| High Technology
InSite Pro supports the high technology field by providing information covering the computer, electronics, and telecommunications industries. Some of the subjects covered include business and industry applications, computer systems and equipment, database management, interfaces, hardware and software design, networks, microprocessors, operating systems, prototyping, and programming languages. The four databases most frequently used to research these topics in greater depth are Computer Database, Trade & Industry, PROMT, and Newsletter Database. Computer Database provides comprehensive information about the computer, electronics, and telecommunications industries. Coverage includes detailed information about the evaluation, purchase, use, and support of computer and electronics products. Professionals in the area of high technology look to Computer Database as a source for information on emerging technologies, new products and applications, competing products and technologies, user techniques, and industry standards. Also covered in Computer Database is information on companies and industries, such as market data and industry trends and forecasts. Other business topics covered include industry events, company activities, executive changes, trade name detail, and user perspectives. Trade & Industry is another leading multi-industry database covering international company, industry, product and market information. For the computer, electronics, and telecommunications industries, it offers strong complementary coverage to PROMT in company financials, market applications, contracts, international trade, management, forecasts and industry trends. Trade & Industry contains company profiles for international private and public companies, including many high technology corporations. These profiles can also be accessed from other InSite Pro databases, and many include links to the companies’ Web sites. PROMT provides global information on computer, electronics, and telecommunications products, applications, markets and technologies. It is a major source of information for researchers who are searching for the latest products and applications in use across a wide range of industries, as well as for new markets and emerging technologies. PROMT can also be used to research activities of known competitors, as well as some of the major players in the business, both domestically and internationally. Its content will enable you to monitor the new sales and market share of the hottest products and companies. You can monitor new partnerships, joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions among high technology companies. Newsletter Database is an excellent choice for keeping current on industry expert opinion and analysis in high technology areas. With its complete, full text coverage of some of the most respected computer, electronics and telecommunications newsletters, you can monitor emerging technologies, market conditions and product development from an insider's perspective, R&D activities, company reorganizations, and new trade opportunities. Information Request You are the Corporate Librarian for a commercial bank. The Director of Product Management has asked you to investigate the concept of digital cash and how it is being used in the banking industry. Additionally, any information about emerging players would be extremely useful as would information about other trends in electronic commerce. Upper case has been used to distinguish words used for input and fields selected. However, InSite Pro is not case sensitive, and lower case may be used in actual typing. In some instances, you can hit enter after typing terms in a box. In other cases, you will need to click on the SEARCH button. We start by trying to get background on the current state of development of digital cash. From the SELECT DATABASE menu, choose COMPUTER DATABASE and TRADE & INDUSTRY. Select the option FIELDED SEARCH, and click on CONTINUE. Duplicate removal across these two databases is 100% and takes place automatically with the results displayed in reverse chronological order. Enter the following string in the KEYWORD box which searches titles, indexing terms and abstracts. DIGITAL CASH OR E CASH OR ELECTRONIC CASH OR DIGITAL MONEY OR ELECTRONIC MONEY In the PUBLICATION DATE box, select "greater than" from the drop down list and enter 19970100. You do not need to fill in the TO box if you want everything up to the current date. Click on SEARCH. The results of this search show citations for abstracts and articles from multiple publications including general business journals, specific industry publications and newswires. Among the topics covered are: the evolution and current state of development of electronic cash; obstacles, e.g., security and technology, which still need to be overcome; potential applications of electronic money; and specific company endeavors. Some articles discuss the technologies involved like smart cards or various types of software. On the left of each opened article, highlighted and underscored, are hyperlinks to other related items of interest. Among the varied subjects you will see highlighted in this particular search are Online Transaction Processing and Electronic Commerce. You will also see company names like Mondex and Visa Cash among the developers. Additionally, there are hot links to SIC codes and a variety of other indexed fields. You can use the links to narrow or broaden the search at this point or review other articles from the list by clicking on CITATION LIST. The next step will be look at electronic money in the context of the banking industry and the technology and companies involved. There are some excellent articles discussing uses of electronic