August 2003 - LIS-Forum - ncsi.iisc.ernet.in

Re: [LIS-Forum] digital library firms
by Mailing List Manager 27 Aug '03

27 Aug '03

Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 08:44:26 GMT From: sainul(a)iiitmk.ac.in Dear Friends, 'Enter Technologies' in Technopark Trivandrum is undertaking Digitisation, Retroconvertion etc. More details can be had from. Enter Technologies Pvt. Ltd. 244, NILA, Technopark Campus, Trivandrum 695 581 Phone: 0471-2700106, 2700108 Email: tkv(a)entechsys.com URL: www.entechsys.com Sainul Abideen P Librarian IIITM-K --------------------------------------------- This Mail has been sent from - Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management - Kerala, Park Centre, Techno Park, Thiruvananthapuram - 695 581. Kerala. India. Contact: Website: http://www.iiitmk.ac.in/ Phone: +91-471-2527567 / 2700777 Fax: +91-471-2527568 _______________________________________________________________ The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and / or privileged material. Any review, re-transmission, dis- semination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

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CAMBIA Intellectual Property Resource
by Madhuresh 26 Aug '03

26 Aug '03

Dear All, I would like to share the following site. http://www.cambiaip.org/Home/welcome.htm CAMBIA Intellectual Property Resource site has been developed by a team of experts in the areas of biotechnology, intellectual property, business strategy and informatics and it is funded in part by The Rockefeller Foundation. The goal is to facilitate a productive and strategic approach to identifying and addressing intellectual property issues relevant to biotechnology in international agriculture and health sciences. Through this site one can search the full text patent database (relevant to only Agriculture Biotechnology) of US, PCT, AU and EP in a single search in which more than 300,000 patents are available. One can also download full text of the available patents in HTML/PDF format freely. The site also gives White Papers, which gives the analyses of major patent positions and patent policy in key areas of biotechnology; Tutorials, which covers the approaches for utilizing patent data; Newsletters; Jobs and Resources on IP. Madhuresh Singhal Aurigene Discovery Technologies Limited, Electronic City, phase II, Hosur Road, Bangalore 562 158 Phone 8521314-16 Ext.- 422 Mobile 98861 82822 Fax 852 6285 E-mail: madhureshsinghal(a)yahoo.com http://nettalk2.tripod.com

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Kuvempu University Library & Information Science Alumni
by Mailing List Manager 26 Aug '03

26 Aug '03

Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 23:39:49 -0700 (PDT) From: Biradar B.S. <bs_biradar(a)yahoo.com> Dear LIS students of Kuvempu University It is our great pleasure to inform you that Kuvempu University, Department of Library and Information Science has formed Alumni Association to keep abreast about the associate activities of Library and Information Science in India and Abroad. In this regard we have hosted a Web site to enroll yourself to the Alumni Association through below mentioned URL. http://www.kuvlib.cjb.net To become a member of the Alumni Association he/she should be a old/present student of this department. We also look forward the valuable suggestions from professional colleagues and friends on the above mentioned web site. With Warm Regards Dr.B.S. Biradar Chairman Dept. of Library and Information Science Kuvempu University, Jnana Sahyadri Shimoga, Karnataka-577451 Phone: 91-8282-657319 & 91-8282-656306/7 Email: bs_biradar(a)yahoo.com

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digital library firms
by Mailing List Manager 26 Aug '03

26 Aug '03

Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 15:30:05 +0530 From: vrd <vrd(a)powersearch.cpri.res.in> Sir, I would like to know the firms which can digitize the publications and put in to softcopy. If anybody know the addresses may please reply. Thanking you V.R.DESHPANDE SENIOR LIBRARIAN

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medIND: Fulltext of Indian Medical Journal, site being lauched by NIC
by Sukhdev Singh 21 Aug '03

