Support : Publications : Chronolog Archives : June 2001

In the Spotlight
Dialog Databases Provide Complementary Coverage on the Information Technology Industry

With increased emphasis on the Internet and information technology, three databases—SoftBase: Reviews, Companies, and Products (File 256), Information Science Abstracts (File 202), and Internet & Personal Computing (File 233)--have expanded their coverage in these subject areas. Each database is highlighted below.

SoftBase: Reviews, Companies, and Products (File 256)

SoftBase: Reviews, Companies, and Products (File 256) provides three record types for researchers in the information technology (IT) industry: company, product, and review records. Although the focus is on software, subjects covered include: database management, e-commerce, network management, local area networks (LANs), and much more. Independent third-party reviews and analyses are abstracted from more than 200 business, computer, technical, trade, and consumer publications.

Limit your search to separate record types (/COMPANY, /PRODUCT, /REVIEW) or interlink them to track products and companies. You can develop a profile of competing products, determine the owner of a product and find out where to contact the owner; find analyses of information products and companies, and gather data about current trends in the industry.

SoftBase is especially valuable for weaving together the story and lifecycle of companies, their products, and the acceptance of those products in the marketplace. Refer to the Bluesheet for a comprehensive list of searchable and sortable fields.

Information Science Abstracts (ISA) (File 202)

Information Science Abstracts (File 202) covers the world's literature on Information Science—an interdisciplinary field concerned with theoretical and practical concepts, as well as the technologies, laws, and the industry dealing with knowledge transfer. The field of Information Science also includes the sources, generation, organization, representation, processing, distribution, communication, and uses of information, and communications among users and their behavior as they seek to satisfy their information needs.

Because Information Science is an interdisciplinary field, records in ISA are drawn from a variety of sources. The research and technical area of Information Science is emphasized, so ISA is a prime source of material on subjects such as artificial intelligence, natural language searching, the search process, electronic publishing, and user behavior. Librarianship is closely related to Information Science, and you will also find a wide range of abstracts dealing with libraries, technologies used in libraries, and information services provided by libraries. Some of the topics covered are abstracting and indexing, classification, online information retrieval, information management, library science, and research methods. Within the last two years, material on the information industry has been added to ISA; subjects in this area include economics and pricing, library networks, consortia, and publishing.

Of special note is a cooperative arrangement with Internet and Personal Computing Abstracts (IPCA) (File 233), in which relevant abstracts from IPCA are also included in ISA. (IPCA covers the literature of the Internet and personal computers and is a prime source of material on search engines, information sources on the Internet, etc.)

With data extending back to 1966, ISA is the oldest database covering Information Science. Today, it includes coverage of journals, conferences, books, and recently added electronic journals. The file contains over 214,000 records, and grows by over 4,000 per year. At present, it is updated nine times annually. Current records have abstracts and are indexed using a controlled vocabulary. (In the near future, it is planned to replace the current thesaurus with the ASIS Thesaurus, giving users increased control of their searches and providing better relevance to the retrievals.)

ISA is edited by Donald T. Hawkins and Lynn A. Murray, two information professionals. It is published by Information Today, Inc., a well-established and highly regarded publisher of materials for information professionals.

Internet & Personal Computing Abstracts (File 233)

Internet & Personal Computing Abstracts (IPCA) (File 233) provides a portal to the world of information on personal computers and the Web. It covers Web and computer-related publications for the latest trends, products, and developments in the information technology industry. To stay on the leading-edge of changes as the Internet and computer technology evolve, new journals are continually added to this file, while the continuity of the database is maintained with long-established publications. It has been a reliable, consistent data source since 1981. IPCA is useful for making product purchase comparisons, researching current and future technical industry trends, and obtaining historical perspectives of the industry.

IPCA covers over 120 of the most influential and widely read publications in the field. The database contains over 200,000 records and is updated monthly. To reflect the pervasive influence of the Web in the information technology industry, the recent name change from Microcomputer Abstracts to Internet & Personal Computing Abstracts coincided with an expanded scope and the addition of over 1,000 abstracts on such important Web topics as online trading, data mining, Web publishing, portals, and tech company trends.

Each year IPCA adds over 10,000 abstracts of articles, news, hardware and software reviews, buyer and vendor guides, and book reviews. Abstracts are written by a team of computer literate specialists who produce informative abstracts containing a complete, reliable condensation of material from the original articles. Extensive indexing of product names, company names, authors, and product URLs, and a controlled descriptor list allow busy researchers easy access to accurate information and article citations.

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