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Insight.
Business Research Tips is a brief monthly newsletter with practical ideas for managing business information and research.
Competitive intelligence research (Oct 2008)
Heather recently ran a workshop in
Essentially, competitive intelligence is insightful, reliable, timely information that is needed for making business decisions in a rapidly changing market place
Finding public policy information (Sept 2008)
Many business and industry groups are interested in the development of public policy.
Finding people (July 2008)
Finding reliable background details on people is more than a Google search.
Heather recently spoke to Deborah Brown, Research Manager at FairfaxMedia, on strategies for finding information on Australians that make the news.
Researching Australian industries (June 2008)Researching Australian industries and markets covers a wide range of research briefs, from compiling industry profiles on the main players, market demographics, industry trends through to queries on market strategies.
Converge and connect in
Heather recently had the pleasure of presenting at the annual conference of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) in
Heather presented on “building an independent information professional business
Web 2.0 in two minutes (April 2008)
This month’s tip summarises an article written for the Australian Marketing Institute. (Marketing Update, April 2008, http://www.ami.org.au/bwWebsite/followon.aspx?PageID=6229)
Web 2.0 is the umbrella term used to describe some new collaborative web tools that are proving to be extremely popular. It's the web that fits perfectly with our desire to share our creative output in words, pictures, video or sounds to a connected world.
Web 2.0 and knowledge management (March 2008)
Heather recently presented at the Gurteen Knowledge Café in
Web 2.0 simply refers to a group of new web tools that have been rapidly adopted by users. They include social networking sites, such as myspace and facebook, wikis, such as wikipedia, and blogs and forums that facilitate sharing content and ideas.
Nourishing your business (February 2008)
Your business is like a body – to survive it needs to feed and grow on new market information.
The overlapping disciplines of market research, competitive intelligence and knowledge management are the food, brain and connective tissue that contribute to nourishing your business.
Day trippers, harvesters and miners (January 2008)
Are you a day tripper, harvester or a miner when searching for information? Day trippers are looking for a snapshot or overview of a topic. Harvesters gather and store good quality, relevant material. Miners go well beyond the surface and are prepared to search for hard to find gems of information.
Heather wins Freepint FUMSI Citation (December 2007)
Heather's article on "Mentors and Mentees" was awarded the Freepint FUMSI (Find, Use, Manage and Share Information) Award for Most Useful Article. The award was announced at the recent Online Information 2007 exhibition in London.
Teaching web search skills (November 2007)
Teaching the skills to effectively search the web is a challenging task. It can be difficult to pitch the training to suit the variety of skills and experience of the audience.
Networks and connections (October 2007)
When looking for the reliable information quickly, a good network of connections is invaluable. They share the burden of keeping up to date with developments in your field, and they can point you in the right direction when the need arises.
Presenting research findings (September 2007)
A well written research findings summary is an opportunity for library services to go beyond providing an information retrieval service to providing an answer to a research query.
Developing insight (August 2007)
Specialists are driven by many things – they want to build their reputation, grow their client base, develop their expertise, work on interesting projects, and be rewarded.
Beyond bookmarking (July 2007)
There are a number of online shared bookmarking sites for storing and sharing your favourite links to web sites, podcasts and blog articles, such as Furl, Del.icio.us, and Digg. These types of sites are free, fun and useful for uncovering and sharing the weird and wonderful from the web.
Local and global mentoring (June 2007)
Mentoring brings together an experienced practitioner, and importantly, a mentee who is ready
and willing to benefit from this exchange to enrich their professional development.
Web search tips (May 2007)
There are a few basic tips to keep in mind for web searching. The following are the shared thoughts of leading web search skills trainer, Mary Ellen Bates and the expert web search trainers interviewed by Greg Notess in his recent book, Teaching web search skills: techniques and strategies of top trainers.
Are you Linkedin? (April 2007)
Linkedin < http://www.linkedin.com/ > is a cross between biographical information and a social networking site. Users post their career profile information to Linkedin, and can then make contact with a network of Linkedin users.
Online information trends (February 2007)
At the recent Information Online conference held in Sydney, keynote speaker Dr Diana Oblinger talked about today’s internet savvy students. One of her observations of the widely dubbed google generation is their “lack of fear ≠ knowledge”.
Finding what you need in the information supermarket (January 2007)
There is ongoing problem for today’s employees – they are overwhelmed by too much information, coming from too many sources; yet they still can’t find what they want, when they need it. It’s not the information highway – it’s the information supermarket!
Always on the lookout (November 2006)
Always being on the lookout for useful, current and reliable information, helps to keep your outlook fresh and up to date. There are a few tricks and some tools to help you manage the information you need to scan, and store for later use.
Researching with limited resources (October 2006)
How specialists from small organisations undertake business research with a limited range of research resources.
Heather is a regular contributor as a freelance writer to business magazines, industry journals and online publications on practical ideas for finding and managing business information.
In 2007, Heather 's article on mentors and mentees was awarded the FUMSI Citation(Find, Use, Manage and Share Information) Award for the most useful article written for freepint.com.
Searching for Australian content: Industries, companies, people and Government
Searcher, May 2008
Find out what sites leading searchers of Australian business, news and policy research recommend for best commercial, industry association, government and web 2.0 information abou the land down under.