21 Aug '03

Dear LIST MEMBERS. medIND Site (http://medind.nic.in) would be lauched by NIC on 22nd August 2003. medIND site contains Fulltext of Indian Medical Journals that are being indexed in IndMED (Please note: It is a different site i.e. http://indmed.nic.in) . The Access to the medIND site would be free. NIC have signed MOUs with the participating Journals to provide the full text. Full Texts of the journal articles can be viewed in any PDF Reader (For Example, Acrobat Reader). Visitors may Browse though journals by clicking on the available issues for a particular journal. They may also search the IndMED database with Full Text option selected. At present the following 18 journals are available. More journals would be added by soon. ---------------------------------------------- Endodontology Health Administrator Indian Journal of Aerospace Medicine Indian Journal of Allergy Asthma and Immunology Indian Journal of Anaesthesia Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry Indian Journal of Community Medicine Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology Indian Journal of Occupational Therapy Indian Journal of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery Indian Journal of Pharmacology Indian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Indian Journal of Tuberculosis J.K. Practitioner Journal, Indian Academy of Clinical Medicine Journal of Indian Association of Pediatrics Surgeons Journal of Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry NTI Bulletin -------------------------------------- The experience of the NIC staff working on the project in regard to DIGITIZING would be shared sometime latter. Regards Sukhdev Singh __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

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News Items
by Madhuresh 20 Aug '03

20 Aug '03

Dear All, I have some news item that, I felt, are useful for our profession. I just wanted to share it. I don't think that any information searcher is passing his day without using Google. If we have to search any information, the first site comes to our mind is Google (quick and dirty searching?). There are various services offered by Google and it is continuing to offer other useful services. Here are few services which Google introduced recently/going to introduce. I have modified some news items. IEEE Xplore Indexed by Google Researchers will soon be able to locate technical papers published by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) by using the Google search engine. Google is currently indexing the abstract records for all online IEEE technical documents and standards available through the IEEE Xplore online delivery platform (http://www.ieee.org/ieeexplore) Starting sometime in September, Google users will see the linked content in search results. Abstracts are free and full-text will be available for purchase. Google users can view abstract records when linking from a Google search into IEEE Xplore. Abstract records will contain the document's bibliographic information and abstract summary, wherever available. Guests can continue to browse tables of contents to locate and purchase articles of interest. IEEE Members and users at subscribing institutions continue to have access to complete abstract records containing index terms, download citation links, linked references (backward links), "documents that cite this document" links (forward links), and CrossRef links. IEEE has more than 380,000 members in approximately 150 countries. The IEEE publishes 120 technical journals, magazines, and transactions, and has developed more than 900 active industry standards. The organization also sponsors or co-sponsors more than 300 international technical conferences each year. Google Calculator The Internet's top search engine announced it had crammed a mathematical calculator into its search service, letting users type math problems directly into the search box and get instant answers. Google's calculator is trained to recognize words as well as numbers, so you can type in "eight plus seven minus four" or "8 plus 7 minus 4." Both will yield 11. You can type numeric expressions either into the search box at Google's Web site (www.google.com) or directly into your Internet browser if you've installed Google's tool-bar software or you use a browser with built-in Google searching, such as Mozilla or Apple's Safari. Below the numeric answers Google returns, it will present a link to a regular Web search for your phrase in case you weren't trying to use the calculator. But this calculator doesn't just do simple multiplication. It also handles conversions. The calculator can evaluate mathematical expressions involving basic arithmetic (5+2*2 or 2^20), more complicated math (sine(30 degrees) or e^(i pi)+1), units of measure and conversions (100 miles in kilometers or 160 pounds * 4000 feet in Calories), and physical constants (1 a.u./c or G*mass of earth/radius of earth^2). You can also experiment with other numbering systems, including hexadecimal and binary. Here are some sample queries and there results. (G * mass of earth)/(radius of earth ^ 2) will result in (G * mass of Earth)/(radius of Earth^2) = 9.79982305 m / s2 1.21 GW / 88 mph will result in (1.21 gigaWatts) / (88 mph) = 30 757 874 Newtons Dictionary Definitions One can use Google to find dictionary definitions. Here one has to enter the query in the search box and any or all parts of query for dictionary definition is available will be underlined in the center text above the search results. For example: if you search for "kernel density function" in Google, just before the results you will find the following line in Blue Strip - Searched the web for kernel density function Results 1 - 50 of about 141,000. Search took 0.27 seconds. Here kernel, density and function are underlined and if you click on them, you will get the definitions of these terms from Dictionary.com. CAS Pursues Patent Searching Market with Science IP For 2 decades, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS; http://www.cas.org) has had an in-house custom search service available to do intermediated searches, primarily sophisticated structure and substructure searching of chemical files. Now, CAS has renamed and re-targeted its custom search service to focus on patents, both within and outside the chemical field. The revised service, called Science IP (http://www.scienceip.org) is targeted at the intellectual property community-patent searchers, attorneys, and research and development professionals. Besides relying on the array of databases produced by CAS and those hosted by STN International, CAS executives said that-if needed-the service would tap outside databases available on competitive services. One expert patent searcher suggested that the reorienting of the service may represent an effort by CAS to position itself competitively for when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office begins outsourcing prior art searches, as proposed in The 21st Century Strategic Plan (http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/strat21/index.htm) The Science IP service will serve the sci-tech research needs of clients looking for prior art and patentability for the prosecution of new patents, freedom-to-practice-and-operate for new and existing technologies, and patent validity for infringement litigation. A four-person research team, including one part-time Ph.D. chemist, will provide the expert searching. The service will continue to draw on the Technical Advisory Team's 25 subject experts for assistance with the chemical searching they have always offered, e.g., experts in Markush chemical structures, nucleic and amino acid sequences, polymers, molecular biology and genetics, material sciences, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. Regards. Madhuresh Singhal Aurigene Discovery Technologies Limited, Electronic City, phase II, Hosur Road, Bangalore 562 158 Phone 8521314-16 Ext.- 422 Mobile 98861 82822 Fax 852 6285 E-mail: madhureshsinghal(a)yahoo.com http://nettalk2.tripod.com/

