3. Resources for Informal and Formal Search

3.1 Search Engines

DejaNews Comprehensive newsgroup search engine, providing 22 months of searchable Usenet postings in over 20,000 newsgroups. 86 million articles (2/1997). Author Profile feature provides newsgroup summary of articles from a specified person.

Liszt Searchable directory of mailing lists. Liszt automatically catalogs of public lists on thousands of list servers worldwide. Includes information about how to join and know more about a list.

Reference.com Searchable directory of Usenet newsgroups, publicly accessible mailing lists, and Webforums. Altogether over 120,000 Internet forums are searchable.

3.2 Directories, Lists

Business Information Sources on the Net Maintained by Sheila Webber, lecturer at the Dept of Information Science, University of Strathclyde. Current and well organized, with sections on News Sources; Statistical, Economic and Market Information; Company Directories; Company Profiles; and Country Information.

Argus Clearinghouse A central gateway to "value-added topical guides which identify, describe and evaluate Internet-based information resources." Guides are rated by staff, many with library science Masters degrees from the University of Michigan.

Competitive Intelligence Guide from Fuld & Co. Directory of links to over 300 Internet resources with information related to competitive intelligence. Sections on Industry-Specific Resources and International Resources.

3.3 Online Services (Fee-based services)

Dialog Select Search over 250 Dialog databases covering more than 200 topics such as News & Media, Business & Finance, Technology, Energy & Environment. Intended for end users, with "built-in search intelligence" to simplify search.

DowVision from Dow Jones Business Information Services Access to headlines and full texts of major newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, and Financial Times. Folders can be set up to track news on specified topics.

Insite Pro from Information Access Company Flat-fee access to IACÕs databases including PROMT, Trade & Industry Database, Newsletter Database, Computer Database, and Magazine Database. Search by keywords, free text, and topic list. Retrieves graphs, charts.