Will the Internet turn Database Producers into Information Providers?
by Deborah Lynne Wiley
Next Wave Consulting, Inc.
published in Business Information Alert: Sources, Strategies, and Signposts for Information Professionals, Vol 8, No 9 (October 1996) pp 1,3-5.
database - a large collection of data in a computer, organized so that it can be expanded, updated and retrieved rapidly for various uses.
information - 1. Knowledge acquired in any manner; facts; data; learning; lore.
2. a person or agency answering questions as a service to others.
Internet - a worldwide inter-connection of computer networks which provides access to thousands of sources of information and databases.
Traditional database producers (or indexing and abstracting services, as they are sometimes called) and database vendors are facing a time of great change. In the old days (less than 5 years ago) the amount of money, time, hardware and software required to produce and provide an abstracting and indexing service was prohibitively expensive, and databases could only be produced by subsidized agencies, or by charging a lot of money. The provision of the databases was the same - massive computer facilities and years of programming time went into creating superstores of databases like Orbit, Dialog and BRS. The profit margins of many of the producers and vendors were slim, particularly with large investments in the mainframe technology of the day.
With the advent of the new information technologies, most particularly the rise of the computing power of the PC and the easy accessibility and graphical features of the Internet, the world of information provision is changing dramatically. It is very easy and cheap for any organization to get into information provision. The traditional roles are being blurred and in some cases wiped out. Print book and journal publishers are creating databases, document delivery suppliers are creating databases, authors and universities are creating databases, and new start-up companies are creating databases. What does all this mean for the traditional database publishers? Well, depending on the type of organization, they are responding in various ways.
Database Producers on the Web
Many, but not all, database producers have a marketing presence on the World Wide Web. A very few of them provide direct access to their databases online. Cambridge Scientific Abstracts was the first of the scientific publishers to provide their databases on the web. The driving motivation behind the decision - the rising cost of printing and shipping their abstracts journals, as well as increasing customer demand for flat fee pricing. Information Access Company has recently made their databases available through IAC InSite, which provides 5 subject cluster databases. Both CSA and IAC have pricing designed for unlimited use within a library or organizational setting. The Compendex database is also available directly on the Web via Cuadra Associates new STARWeb software interface. It is priced for both a fairly regular individual user and multi-user library access. NTIS created their new World News Connection database specifically for Web access, and that is the only way it is available. Pricing is available for unlimited use for one week, or by the month. None of these products are priced for the occasional user - they are still targeted at the library community.
Expect to see more database producers provide direct web access to their own individual databases as the database interfaces become easier to create and adapt, and as the producers become more web savvy. However, it is important to recognize that most producers are not used to providing online data directly to the customer. Many organizations are more focused on collecting the data rather than dissemination. The organizational and promotional costs involved in making such a change may well discourage the smaller and more conservative organizations. Another hindrance to several database producers is a signed contract with other vendors to provide exclusive access, or most-favorable terms access. This means they can't provide the same database online for less, or perhaps at all, even if it is their own data. Hence a number of subset databases will appear to avoid this legality, and to provide more focused datasets for new target markets.
Membership Clubs
Many of the scientific and research databases are published by non-profit professional societies. Within these organizations, the database publishing is usually a small part of the overall activities of the organizations. Their goal is to serve the members. Many of their members are from academia - a segment of society that has been using the Internet for years. Hence, these organizations are rushing to provide all kinds of member services over the Internet. Organizations like the American Institute of Physics, the American Mathematical Society, the American Marketing Association, etc. are creating special areas for members that provide a wide range of services targeted to the individual scientist or researcher. Other organizations, and even some of the commercial publishers are focusing on particular subject areas and scientists, too, as evidenced by Ei's Engineering Village, CSA's Environmental RouteNet, the Community of Science, and BioMedNet from Electronic Press. All of these services recognize that the organization must provide more information than just abstracts and bibliographic citations. Most supply forums for communication, ask-the-expert type help, and access to a variety of Internet sources that have been sorted or rated for easier use. Their role is to answer questions and solve problems, no matter where the source of the solution may lie.
Database Producers becoming Vendors
A few of the traditional database producers who have already invested in the web server technology, are also providing access to other proprietary databases. And many database producers are taking advantage of this low cost entrance into Internet publishing. CSA's Internet Database Service debuted in June 1994 and now provides access to more than 60 databases from over 20 different providers. These databases are all bibliographic citations and abstracts only. There is no link to document delivery, and no online full-text. However it is a flat-rate service, with unlimited access within a site, so it is very popular with university librarians.
