Rowland Institute Library Blog

the Scientist announces an upcoming workshop titled From Bench to Boardroom: a Workshop on the Commercialization of Research,
including sessions on how to start a company.  It will take place
on April 17 in Washington, DC.  However, some may also want to
look at a recent New York Review article, the Dawn of McScience,
by physician and Lancet editor Richard Horton.  Reviewing a recent
book,  Science in the Private Interest: Has the Lure of Profits
Corrupted Biomedical Research, by Sheldon Krimsky, he laments several
high-profile cases of corporations sponsoring research and influencing
and even surpressing unfavorable results.  (On the other hand, as
editor of a journal whose publisher charges close to a hundred grand
for the Lancet backfiles, maybe he should look closer to home.)

Congratulations to Harvard news librarian Jessica Baumgart and her
heroic article on RSS in this month’s News Library News. 

(Requires registration) (Source: beSpacific)

(OK, I’m catching up after a week’s hiatus – don’t hate us….) 
the National Academy of Engineering named 76 new members and 11 foreign
associates to its ranks.  (Source: Spotlight on the National
Academies)

Queryster is a utility that enables multiple search engine
searching.  You choose one as a default and run your search. 
On the search results page are icons for a whole group of other engines
(alltheweb, yahoo, hotbot, etc.)  Click on an icon and compare
your results.  (Source:  The Virtual Chase)

Harvard users follow this link. 
Topics covered include microfluidic systems for bioterror discovery,
integrated microfluidic and lab-on-chip devices, flow and heat
kinetics, others .

(Source: Scripting News)

The Iraqi Rewards Program is an innovative use of the net to solicit
intelligence on weapons of mass destruction, pending attacks and
missing coalition members. The site has a secure online form and the
agency promises confidentiality.  (Sources: Cassandra Eckhof,
Laura Carlo)

Dave was discussing Bill Gates, Microsoft and Encarta, and how the net
evidently made Encarta moot:  “Who needs an encyclopedia on a
CD-ROM when you have the Web at your fingertips?”

I can’t comment on Encarta, never having used it, but I can’t think of
anything analogous online to an encyclopedia or a whole range of
reference tools that’s freely available.  The wikipedia?

Anyway, Dave’s remark comes perilously close to some made by Sec’y of State Colin Powell
in the fall of 2002: “I told my staff: ‘I no longer have any
encyclopedias, any dictionaries, or any reference materials anywhere in
my office, whatsoever, I don’t
need them. I’ve stopped using all reference materials because you don’t
need it. All you need is a search engine.’

Had the secretary kept his reference materials, might he have appeared at the UN six months later with a vial of white powder?

Update (2/11/04, evening): See Jessica’s thoughtful entry on online sources and reliability.