Journoz: Updates for Australian Journalists

BBC alerts

You can now get a desktop application that alerts you to a big breaking news story, courtesy of the BBC. The BBC already offers news via email, but the alert will pop up in front of other applications when something big happens, so it should be faster than email. You need to download a small piece of software to get it working. It was developed for the BBC by Skinkers Communications who also created a similar product for Britain's Channel 4 and Sky News and for Disney. News International is thinking of using it here in Australia. Find out more at journalism.co.uk (http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story863.shtml) who had the story or download the application from http://www.bbc.co.uk/breakingnews.

Coming attractions

If news is largely 'stuff that happens', planning ahead is not that easy. However, keeping tabs on events that will be newsworthy is important, and will be made easier with tools such as the BBC's The Week Ahead, Upcoming Elections Around the World or the World Events Calendar. Several such resources have been gathered by the ResourceShelf's Gary Price (http://www.resourceshelf.com/) and include about 15 services designed to keep you up-to-date on newsworthy events. The linked list is at http://www.resourceshelf.com/archives/2003_10_01_resourceshelf_archive.html/
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Newsgroup tool

Anyone keen on tapping into global vox pop will find NetNewsTracker handy. It works as a personalised clipping service for postings to USENET newsgroups. It searches newsgroups twice a day for any phrases that you choose, then delivers the results via email. You could use it for names, phrases, consumer comments, or company and product tracking, for example. The service is at http://www.netnewstracker.com/.

Staying on top

If you are a uni student, academic or just a keen researcher, you may wish to be notified when something new on your topic has been published, either in a book or journal article. A handy tool for keeping tabs on updates is the Email Alerting Services of Major Publishers / Vendors list (http://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/information/publisher.htm). Here you can keep track of new publications by registering for email alert services offered by book or journal publishers or booksellers such as Amazon.com. Registration is usually free, and there are a range of services offered - alerts for specific journal titles, alerts by topic, new book alerts and so on.

Email news

Keeping tabs on breaking news just got easier. In the wake of the New York Times's decision to start charging for email news alerts, Google has set up its own, opt-in email news alert at http://www.google.com/newsalerts. You can go for 'as it happens' notifications or once-a-day alerts. You can also customise your alerts to be activated by specific news sources.