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(13 Aug) On Monday, we summarized a news story under the headline, "Yale Stops Publishing with Biomed Central." Matt Cockerill, publisher of Biomed Central, responded by e-mail to clarify that the Yale libraries cancelled their membership. But Yale authors will continue to publish with Biomed Central using grant funds.
"Yale authors have not stopped publishing with BioMed Central. The only change is that the cost of publishing in BioMed Central's journals, which was previously covered centrally by Yale Library, will now [be] paid by the individual Yale authors, typically out of their grant funds. Payment of publication costs out of grant funds is nothing new - many subscription journals have page charges - and the majority of articles published with BioMed Central are in fact already paid for in this way."
(14 Aug) Search engine Ask this week introduced smart answers for health-related questions. Currently, Healthline is the primary provider of the health-related information.
When you search a prescription or over-the-counter drug or a disorder, illness or condition, Ask returns encyclopedia-like information about it. It also offers options for narrowing or expanding your query, or for locating specific information, such as symptoms or treatment.
For example, a search for manic depression retrieves a link to the Healthline article on bipolar disorder. It offers to take you directly to information about symptoms, treatment, risk factors, tests or complications. You may opt to search Ask for images or review the Image Gallery at Healthline. Finally, you may expand or narrow the search for information better suited to your research question.
(14 Aug) Librarians and others have long surmised that corporations and other groups with special interests edit Wikipedia articles anonymously. On Monday, a data-mining service called Wikipedia Scanner launched. It "traces millions of Wikipedia entries to their corporate sources, and for the first time puts comprehensive data behind longstanding suspicions of manipulation, which until now have surfaced only piecemeal in investigations of specific allegations."
SEE: Wikipedia Scanner
RELATED: Vote On the Most Shameful Wikipedia Spin Jobs
Wired Blog, 13 August 2007
(Wired readers submit and rank their discoveries.)
(13 Aug) In an analysis of its Internet Activity Index, the Online Publishers Association shows that searchers spend 47 percent of their time reviewing content while they spend only 5 percent of their time searching. "The index indicates that, over the last four years, the primary role of the Internet has shifted from communications to content."
(13 Aug) Intelius has released a directory of cell phone numbers. According to the news story, the company collected the numbers from public records as well as utility bills and change of address records.
The story advises consumers to guard against telemarketing by placing their cell phone number on the Do Not Call List.
The above-referenced KOMO TV news story became unavailable during the afternoon of the following day. A different story about the cell phone directory appears in The Seattle Times.
SOURCE: Intelius is Unveiling One of the Nation's First Cell Phone...
Legal Dockets Online Blog, 14 August 2007
SEE: Intelius Cell Phone Directory
(While you may search the directory for free, there is a charge to display any meaningful information.)
SEE: National Do Not Call Registry
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(14 Aug) Milton Regan, Jr., who is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and a co-director of the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession, opines about non-lawyer ownership of law firms in the U.S. "[E]quity ownership is the clear stamp of a business that pursues profits. For those who find this alarming, the fact that all U.S. jurisdictions prohibit nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a line in the sand. Cross it, and law stops being a profession and starts being a business."
Regan examines opposing viewpoints, but he comes down clearly on the side that believes law practice is a business and you cannot separate the two.
He observes, "Some corporate general counsel have suggested that the current law firm business model contains too few incentives to provide services efficiently. Cisco Systems Inc., general counsel Mark Chandler, for instance, has famously complained that technology has made possible wider and easier access to legal information, but that firms that bill by the hour have little interest in passing those savings on to clients.
"Similarly, Sun Microsystems Inc., general counsel Michael Dillon has charged that the current law firm model relies on growth rather than efficiency to generate profits. He argues that the firms that survive will be those that 'maintain margins by focusing on efficiency,' instead of by 'growing scale and raising hourly rates.'"
(15 Aug) Several journalists and their family members have filed lawsuits against Hewlett-Packard for "allege[d] invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and engaging in unfair business practices." The lawsuits stem from the company's investigation of leaks to the press, during which it obtained the news reporters' private phone records.
