Using Google Power Tools for Gathering Competitive Intelligence

"Gathering information about competitors can be relatively easy if you know where to look and what you're looking for, according to competitive-intelligence professionals." David Gibson, co-ordinator of the Toronto chapter of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP).

Interestingly, Google search is now the leader in helping you find what you want, when you want. It is no more a simple link finder--if one remembers those days when Yahoo and Hotbot were the market leaders in vertical searching, and Google was no where. Google is no more a competitor with any of those who tried their best to Bing or whatever (let alone its once proposed partner: Yahoo).

Google keeps adding power tools. Other than the general purpose of a search engine, some of these Google's tools are a powerful aid in gathering Web analytics (e.g., search within links, domain, titles, subject, etc.), some for gathering competitive intelligence / market research (see examples, below), so on and so forth. Additionally, Google AdWords, Google Analytics, and many more Google applications are a major attraction for techies.

Google as a power search tool helps you in finding facts, figures and data. And the example here is finding competitive intelligence on any given subject. The list of tools Google offers includes (located in Google's vertical sidebars or in the main menu):

Trends on a subject of example Market Research

News on the subject of market research in the last 24 hours (you can change the time, if you like)

Images, that are limited to a subject of your choice, e.g., Market Research--you can change to default results, i.e., relevance

Limiting search to a specific Domain name, e.g., .biz, and market research

Discussions, on Market Research

Finance in relation to market research -- one can limit to related companies

Books (with a free preview option), for example on Market Research

Chel Wolverton - Google Reader - Public - Questions to Ask Competitive Intelligence Software Providers - Cooperative Intelligence

5 Lonely Google Applications For Competitive Intelligence, By Ian Smith

Business Intelligence vs. Competitive Intelligence, Jan Steyl

Culture of secrecy keeping Canadians in the dark, Toronto Star

On the same shelf:

Reading now: UContent

UContent: The Information Professional's Guide to User-Generated Content, By Nicholas G. Tomaiuolo, Information Today, Inc. (2012), ISBN-13: 978-1573874250.

Extract from PREFACE:
"For librarians who want a shortcut guide to what it means to be a participant in these [e.g., Flickr, Wikipedia] and many more community sites, UContent provides a quick introduction to the practical ins and outs of participating, as well as how libraries are using these services and projects. Understanding the web and the many resources it offers our patrons (many of them created by their peers) is certainly a core job of the information professional, and UContent helps provide an orientation in a confusing, buzzword-y space. All libraries are situated within communities of participation in real life—within schools, research labs, or cities—and the internet is no different. The question is: Where will you participate?"
—Phoebe Ayers, librarian, University of California, co-author of How Wikipedia Works, and Davis trustee, Wikimedia Foundation [source]

What others say:

A thorough and thoughtful guide to Web 2.0, providing historical background on user-generated content and a field guide to Web 2.0 applications... --Ron Gilmour, natural sciences librarian, Ithaca College
... A fun book to read, it is worth the time of any librarian who wants to exploit Web 2.0 technology. --Eric Lease Morgan, digital projects librarian, University of Notre Dame.

Contents: Chapter 1: The Evolution of UContent, Chapter 2: Project Gutenberg, Chapter 3: Blogs, Chapter 4: Wikis, Chapter 5: Podcasts, Slides, Screencasts and Video, Chapter 6: Facebook, Chapter 7: Online Reviews of Products and Services, Chapter 8: Self-Publishing, Chapter 9: Citizen Journalism, Chapter 10: Tagging, Folksonomies and Social Bookmarking, Chapter 11: Custom Search Engines, Chapter 12: Cybercartography, Chapter 13: Yahoo! Pipes, Chapter 14: Flickr

Bottomline:
What is user generated content (in short, UGC or U-Content): ..."the production of content by the general public rather than by paid professionals and experts in the field." (p. 4)

Is this book about: a) Content added to websites, or b) content added to library's resources (OPAC, Blog, etc)?
The answer is, obvious from the Contents of the book (as listed above), the book is by and large about the Content added to websites. And, the context is equally divided by contributions by end-users on the Web, and library/librarians.

