Annabel Colley - BBC Panorama
In 1998 Annabel Colley was on an international panel at the News Division of the Special Libraries Conference in Indianapolis USA.
Below is her handout of links mentioned in Annabel's talk on "Computer Assisted Journalism - The UK view"
UK Information professionals sites
UK experts, think tanks and pressure groups
Reference information and UK guides
Current awareness - keeping up with UK Internet resources
Three major starting points for UK news on the Internet
UKPlus.
A site for Journalists. Sites are reviewed and edited by Associated Press editors for
relevance to UK Internet users. Especially useful for linking to all the UK regional
papers. One interesting feature is the ability to search on peculiarly British expressions
and phrases like "footie" for football. UK plus has a mailing list to keep you
up to date on new information on the site.
BBC News Online
Text, audio, video, stills and graphics are intertwined to tell stories in a unique way.
Big set- piece issues are supplemented with background detail and expert analysis in a way
neither radio nor TV can compete. Many radio favourites get a deserved wider audience too:
Letter from America, Europe Today, and From Our Own Correspondent. It’s greatest
strength compared to the other large news sites is that it draws on hundreds of
correspondents from around the world for it’s material. The site is fully archived so
the search facility means that you can bring up stories and related links going right back
to the launch of the site in it’s current form six months ago. Follow the
instructions on the site for downloading a live news ticker for your desktop that you can
personalise. //news.bbc.co.uk/
News Now.
This claims to be the first news headline aggregator service just for the UK. There is a
news feed updated every 5 minutes. 25 UK sources including FT, BBC, ITN Sky and sporting
news. The live feed box enables you to run an updating window of of headlines over other
applications as you work. The basic search box enables you to search back 30 days of
stories on the sight. www.newsnow.co.uk/NewsFeed.htm
UK newspapers with full text archives
Full text Internet archives of UK papers are growing but are still somewhat limited. The daily national with the best Internet Archive is The Daily Telegraph with an archive back to 1994. You must register but it is free and full text with good links. The other national dailies all have sites but no archives to speak of. The Times and the Guardian choose to group previous articles into topics that you can search in. I rely on the Lexis-Nexis libraries UKPAPR (for nationals) and NORTHC (for locals). Regional and local papers actually seem to be quicker off the mark in developing full text archives on the Internet. I am not listing all the papers individually as they can be found via UK Plus (see above). The ones listed here are newspaper groups or individual papers with Internet archives:
Daily Telegraph
www.telegraph.co.uk
Belfast Telegraph
Belfast's top-selling evening paper has been Online since 1995 and is, it says, the only
newspaper read by all sections of the divided community. Invaluable then, both for the
people of Northern Ireland and those scattered to the corners of the globe who want to
keep up with events back home. Its biggest weakness is lack of updating - limited to
Monday- Saturday at 3.30pm BST, although there is a regular early breaking news feature.