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Press Release -Fedora v.1.1 Released (fwd)
by Shyam Prasad pujar 20 Aug '03

20 Aug '03

MELLON GRANT LETS LIBRARIES AND COMPUTER SCIENTISTS JOIN FORCES TO CREATE NEW SOLUTION FOR DIGITAL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Charlottesville, VA-Thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the University of Virginia Library announces the release of an open-source digital object repository management system. The Fedora Project, a joint effort of the University of Virginia and Cornell University, has now made available the first version of a system based on the Flexible Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture, originally developed at Cornell. Fedora repositories can provide the foundation for a variety of information management schemes, not least among them digital library systems. At the University of Virginia, Fedora is being used to build a large-scale digital library that will soon have millions of digital resources of all media and content types. It is also currently being tested by a consortium of institutions that include the Library of Congress, Northwestern University, Tufts University, and others. They are building testbeds drawn from their own digital collections that they will use to evaluate the software and give feedback to the project. This first version of the software is designed to support a repository containing one million objects using freely available software. It fully implements the Fedora architecture, provides the first version of a graphical user interface to manage the repository, and provides facilities to create and ingest batches of objects. The software has the following key features: --Management API (API-M) - defines an interface for administering the repository. It includes operations necessary for clients to create and maintain digital objects and their components. API-M is implemented as a SOAP-enabled web service. --Access API (API-A) - defines an interface for accessing digital objects stored in the repository. It includes operations necessary for clients to perform disseminations on objects in the repository and to discover information about an object using object reflection. API-A is implemented as a SOAP-enabled web service. --Access-Lite API (API-A-Lite) - defines a streamlined version of the Fedora Access Service that is implemented as an HTTP-enabled web service. --Datastreams - Objects in a repository may contain content and metadata (i.e. datastreams) that physically reside inside the repository or outside the repository. The Fedora repository system supports content of any MIME type. --XML Submission and Storage - Fedora digital objects conform to an extension of the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS), described at http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/. Objects can be submitted to the repository in XML format. Also, digital objects are persistently stored in the repository as XML files. The Fedora extension of the METS schema can be found at http://www.fedora.info/definitions/1/0/mets-fedora-ext.xsd. --Versioning - The Fedora repository system includes the infrastructure to support versioning of digital objects and their components. This feature will be available in Release 1.2, projected for Fall 2003. --Access Control and Authentication - Release 1.0 includes a simple form of access control to provide access restrictions based on IP address. IP range restriction is supported in both the Management and Access APIs. In addition, the Management API is protected by HTTP Basic Authentication. Release 2.0 will provide Shibboleth-based authentication and authorization, XML-based policy expression, and enforcement of fine-grained access control policies. --Disseminators - Digital objects can be associated with a set of behaviors and a service that runs those behaviors. This provides an extensible mechanism for transforming or presenting the object's digital content. --Default Disseminator - The Default Disseminator is a built-in internal disseminator on every object that provides a system-defined behavior mechanism for disseminating the basic contents of an object. --Searching - Selected system metadata fields are indexed along with the primary Dublin Core record for each object. The Fedora repository system provides a search interface for both full text and field-specific queries across these metadata fields. --OAI Metadata Harvesting Provider - The OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting is a standard for sharing metadata across repositories. Every Fedora digital object has a primary Dublin Core record that conforms to the schema at: http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd. This metadata is accessible using the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, v2.0. --Batch Utility - The Fedora repository system includes a Batch Utility as part of the Management client that enables the mass creation and loading of data objects. Fedora is being made available as an open-source product under a Mozilla Public License. For more information and to download the software, visit http://www.fedora.info/. -- Ronda A. Grizzle Technical Coordinator, Fedora Project Digital Library Research & Development (voice)434-924-3965 (fax)434-924-1431