PS. Individuals interested in the controversy over the validity and reliability of user-generated content (UGC) may get a glimpse from the author's U-Content: Project Gutenberg, Me, and You.

Libraries and the Knowledge-Based Economy, Dr. Abdus Sattar Chaudhry

Guest Editoial, Dr. Abdus Sattar Chaudhry, Pakistan Journal of Library & Information Science (PJLIS), Issue No. 11, 2010
Extract:

Libraries have been dealing with documents and external information while KM places emphasis on internal information and people. KM focuses more on tacit knowledge that resides in employees. A unique mix of technological, psychological, and communication skills is required for performing KM functions. Libraries have the potential to play an important role in supporting KM functions. Their client-centered approach, emphasis on service, and experience in efficiently running information systems make them ideal candidates for providing support in knowledge management work. Library managers, however, need to change their mind-set and expand their competencies by enhancing their communication and leadership capabilities to become active participants in the knowledge creation and application processes. To reach this level, concurrent efforts at individual, professional, and institutional level will have to be made to reposition libraries. There is also a need to re-orient library and information (LIS) professionals to take advantage of the new opportunities. Continue reading

On the same shelf:

Knowledge Management in a Changing World - Best Practices Revisited

Just found an excellent article on "Knowledge Management in a Changing World," by Steven A. Lastres, Director of Library and Knowledge Management at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. West Librarian Relations - Law Librarians newsletter - March/April 2009–Law Books and Legal Information–West:, Also linked at Future Ready 365 and India librarian international

Contents of the article include issues, such as, Knowledge Management in Action, Becoming Business Managers, and Other considerations in selecting and deploying KM services.

Extract:

Since the earliest days of libraries, librarians have served as knowledge managers. Whether they were maintaining the scrolls at the Library of Alexandria, creating the catalog for the House of Wisdom (a Ninth Century Islamic library), or assembling annotated links for the law firm intranet, law librarians have always been in the forefront of organizing information and adding value to it. Librarians have long excelled at getting information into the hands of the people who need it. The precise definition of knowledge management (KM) is an elusive one, but one pillar of KM practice holds that knowledge management "is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets."(1)...

Other considerations in selecting and deploying KM services include the following:

•Access needs to be intuitive–no training should be required. A well-developed taxonomy that makes sense to the legal staff is key. Content ought to be logically organized. The process is a laborious one for the KM staff, but it pays off in time saved by attorneys;
•It also pays to train attorneys how to get the most out of the services KM makes available. Getting the best value out of subscription services is a two-step process, in which the KM manager (1) makes sure the legal staff knows what is available and (2) makes sure that staff know the ins and outs of searching those services. continue reading

(1) Megan Santosus & Jon Surmacz, The ABCs of Knowledge Management, CIO Magazine, 2001.

Personal Knowledge Management, Edited by David Pauleen and Gary Gorman (2011) - A new book

Personal Knowledge Management: Individual, Organizational and Social Perspectives, Edited by David Pauleen and Gary Gorman. Gower Pub Co (2011) 276 pages, ISBN: 9780566088926
About the book:
By delving both deeply and broadly into its subject, the distinguished authors help all those concerned with 'knowledge work' and 'knowledge workers' to see how PKM supports and affects individuals, organizations and society as a whole; to better understand the concepts involved and to benefit from relevant research in this important area.