The archive dates back to November 1995. Users can search the archive free of charge to
identify if there are stories of interest before accessing the complete story. In order to
access the full text of stories on the archive, users have to apply for a password www2.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/archive/search.html
Newsquest Lancashire
Largest publisher of UK regional newspapers in England. On this site you can find online
versions of 11 newspapers in the Lancashire area,with a searchable and browsable news
archive. http://Www.newsquest.co.uk/archive/
Televisual
At this site you can find subscription services to fully indexed archives in a range of
British newspapers. Currently the Mirror Group, the Northern Echo, the Scotsman and
Scottish Daily Record groups, the Western Daily Press and Bristol Evening Post, and the
Newcastle Chronicle. All the archives go back to 1994. You can get a free 24hour trial to
Isearch and CD Online which carry the service. Once you subscribe, it is free to search
and the only cost is £1.18 per full text article. www.televisual.co.uk/isearch/isearch.htm
Sunderland Echo archive
www.sunderland.com/echo/search.html
Nottingham Post archive
www.nottingham-online.co.uk/
If you just want a summary of UK press coverage try the following sites:
Anorak Press Review
This light hearted look at the UK press breaks papers down into the "Broads" and
the "Tabs" www.anorak.co.uk
The British Media Review
Maintained by the information department of the British embassy in New York. It takes a
topical approach. There is a limited archive of running issues but no search engine. 148.100.56.24/bis/mediarev/mediarev.htm
The Panorama site is still in the planning stages, but occasionally BBC News Online stream our programmes over the web and place transcripts under special reports features. ie our programme on the Clinton scandal All the presidents women . Broadcast in February this year. Other major current affairs programmes in the UK with sites are:
Bullet.com
Aimed at television professionals, the- bullet features constantly updated media news,
reviews of the days essentials programmes a round-up of the TV stories in the broadsheets,
TV rumours, monthly features from Creation Magazine, a directory of media links and a
comprehensive TV and radio listings service. www.the bullet.com
Dispatches
The investigative weekly news programme forms part of the C4 site. There are edited
transcripts of previous themes the TV team has tackled, as well as follow-up information
since their transmission. Archived reports include programmes on the Louise Woodward case,
cervical smears, tax avoidance and new drugs and their impact on resources. There's an
especially fine report on Saddam's Secret Time-bomb, with masses of background detail plus
information on ways to channel reactions to the material. www.channel4.com/news/dispatches
World In Action
Panoramas main competitor! One of the jewels in Granada TV's crown, the investigative
current affairs programme has been running for over 30 years. In that time it has run
exposes on everything from Poulson to Pin Down, the Birmingham Six to BSE. Listed here are
case files from previous programmes which include synopses, analysis, sound bites and
useful Web links. Reviews of the shows - both good and bad - are screened, along with
contact details and more. www.world-in-action.co.uk
Yellow web
An index type search engine from the Yellow Pages UK people
Internet Magazine Internet Directory UK
This service grew from the back “whats new” pages of the the UK publisher
Emap’s excellent Internet Magazine www.whatsnew.com/id/
Yahoo UK
www.yahoo.co.uk
Search UK
A British company runs this service which claims to cover at least 95% of all UK domains. www.searchuk.com/
Excite UK
Netscape teamed up with Excite to provide this UK specific navigation service offering
nine channels on business and investing, sport, technology, entertainment, lifestyle,
news, travel, motoring and weather. The service features a top news headlines section. www.excite.co.uk/
Business information sources on the Internet
A very comprehensive list of news and other sources compiled by the Department of
Information Science University of Strathclyde. Not only Web sites but mailing lists and
push technology. too. An excellent starting point.
Armadillo
UK company information and trademark services. Order a UK company report and accounts for
£14, also search the disqualified directors database. www.rmonline.com/
UK Business Park
UK business news headlines arranged by industry and company. You can browse the headlines
or you can subscribe to an email news service (free trial then 50p a week) www/businesspark.co.uk/index
House of Commons Information
A treasure trove of information on the Commons and the people who work there. The FAQ
section is still being developed, but has a handy "Who is my MP?" section as
well as a teasing series of queries on the Gunpowder Plot. Elsewhere surfers can get at
basic information such as the state of the parties in the Commons, MPs and their
responsibilities and details about the Cabinet and Opposition Front Bench.
