Delving Into Deep Web Business Resources

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Anyone approaching business research today needs to understand the wealth of information available on the deep, invisible web. To effectively and efficiently find data on companies, industries, markets, and management, you should consult specialized as well as general search engines; exploit social media resources; choose to search directories, groups, portals, images, blogs, feeds, wikis, and statistical files; consider fee-based tools; and concentrate on effectively conceptualizing. This seminar, taught by an experienced business searcher, will concentrate on resources but will also include practical techniques for using these resources.

Alternative Search Engines: Searching Beyond Google

1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

The web is filled with search engines other than the major ones (Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask). Some are general web search engines; others search specialized content. The abundance of alternative search engines, often bearing exotic names, leads you to alternative content—images, specialized topics, videos, audio files, niche databases, conversations, blogs, forums, podcasts, people, and user-generated content. Your results can be clustered, include thumbnails, or be displayed graphically. There are huge search opportunities on the web—and it’s not just Google. Expand your web search repertoire by learning about alternative search engines.

Continental Breakfast

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

The Ever-Changing Landscape of Search Engines

9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Just when you get comfortable with a search engine, it changes. Or at least it seems that way. Companies vying for a competitive edge can suddenly make alterations to their technology and their strategy that affect information professionals’ ability to deliver relevant information. As the old saying goes, “Being forewarned is being forearmed,” and Chris Sherman’s insider knowledge of search engine companies will alert you to developments in the search engine landscape and give you an edge in your professional life.

Decision Points: When You Come to a Fork in Your Search, Take It

10:30 a.m. - 11:25 a.m.

As more information is digitized and appears on the internet, web researchers face the problem of having too many places to go to find information. The abundance of information can be overwhelming. When do you move from search engines to specialized search tools, to government resources, to fee-based sources, to print, or even the telephone? What guides these decision points? Is it intuition or something more structured? This session will look at some of the typical decision points and offer some tips on choosing the best path.

You Can Take It With You: Mobile Search and Information Delivery

11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

As a platform for information delivery, mobile devices, from PDAs to pocket computers to cell phones, present information professionals with increasingly sophisticated opportunities to find and present relevant information to their clientele. Gary Price reviews many new and exciting mobile initiatives and looks at what the major search engines are doing to support the mobile world as well as some of the niche-specific search tools and sites.

New Rules of Evaluation

1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Is it time to hit the reset button on evaluation? The basics for evaluating resources remain in place. You want to know that sources are authoritative, objective, timely, complete, and verifiable. But the emergence of new econtent formats transforms evaluation criteria. Can a blog post be as authoritative as a peer-reviewed article? Should a YouTube video be considered for inclusion in a research paper? Can a tabloid newspaper break an accurate “real news” story? What about slides substituting for conference papers? Refresh your skills in identifying quality resources, determining new evaluation rules, and teaching others how to recognize reliable resources.

The Joy (And Luck) of People Finding

1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

The web is a tremendous resource for quickly finding basic information about people. Web-based resources also aid in finding more obscure, esoteric, and sometimes surprising information. Ran Hock will cover both general search engines and a variety of other resources, including social networking and other “Deep Web” sites. Also covered will be “people search engines” such as Pipl, ZabaSearch, Spokeo, and others. You don’t need a private investigator’s license for this session on people finding.

Government Tools & Sites

3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.

It’s no secret that the U.S. government is a prolific publisher. With a new administration comes a new attitude toward information transparency and disclosure that affects not only federal government information, but also filters down to the state and local levels. The implications for searchers are vast. If you ever thought government data was boring, dull, or lackluster, this session will open your eyes to exciting opportunities of maximizing the value of government
information.

WebSearch Clinics

3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.

WebSearch University sponsors explain their newest offerings and take questions from the audience.

The Best and the Brightest for Business

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Business research encompasses a multitude of avenues for exploration. It can include company, industry, market, and management topics. It ranges from Wall Street to Main Street, from multinationals to small businesses, from finance to management best practices. Join Harvard Business School librarian Ann Cullen, who also teaches business research at Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science, to learn about the newest, most improved, exciting resources that will help you be more effective in researching business topics.

