http://www.davidstuart.co.uk/blog Web Analyst and Consultant Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:26:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en As Granovetter explained in his 1973 article, The Strength of Weak Ties, our weak ties (i.e., our network of acquaintances rather than friends) play an especially important role in the diffusion of information because are acquaintances are more likely to possess new perspectives and knowledge, whereas our friends are more ... http://www.davidstuart.co.uk/blog/2010/08/social-network-sites-the-strength-of-the-weakest-of-ties/ Last week I gave a talk at an Elsevier corporate customer event in Amsterdam: Web 2.0 and 3.0 in corporate libraries. I was invited along based on the Web 3.0 promises change for libraries paper I had written for Research Information, and jumped at the chance not only for a ... http://www.davidstuart.co.uk/blog/2010/06/how-open-will-traditional-publishers-be/ Most of yesterday was spent at a really interesting Local Public Data Workshop in Birmingham. The aim of the day: To generate ideas and understanding about what is needed to drive the local public data initiative at a local level The group was comprised of people from the local councils, and an ... http://www.davidstuart.co.uk/blog/2010/04/local-public-data/ Two and a half months after I sent off the book proposal, the ink is now drying on the 'Memorandum of Agreement' between myself and Facet Publishing: "The publisher of choice for the information professions" and the first one I sent my proposal to. I promise not to be "obscene ... http://www.davidstuart.co.uk/blog/2010/04/facilitating-access-to-the-web-of-data-a-guide-for-librarians/ Whilst I wasn't a scholarly undergraduate, there is one particular acetate that sticks in my memory - or rather, one particular acetate for which I had vague recollections that I filled out by emailing the relevant (now retired) professor.  It concerned the classifying of academics according to the quality and ... http://www.davidstuart.co.uk/blog/2010/03/a-dubious-honour-as-many-professional-articles-as-academic-articles/ Like many other people around the UK I have had an increasing number of political leaflets posted through my door as we approach the next election. However, whilst social media offers the opportunity for the candidates to engage in a conversation with their voters, the online element still seems to ... http://www.davidstuart.co.uk/blog/2010/03/will-the-next-election-be-a-social-media-election/ I regular write for Research Information, an online and print publication about online content and information management. Whilst online publishing can give you access to a host of statistics not readily available in the traditional printed copy, publishing on someone  else's site means that you have to look for some ... http://www.davidstuart.co.uk/blog/2010/02/social-media-metrics-topsy/ At last it is February, and I am thrilled to see the back of both December and January. From the 1st of December it is virtually impossible to get any work done as everything revolves around Christmas: the parties, the break, the present buying. If you were visiting Britain from a ... http://www.davidstuart.co.uk/blog/2010/02/time-to-ban-christmas/ As I've mentioned before,  and will no doubt mention again: there's no one-size-fits-all approach to social media. Just because a particular web site or technology is flavour of the month doesn't mean it's necessarily right for you or your business. In fact your ideal network may be one considered past ... http://www.davidstuart.co.uk/blog/2009/12/lawyers-on-myspace/ In addition to regularly writing magazine articles, I regularly review books for a couple of library and information science journals. It provides a great way to get books I wouldn't buy otherwise [academic books can be VERY expensive]. Unfortunately in editing one book review recently (best example of how not ... http://www.davidstuart.co.uk/blog/2009/12/the-importance-of-the-editor-generally/