LISNews: Librarian News

Bill Lucey writes:
\"The New York Times and Newstand Inc. have agreed to provide an online
version of the New York Times print edition beginning this spring. The online
version will include all the advertisements, photos and graphics found in the
print edition. Copies will be sold on a single-copy or subscription basis.
According the New York Times, the new online version will be available at
NYTimes.com in the second quarter of the year; by the fourth
quarter it\'s expected to be available at NewsStand.com, which will
also include other major newspapers nationwide.
For more information, see: ``Times to announce Deals With Newstand, an
Online Publisher\'\'.

This is interesting.

Alexa Research did a \"comprehensive two-year study\" to determine that people are stupid, or at least that\'s how I took it.
They say an alarming number of Web users are not particularly efficient at reaching their online destinations. People are so stupid they\'ll even type a complete URL into the search box of a search engine (something I see all the time in the logs for LISNews).

These findings are based on an examination of more than 42 million search pages.

It\'s funny they seem to blame the users, not the people who design the software and serach engines. As a WebMaster I think it\'s my fault when people can\'t figure out my site, which makes me the stupid one, but maybe that\'s just me.

“This study shows that for many, there’s a conceptual misunderstanding of how to effectively navigate the Web,” said Work. “Some people think that their homepage is the Web, that they have to go through their homepage in order to get to the site they want, without realizing that any website can be accessed directly. This notion is supported by our Web traffic popularity rankings, where eight of the top 10 sites are portals and/or search engines.”

With all the dot.coms trying to find ways to make money, more and more search engines are asking for $$ to show up higher in search results. The Mercury News has a story that even mentions librarians and their current love for google. Blame this garbage on the online advertising slump, they say. traffick.com has a Story that says Search Engines Must Continue to Be Referees - fair arbiters of relevance - or consumers will gravitate to different sources of information.

``The idea of paid placements would have never been entertained in years prior,\'\' said Danny Sullivan, who writes the Search Engine Watch newsletter. But now, ``we\'re having more and more paid placement and other paid programs\'\' on search engines.\"

Freep.com has an Article on new legislation that would require
free Internet service providers to collect more
information about subscribers, eliminating anonymity.
They use the excuse that child pornographers are
hiding behind untraceable free Internet e-mail
accounts.

\"What they\'re proposing to do verges on being
unconstitutional. There is a right to free speech and to
be anonymous in this country and law enforcement is
way out of line in trying to force the collection of
identifiable information because of a perceived
problem with a miniscule part of the online
population.\"