The Online World Part 24

***Important work in the blood field throughout the world is covered by Blood Week (HH44), including research, literature, and upcoming events.

***TB Weekly (HH45) is an internationally-focused newsletter that concentrates on tuberculosis-related news and research, including business developments.

New Services on NewsNet:

TB Weekly (HH45) Blood Weekly (HH44) Electromagnetic Field Litigation Reporter (EY86) Chapter 11 Update (FI82) Tobacco Industry Litigation Reporter (HH48) Trade and Development Opportunities (GT50)

For details on new services, enter READ PB99# or HELP followed by the service code.

NewsNet's clipping service, NewsFlash, will automatically search all new editions of newsletters selected for monitoring. The hits will be sent to your mailbox, and be retained there for up to ten weeks besides the current week.

Your selection of newsletters can be extended to include news stories from United Press International (UPI), Reuters News Reports, a.s.sociated Press, Business Wire, PR Newswire, and others.

For some time, I clipped newsletters in the telecommunications group using the keywords 'Victoria' (an American communication project) and 'KDD' (the j.a.panese telecom giant). When I called NewsFlash to check, it typically reported:

NEWSFLASH NOTIFICATION ****************************************************************

4 Total Newsflash hits. Use STOP to stop and delete all.

New Hits = 4 Saved Items = 0

TE01 7/17/89 == VICTORIA == Headline #1 COOKE SELLS CABLE HOLDINGS TO 6-MEMBER GROUP FOR NEARLY $1.6 BILLION Jack Cooke's cable systems will be sold to 6-member consortium

TE11 7/17/89 == VICTORIA == Headline #2 BOCs' PROGRESS TOWARD INTELLIGENT NETWORK ARCHITECTURE INTERTWINED WITH DIFFICULT INTERNETWORKING NEGOTIATIONS, PENDING DECREE COURT

EC89 7/18/89 == KDD == Headline #3 KDD OPENS NY/LONDON OFFICES TOKYO, j.a.pAN, 1989 JUL 14 (NB) -- Kokusai Dens.h.i.+n Denwa (KDD),

EC89 8/22/89 == KDD == Headline #4 FOREIGNERS CAN BUY INTO KDD TOKYO, j.a.pAN, 1989 AUG 17 -- The j.a.panese government is planning

Enter Headline numbers or ALL to read, MORE, AGAIN, SAVE, STOP, or HELP -->

NewsNet's databases grow by more than 400 stories per day. Your search profiles may contain an almost unlimited number of subjects.

Delivery of hits is concurrent. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Sprintmail's clipping service (U.S.A.) scans stories from more than 15 international newswires. FT Profile's E-mail Alert searches daily on that particular day's issue of the Financial Times.

Dow Jones News/Retrieval has NewsScan (//CLIP). It can deliver by fax or email to a mailbox on another online service. On GEnie, use QuikNews Express, a personalized news clipping service that is integrated with the Quik-Comm System email service.

Clarinet, a commercial news service available through Usenet, also has a clipping program.

When clipping is impossible --------------------------- Many services do not offer clipping. Here, your alternative is various methods of regular selective reading.

Many conferencing systems let you select messages by keywords.

BIX has Keyword Indexer. It let you search public conferences after a key word or phrase and report hits. Then it offers you to review (or retrieve) messages of interest.

CompuServe's forums have efficient 'read selective' and 'quick scan' commands. Another trick is to limit your reading to specific message sections.

The high forum message volume is a special problem on this service. Old messages are regularly deleted to make room for new ones. (Often called "scroll rate.") Some popular forums do not keep messages for more than a couple of days before letting them go. You must visit often to get all new information.

Many bulletin boards can be told to store unread messages about given topics in a compressed transportation file. This file can then be retrieved at high speed. Special communication programs (often called offline readers) and commands are available to automate this completely.

Powerful scripts (see Chapter 12) can do automatic selection of news stories based on the occurrence of keywords (e.g., a company name) in headlines. I have developed such a system for selecting news from the Online Today magazine on CompuServe.

Subscription services --------------------- It is useful to dig, dig, and dig for occurrences of the same search words, but digging is not enough. Unless you periodically scan "the horizon," you risk missing new trends, viewpoints and other important information.

It can be difficult to find good sources of information that suits your needs. One trick is to watch the reports from your clipping services. Over time, you may discover that some sources bring more interesting stories than others. Take a closer look at these. Consider browsing their full index of stories regularly.