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First PLANNER 2003: Reminder
by JK Vijayakumar 20 Aug '03

20 Aug '03

-------------------------- Sorry for Cross Postings ------------------------- PLANNER stands for "Promotion of Library Automation and Networking in North Eastern Region". INFLIBNET has made an attempt to organize this event in collaboration with universities and other academic institutions located in North East. This Convention will provide a unique forum to the library professionals, information providers and users involved in automation and networking of libraries to come together and interact on the subjects of mutual interest in the region. First PLANNER is being organized for the professionals in the North Eastern region at North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya during November 6-7, 2003. SUBMISSION OF PAPERS We solicit your submissions of papers in any areas of the theme and the sub themes listed below, which explore issues in effectively and efficiently informing users through information technology. Papers based on research, practical experience and survey will only be accepted for presentation and inclusion in the pre-convention volume. Full papers, on different themes, as per the standard formats should reach the Editors directly on or before 30th September 2003. Papers should not exceed 10 single spaced pages (Use A4 Format, Times 12 Pt font, Margins: Left � 3 cm, others � 2 cm ). The cover page must contain: a resume of about 150 words 3-5 keywords, names and affiliation of author(s) author�s e-mail, phone, fax, postal address along with passport size photograph. THEME OF THE CONVENTION The main theme of the PLANNER � 2003 is "Automation of Libraries in North East Region: Trends Issues and Challenges". The sub-themes and the topics to be covered under each sub-themes are given below. 1. IT based Activities The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have brought revolutionary changes in handling delivering and storage of information. The transition of traditional library collections to digital or virtual collections presented the librarian with new opportunities and challenges. The internet, especially WWW has given the librarian a new dynamic role to play in the society and serve the new information based in better ways than every before, Because of the powerful features of web i.e. distributed, heterogeneous, collaborative, multimedia, Standards and Protocols, architecture, world wide web has revolutionized the way people access information and has opened up new possibilities in areas such as digital libraries, Virtual libraries, efficient information retrieval and dissemination. Topic under this sub-theme are:- v Library automation v Database Development v Standards and Protocol v Search Engines v Electronic Document Delivery v Digital library 2. Emergency of Consortia The recent development of library consortia can be considered a major step towards library cooperation. Impact of electronic resources on collection development; new developments in e-journal licensing, various pricing models of consortia, the roles of librarians, and library consortia has brought revolutionary changes in the field of Library and information science. It is important to notice the initiative of INFLIBNET at national level for subscription of e-journals for entire academic community which will provide better, easier and faster access to number of electronic journals to the end uses. In order to obtain the benefits of electronic journals, INFLIBNET has taken up number of initiatives at national level. It is appropriate to discuss following topics under consortia. v UGC-INFONET v Library Consortia v Electronic Publishing v E-Journal Subscription v Copy right and IPR Paper on IT based activities should be sent to the following editor Dr. Narendra Lahkar Department of Library & Information Science 100, GU Campus, Gauhati University, Guwahati � 781 014 (India) Phone : (0361) 2571954 ( O) 2571257 ( R) Mobile: (98640) 53349 e-mail: n_lahkar(a)yahoo.com Paper on consortia should be sent to the following editor Prof. Mrs.) Veena Saraf Head, Deptt. of Library Science NEHU, Shillong � 793 014 (Meghalaya) Phone : 091 �0364 � (O)231617 (R) 550932 E-mail : Ibscnehu(a)sancharnet.in or veenasaraf(a)yahoo.co.uk ************************ FOR MORE DETAILS CONTACT ************************ Mrs. I Majaw Organising Secretary, PLANNER � 2003 University Library North Eastern Hill University Mayurbhanj Complex, Shillong � 793 014(Meghalaya) Phone : 091- 0364 � 2231682(Off..); 2547985 (Res.) nehulibr(a)sancharnet.in All queries may be sent to : Mr. Prem Chand Chief Coordinator, PLANNER � 2003 Scientist � C, INFLIBNET Center (An IUC of UGC) P.B.NO 4116, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad � 380009 Phone 091-079 - 6305971, 6304695 (Off.); 7548670(Res.) Fax : 091-079 - 6300990, 6307816 E-mail : premchand(a)inflibnet.ac.in Programme Committee: Chairman: Dr. T A V Murthy, Director, INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad ( Gujarat) Convenor: Sh. K. Prakash, INFLIBNET Centre, Ahmedabad ( Gujarat) VISIT WEBSITE http://web.inflibnet.ac.in/info/mini.doc ****************** J K VIJAYAKUMAR ****************** __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

