over 800 series. By offering the service through Alacra, users are able to select data without having to know any special country or data codes and without downloading additional software for data manipulation and presentation [www.eiu.com/worlddata].

Business & Finance

Innodata Isogen, Inc. is working with Harvard Business School Publishing to digitize more than 1,000 case studies in the Harvard Business School Publishing Case Collection. Innodata Isogen will provide digitization, imaging, and other data conversion services. Terms of the project were not disclosed [Innodata Isogen: 201/488-1200; www.innodata-isogen.com; Harvard Business School Publishing: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu].

International Interfax Information Services Group announced the formation of Russia's biggest database on companies, which brings together official information on all legal entities operating in the Russian Federation. Company profiles include registration data, corporate history, financial statements, production indicators, and information about the management and securities. The profiles of major companies are promptly updated with information from both official sources and the companies themselves [www.interfax.com].

A new version of the EDGAR News service will distribute headlines and key disclosures extracted from filings of SEC form 8-K. EDGAR Online corporate customers can incorporate EDGAR News into their own intranet applications. In addition, individuals can view EDGAR News through the company's EDGAR Online Pro service, and receive alerts via e-mail when news about specified companies becomes available. The expanded EDGAR News service will be available in August 2004, as new 8-K reporting requirements and deadlines take effect [866/669-2889; www.edgar-online.com].

Thomson Gale has loaded more than 500,000 backfile investment reports to its Investext Plus database and added J.P. Morgan Securities as its latest contributor. This addition expands the backfile to 1982 [248/699-8176; www.thomson.com].

Legal

FindLaw launched a new version of its FindLaw for the Public Web site with many new features, including a redesigned look and feel and state-specific legal content. It offers users improved access to lawyers through the West Legal Directory. The new user interface offers tab-based site navigation and expanded topic-specific navigation for more than 40 legal topics. Other new features include expanded content on legal topics, such as bankruptcy law and criminal law and procedures; links to national and state crime-prevention resources; and expanded state content in popular legal consumer categories, including criminal law, DUI/DWI, divorce and family law. FindLaw has also added the West Legal Directory to Microsoft Office 2003 Editions. The searchable directory of lawyers and law firms is accessible from the Research Task Pane within Microsoft Office applications [www.findlaw.com].

Electronic legal publisher Context Limited and The Lawyer Group announced a partnership to provide TheLawyer.com community with access to Context's legal research tool, JustCite, the legal reference search engine providing a fully cross-referenced index to a comprehensive collection of authoritative U.K. and European legal information [+44 (0) 20 7267 8989; www.context.co.uk].

LexisNexis U.S. announced a strategic alliance with Cognistar Corporation, the premier provider of continuing online legal and professional education. With this alliance, Cognistar and the LexisNexis Mealey Publications business unit will jointly distribute their respective programs through the LexisNexis Professional Development Center. Some of the features that will be available include watch, listen, or read options to match a user's learning style; a pause feature to ensure that interruptions will not interfere with learning; and printable, downloadable textbooks with each course [LexisNexis: 937/865-8816; www.lexisnexis.com; Cognistar: 508/ 490-0990; www.cognistar.com].

Biomedical

Vivísimo, Inc., a provider of clustering and metasearch software for organizing search results, has announced the release of ClusterMed, a new research tool that allows biomedical and life science researchers to search the MEDLINE database. The new ClusterMed is a software solution licensed to companies on a yearly subscription for local server installation. A demonstration site is available at http://vivisimo.com/
clustermed. Unregistered users can cluster up to 100 results for a search, register for a free 30-day demo, and cluster up to 500 results per query.

Swets Information Services will begin providing the U.K. National Health Service's NHS National Core Content collection with access to Internurse.com. Linked directly to NHS's existing bibliographic databases, internurse.com is an online journal for nurses and has a vast archive drawn from some of the U.K.'s most prestigious nursing and midwifery titles. This comprehensive national 2-year deal will provide access to approximately 1.2 million users from within NHS England. Produced by MA Healthcare, internurse.com contains more than 8,000 articles that have appeared in peer-reviewed journals [+31 (0) 252 435 584; www.swets.com].

Social Sciences & Humanities

Thomson Gale has extended access, updated features, and added new topics to three products. The Biography Resource Center will feature new people more frequently in "Spotlight On...," its popular home page feature. Included will be individuals associated with a particular month, such as Women's History Month, as well as people in the news. For serious research in social science, access to Sociometrics' Social Science Electronic Data Library (SSEDL) is now available from Gale. SSEDL contains more than 250 health, social, and behavioral research studies for researchers, educators, and students seeking social science research for secondary analysis. Gale's Testing & Education Reference Center is now giving unlimited simultaneous use and tests to subscribers. It includes information on private high schools, undergraduate and graduate programs, and executive education programs and features interactive online practice tests for preparatory examinations including entrance exams and certification and licensing tests [248/699-8176; www.thomson.com].

Online Services

Ingenta, Inc. launched two new Web services and expanded the provision of a third for its publisher clients as part of an ongoing program of technical enhancements planned for 2004. Content Tracker is a content monitoring tool that lets publishers view the progress of their content as it follows the online production process. Publishers can also now enhance printed material by adding Supplementary Data online. Editors can easily enhance their publications directly at article, issue, or publication title level, in a secure environment, at any time. Using this facility, publishers could choose to add new research or supporting material, such as case studies, images, or primary research data. Ingenta has also expanded the existing Fast Track service to include content available at ingentaselect.com. Fast Track enables clients to rapidly "publish" articles online, even prior to online publication of an issue [+44 (0) 1865 799022; www.ingenta.com].

The Publisher Promotion & Fulfillment (PP&F) division of EBSCO Industries, Inc. has entered an agreement with The Gallup Organization to promote the launch of Gallup Brain, a centralized database containing every Gallup Poll Public Opinion survey of Americans conducted since 1935. EBSCOhost Electronic Journals Service (EJS) Enhanced now offers access to more than 10,000 titles from the world's top academic and STM publishers. It offers extensive features that help with e-journal management tasks such as tracking the registration status of e-journals, authentication assistance to facilitate both on-campus and remote access to e-journal content, automatic management of e-journal URLs, and much more. EJS also serves as a consolidated gateway that allows users to search and link to thousands of journals and millions of articles [205/980-6794; www.ebsco.com].

Swets Information Services announced a pay-per-view service for almost 3,500 journals in SwetsWise, the Web-based modular service for the procurement, access, and management of subscriptions and online information. The pay-per-view journal service expands content accessibility to end users, while reducing interlibrary loan and document delivery costs for libraries. Customers can purchase articles directly via individual credit card, invoice or an organizational invoicing account [+31 (0) 252 435 584; www.il.swets.com].

Portals & Intranets

Databeacon Inc., a leading developer of Web reporting and data analy-sis software, announced support for Microsoft Analysis Services. The new release enables midmarket enterprises to leverage their existing investments in Microsoft Analysis Services to gain more insight from corporate data reports. With Databeacon's interactive data publishing tools and Insight viewer, reports can be viewed and analyzed in real time. Additionally, the presentation formats of the Databeacon reports shed new light on data that enable employees to quickly identify trends or issues [613/729-4480; www.databeacon.com].

Snapshots International has added a new dimension to its market research reports with the launch of The Global Panorama Series, a collection of reports that contain aggregated figures from the single country reports published within the Snapshots Series. There are two types of reports: the Overview and the Panorama. The reports are available for Global or Regional coverage. The global reports are available as single reports at the Web site or as modular packages [+44 20 7829 8302; www.snapdata.com].