Social Networking and Philanthropy, Nonprofits...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/giving/12social.html?ex=1352610000&en=220a611bbfcf88e0&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

A recent article in the NYTimes entitled "My Network, My Cause" discusses the roles of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace in the world of philanthropy and non-profits. For example, the "Causes on Facebook Project" enables Facebook users to promote their favorite causes and then solicit and track donations. Mycommitment.org, a project of the Clinton Global Initiative, is another example of non-profit causes in the Web2.0 world.

While some in the non-profit world are enthusiastic about the potential of social networking for fund-raising, others point out that the internet still represents only a very small percentage of all giving.

...Some interesting ideas for those that are working on marketing strategies for non-profits...

"OFFSTATS" - Official Statistics on the Web

I recently became aware of a very useful site "OFFSTATS" - Official Statistics on the Web (http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/subjects/stats/offstats/) - from the University of Auckland Library in New Zealand.

This site organizes free statistics from official sources -- governments and large international organizations such as the United Nations. From the main page you can get a list: 1) by country (A-Z); 2) by Region (e.g., Arab States, Latin America, etc.); or 3) by a list of topics such as banking, climate, or trade. Most (not all) sites are in English; many offer downloadable text or data files. Because the sites are limited to official statistics, there is not a lot of junk to sort through.

Very user-friendly!

Featured Database - ICPSR Data Access and Analysis

Need datasets?
I plan to regularly post about a library database that may be useful for business research. Today's featured database is "ICPSR Data Access and Analysis." I briefly demonstrated this database recently for students in Business Statistics II.

To locate this database from the USF Libraries main page, select "Databases by title/subject" and type in ICPSR. When you click on the link, the database will open in a new window. This is a subscription database to which we have access because USF is a member institution of "ICPSR" - the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research.

To begin, I recommend you read through the brief "Data Use Tutorial". It will explain some important features of the database. For example, you will need to do a quick, one-time registration in order to view or download any data.

You then have two primary options for locating datasets -- search or browse. Scroll down to "Browse", "Data by Subject" for a list of subject categories. Try Education / United States -- and you should receive a set of about 351 datasets. The datasets are sorted by title but you may want to change the sort option to date or relevance. For each dataset title, there is a link to a "description" of the data, a "download" feature, and "related literature". (Some will also offer "online analysis").

"Description" includes the scope of the data, methodology, and subject keywords. "Download" options include SAS, SPSS, or ASCII formats. Most of the files will be zipped. (Be aware that some of these files are huge!). "Related literature" is a nifty little feature that will take you to a few studies or reports that have used the specific dataset.

You can also search by keyword -- try fishing, camping, abortion..... and see what datasets might be available for those subjects.

In addition to ICPSR, a few other resources for locating datasets (and/or statistics) include:
1) From my list of web sites on del.icio.us (selecting the tag "statistics")
http://del.icio.us/marcylibrarian/statistics

2) From the Business Reference portion of the USFSP web site:
for general information on statistics and data sources: http://www.nelson.usf.edu/reference/subject_guides/business/statistics_data.html

3) OR, for the Business Statistics II course guide (handout):
http://web.nelson.usf.edu/reference/documents/BusStatistics.html

trade & industry associations - National Retail Federation, etc.

Just a reminder that trade and industry associations are often a great place for industry statistics and other valuable information. (Some of the information may be for members only; some may be available at no cost.) There are thousands of associations out there on almost every imaginable industry, market, or area of interest. One standard resource for locating these associations is the Encylopedia of Associations -- the most current print edition that we have in the USFSP library reference collection is from 2004 (HS17 .G332). We also have a subscription to the current electronic version -- select "Databases by title/subject," and type in Gale's Ready Reference Shelf. Or, you can also quickly identify trade and industry associations by doing an advanced search in Google.

As an example of a trade association that may be useful to your research, take a look at the National Retail Federation web site: http://www.nrf.com. Select the "industry information" tab and note the types of research conducted by NRF and the resources available. Many of the reports are available for purchase. However, some information is available at no cost. For example, under Research/Retail Industry Research, some of the free reports available include: 2007 Global Powers of Retailing; 2006 Online Retail Holiday Best Practices Report; Retail Horizons; and Retail Industry Indicators. Press releases for many of the other pay-reports are also available.

Tampa Bay Business Journal, etc.....

Just a reminder for those of you whose business research or assignment may be focused on the Tampa Bay area. The Tampa Bay Business Journal is a local business publication that may be of interest. Unfortunately, current articles from this publication are not included in any of our library databases. Instead, you need to go out to the public web site from American City Business Journals, where you can search all of their local business journals here, or just the Tampa Bay Business Journal here. Free registration is required in order to access all of the features. You can narrow your search by keyword, company, industry, date, or geographic market.

Older articles from the Tampa Bay Business Journal (1999-2004) are available in ABI/Inform Dateline, one of our library subscription databases. This database is a great resource, with over 175 local and regional (U.S.) business publications included.

Translation tools

Below are some translation tools and services which were reviewed in a recent "InfoTip" from Mary Ellen Bates' email newsletter, available at www.BatesInfo.com/tip.html

FYI, I also use wordreference.com - it's not quite a full-blown translation tool but very handy for quick phrases and sentences. It's available as a plug-in gadget that I keep on my igoogle page. Another nice feature is that you can link to a forum where there is discussion of proper usage of particular phrases, etc.

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* Omniglot <http://www.omniglot.com> is a portal listing language- and translation-related resources. For translation, you can access online dictionaries as well as online translation and localization tools, many of which offer some free use.

* FreeTranslation <http://www.freetranslation.com>, from SDL International, offers text and web site translation in several European and Asian languages. SDL offers a desktop translation tool for subscription - a good investment if you have an ongoing need for translation.

* PROMT <http://www.online-translator.com/text.asp?lang=en> offers a free translation tool that enables you to translate text, web sites and email from and into English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. The quality of the translation is comparable to that of FreeTranslation.

* WorldLingo <http://digbig.com/4tqjr> provides free translation of up to 150 words for text, Web pages and email covering 15 languages. In addition, you can direct the tool to use specialized online glossaries when generating the translation.

* A very useful website is freelang.net <http://www.freelang.net/>, where you can download or view language dictionaries. The site lists translation resources, including tools for hand-held devices and free online translation software. The site also offers free human translation for smaller amounts of text.

[Many thanks to Barbara Verble, researcher and information developer, who contributed this month's InfoTip.]

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Online video sharing sites

For those of you that like to post, watch, or track online video clips, here's a link to a great comparison chart of what's currently out there:
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=112147

Beyond YouTube, there are over 100 other sites listed here!

(from a posting by Gary Price at the Resourceshelf.com)