Open Government site
The starting place for all information on UK Government regional and central. From here
you can track current and archived press releases, and obtain departmental briefings on a
myriad of topics by following the links via the organisation index. (NB if you want Dept
of Education, Dept of Health etc it is under D!) Internal documents and briefings are
useful for forward planning and ideas&127; www.open.gov.uk/index.htm
Welfare to Work
Well-presented site to reinforce the Government’s policy of getting unemployed people
between the ages of 18 and 24 back to work. It sets out details of the "New
Deal", how it works, what options young people have, and how employers can get
involved. Some would call it propaganda, but it does carry a lot of basic information
– in eight languages and a large text version, as if to reinforce the message that
there’s no excuse for not signing up. www.newdeal.gov.uk/
HMSO the Stationery Office
From here you can link to the full text of Bills before Parliament. Follow the House of
Commons link to search current and archived Hansard (daily proceedings of the House of
Commons and Lords) going back to 1996. The Hansard search facility is a little laborious
compared to the quick results you can get from the commercial database Jusits, however it
is good for simple enquiries or quotes by ministers. You can also search all parliamentary
publications including select committee hearings. www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk
The Penal Lexicon
This has recently become a subscription service at £10 a month. but it is well worth it.
An excellent starting point for research on prisons, penal affairs, crime and police.
Excellent links to all sorts of goodies, pressure groups, prisoners families, prison
inspection reports, digests of uk press articles on crime and prisons and links to
criminal justice sites in the UK and abroad.
Search all UK Higher Education Establishments
If you are looking for a University or specific departments within Universities in the UK
this is the place to start. A search facility.
Mailbase
Electronic discussion lists for the UK higher education community. Some lists are
moderated or closed lists but you can browse archives to get ideas, search for people,
subjects, and generally use the 2,057 mailing lists to find UK academics or research. www.mailbase.ac.uk
University of Wolverhampton UK sensitive map of academic institutions
One of the easiest and best ways of locating and linking to a British University scitsc.wlv.ac.uk/ukinfo/uk.map.html
Europa - The European Parliament Site
Multiple-language site with mountains of background detail on the 15-member community. The
news strand is actually a series of press releases, many of them in Euro-speak
gobbledegook. From the Court of Justice area there was a ruling on discrimination against
importers of bananas. Still, one man's trivia is another man's vital detail. There's also
a calendar of events, statistics, Ecu rates, and an ABC guide to the EU. Follow the links
to Rapid - the flexible database of European Commission Press releases where you can
search current and archived press releases
Euro Documentation Centre at Glasgow University
This is one of the allocated documentation repository libraries for all European Union
official publications. The best feature of this site is the link to Useful European WWW
sites. www.gla.ac.uk/Library/Depts/MOPS/EU/index.html
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Daily news from Eastern and Central Europe gathered by correspondents and regional
specialists of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. It claims to provide more immediate and
accurate information about events in these countries than virtually any other source.
Certainly many of the stories here would be hard to find in mainstream sources. You can
browse news headlines and archives or you can receive regular headlines for free by
joining the RFE Newsline mailing list. www.rferl.org/
EuroNews
A basic European news site. The best feature is it’s links to all European radio and
tv sites and various European newspaper sites. www.euronews.net/
Central Europe Online
This site offers a broad range of news, both international and local, plus demographic-
geographic information on Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and
Slovenia. As well as text, news is available in RealVideo. www.centraleurope.com/
The Economist
This web version enables you to browse key articles and search a limited archive (you must
subscribe to download full articles). You can subscribe to free email summaries
“politics this week or business this week.
Foreign Wire.
Good quality international news analysis Ezine. Journalists are ex Independent, New York
Times, Reuters, London Times etc. . www.foreignwire.com/index.html
UK government press releases
From the UK government home page, go via the organisation index to the COI the Central
Office of Information. Press releases are listed by department. Archived press releases
can be searched via the departments. They are often a good source for briefings www.open.gov.uk/index.htm
Two Ten press releases
This long established PR agency Web site enables you to search for press releases by
company or topic. It includes government press releases too. www.twoten.press.net/stories/
AUKML
The Association of UK Media Librarians. The British version of the SLA News Division. They
are an independent organisation representing media librarians. Membership is largely in
the UK national and regional press, and broadcasting, although there are some
international members.* Their site carries, membership information, past and current
conferences, issues of Deadline the regular journal of the AUKML, media links and
information on how to join the AUKML listserv . *AUKML membership leaflets available from
Annabel Colley at this conference.