If your company plans exportation to countries in Asia, check out MARKET: ASIA PACIFIC on NewsNet. The newsletter is published monthly by W-Two Publications, Ltd., 202 The Commons, Suite 401, Ithaca, NY 14850, U.S.A. (phone: +1-607-277-0934). Annual print subscription rate: US$279.

The index itself may be a barometer of what goes on. Here is an example. Note the number of Words/Lines. Do these numbers tell a story?

July 1, 1993

Head # Headline Words /Lines ------ ---------------------------------------------------- ------------ 1) THE PHILIPPINES IS AT A TURG POINT 616/78 2) CHINA AND KOREA WILL LEAD REGIONAL ECONOMIC BOOM 315/41 3) ASIAN COMPENSATION IS STILL LOW, BUT RISING QUICKLY 303/38 4) CONSUMER GOODS WON'T BE ALL THE CHINESE BUY 221/29 5) WOMEN BEAR THE BRUNT OF CAMBODIA'S TROUBLES 284/34 6) TAIWAN MAKES A MOVE TOWARD THE CASHLESS SOCIETY 243/29 7) TIPS ON MANAGING CULTURAL HARMONY IN ASIA 264/37 8) TAIWANESE BECOME MORE DISCERNING, HARDER TO REACH 217/27 9) DIRECT MARKETING HEADED FOR GROWTH IN SINGAPORE 205/27 10) TOURISM IN MALAYSIA WILL GROW 610/76 11) CHONGQING: FUTURE POWERHOUSE 2708/342

It is a good idea to visit NewsNet to gather intelligence. Review indexes of potentially interesting newsletters. Save them on your hard disk for future references. You never know when they may be of use.

The newsletters within computers and electronics bring forecasts of market trends, evaluation of hardware and software, prices, information about IBM and other leading companies. You will find stories about technological developments of modems, robots, lasers, video players, graphics, and communications software.

The Management section contains experts' evaluation of the economical climate with forecasts, information about foreign producers for importers, tips and experiences on personal efficiency, management of smaller companies, and office automation.

Other sections are Advertising and Marketing, Aeros.p.a.ce and Aviation, Automotive, Biotechnology, Building and Construction, Chemical, Corporate Communications, Defense, Entertainment and Leisure, Education, Environment, Energy, Finance and Accounting, Food and Beverage, General Business, Insurance, Investment, Health and Hospitals, Law, Management, Manufacturing, Medicine, Office, Publis.h.i.+ng and Broadcasting, Real Estate, Research and Development, Social Sciences, Telecommunications, Travel and Tourism, Transport and s.h.i.+pping.

Several newsletters focus on specific geographical areas:

* MARKETING RESEARCH REVIEW (a.n.a.lyzes and evaluates commercially available marketing research and technology a.s.sessment reports.

Publisher: High-Tech Publis.h.i.+ng Co., U.S.A.) * GERMAN BUSINESS SCOPE and THE WEEK IN GERMANY * NEWS FROM FRANCE * COUNTRY RISK GUIDE: EUROPE * EASTERN EUROPE FINANCE, and EASTERN EUROPEAN ENERGY REPORT * EUROPEAN COMMUNITY: BUSINESS FORECAST * INVESTEXT/EUROPEAN REGION * PRS FORECASTS: EASTERN EUROPE, and WESTERN EUROPE * AFRICA NEWS ON-LINE * PRS-FORECASTS: MID-EAST & NORTH AFRICA * PRS-FORECASTS: SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA * THE EXPORTER (Published by Trade Data Reports. Monthly reports on the business of exporting. Functionally divided into operations, markets, training resources, and world trade information.) * MID-EAST BUSINESS DIGEST * LATIN AMERICA OPPORTUNITY REPORT * COUNTRY RISK GUIDE: SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA * COUNTRY RISK GUIDE: ASIA & THE PACIFIC * PRS FORECASTS: ASIA & THE PACIFIC * PRS'S POLITICAL RISK LETTER * SALES PROSPECTOR (Monthly prospect research reports for sales representatives and other business people interested in commercial, and inst.i.tutional expansion and relocation activity. Separate services grouped by geographic area in the United States and Canada.)

Many newsletters are focusing on technology intelligence:

Sensor Technology ----------------- Provides updates on research being conducted in this rapidly evolving technology. Besides a.n.a.lyzing advances in the field, it offers ideas on how this technology can improve products and services.

Advanced Manufacturing Technology --------------------------------- Reports on desktop manufacturing, computer graphics, flexible automation, computer-integrated manufacturing, and other technological advances that help increase productivity.