Web 2.0 in 2 minutes
Australian Marketing Institute, Marketing Update, April 2008
Web 2.0 is the umbrella term used to describe some new collaborative web tools that are proving to be extremely popular. It's the web that fits perfectly with our desire to share our creative output in words, pictures, video or sounds to a connected world.
Book Review : Teaching Web Search Skills - Techniques and Strategies for Top Trainers
Connections, September 2007, p. 16 (AIIP newsletter)
Web search training is a key service offering for many independent information professionals. It’s a valuable skill set to master: it helps to lift your profile, provides an alternative revenue source, and is an enjoyable way to share your knowledge on advanced web searching.
The Information Supermarket
in-Business, (2007) June -July issue, p 74
Do you feel that the information highway has become the information supermarket? You are spoiled for choice, but you can't find the information you want, when you need it.
Mentors and Mentees: Structuring a Professional Relationship
Freepint, (2007) Issue No 230, 24 May 2007
In the past year, I have been both a mentee and have become a mentor. My long-distance mentor helped me to make the change from being a full-time information services manager to becoming a freelance researcher. In turn, I am using my corporate library experience to a help a colleague from a public library work towards some of her professional goals.
RefWorks online – reference and citation management
Online Currents, (2007) Volume 21, No 8, May 2007
A review of LinkedIn
Online Currents, (2007) Volume 21, No 6, March 2007
There is an art and science to networking, whether it’s online or in the physical world. Linkedin (http://www.linkedin.com/) is an online social networking site for professionals that can assist in the science of making connections, but there’s still the art to master.
Stay ahead of the pack: Specialists from small firms work with restricted resources,
Freepint, (2006) Issue No. 211, 10 August 2006.
Knowledge Management
Australian Law Firm Management, (2005) Loose-leaf service chapter, LexisNexis
Book review: Knowledge management and the Smarter Lawyer
Australian Law Librarian, (2004) Vol 12, No. 2, pp. 69
Applying knowledge management in law firm alliances
Australian Law Librarian, (2003) Vol 11, No. 4, pp. 354-366
Heather is an experienced speaker, and is often asked to present at industry association and professional development seminars.
"Brilliant." "Excellent, engaging, entertaining." " Good, well thought out and useful interaction."
" Well structured." " Very good session, well paced." " Interesting and informative discussion."
"Very confident and professional. Topic was new to me and very interesting."
"Relaxed, informal, very interesting and informative." "Concise and effective."
"Well organised and good breadth of coverage."
Business Intelligence for librarians (Half day workshop)
Co presentation with Kitty Delaney, Ernst & Young
Australian Law Librarians Association satellite event
Perth, 17 September 2008
Converge and connect in
Australian Library and Information Assocation, Specialist Information Professionals (SA)
Adelaide, 19 June 2008
Building an independent information professional business
22nd Annual Association of Independent Information Professionals Conference
Pittsburgh, PA, April 30 - May 4 2008
Web 2.0 and knowledge management
Gurteen Knowledge Cafe,
Adelaide, 26 March 2008
Promoting your research expertise workshop
Management Strategies for Library and Information Service Centres conference, Ark Group,
Sydney, 19-21 September 2007
Panel discussion: Advancing knowledge management
Management Strategies for Library and Information Service Centres conference, Ark Group
Sydney, 19-21 September 2007
Knowledge management tips for building the profile and reputation of your team
Gurteen Knowledge Café,
Adelaide, 30 May 2007
Tips for building your profile and reputation
Co-presentation with Megan Hender, Megan Hender Consulting
Hunt & Hunt Professional Development Seminar,
Adelaide, May 8, 2007
The mentor and mentee experience
Australian Law Librarians’ Association (South Australia)
Finding a balance between technology and people
Demonstrating the Value of Knowledge Management Conference, Ark Group,
Sydney, 22 – 23 November 2006
Applying knowledge management in law firm alliances
Conference proceedings for the Special, Health and Law Librarians' Conference,
Heather presents seminars and workshops that offer practical insight on finding and using reliable information for your business.
Her topics are well suited to business audiences and information professionals.
Each of the following presentations can be given as a 60 - 90 minute format or can be expanded to a half or full-day interactive workshop.
Competitive intelligence for librarians (Half or full day workshop)
This interactive workshop is designed for specialist librarians to gain practical tips on using competitive intelligence research for finding and presenting strategic business information.
It focuses on understanding the drivers of organisations, building a network of solid contacts, interviewing skills, online and offline research tips and packaging research results for impact.
"Eloquent and engaging presenters." "Great ideas and suggestions that I can use daily in my job."
"A great session." "Lots of ideas to take back to my firm. Logical way of presenting the information."
How to know your market
Our markets are constantly changing - how do you effectively up to date with market developments?
This presentation provides tips for staying up to date and finding reliable information quickly using free and commercial online tools and smart networking.
It is an ideal presentation for people involved with small to medium business and business development advisers.
6 tips for finding reliable information when you need it
There is a trick to finding reliable information quickly - and it's more than using Google.
This session will provide you with some very valuable tips for staying on top of what you need to know, and finding good information quickly when you need it.
This seminar is ideal for busy business people.