What's In a Name?

Let's assume you are an information professional. Given the fact that you are reading this blog, that seems like a safe assumption.

At a social gathering, when people ask you what you do, how do you reply? Do you give your job title - Information Specialist, Knowledge Analyst, Chief Researcher? Do you offer your educational background along with a job description - "I'm a librarian by training, and I provide research and analysis to corporate decision-makers." Do you dodge the topic and change the subject - "So, do you think Elizabeth Taylor will marry again?"

The conversation goes on in our individual spheres as well as at the broader level. The Special Libraries Association, known since its inception to have an awkward name, is looking at a name change. This is not the first time. The last effort ended in the practice of foregoing the full name for initials - SLA. Time has proven that to be a less than satisfying solution.

So, what are some of the options? Association of Knowledge Engineers (my personal favorite at this point), Specialized Librarians and Information Professionals, and Knowledge and Information Specialist Society are among the proposals. SLA leadership is on board with the initiative. CEO Janice Lachance has posted her position to the SLA Wiki on Why SLA Must Consider a Name Change. To participate in the discussion, use Twitter and #slaname or visit the SLA Name Change wiki. The conversation is sure to be lively.

Finding Prsentations Online

Information comes in many formats. Last month we talked about images, audio files, and video clips on the Internet. Another ubiquitous form of communication is the PowerPoint presentation. Slide decks, as they are often called in business enterprises, can contain a bounty of information including statistics, lists, strategies, and sometimes confidential information.

Docstoc and Slideshare are two sources of slide decks, and Google Advanced Search provides a tool for narrowing results to this format.

Docstoc is an online community dedicated to sharing professional documents. With free registration, users can upload documents for sharing and download or copy documents when those rights have been granted. Docstoc supports sharing of the following formats: .pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx, .txt, and .rft. Documents are categorized as legal, business, personal finance, technology, education, jobs & careers, tax, real estate, current events, or politics and history. A search on "market share" led to some interesting slide decks on the automotive market, a word document on the airline market, and a pdf with instructions on how to find market share information. Docstoc lets you filter the results to the most viewed, most downloaded, most recent, most reviewed, and highest rated.

SlideShare claims to be the largest community for sharing presentations. Free registration permits uploading and downloading, and SlideShare offers an option called Slidecasts. In researching this article I found a slidecast of a children's storybook called Ravens Love to Sing, being read aloud in Japanese. SlideShare files can include video and automated slide shows, and when you select a slide deck to view, SlideShare will point you toward related presentations. Using this feature I found several useful presentations on how to use Twitter.

A third option for tracking down slide decks is Google's Advanced Search mode. From the Google home page click on Advanced Search. Enter your search terms and look down the
page for File type. From here you can select the .ppt format to limit the search to PowerPoint files. Try entering your company name in the box labeled "all these words." In the boxes labeled "one or more of these words" put "confidential", "proprietary", and "private" without the quotes. I hope you don't find the results to be *too* interesting!