In recent months we've posted a couple of times about other changes changes at LookSmart (see references at bottom of the post). One might wonder if another well-known LookSmart asset, FURL, is also be on the shopping block.
Find Articles provides full text, archived, articles (more than 10 million articles total) from over 3000 sources. Some articles are available at no charge while others are provided for a fee (aka Premium articles) using the HighBeam database service. A one week free trial is available.
An advanced interface is also online that allows the searcher to limit by date, source, and sort results various ways. Users can also limit to only free, only fee, or both. Also, all queries can be turned into RSS feeds. Note the RSS button at the bottom of a results page.
Examples: FEE
Searching LookSmart is always free. However, some articles are fee-based to access the full text. Here's a search for the phrase "Rockland County" searching both the free and fee-based (premium) database. Articles available for a fee are accessible via HighBeam. Here's an example. The user sees a small amount of the text and is then asked to register for a Free Seven Day Trial with HighBeam. While the trial is free it does require a credit card and makes clear that you must cancel during the trial to avoid being charged HighBeam's $29.95 monthly fee or $199.95/year
"CNET Networks understands that access to premium content is critical for our users' online media experience," said Neil Ashe, CEO of CNET Networks. "The addition of this high-quality content from leading independent publishers allows us to further improve the experience for our users."
What some in the library world might consider sad is that many public libraries in the U.S. and elsewhere most likely offer remote access (24x7x365) to some/most/all and more of this content (for personal use) at no charge (aka free) All you need is a library card and increasingly you don't even need that. Some states allow you to use your driver's license number or even automatically recognize an IP address from the area. Since many libraries offer different databases, it's also possible to get cards from the libraries you want. To give you an idea, here's what a few libraries offer. Btw, more and more libraries are also offering remotely accessible (download from any web computer) audio book, text books, and videos. At the same time, more and more libraries are offering an option to search multiple databases with one search (meta or federated searching).
A family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success. Read more »
Recently I have found myself cooing over visualisation maps (and heat maps) of health and well being resources. The content rich data is overlayed with mapping technologies, and some interesting themes and patterns are emerging.
A lot of the talk around social media in the last year has been around information overload. Social media has provided us with new and exciting ways to create content. But it has also meant learning new ways to manage and engage with social media tools. Are we teetering on the edge of an information overload precipice?
Information overload is a figment of your imagination. Or a failure of your filter. Or a symptom of your technological submissiveness. Depends on who you ask.
What if you had to sort through 3.5 million articles and social media posts a day and try to pull out the most relevant items for your organisation? What if you then had to cobble it all together into something readable for your top groups and executives in your organisation?
Alacra Compliance saves time by aggregating information from both free and fee-based sources and enabling users to conduct an accurate federated search across these sources (coined “simultaneous search” by Alacra).
FreePint Family
Quilting big data threads
The fallacy of information overload
Information overload: fact, fantasy or filter failure? 
