InfoToday 2001 InfoToday 2001: The Global Conference and Exhibition on Electronic Information & Knowledge Management 
Post-Conference Workshops 
Friday, May 18th, 2001 

Pre-Conference Workshops National Online 2001 KnowledgeNets 2001
e-Libraries 2001 Post-Conference Workshops Home

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Workshop 11
9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Emerging Internet Technologies for Information Professionals
Susan Hallam, Hallam Communications Ltd.
Designed for information professionals who wish to update their knowledge of the impact of Internet technologies in the information world, this full-day workshop provides an overview of the latest technologies to impact information professionals and considers the implications for users and their organizations. Participants are provided with an objective review of the nature and extent of emerging technologies and a practical assessment of current trends in Internet technologies. Challenges facing the information professional that are addressed include: Hallam, an independent electronic commerce consultant specializing in electronic commerce strategy and the business impact of emerging Internet technologies, uses a combination of lecture, discussion, demonstration and case studies. Participants will come away with a greater understanding of emerging technologies and be prepared to develop an action plan to deal with the likely impact on their information users.
 

Workshop 12
9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Intranet Taxonomies and Metadata: Creating Them, Using Them
Marjorie Hlava, President, Access Innovations, Inc.
Heather Hlava, President, Data Harmony
Putting content on the Internet with a flexible, effective and easy-to-use interface requires a strong metadata set and accompanying taxonomy or taxonomies. Metadata and taxonomies are the two major components that allow for quick, easy navigation and excellent search results, and when they are linked to well-formed data, create the basis of successful sites. Several standards are in the process of being set, and many techniques have evolved to help achieve these goals. Learn about the Dublin Core Metadata, the INDECS data dictionary, the EPICS project, the latest BISAC initiatives, the RDF from W3C, and other metadata projects that can be used in your own Internet or intranet development projects. Taxonomy management deals with the core concern of content developers and disseminators—how to quickly convey meaning of a record or document so that it can be found precisely and accurately. Ambiguity is the ever-present enemy of clarity. Thesaurus (taxonomy) design and control provide tools and techniques for disambiguation. As designers and developers of databases for over 20 years, presenters discuss techniques for building and managing vocabularies and metadata and define the various types of word control, including rules for distinguishing among different word control formats. The Hlavas also demonstrate an XML RDF solution for text management as an example of how these new standards can work together for an effective outcome.
 

Workshop 13
9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Designing Usable Library Sites—Keep Your Eye on the Users
Darlene Fichter, University of Saskatchewan Libraries
Frank Cervone, DePaul University Libraries
Now that you’ve built it, does it work? How do you know? Building a successful library site is becoming a mission-critical application as libraries’ services and resources become digital. What design factors should you consider? Learn about various usability tests and techniques that will help you have a “user-focused” design. Practice some of the tests and take home some useful guidelines for your own project. Anyone who is charged with managing or designing a Web site will have an interest in the live demos, tests and guidelines.
 

Workshop 14
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Getting Down to Business: How Super Searchers Find Business Information Online
Mary Ellen Bates, Bates Information Services
This half-day workshop tackles the problems of finding reliable, high-quality information on business and financial topics on the Net. Bates, the author of the recently published books, Super Searchers Do Business and Mining for Gold on the Internet, looks at issues related to conducting research online efficiently and cost-effectively, validating sources, using Web-only information resources, and staying updated on new business and finance information. The workshop provides practical, innovative ways of mining the Net for information; advice on how and when to encourage library clients to conduct their own business research; and tips on when to use the free or nearly free Web sources and when to open up your wallet and use the big-ticket information sources. While the focus of this workshop is on the resources found exclusively on the Net, it also covers unusual or unique resources from the traditional online services. Attendees will leave the workshop with improved business research skills, ideas on new ways to drill for information, and a collection of links to the best business resources on the Web.
 