SEE: Panish, Shea & Boyle Files Lawsuits against Hewlett-Packard for Pretexting Journalists and Their Families
Press Release, 15 August 2007
(The press release contains the case captions and docket numbers.)
RELATED: Journalists Plan to Sue HP over Investigation
TVC Alert Research News, 8 May 2007
(13 Aug) Technology writers, Elinor Mills and Declan McCullagh, compiled questions and answers on search engine privacy practices.
"To help our readers evaluate the privacy differences between AOL, Ask.com, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, CNET News.com sent them a survey on August 6. We've published their answers--in the companies' own words--below."
(13 Aug) Appellate attorney Howard J. Bashman calls on the federal appellate courts to make their en banc opinions more accessible. En banc opinions are "essentially the most important cases on federal appellate courts' dockets, since they involve panel decisions that address questions of exceptional importance or that conflict with a ruling by either another panel, the U.S. Supreme Court or another federal appellate court."
RELATED: District Court Opinions Available on PACER
TVC Alert Research News, 13 August 2007
(14 Aug) Nina Platt, former Director of Information Resources at Faegre & Benson LLP, recently launched Strategic Librarian "as a means for communicating all things related to using strategy to develop and lead libraries. [The blog] will focus mainly on law firm libraries but most of what you find here could be used with other libraries as well."
Nina has already written a number of thought-provoking comments, including "The Knowledgeable Librarian (Do you know what your librarian knows?)," "The Future of Law Firm Libraries," "Managing Costs" and "Current Awareness."
SOURCE: Strategic Librarian
LawLibTech, 12 August 2007
SEE: The Knowledgeable Librarian (Do you know what your librarian knows?)
Strategic Librarian, 10 July 2007
SEE: The Future of Law Firm Libraries
Strategic Librarian, 22 July 2007
SEE: Managing Costs
Strategic Librarian, 24 July 2007
SEE: Current Awareness
Strategic Librarian, 24 July 2007
Cell Phone Directory: Intelius makes available a cell phone directory. You may search the directory for free, but displaying the cell phone number or any other identifying information requires payment.
According to a news story that appeared on the KOMO TV Web site on 13 August 2007 (no longer available), Intelius collected cell phone numbers from public records as well as utility bills and change of address records. You may search the directory by cell phone number or name. (et)
Wireless & Reverse Phone Lookup: Intelius lets you verify phone numbers with this tool. Enter a land-line or mobile phone number to find out if Intelius has information about it. Cell phone numbers return the notation, wireless, while land-based numbers show residential apparently even when they are business numbers. (et)
411 Locate White Pages: 411 Locate offers a search tool for finding "white pages" listings. Search by name to find the name, address and public telephone listing. Special features include a printer-friendly page for printing search results, an e-mail feature for sending the results to someone else, additional phone details (line type and provider), area code map and neighbor search. (See also: 411 Locate Reverse Phone Lookup) (et)
411 Locate Reverse Phone Lookup: 411 Locate provides several reverse lookup options. You may search by residential or business phone number, residential or business street address, zip code, city/state (for a zip or area code), or area code. Results include public telephone listings complete with name and address. See also 411 Locate White Pages. (et)
Guy Montag: Law librarian David Goldman launched this blog, which "explores the ramifications for research and historical memory when we embrace electronic data at the expense of print." While the commentary is brief, it points to references well worth reading; e.g., the shrinking size of the law library, bias in Wikipedia articles, a KeyCite error, and more.
"The title of this blog 'Guy Montag,' is also the name of the main character from Ray Bradbury's classic novel Fahrenheit 451. 'He is a California fireman who begins to question why he burns books for a living. Montag eventually rejects his authoritarian culture to join a community of individuals who memorize entire books so they will endure until society once again is willing to read.' (LA Weekly)" (et)
Research News Archive
13 August 2007
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Cite as: TVC Alert Research News, 16 August 2007, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/transfer.asp?xmlFile=aug07/16aug07.xml
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Created: 16 August 2007
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