Looking for Another Resource

I use iGoogle as one of my main alerts. Google has announced that the application will not be available after November 1, 2013. Is anyone using an alternative? I'm looking at igHome and Netvibes.

Post-Google Reader Experience: An Update

I'm still experimenting with the post-Google Reader world. I find myself using two iPad apps fairly regularly to replace the Googe Reader experience: Flipboard and Feedly. Both have allowed me to import my old list of blog feeds that I read in Google Reader, and both allow a "magazine" type of experience to view articles, feeds, and so on.

The biggest difference so far is that Feedly has options to view "magazine" layout and the more Google like line layout.

 This picture (below) shows the "list" style, very similar to what Google Reader used as the default. You can see a number of article listings simultaneously. Tapping on a title will bring up the article or a short blurb that links to the full article.

This picture (below) shows the "magazine" layout, similar to Flipboard. It shows graphics from the original source, full title, and usually the first few lines or even first paragraph of the article. Tapping on the title will bring up the full article or a short blurb that links to the article.

 

Feedly now offers options to mark all or part as read, to save links, and to add additional feeds. It is a fairly good alternative to the old Google Reader, but I'm still having to remember to pick up my iPad to read it.

 

More on this as I learn to use the app more efficently.

 

Jenkins Law Library Virtual Tour

Jenkins Law Library in Philadelphia is now "on the map". They are an official Google Maps destination, and have a very nice photo walking tour of their library. Check it out at http://www.jenkinslaw.org/membership/virtual-tour.

Follow up on Google Reader

I posted about Google Reader going dark July 1 and have wondered what to do about it. I found a workaround for now by accessing my Google Reader feeds via my Flipboard app on my iPad. If you use Google Reader and Flipboard, here are the instructions to get you started.

1. Open the Flipboar app.
2. Tap the red ribbon icon in the upper right corner.
3. Tap the Accounts link (should be second link).
4. Tap "Google Reader" from the ADD AN ACCOUNT listing.
5. Sign in using your Google Reader id.
6. Tap off to the side to dismiss the add content side bar.
7. Tap the new Google Reader icon to start reading.

You can still look at individual feeds and folders by tapping the Google Reader icon at the top of the page and choosing the "Feeds & Folders" link.

Pros: you can still access your RSS feeds.
Cons: you have to flip multiple pages to see the entire list for a feed.

Google Reader going dark July 1

I just saw that Google Reader is shutting down on July 1, 2013. I've used it to monitor my RSS feeds for several years now, and now will have to find a replacement. For more details, visit Google at http://support.google.com/reader/answer/3028851 or read the Ars Technica article at http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/03/poll-technica-where-should-we-go-when-google-reader-is-put-out-to-pasture/.

Is the coverage of google scholar enough to be used alone for systematic reviews?

Food for thought.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1472-6947-13-7.pdf 

 

Is the coverage of google scholar enough to be used alone for systematic reviews?

BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2013, 13:7 doi:10.1186/1472-6947-13-7

Background

In searches for clinical trials and systematic reviews, it is said that Google Scholar (GS)should never be used in isolation, but in addition to PubMed, Cochrane, and other trusted sources of information. We therefore performed a study to assess the coverage of GS specifically for the studies included in systematic reviews and evaluate if GS was sensitive enough to be used alone for systematic reviews.

 

Methods

All the original studies included in 29 systematic reviews published in the Cochrane database Syst Rev or in the JAMA in 2009 were gathered in a gold standard database. GS was searched for all these studies one by one to assess the percentage of studies which could have been identified by searching only GS.

Results

All the 738 original studies included in the gold standard database were retrieved in GS

(100%).

Conclusion

The coverage of GS for the studies included in the systematic reviews is 100%. If the authors of the 29 systematic reviews had used only GS, no reference would have been missed. With some improvement in the research options, to increase its precision, GS could become the leading bibliographic database in medicine and could be used alone for systematic reviews.

Google, book scanning, and fair use

Ars Technica has an article about the recent ruling that book scanning is fair use.

First paragraph:

The Author's Guild has suffered another major setback in its fight to stop Google's ambitious book-scanning project. The Guild lost a key ally when Google settled with a coalition of major publishers last week. Now a judge has ruled that the libraries who have provided Google with their books to scan are protected by copyright's fair use doctrine. While the decision doesn't guarantee that Google will win—that's still to be decided in a separate lawsuit—the reasoning of this week's decision bodes well for Google's case. (cont)

Case: THE AUTHORS GUILD, INC., et al., v. HATHITRUST
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
Case 1:11-cv-06351-HB Document 156 Filed 10/10/12
Available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/109647049/HathiTrust-Opinion

20 Google Search Shortcuts

A list of Google shortcuts that are hidden behind the search engine giant search box.  Give them a try, please. Provided by LifeHacker.

Jenkins Law Library Tip of the Week (Episode 201231): Google Voice Search

Introducing Nexus 7

Power Searching with Google

Google is providing a free online course showcasing search techniques and how to solve them in real everyday problems. The class is 50 minutes, offer interactive activities to practice new skills, opportunities to connect with others having Google accounts, and after passing the course assessment--receiving a Certificate of Completion emailed to you.

 Registration is open from June 26, 2012 to July 16, 2012. We recommend that you register before the first class is released on July 10, 2012!New classes will become available Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday starting on July 10, 2012 and ending on July 19, 2012.Course-related activities will end on July 23, 2012. Interested, register here.

Introducing the Knowledge Graph

Learn with Google Webinars

Google provided a list of webinars for those who are interested in learning more about the search engine giant products and solutions. You can register for upcoming or view recorded sessions.

Google Doodle of the day

Eadweard J Muybridge's famous racing horse "movie" is the Google Doodle today.

Eadweard J Muybridge celebrated in a Google doodle
Google has produced an animated doodle to commemorate the groundbreaking British photographer, born 182 years ago
Guardian staff
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 8 April 2012 20.18 EDT

Google has celebrated the 182nd anniversary of the birth of Eadweard J Muybridge, the British photographer, by creating a "doodle" based on his ground-breaking 19th-century images of racehorses. (cont)

The National Law Journal Android App

The National Law Journal has an app available on Google's Android Tablet. The app provides users weekly news, commentary and analysis on lawyers and the legal industry. Free to download.

10 Google Search Tricks You Might Not Know

Christine Erickson of Mashable Tech provides a list of Google Search tricks that you didn't know existed by the search engine giant.

How to Remove Your Google Search History Before Google's New Privacy Policy Takes Effect

Eva Galperin provides a list on how to remove your Google search history before the Unified Privacy Policy takes place on March 1st. Here's the article.

Hey, Google, what happened to Advanced Search?

I went to Google a few minutes ago to run a search in the Advanced Search template, only to find the little gear icon missing! Google is making it more difficult to find their Advanced Search and Scholar features (just overnight), but I found ways around this.

Advanced Search - http://www.google.com/advanced_search
Google Scholar - http://scholar.google.com/

Google Ditches "+" and Introduces "Verbatim"

Google Ditches "+" and Introduces "Verbatim"

Will our searches be less precise?

Google drops + command

"Boolean + operator removed? Why?" Very lengthy discussion on Google's web search help community regarding Google's decision to drop the + command in searching. Google employee suggests using quotes instead.