Deciphering Google

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Google may have become synonymous with search for many people, but information professionals need to go beyond the search box to maximize the value of Google. It’s a complex search, information management, and office services ecosystem. This session will explore the hidden areas of Google—from forgotten databases to its latest experiments, from its lesser-known commands to its attempts to be the only site you will ever want to access.

Networking Reception

5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Continental Breakfast

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

Adding Value to Results

9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

If you think that research is what you do, you’re only partially correct. The results from searching the web—and that includes fee-based sites—sit in the middle of the process. It’s the packaging and strategic insights that information professionals apply after the research is completed that add value. To fully  demonstrate their worth, information professionals must strategize and think beyond information retrieval to packaging information results in a fashion that aligns with their organization’s or client’s expectations. Maybe it’s text, or charts and graphs, or slideshows. Mary Ellen Bates will guide us through how to add value to our search results.

Social Networking and Real-Time Research

9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn has skyrocketed in the past year. As a global phenomenon, millions of people use social media to generate content, share ideas, and keep in touch with family, friends, work colleagues, companies, associations, and causes. They can be a source and tool for research. Marydee Ojala will address the where, when, and how aspects of social networking research, including authenticity, trust, and information overload, along with some real-world caveats.

Multimedia: Not Just for Entertainment Any More

10:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

We’re all familiar with streaming music, goofy YouTube videos, and other types of multimedia entertainment. But more and more high-quality content, academic lectures and courseware, research findings, news reports, government data, and the like are being made available in multimedia format on the web. This session offers a look at the tools and multimedia repositories that offer the best resources for librarians and info pros.

Semantic Search Engines

10:30 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.

New generations of search engines are not just on the horizon, they’re here. Semantic search engines go far beyond keywords, using a variety of signals and behavioral analysis to understand the intent of your search. This presentation, by a noted computer scientist at the National Library of Medicine, will demonstrate the basics of semantic search as they apply to an innovative federated search solution. Semantic searching is utilized at every step of the process, including automatic query enhancement, semantic search result clustering, and information mashups.

Seeking Science and Technology

11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Although not everyone can be a sci-tech information specialist, science, technology, and medicine (STM) tends to overlap with other research agendas. This session will start with a general overview of science and technology websites. It will then focus on specialty sci-tech sites with tips for the effective use of them.

WebSearch Seminar

11:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Tired of listening to WebSearch University faculty? Have questions not yet answered? Want to contribute your own ideas, experiences, and knowledge? This is your opportunity to be heard.

Advanced Search Strategies

1:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.

Learn about the newest advanced search techniques for web search engines and the key differences among them. Explore the latest developments in how web search engines are changing, particularly when it comes to advanced search capabilities. Remembering it is the ability to perform sophisticated, complex research queries that sets information professionals apart from those who merely enter a word or two into a search box, learning  about the power of advanced search, and where shortcomings exist is a critical matter.

Current Awareness, Alerts, and the News About News

2:30 p.m. - 3:25 p.m.

With “dead tree” publications, both newspapers and magazines, disappearing or going completely digital, the ability of searchers to find current and historical news is becoming more challenging. Yet the buzz of “what’s happening” is a constant occurrence in our professional and personal lives. What are the best tools for monitoring the news; for developing alerts; and for filtering out extraneous, erroneous, and redundant news? The fee versus free debate continues to plague online searchers. Ran Hock will present current news dilemmas and provide clarification.

Best. Websites. Ever.

3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Every discipline has resource-rich websites. In this closing session, facilitated by ResourceShelf’s Laura Gordon-Murnane and Gary Price, our faculty will each contribute information on two of their favorite sites. Then we’ll turn it over to attendees to share the sites they use routinely in their research endeavors. We’ll take a look at the resources with practical value, ones that attendees should bookmark for use at their individual workplaces.