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Re: Re: Re: [LIS-Forum] Areas in LIS Res
by gireesh kumar poonattile 18 Aug '03

18 Aug '03

On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 Sukhdev Singh wrote : >It is unfortunate that while computer professionals >are working in areas were library people should have >been working. Weird! What is unfortunate here? Computer professional 'encroaching LIS area. You are square pegged in the four falls of your profession. You want to debar people from working in these areas. How naïve! >work in. Take for example, while we were beating about >the bushes of "Bibliometrics" some students created >GOOGLE using the same principle of "citations" (links >here). Who said that they have copied this idea from Bibliometrics. Didn't they copy the powerful Google algorithm also from Library Professionals? Do not blather like people who used come up with Vedas and Upanishads when someone makes a new invention in the west. (It has been said some 4000 years back in the <book name> here, blah, blah.) >While we were debating on utility of >classification, some other students created "YAHOO". >And still others are building up Open Directory >Project (http://www.dmoz.org/) You need only commonsense and sound knowledge of technology to bring up a site like Yahoo. Classification is not the hegemony of LIS professionals. Do you think that LIS professional are qualified enough to do the job of a programmer? Is that what people are taught in our schools. Then, why this insecurity? >Classifiaction does >not mean numbers we put on the spine of the books; >dear friends, it is putting things in helpful >sequence. Thanks for that information. Latest addition to the vast LIS knowledge repository! >Information technology is in use in every aspect of >life. Even some medical professionals left their >profession to join IT Rat Race. They joined the rat race not because IT is used in every aspect of the life. Big money is the secret. >example http://www.indmedica.com. But should this mean >every professional follow the same path. Every professional? Then who will feed us? You use toilet soap, right? Since its an integral part of your life, does it mean that every other household needs to start making soap? IT is a tool. It had application in almost all the spheres of life. Knowing how to use a tool doesnt require you take a Phd in that subject. >Today we have to answer, the real tough question? Do >we really have something to offer? Something Unique. If you dont have something to offer, then why thousands of libraries in our country. Please dont bring IT as an overhead. Your profession caters to many other things. Technology may change. But there are quite a number of things which doesnt change. Reading habit, Peoples affinity toward books, etc Remember, Ranganathans five laws are centered around books. >What is our USP...? If Yes, then why we are in >hibernation. Who said that library professional are in hibernation. Cant you see them doing their work? Look at closely, is that IT driving them, really.? >If No, then why we are pretending...? Why >not to leave the stage to Computer Professionals who >otherwise are today "Plenty in Supply, Less in >Demand". What stage you are going to leave? There is no stage which you have occupied where others are going to take over. Its a hallucination. Gireesh Kumar Poonattile Radha Nivas Chulliparmaba Farook College Post Calicut > > Dear Sukhdev ji > > > > I agree with your suggestion that research on > > Classification is required but to be honest, it is > > the need of the hour that a librarian has to be > > perfect in the modern information technology other > > wise the whole scene of librarianship will be > > spoiled. The advent of the new information ___________________________________________________ Meet your old school or college friends from 1 Million + database... Click here to reunite www.batchmates.com/rediff.asp

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Google's new features
by Madhuresh 18 Aug '03

