INFORMATION UPDATE January 2005 Number 58 Welcome to INFORMATION UPDATE, the free monthly newsletter for information seekers and users. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ IN THIS ISSUE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ => Do It Yourself - Finding an Explanation or Instruction => Did You Know? - You Can Save Time by Outsourcing => Notes, News and Announcements => Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information ************************************************************ DO IT YOURSELF - Finding an Explanation or Instruction ************************************************************ Here's a way to save time, energy, and brain cells. When you need to provide a colleague or associate with an explanation or understanding of a topic or concept, you don't have to start from scratch. Use the Internet to locate the descrip- tion you seek and pass it along to the person who needs to know. Here's how. Use a search engine; in this case it will be Google, to find a presentation that addresses your topic. It doesn't matter what the topic is. The chances are someone has worked it into a presentation and posted it on a web site somewhere. Let's use "monoclonal antibodies" as an example. The following search string in the Google search box yields good results: monoclonal antibodies filetype:ppt site:edu This search looks for web pages that mention monoclonal antibodies on sites that have an education domain (edu) and are Powerpoint (ppt) files. Voila! Presentations on monoclonal antibodies from education based sources. Here's a slight variation on the above strategy. To locate instruction in patent searching try this search string: patent searching tutorial filetype:ppt In this case, we've left off the site:edu and substituted the term "tutorial" The first hit in the results list is a presentation called "Introduction to Patent and Trademark Searching on the Internet" from a University of Utah librarian. So, next time you need instruction, look for a ready-made explanation on the Internet using filetype:ppt and site:edu limiters. ************************************************************ DID YOU KNOW? - You Can Save Time by Outsourcing ************************************************************ You're not a car mechanic, but you own a car. If you find out your car has a cracked exhaust manifold (horrors!) you have two choices. You can learn how to repair a cracked exhaust manifold and do it yourself, or you can hire an experienced mechanic and pay to have it done for you. If you have more time than you do money, the first approach may work for you. Most of us, however, are likely to go for the second option, which is to hire some outside help (aka outsourcing.) Hiring the expert will get the job done faster by someone who has the right tools and experience to do good work with a reasonable turnaround time. This saves you time (not to mention aggravation) and for most of us, time is money. Do it yourself online research also involves a significant expenditure of time which translates to money. Don't be fooled by the apparent ease of searching and ready avail- ability of information on the Internet. Do it yourself searching can be time consuming and often yields marginal results. Fifty percent of Web searches are abandoned with no answers found. Save yourself time and money. Hire an expert to assist you and your company in finding the actionable information you need to keep your business moving. Contact Shamel Information Services, 858-673-4673 ************************************************************* Notes, News, and Announcements ************************************************************* >>Travelers should know about http://kayak.com Kayak permits you to "search all your favorite travel sites with one click." Kayak is in beta testing, so give it a try. You can simultaneously search 60 airlines and hotels directly and over 460 airlines through travel suppliers like Orbitz. If you try it, let us know how it goes. Was it easy? Did you save any money? >>Information Seekers may now subscribe to Information Update using the web form at http://shamelinfo.com. If someone has forwarded this newsletter to you, why not register for your own free copy? Use the form on the Shamel Information Services web site at http://shamelinfo.com. ************************************************************** Shamel Information Services Web Site ************************************************************** The Shamel Information Services web site at http://shamelinfo.com contains Information Update archives. Just click on "Newsletters" and check for any issues you might have missed. Cynthia L. Shamel, editor Shamel Information Services Telephone: 858-673-4673 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Subscriptions to INFORMATION UPDATE are free. Copyright 2005 Shamel Information Services Please feel free to forward this issue to colleagues, in its entirety. Other uses without permission may violate copyright. Online archives at http://shamelinfo.com/newsletter.htm ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^