Table of Contents:

Preface;
The nature and value of personal knowledge management, G.E. Gorman and David J. Pauleen;

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? A stoical perspective on personal knowledge management, Peter Case and Jonathan Gosling;

From information to imagination: multivalent logic and system creation in personal knowledge management, Peter Murphy;

Recovering the individual as the locus of knowledge: communication and PKM, Mark Wolfe;

Systems intelligence as a lens for managing personal knowledge, Rachel Jones, James Corner and Raimo P. Hamalainen;

Managing your own knowledge: a personal perspective, Larry Prusak and Jocelyn Cranefield;

KM and the individual: it's nothing personal, David Snowden, David Pauleen and Sally Jansen van Vuuren;

Managing personal connectivity: finding flow for regenerative knowledge creation, Darl G. Kolb and Paul Collins;

No knowledge but through information, William Jones;

Personal knowledge management and knowledge worker capabilities, Thomas H. Davenport;

Exploring the linkages between personal knowledge management and organizational learning, Ricky K.F. Cheong and Eric Tsui;

The importance of personal knowledge management in the knowledge society, Karl M. Wiig;

Sharing Tacit Knowledge: A Case Study in the Australian Film Industry

Tacit Knowledge
“Explicit” or codified knowledge refers to knowledge that is transmittable in formal, systematic language. On the other hand, “tacit” knowledge has a personal quality, which makes it hard to formalize and communicate. Tacit knowledge is deeply rooted in action, commitment, and involvement in a specific context (Nonaka, 1994, p. 16)

Irit Alony and Greg Whymark, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia and Michael Jones, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia Informing Science Journal Volume 10, 2007

Abstract:

This paper explores tacit knowledge sharing. This case demonstrates the significance of knowledge sharing to organizational performance, by exploring the contribution of tacit knowledge sharing to the success of projects in the Australian Film Industry (AFI). The differences between knowledge sharing, collaboration and communication, and their interrelations are addressed. We also explore the concepts of knowledge, information, and data. In the interchanges reported here the knowledge shared is almost entirely tacit, and the “raw” data and information do not exist without the context that makes them knowledge. The paper includes the identification of many factors affecting knowledge sharing, not all of which have been identified by previous researchers.

This research contributes to a better understanding of tacit knowledge and how that knowledge is shared. This in turn contributes to a better understanding of how knowledge management can be supported in a modern organization, where often the technology is used in ways not well understood by system managers and software developers. A better understanding can lead to better ICT design and support of knowledge sharing both within and across organizations.

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing, Film Industry, Tacit Knowledge, Qualitative, Collaboration.
See also on the same shelf:

The Future of the Future: Rise of the Knowledge Librarian

AIIM > Infonomics Magazine > KM World (02/02/09) Murray, Art and Wheaton, Ken

"Both the private and public sectors have been steadily downsizing and closing their physical libraries. All those serials and monographs, outdated by the time they arrived from the printers, are simply not that competitive anymore."

Extract: Delivering knowledge vs. information
"Corporate librarians used to devote years acquiring and cataloging physical document collections. All those serials and monographs, outdated by the time they arrived from the printers, are simply not that competitive anymore. Knowledge is not static. It must be continually refreshed through venues such as open discussion and brainstorming. That calls for a new kind of library."

"...Unfortunately, there have been casualties. Librarians are being jettisoned along with the bookcases. We need to reverse that trend and start bringing them back … but only the ones who are willing to change. A traditional corporate librarian must make three major shifts in roles begin the transition to a knowledge librarian."

• Role shift #1: A knowledge librarian should be the "content czar" of the enterprise.
• Role shift #2: A knowledge librarian understands the strategic information needs of the enterprise.
• Role shift #3: A knowledge librarian is a lead agent of change.

“The librarian of the future is uniquely positioned to be at the center of the creation and alignment of intellectual assets across the enterprise. That leads to improved innovation and business performance on a sustained basis. Maybe the time will soon come when we will see librarians as CKOs.” continue reading

The medieval monastery as metaphor ~~ Designing space for knowledge work

"The new Cass Business School building in the City of London, designed by Bennetts Associates, draws on best practice in workspace design, with a strong emphasis on innovation and experimentation before and during the design process. This included academic research on historical learning spaces. The medieval monastery, and particularly the cloister, was identified as a type of space designed specifically for the creation and sharing of knowledge. One of the Cass library spaces features a broad cloister-like corridor, with semi-public study areas and places for private reflection and conversation. The whole design reflects transparency — seeing and being seen." continue reading

See also: