Key technology tools for your IT Business Research

Posted by Maddy on 29 January, 2018

10 years ago when the iPhone was launched, the era of smartphones were just dawning. In 2005 most people received their news via radio, TV or Blackberries. Today most of us look first to our smart phones for information and if our phone is not to hand, we are at a loss and wonder what is going on in the world.

Those who analyse business trends love the Wayne Gretzky (Ice Hockey player) quote and Steve Jobs, at the end of the original iPhone launch couldn’t resist either: “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been”.

Indeed the holy grail of business analysis is predicting the path innovation will take and the speed at which it will move.

Sometimes it is a case of blink and technology overtakes you. (Just ask Nokia 🙂 )

So how to obtain a bleeding edge insight into today’s technology to predict future innovation trends?

Gartner has tools to frame information into visually concise evidence of current market conditions and future directions.

Gartner’s hype cycles graphically display the lifecycle of a technology and provides reference points as to where each company is located within that lifecycle.Use hype cycles to remove the hysteria of a technology’s popular value and instead discover its true commercial potential.

Gartner’s Magic Quadrants are visualization tools based on research, which positions companies within their market place and aligns them with their competitors.

Use Magic Quadrants to get quickly educated about a market’s technology providers, their competitive positioning and the strategies they are using to via for end-user business.

For more help contact HiQ

Patents Search – Tracking Innovation

Posted by Maddy on 28 November, 2017

Want to discover the latest breakthroughs of applied researchers in your field? Looking for practical solutions to real-world problems? Interested in device design drawings and detailed specifications?

You should search for patents that have been granted to inventors. Need to know where to begin your patent search? Consult our library subject guide on patent searching. http://libguides.library.qut.edu.au/patents

Scientists, engineers and technologists often find their search of databases that index and contain the conventional, peer-reviewed literature fails to yield detail on cutting-edge innovation. They understand that to gain a more complete understanding of the state-of-the-art they need to expand their literature discovery by searching for registered patents.

What is a Patent?

A patent is a right granted to the inventor for a device, substance, method or process that is new when compared with what is already known. A patent protects new inventions and covers how things work, what they do, how they do it, what they are made of and how they are made. It gives the owner the right to prevent others from making, using, importing or selling the invention without permission. Patents are often granted for small, incremental improvements to a known technology. A patent is legally enforceable. It gives the inventor exclusive right to commercially exploit her / his invention for the life of the patent.

Patent Search for Beginners

Google Scholar search will include patents in your search results (by default). There is also a specialist Google Patents search interface. All the major patents offices have their own search engine and discovery platform.

When an invention or device is truly new, there is no established or agreed terminology to describe it. The inventor (usually via their attorney or agent) also have a vested interest in making their patent difficult to discover. Accordingly, you should also search for patents by class.

Patent Classification

Patent examiners typically classify an inventor’s application for a grant of patent into several classes, depending on that invention’s components and functions. Classification brings together similar devices and concepts, even when different terms have been used to describe the invention.

Classification systems provide a language independent search tool, one that embraces all domains of technology:

Patent classes are well-defined and scoped;
Patent classes are arranged in an ordered and logical fashion;
Patent classes are hierarchical. Classes are deconstructed into detailed sub-classes.

To conduct a thorough and comprehensive patent search you should search by class.

Learn More — Delve Deeper

QUT Library has a subject guide to help you navigate the patent process and that shows you how to discover patents.

Information Searching #3 – Lexis Advance

Posted by Maddy on 26 September, 2017

For those who have to do legal research you may be familiar with Lexis Advance, previously known as Lexis Nexis. Legal research can be a daunting prospect but Lexis Advance’s new design has lots of handy little tricks that can give you a leg up on your legal research. Here are our Law Librarians top tips for getting started with Lexis Advance.

Advanced Search – This is where all the old search forms from Lexis Nexis have gone including Cases and Legislation. These advanced search forms allow you make your search more specific. For example you can search for cases related to a provision of legislation or for legislation that contains a defined term.
Analytical Materials – This is what all secondary sources in Lexis Advanced are called and this includes dictionaries, encyclopaedias, journal articles and commentaries. Use the Advanced Search form for Analytical Material to search throughout all secondary sources. Or locate the full list of Analytical Materials for Australia by selecting the Browse button at the top of the screen > Publications > Australia > By Content Type > AU Analytical Materials.
Search Everything – This button is located next to the main, red search box and is very powerful! If you click on it options appear for narrowing your search. This includes jurisdictions and content such as cases, legislation, analytical materials and forms and precedents. You can also narrow by legal topics and any recent publication or searches you have looked at.
Favourites – Add your most used searches or publications to your favourites box so you can easily access them. This is one of the best parts about Lexis Advance! You can do this by clicking the star next to the publication title either when in the publication itself or by looking at the Recent & Favourites tab under the Search Everything button. Once the star is yellow it’s a favourite, yay! And you can access it from the home page of Lexis Advance.

For more assistance with legal research pop into the Gardens Point Law Library on Level 5 of C Block or contact us!

Winter is here and so is Week One

Posted by Maddy on 24 July, 2017

Although Week One can seem dark and full of terrors it doesn’t have it to be. With some help from QUT Library you can start this semester with confidence and the right tools to succeed.

Here are some of our top tips for getting started on the right foot this semester.

Check out our online learning modules about referencing and finding information. These will help you get on track for your assignments and start the semester well ahead of the White Walkers.
Make sure to stay on top of your readings. Do this by being organised and reading efficiently for university. Top tip – you don’t have to read every word. Our previous blog, Reading at University, gives great advice so you don’t spend your semester swamped by Lannister enemies or in in your readings.
Find your prescribed textbooks at the Library. Search our Classic Catalogue for a unit number to find its prescribed texts. Can’t find an available copy? Request a copy of the book by placing a hold on it. You could also look for an earlier edition, although make sure to check that the information in the older book is still current and accurate.
And finally, make sure to say hi to the friendly staff at HiQ. They can provide support for all your university needs such as library assistance, IT support and student administration. Unlike Jon Snow, they know a lot!

So start your semester off with a bang, figuratively not Cersei literally, and visit QUT Library.

How to Find Specialised Information

Posted by Maddy on 4 April, 2017

With assignments coming up everyone is looking for that perfect piece of information. Sometimes you cannot find this information in a journal article or a textbook and you have to look a little bit harder to find it.

To help you with finding this type of specialised information QUT Librarians have put together some handy How to find guides. These can help you find things such as cases, classroom and curriculum resources such as lesson plans, evidence based information, industry reports and market research, standards and even videos.

You can find the full list of our “How to find” guides from the QUT Library homepage. How to find information is located on the library homepage under the Databases and Specialised Search Tools box.

If you need further assistance to find information for your assignments, you can always contact the library. May the search for information be ever in your favor!

One Librarian One Reference – Wikipedia and Librarians

Posted by Annette on 19 January, 2017

Whether or not you use it, Wikipedia is a wealth of knowledge and information on just about every aspect of the world we live in, from the composition of an atom to the synopsis of your favourite television program. Students are often warned about citing Wikipedia in an academic setting because entries are created and edited by you, the user, which means anyone could create an unreliable entry which could be mistaken as fact. Anyone familiar with the internet would consider it dangerous to trust a source of information created by a group of anonymous users however Wikipedia has garnered for itself a reputation for being the first point-of-call for many knowledge seekers.

In the age of fake news, how can I tell Wikipedia is accurate?

Take a look at this article for some tips on how to tell if the wiki page you are reading is a reliable source of information. One of the first things you should do is check the citations of the article which are the little blue numbers which appear above a sentence in Wikipedia. The number will lead you to the source of the information cited in the article. If the article is credible, the information will be from an academic journal or other reliable source. QUT Library’s Finding Information page has some helpful resources to help you evaluate online sources.

How are Librarians helping the cause?

This is where the hashtag #1lib1ref comes in – this is a worldwide initiative where librarians (and you!) come together to edit Wikipedia pages by searching for uncited statements and adding a citation using a reliable source. You can read more about it on the WikiMedia page.

Follow us!

Posted by Annette on 15 October, 2015

Calling all social media fiends!

Do you want to keep up-to-date with all of the funky and informative things happening at QUT Library? Great! Take a look at some of our social media accounts while you’re on the bus and get to know the library a little better.

Not only do we have the usual Facebook and Twitter (what would librarians do without Twitter?), we’ve got Pinterest, Youtube, Instagram, and Flickr. All of these tools paint a picture of what the library has to offer. Stay tuned for more in-depth posts about the benefits of subscribing to each of these accounts.