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.

For building a comprehensive background profile or locating experts, the following sources are helpful:

○    Press search, using sources such as Factiva or LexisNexis for good coverage of Australian newspapers.

○    Directories, such as Business Who’s Who and the Directory of Australian Associations.

○    Web 2.0 sources, such as Linkedin (www.linkedin.com) are now important sources for finding employment and employer information.

○    Zoominfo (www.zoominfo.com) aggregates profile information about people from many internet sources, including company websites, associations and online publications.

○    Specialist business, land and property public records search companies, such as Access Business Information (www.accessinfo.com.au)

○    Google and Yahoo, with their restricted coverage to Australian sources, are also useful for tracking down background information on Australian people.

This month’s tip is an extract from Heather’s recent article “searching for Australian content:  industries, companies, people and government”, Searcher, May 2008.  http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/may08/Carine.shtml