Phil Bradley’s Home Page
Phil is an independent information professional and Internet consultant. He will be
speaking at the 1998 AUKML conference. His site gives lots of tips on Internet searching,
intelligent agents, web tools for designers, and copyright. He is on the management
committee of the UKOLOG which is the UK online user group. There is a link to UKOLOG on
his page. www.philb.com/
Free Pint
A free fortnightly email newsletter containing tips, tricks and articles in which UK
information professionals share how to make the most of the web and where to find quality
and reliable information. www.freepint.co.uk
ASLIB - The Association for Information Management
This organisation represents special librarians in the UK and abroad. It provides
consultancy, professional development and training, conferences and recruitment. www.aslib.co.uk/index.html
ExpertNet
This is due to merge with Profnet sometime at the end of 1998. One email sent to the email
address on this site will go to all the UK University press offices journalists can use
this free service to call for ongoing research or find experts to consult or interview.
Institute for Fiscal Studies
Expert, in depth analysis on taxation, wages, pensions etc. The site has press releases,
working papers, articles from their journals etc. Always ready and willing to help
journalists. www.ifs.org.uk
Institute for Public Policy Research
I find this independent organisation specialising in social, economic and political
research a useful source for ideas. www.ifs.org.uk/home.htm
London School of Economics
Not a pressure group but a department within the University of London. I have included it
because, it has an international reputation for research accros the full range of social,
economic and political sciences. It’s many experts are used regularly by the BBC. www.lse.ac.uk
Scoot
A yellow pages style site to search for UK businesses and companies by name/type of
business and location. I find it more thorough than the electronic yellow pages.
Mulitmedia mapping - interactive atlas of Great Britain
Enter the name of a British City, town, village or street name (London only). It will give
you a map of the area on which you can keep zooming in. What is good about this site
compared to other mapping sites is that it also automatically links you to local hotels
and business’s and web sites based in the areas chosen. uk.multimap.com/map/places.cgi
Knowhere- a user guide to Britain
Something a bit different to the standard tourist guides. It is compiled by locals. Search
500+ towns on the site which lists shops and restaurants but also street entertainers and
other more unusual information. I have found this site useful when planning filming trips
and wanting to find out where for example is the best place in a town for teenagers to
hang out. It also has a nice feature, famous people who were born or lived in the town. www.knowhere.co.uk
BBC Web Guide
Sites reviewed by BBC specialists and selected for web users in Britain, although not all
the sites are British.
Internet Resources Newsletter
Produced monthly by Heriot Watt University Internet Resource Centre. New Web sites are
listed alphabetically. There is an archive of all the previous editions of the newsletter.
The Newsletter tends to list serious research sites not trivial or hobby sites. There is a
UK bias. www.hw.ac.uk/libWWW/irn
I am always on the lookout for forward planning information for programme ideas and have tried all of the following UK services. I have just started a subscription to News Ahead.
Future Events News Service
This is a subscriber only service for which there is a fee. See the site for current
prices which are negotiable. Non subscribers can apply for a temporary password to try it
out first. FENS is a news service that contains a huge database of forthcoming information
and events. Searchable by date region of the world, organisation and keyword. Subscribers
can also receive email alerts of events vital to their business.
Foresight
Another premium priced service with both a print version and a Web based search facility.
Foresight is published every quarter and lists the year aheads events. FIFI. - Future
Information Found Instantly is the electronic version and costs up to £1,200 a year. It
lists all sorts of information, news events, but also a lot of other information like arts
and leisure, and product launches.
News Ahead
There is a selection of forthcoming news events on the site arranged by region of the
world. There is also a section on developing stories For full access to the year ahead
diary there is a charge (currently only £100 but this is due to be reviewed). Coverage
tends to focus on hard news and information on foreign summits, international politics
etc. News Ahead has offices in UK and the USA. www.newsahead.com