18 Aug '03

Dear All, Google has introduced 2 new features -searching by synonyms and News Alerting. Searching by synonyms can be used by professional researchers who know advanced search techniques. The mechanism for doing this is to preface your word with a tilde (~). The example Google gives is a search for browser help as well as browser guides and tutorials. The search strategy is: browser ~help. To know more in detail, just follow the link http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb030811-2.shtml The content of the article is also pasted below. Google Introduces Synonym Searching, News Alerting Features by Marydee Ojala August 11, 2003 - Professional researchers-the ones who actually understand and use the advanced search techniques provided by Web search engines-will be delighted to learn Google has introduced a new feature that enables searching by synonyms as well as by keyword. The mechanism for doing this couldn't be easier. All you need to do is preface your word with a tilde (~). The example Google gives is a search for browser help as well as browser guides and tutorials. The search strategy is: browser ~help. Why the tilde? It's shorthand for approximate, which is appropriate since that's what you get-an approximation of similar search terms. In addition to free-text synonym searching, the new advanced search feature works in fielded searches. Search for browser intitle:~help, browser inurl:~help, allintitle:browser ~help, or allinurl browser ~help, and you will retrieve synonyms for help occurring in the title and URL fields, respectively. For example, enter intitle:~cancer and Web sites with pain, one of the synonyms for cancer along with disease and oncology, in the title will show up on the results list. In typical Google fashion, the synonym search feature is computer created. Although human beings created the algorithm, a Google employee did not sit down with a thesaurus and enter all the words and synonyms into a database that Google searches when it sees that tilde. According to Marissa Mayer, director, Consumer Web Products, the intent is to broaden a search. "We think this is a powerful and useful way to broaden results. It's the opposite of disambiguation, which narrows a search. Google's synonym search will provide searchers with additional possibilities for search terms and help them if they don't know the jargon associated with a topic." Google won't reveal how the algorithm works. However, extensive searching gives some clues. There's certainly evidence of PageRank, not exactly surprising, in the skewing of results toward popularity. Enter ~apple and the synonyms are almost entirely computer related. There's no synonym for the fruit mention of the word, nor for singer Fiona Apple. A search for ~shell, first retrieves the home page for Shell Oil Company, but the next nine highlight Unix as the synonym. The second page of results mixes the oil company and computer Web sites. No synonyms for seashells down by the seashore show up, probably because there aren't a lot of Web sites that link to those types of sites. Google optimizes search results that are frequently linked to, which weights results toward technology, business, and entertainment. Mayer pointed out that synonym searching works only on the Web search tab, not in Images or News, and only in English. Synonym searching has no effect on AdWords and sponsored links. If you search for ~magazine, it will trigger ad displays for companies that have purchased magazine as an AdWord, but none for its synonym journal. What has happened, to the amazement of Google staff, is the mining of synonyms by Webmasters who want to use them as new registered keywords for their products. Separately, Google announced its news alerting service (http://www.google.com/newsalerts) As with the synonym feature, this should be welcomed by serious researchers. Other news tracking services, such as that from The New York Times, have begun charging for the service; a free Google news alerting service is a boon. Options for update frequency are either once a day or as news happens. If a story is being widely reported, choosing the second option is very likely to result in a flooded inbox. There is a limit of 50 alerts per e-mail address. The normal search conventions, as operative in Google News, can be used. In addition to Boolean searches, a News Alert can be limited by source, location (country or U.S. state), occurrences (anywhere, in the headline, in the body of the story, or in the URL), and date. The one drawback to News Alert is the inability to edit a search. Instead, it must be deleted and a new one entered. Both synonym searching and News Alerts were developed by Google in its Google Labs (http://labs.google.com/) Both are in beta. According to Mayer, it's Google's normal practice to introduce new features and services and then watch how people use them. From this, Google decides on further developments and minor tweaking. For example, if synonym searching catches on, it may join the Advanced Search page as a search option. At the moment, it's not there. Other languages might also be added, much as French and German news was added to the formerly all-English sources of Google News. For now, it's a good bet that Google Labs is working on other features designed to delight a searcher's heart. Marydee Ojala is editor of ONLINE and program chair for the National Online conference. Her e-mail address is marydee(a)infotoday.com. Regards. Madhuresh Singhal Aurigene Discovery Technologies Limited, Electronic City, phase II, Hosur Road, Bangalore 562 158 Phone 8521314-16 Ext.- 422 Mobile 98861 82822 Fax 852 6285 E-mail: madhureshsinghal(a)yahoo.com http://www.aurigene.com/ Best Regards, Madhuresh Singhal This email and its attachments are confidential and proprietary to AURIGENE Discovery Technologies and are meant for the intended recipient only. If you are not the intended recipient, do not take any actions based on the contents of this message, except to permanently delete the message and its attachments and inform the sender immediately.

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