High Tech Materials Alert ------------------------- Reports on significant developments in high-performance materials, including alloys, metallic whiskers, ceramic and graphite fibers, and more. Concentrates on their fabrication, industrial applications, and potential markets.

Futuretech ---------- Provides briefings on focused, strategic technologies that have been judged capable of making an impact on broad industrial fronts. Includes forecasts of marketable products and services resulting from the uncovered technology and its potential impact on industry segments.

Advanced Coating & Surface Technology, Electronic Materials Technology News, Flame r.e.t.a.r.dancy News, High Tech Ceramics News, Innovator's Digest, Technology Access Report, Inside R&D, j.a.pan Science Scan, New Technology Week, Optical Materials & Engineering News, Performance Materials, Surface Modification Technology News, Genetic Technology News, Battery & Ev Technology, and much more.

Newsletters on CompuServe ------------------------- Many newsletters are being made available through forums' file libraries on CompuServe. Consequently, they are a little harder to locate. Some examples (1993):

Abacus Online - Quarterly newsletter on executive computing.

(In the Lotus Spreadsheet forum, Library 3.)

Anime Stuff - News and reviews of j.a.panese animation software.

(Comics/Animation Forum, Library 5.)

Communique - The quarterly newsletter of the International a.s.sociation of Business Communicators U.K. Chapter. (PR and Marketing Forum, Library 8.)

Distance Education Newsletter - a.n.a.lyzes the impact of elec- tronic communication on academic research. (Telecommunications Forum, Library 13.)

Hint: To find newsletters in the IBM PC oriented forums, enter GO IBMFF to search. Select "Keyword" as search criteria, and enter "newsletter". Add further keywords to narrow the search to your areas of interest. CompuServe also has other file find services.

Databases with an international orientation ------------------------------------------- Information Access provides reference databases to businesses. You can search 10 databases with full-text stories, abstracts, and indexes from international magazines.

PROMPT (Overview of Markets and Technology) is the largest of them. It provides international coverage of companies, markets and technologies in all industries.

The other databases cover areas like Aeros.p.a.ce and Defense, Advertising and Marketing, New Product Announcements, Industry Forecasts and Time Series.

The Information Access' databases are available through online services like Dialog, Data Star, Financial Times Profile (England), Nikkei in j.a.pan and on the Thomson Financial Networks. They are regularly published on CD-ROM.

ZiffNet offers the Business Database Plus through CompuServe.

Here, you can search in full-text stories from around 550 North American and international publications for industry and commerce (1993).

The articles are about sales and marketing ideas, product news, industry trends and a.n.a.lysis, and provide company profiles in areas such as agriculture, manufacturing, retailing, telecommunications, and trade. This is a partial list of the database's magazines:

Agra Europe, Agribusiness Worldwide, Air Cargo World, Belgium: Economic and Commercial Information, Beverage World, Beverage World Periscope Edition, British Plastics & Rubber, British Telecom World, Business Perspectives, CCI-Canmaking & Canning International, CD-ROM Librarian, Chain Store Age - General Merchandise Trends, Coal & Synfuels Technology, Communication World, Communications Daily, Communications International, Consultant, Cosmetic World News, Dairy Industries International, Direct Marketing, The Economist, Erdol und Kohle, Erdgas, Petrochemie: Hydrocarbon Technology, EuroBusiness, Euromoney, Europe 2000, European Cosmetic Markets, European Rubber Journal, Financial Market Trends, Financial World, Finnish Trade Review, Food Engineering International, Forest Industries, Gas World, Graphic Arts Monthly, The Printing Industry, High Technology Business, IDC j.a.pan Report, Inc., International Trade Forum, Investment International, Israel Business, j.a.pan Economic Newswire, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Marketing Research, Kyodo, Market Research Europe, Medical World News, MEED Middle East Economic Digest, Middle East Agribusiness, OECD Economic Outlook, The Oil and Gas Journal, Oilweek, Petroleum Economist, Plastics World, Purchasing World, Report on the Austrian Economy, Restaurant-Hotel Design International, Royal Bank of Scotland Review, Seafood International, Soviet Aeros.p.a.ce & Technology, Supermarket Business Magazine, swissBusiness, Training: the Magazine of Human Resources Development, World Economic Outlook, World Oil.

Dialog's ASIA-PACIFIC DATABASE covers business and economics in Asia and the Pacific. It contains over 80,000 references from newspapers, magazines and other sources in North America and international.