money in the banking and financial industry in the above list of citations. Topics include banks currently using some form of electronic money, projections of its future impact on the industry and more. While reading an article, if you wish to see an overview of a company about which there is substantive discussion in that article, click on COMPANY PROFILES. This will take you to a brief line with the company name, revenue and, for U.S. companies, the sic code and state. For the full overview, click on the company name. After reviewing the profile, you can click on links to "Articles about this Company", "Subsidiary Directory Records" and, for U.S. companies, SIC codes for the company. In many cases, the URL listed for the company is a hot link to that company’s home page should you wish to pursue information provided by that company. Having reviewed the results from your initial search, you want to search PROMT for additional information on products and players as well as information from international publications. Click on SELECT DATABASE. Select PROMT and COMMAND SEARCH, and click on CONTINUE. Enter the following string: KT (DIGITAL CASH OR E CASH OR ELECTRONIC CASH OR DIGITAL MONEY OR ELECTRONIC MONEY) AND pd (60* OR 61* or 7372461) AND EC (3* OR 60* OR 65*) This command will retrieve articles in the banking and finance industry related to products and technologies and market information and mentioning at least one form of the terms used for electronic money. Review these articles, and use the links to gain additional information about specific companies as indicated in the previous search. Newsletters contain expert opinion and analysis about many industries and often contain information that has not yet reached trade and business journals. Click on SELECT DATABASE. Choose NEWSLETTER DATABASE, and FIELDED SEARCH. In the FREE TEXT box, enter the same string as before: DIGITAL CASH OR E CASH OR ELECTRONIC CASH OR DIGITAL MONEY OR ELECTRONIC MONEY From the INDUSTRY CATEGORY menu, select the following categories by doing CONTROL and CLICK on each (on a Macintosh, it is COMMAND and CLICK.) After selecting these categories, click on SEARCH. BANKING FINANCIAL MARKETS FINANCIAL SERVICES The Industry Categories bring together publications at a journal level and are useful when you are looking at a topic from the perspective of a specific industry. You can add additional categories if you wish to broaden the retrieval. Having gathered information about the concept of electronic money, its presence and future in the banking and finance industry, and knowledge of the companies currently involved, you now want to explore the broader topic of electronic commerce for additional trends and forecasts. Click on SELECT DATABASE. Select TRADE & INDUSTRY DATABASE and click on BROWSE THESAURUS. Browsing the thesaurus enables you to find Gale Group index terms matching a topic of interest to you. The thesaurus includes valid index terms, sub-topics, related subjects, see references, and access to company profile and SIC description records. When you get to the next screen, enter the words ELECTRONIC COMMERCE and click SEARCH. Under Electronic Commerce is a folder titled Sub-topics. Click on that file to open it, and browse the list of Sub-topics. When you get to the Sub-topic FORECASTS, click on it to open a folder of articles with that Sub-topic. Articles range from statements and predictions about Internet commerce to specific buzzwords like "infomoney" to the impact of electronic commerce on specific industries. There is discussion of potential subnetworks between businesses and electronic intermediaries to handle distribution. As a final step, you decide to check the consumer literature by doing a quick search on Magazine Database. Click on SELECT DATABASE. Select MAGAZINE DATABASE and COMMAND SEARCH. Click on CONTINUE. Enter the following string: SU (BANK* OR FINANC*) AND KT (DIGITAL CASH OR E CASH OR ELECTRONIC CASH OR DIGITAL MONEY OR ELECTRONIC MONEY) This provides access to information directed toward consumers’ interests and includes popular magazines and speeches. The above search session completes a case study showing one way to approach the topics like trends in electronic commerce and electronic money in the context of the banking industry. Alternative Search Strategy For those researchers who prefer one stop shopping, here are some possible search statements. At the SELECT DATABASE command, select ALL SUBSCRIBED-TO DATABASES and COMMAND SEARCH. Click on CONTINUE. Enter one of the following statements, depending upon where you wish to focus: (pd (60* OR 61*) OR SU (BANK* OR FINANC*) OR TI (BANK* OR FINANC*) OR IN (BANK* OR FINANC*)) AND (EC (3* OR 60* OR 65*) OR KE (PRODUCT! OR MARKET N5 SHARE OR STATISTICS)) AND KT (DIGITAL CASH OR E CASH OR ELECTRONIC CASH OR DIGITAL MONEY OR ELECTRONIC MONEY) Since Newsletter Database has fewer indexed fields, the KE piece of this statement will search titles only in that database. You might want to expand the KE above to KT to account for that difference and incorporate additional words for product or market information. KT (ELECTRONIC COMMERCE OR INTERNET COMMERCE) AND KT (FORECAST* OR TREND! OR OUTLOOK OR FUTURE OR PREDICT*) AND DA GE 19970100 Set any date you wish as a starting point. DA stands for publication date, and GE stands for greater than or equal to. As with most information requests, there are multiple ways to approach and cover a topic. The above single statements can be broadened by changing the prefixes. REFINE SEARCH can then be utilized to focus the search as you conduct it. As in all searching, flexibility of thinking is a major asset. There is rarely one perfect way. |
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