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 search queries. 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!, Live, 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, usergenerated 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.

Google and Rich Media: The Channel Play

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

This tutorial breaks new ground with a look at the world’s largest search company’s push into rich media. Industry analyst and prolific author Stephen Arnold will show that Google’s rich media capabilities are an evolutionary step in the company’s capabilities. He will examine Google’s video inventions from the perspective of its patent documents, discuss the basics of the Google Channel with specific examples, delve into the direct monetization options beyond the well-known AdWords and AdSense models, and explore likely disruptive effects for traditional search and retrieval for web content and established media. What will be the likely competitive response to Google’s rich media initiative?

Continental Breakfast

8:00 a.m. - 8:45 a.m.

Search Engine Update

8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.

In his popular column, Search Engine Update, published in ONLINE magazine, Greg details the latest search developments at the major search engines. The tweaks, the experiments, the new search developments, the retrenchments, the new directions—all will be explained in this opening session. An extension of the information presented in his columns and at his Search Engine Showdown website, you will learn the latest about search changes, personalization, database integration, and how to optimize your own searching behaviors.

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

10:15 a.m. - 11:00 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. 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.

The Best and the Brightest for Business

11:15 a.m. - 12:00 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.

Perspectives on Current Awareness and Retrospective News

1:15 p.m. - 2:00 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. The underlying issues regarding information access aren’t really different, although they are becoming more acute. We worry about accuracy, timeliness, and cost. We’re concerned about news disappearing but thrilled that older news sources are appearing in electronic form. The fee-versus-free debate continues to plague online searchers. Ran will present current news dilemmas and provide clarification.

WebSearch Clinics

2:15 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

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

Seeking Science and Technology

3:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Although not everyone can be a sci-tech information specialist, STM tends to overlap with all research agendas. This session will start with a general overview of science and technology websites. Additionally, information domains in which these researchers from MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit organization chartered to work in the public interest, typically answer requests, such as cyber security, information technology, and public health, will be emphasized.

Government Tools & Sites

4:15 p.m. - 5:00 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 level. 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.

Networking Reception

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

Continental Breakfast

8:00 a.m. - 8:45 a.m.

When Searching Isn't Enough: Adding Value to Results

8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.

Information professionals have long distinguished themselves as providing accurate, relevant, and timely information. The abundance of web-based information, however, has altered this proposition. To fully demonstrate their value, 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 slide shows. Mary Ellen Bates will guide us through how to add value to our search results.

Advanced Search Techniques

10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.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 that it’s 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.

Social Networking, Media, and Research

11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.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.

Mobile Platforms for Web Searching and Information Delivery

1:15 p.m. - 2:00 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. Fox, a longtime industry watcher, reviews 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. She includes a discussion of how image/location/speech is being used in the mobile world and what the implications are for librarians.

Semantic Search Engines

2:15 p.m. - 3:00 p.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 analyses 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.

Beyond Text: Visual Search

3:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

There’s more to search than text. Information comes in many shapes, forms, colors, sounds, and moving images. Even printed newspapers, journals, and newsletters include photographs, charts, graphs, and illustrations, but how discoverable are these valuable data elements? People expect information professionals to include multimedia sources in their web research. The internet is an image-rich environment. What are some good resources for professionals to use for visual search and how do they work?

Best. Websites. Ever.

4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Every discipline has resource-rich websites. In this closing session, facilitated by Resource Shelf co-editor, Laura Gordon-Murnane, our WebSearch University 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.