Workshop 15
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Knowledge@Work: Models and Processes
Tim Powell, Managing Director, TW Powell Co., The Knowledge Agency
Want to start a knowledge initiative?  Want to harness the knowledge within your organization and use it to drive strategy and produce business results?  This half-day workshop provides real working models and process templates to help you do just that.  Tim Powell has spent over 15 years developing knowledge initiatives in large organizations and fixing broken ones.  His knowledge initiative development process is the distillation of his experiences in the professional services, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and oil industries.  He will present this and other key parts of his workshop “Knowledge: The Engine of Value,” which he has recently conducted in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and South America.
 

Workshop 16
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Extreme Searching: Using Web Search Engines to the Maximum
Randolph Hock, Online Strategies, Author of The Extreme Searcher’s Guide to Web Search Engines
Web search engines have quickly become a critical tool in the serious information seeker’s toolbox. They provide a kind and extent of access barely imaginable a very few years ago. The major search engines provide powerful (and often under used) search features that can make the difference in whether we really get what we need and also whether we do it efficiently. In addition, each provides a combination of unique features, options and pleasant surprises. On the down side, most engines are neither as straightforward, as accurate, nor as understandable as we might wish and as many of the search engine producers would like us to believe. To make full use of these services, there is a lot more to fruitfully be known than is apparent from the documentation. The emphasis in this half-day workshop is on providing the searcher with the information necessary to have better control over what is retrieved. To help accomplish this, we look behind the scenes to see how the search engines are put together and what factors are involved in their retrieval algorithms. The seminar will cover the variety of options and features provided by the major search engines (AltaVista, Excite, Fast Search, Google, HotBot, Lycos, Northern Light, plus Yahoo!) and provide tips for optimal strategies and usage. The individual search engines will be summarized, compared, and reviewed. “Meta-Search engines” such as DogPile, are also addressed in terms of what they do and do not accomplish. A course booklet is provided and should serve as an ongoing reference aid.
 

Workshop 17
1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Beyond Yahoo! Beyond Google! Subject-Specific Sites and Searches on the Net
Margot Williams, Research Editor & Internet Trainer, The Washington Post, Author of Great Scouts! CyberGuides for Subject Searching on the Web (with Nora Paul)
Yahoo! was the genesis, the beginning of a noble attempt to organize the unruly Web. Years later, Yahoo! is still the beginning point for many Web users. This subject-oriented session provides background and guidelines to evaluating resources in specific subject areas, and gives users of subject-specific resources some alternatives to Yahoo! and Google when looking for the most comprehensive and dependable sources of information on the Web.
 

Workshop 18
1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Cost-Effective Online Research
Amelia Kassel, President, MarketingBase
Cost-effective online research requires a keen knowledge and understanding of vendor and publisher pricing. Moreover, professional searchers must have more than a casual knowledge of features that enhance productivity and save money. Time is of the essence and searchers must be able to formulate targeted search strategies using the best sources possible, whether Web-based or commercial databases. Since many database producers distribute through various channels, it’s necessary to know the differences in both pricing and content when there is more than one choice. This half-day workshop by a business researcher specializing in market research, competitive intelligence, and worldwide business information since 1984 presents the latest in cost effective and power searching—including strategies, techniques, tips, and sources that cover the best approach for achieving results. She explains pros and cons of free Web versus fee-based database research and why it’s important to use commercial sources for certain types of projects in order not to sacrifice confidentiality or privacy for price while also covering her own expert searcher’s secrets for using both the Web and commercial databases.

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Workshop 18
1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
The Global Village and Competitor Intelligence: Around the World in 80 Hyperlinks
Helene Kassler, Northern Light
This half-day workshop, focusing on the creative uses of the Internet for competitive intelligence research, begins with the basics and then moves on to more advanced research techniques. It is an international-based seminar that identifies useful resources from around the globe and examines their value for competitive intelligence research. Specific examples include Canada’s SEDAR database (similar to the U. S. SEC EDGAR database), the European Patent Office’s free Web database, country-specific publications, search engines and directories—and even Alta-Vista’s free translation service. Examples are drawn from job postings, resumes, patents, alerting services, news stories, live Webcasts of important corporate presentations, industry surveys and association Web sites
 


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