Update on Blog research: More blog-based small business information sources

It has been some time now that I have updated this blog. Much of the time has been spent reading and writing for other media such as for journal articles or reference books. However, I have decided to pause and reflect on some current connections between my research and what I find on the Web.

I note that a number of traditional media who produce online news also produce blogs that produce content related for an audience interested in small business issues. Two such media outlets are the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-small-business) and the New York Times (http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/this-week-in-small-business-frankenstorm/). However, that is not to say that these are the only two, as I recognise that many media outlets producing online news have their news posted in blog-like formats or structures. The above two though, explicitly refers to these as blogs (by the direct inclusion of the term 'blogs' in the associated URL).

The available of small business news blogs must be contrasted by the conflicting and seemingly low numbers of blog users presented by Pew Internet statistics. According to Pew Internet statistics

Only 13% ever use the Internet to create or work on their own online journal or blog. ( Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2011, May)

Only 14% ever use the Internet to create or work on their own online journal or blog
(2011, Pew Internet & American Life Project, June, 2011)


80% never used blogs as a source to get information about one's local community and 1% not sure. (Rosenstiel, Mitchell, Purcell & Rainie, 2011, Sep. 26)

Only 20% ever commented on a local news story or local blog they read online. (Rainie, Purcell, & Smith 2011, Jan. 18)


30% say that a social, civic, professional, religious or spiritual groups in which they are currently active in have their own blogs. 14% do not know. (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2011, Jan.)


4% posted comments, questions or information about health or medical issues on a blog.
(Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2011, May)


On a typical day, 11% get news and information from the website of an individual blogger. (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2010, Mar.)
 

These statistics point a picture of only a few persons making use of blogs as information sources. Yet, the content being created on blogs may be very very relevant, current and useful for small business operators and entrepreneurs to access.

Blogs to me are new media to disseminate information that were previously done through word of mouth or ephemeral publications like magazines or newsletters. The fact that traditional media outlets have appropriated them, also strengthens the case for libraries and even users to know about blogs as information sources and when to use them and how to identify and find good ones. Hence the need for my research.


Edited: November 1, 2012 to include proper citation of references

References:

Miller, C., Rainie, L., Purcell, K., Mitchell, A., & Rosenstiel, T. (2011, Sep. 26.). How people get local news and information in different communities. (Project for excellence in journalism). Washington: Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Communities-and-Local-News.aspx

 

Rainie, L., Purcell, K., & Smith, A. (2011, Jan. 18.). The social side of the internet. Washington: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/The‐Social‐Side‐of‐the‐Internet.aspx

 

Rosenstiel, T., Mitchell, A., Purcell, K., & Rainie, L. (2011, Sep 26.). How people learn about their local community. (The Project for Excellence in Journalism/the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Local News Poll Jan, 2011).Washington: Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2011/Pew%20Knight%20Local%20News%20Report%20FINAL.pdf

Public library services to small businesses: A dream for the Anglo-Caribbean?

Just had to post about the Bradely Collins'  American Libraries article on public library services to small businesses (Collins, 2012). It is an important article that captures my dream and vision for the island public libraries of the Caribbean. After reading the article, I have itemised the services, resources and other ways that libraries can facilitate the development of small and medium businesses. You can read the entire article for yourself via the referenced URL at the end. In the mean time, I provide you with a summary of the most salient points.

 Business library services to include are, but are not limited to

• business resource workshops or seminars (outside resource personnel can be invited to present)
• librarian attending business functions and connecting with business interest groups in order to identify needs and how the library can partner with them to meet the needs
• market research assistance
• business networking opportunities

Resources would include, but are not limited to:

• online business databases
• pathfinders for business resources 
• pathfinders outlining steps involved in business start-up
• business and career collections - dedicated section to these
• access to trade journals that fit local demographic
• computer access
• books and multimedia on creating and running a business
• sample business plans and other business templates
• databases on community demographic information and industry trends

Facilities would include, but are not limited to:

• fax and copier services
• computers with Internet access
• providing meeting places for business interest groups
• spaces for meeting and training

With respect to the English speaking Caribbean region, I perhaps should undertake an Anglo-Caribbean study or survey some time in the future to see how many if any public libraries are actually offering any of these business library services to their populations. It would be useful to discover how well Caribbean public public libraries fare in this area. On a more personal note, I am dreaming to see the day when a Caribbean public library will develop a section or department specific towards Business, Science and Technological Innovation, with the mission of developing and managing specialised collections for business development and scientific and technological innovation.


Reference:

Collins, B. (2012, July/August). How public libraries are a boon to small business. American Libraries
vol. 43, 28-31. Retrieved August 23, 2012 from http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/features/08132012/how-public-libraries-are-boon-small-business

Preliminary thoughts on creating a chatbot to answer business questions from Jamaican government online sources

I am currently exploring the process of creating a chatbot for information provision, with view to apply it to my thesis and secondly to discuss its application to libraries in providing a new small business online information service.

So far, I am basing the chatbot as a question answering interface to Government documents for business users. My hope is to create the interface to answer questions by users regarding a Government process. In a sense, this moves into e-governance and the access to e-government information/ or simply the access to information.

So far, one of the issues that I have come across is the issue of updates. When basing the information for a business query on a government online source, in the case that I am doing, the particular Jamaican government agency has had a name change. Since the old/former name is in the document that I am attempting to use to feed my chatbot, one wonders when last the site was updated and how this could be a liability to libraries providing this service.

Stay tuned within the next few weeks for more on this matter.

Refining my research proposal idea

With some of my minor assignments out of the way, I have now returned to my dissertation topic and proposal. Based on feedback in class and learning about ethics review at FIMS, I am totally scaling down the topic. One of the issues that I am deciding to do is to study documents rather than people in order to escape Ethics board. However today, I became much more closer to identifying who I would study after reading a newspaper article. This I will elaborate on some more in this post.

One of the issues that came up with my research topic was that the definition of small business is very wide, and within contemporary studies of small business owners, there are several typologies and niche groups. I have heard of Women-owned businesses, family-owned businesses, and as of lately - mompreneurs. For the latter, I actuall saw this term in an issue of the Western News here at UWO entitled:  "Exploring the motivations of 'Mompreneurs'" by Paul Mayne published on October 13, 2011. See the link for the article: http://communications.uwo.ca/western_news/stories/2011/October/exploring_the_motivations_of_mompreneurs.html


Today, another newspaper kind of helped me to pick a niche group of small businesses that I think I want to study. This is the group of college students and/or college graduate entrepreneurs. I am not sure what is the right term for them yet and the type of business that they would be classified as. But I do know that I want to narrow my focus these as a user group in need of online business information/library services.

In an article in the London Metro, entitled: "It’s been a pleasure doing business", Vered Ben gives her experience of how she has started 2 businesses during her studies (page 14).  You can also read her story via the link: http://www.metronews.ca/london/learn/article/1019449--it-s-been-a-pleasure-doing-business. In the closing paragraph of her article, Ben states that:

"Most career centres and schools focus a lot on grades, career options and resumes, and usually do not let students think outside the box when it comes to job searching. I think schools should help students see that working for yourself can be a great option."

I believe than more universities are doing exactly that, and will in another post collect some of those articles to demonstrate that point.