UMI's ProQuest Direct provides access to the fulltext and images of thousands of publications through 9 of UMI's own databases and plans to provide access to a number of other databases, such as the H.W. Wilson Abstracts & Indexes, NetFirst, and Disclosure. They expect to have Internet access available by the end of October.
IAC has also recently added web access to its InfoTrac SearchBank and will provide access to such files as PsychInfo, Pro CD Phone, Books in Print, Current Contents, and more.
These services are not really providing any new information - simply a new way of accessing data that is already available in other ways. But, it does provide direct Internet access and flat fee pricing to a number of different databases that are not yet accessible any other way on the Internet.
Document Delivery Services creating Web Databases
Document delivery services have been gradually getting into the database provision arena. CARL's UnCover service has been providing a searchable database and Table of Contents service for years. They have recently added a Web interface to this, and it is still free. Users can, of course, easily order the full-text of an article with a credit card or an account. EBSCO has also created an online database of all its journals, but includes some full-text and images, as well. This is a subscription based service aimed at the library community. However, they have recently created a new web based database called EBSCO Collectanea, which is aimed at individuals. For a mere $25 per year the individual has unlimited access to a subset database of abstracts and citations from about 500 journals, plus a company database that provides names, addresses and news about select companies. An interesting feature is that the news comes from a different web site, BusinessFactory, which is another subscription based service providing company information from newswires and company reports.
Infotrieve, another document delivery supplier is now providing Medline and other major databases via the web, and of course supplying document delivery as well. They will load any database on the Infotrieve web server and provide access to subscribing libraries. This provides a means for a library to load their own proprietary database on Infotrieve's server and provide web access to it, without having to invest in a server and support it themselves.
It is a natural extension for the document delivery services to put their information online, but the lack of indexing in these files can make information difficult to find. Combining fulltext availability with the sophisticated indexing of specialty databases will create better information products. While users love having the fulltext available online, with graphics and pictures and formatting, journal publishers have been extremely reluctant to give permission for this type of access. Perhaps with an increasing number of journal publishers putting up the fulltext of their own publications, a new pricing mechanism will evolve to allow for the true merger of searching databases and viewing documents.
Traditional CD-ROM and Online Vendors on the Web
The traditional database vendors, both online and CD-ROM, are scrambling to provide Internet access beyond simple telnet access to their standard services. Knight-Ridder's first Internet venture is ScienceBase, a web interface to dozens of the scientific databases on Dialog. For $50 a month anyone can search the system, and pay per record for the information they want. Some sort of human intelligence is built-in to the system with customizable pre-defined search queries on certain topics. BusinessBase, a similar product for company and business information may be available on the web soon. Knight-Ridder has also shown it's interest in the Internet area by investing in Netscape Corporation.
Dow Jones/News Retrieval is available over the web for a $29.95 annual subscription fee and $2.95 per article viewed or printed. The user downloads software that essentially functions as web browser to access the News Retrieval Services, and charges are billed to a credit card. This is definitely an end-user type product, with friendly software and transaction based pricing.
Questel-Orbit put the US Patent files up on the Internet as QPAT-US. Users can search the abstracts database back to 1974 for free, as long as they register. The full-text database requires a subscription. According to a Questel-Orbit spokesperson, this service has been well-used, and by a different clientele than uses their proprietary online system. Micropatent also has patent files available on the web, with images. They have a free viewer, and charge $1.00 for the front page and fifty cents for each additional page. According to the Micropatent Home Page, they started the web service as a way for their monthly CD-ROM customers to receive the most current patent information, between updates to the discs.
SilverPlatter led the way with it's ERL technology to providing online access to CD-ROM databases. Today, most of the databases that are available on a SilverPlatter CD-ROM are also available over the Internet. The cost and licensing are usually the same as a CD-ROM subscription, but the Internet subscription option saves the library the hassles of loading the discs and providing CD-ROM drives. OVID is following suit, with plans to have most of their databases available on the web soon.
With the exception of ScienceBase, these are all simply the same databases with Internet access. Even ScienceBase doesn't go far enough, as it still relies only on the information in databases available on Dialog. What is needed is a new level of filtering and analysis, providing the user with an answer to a question instead of a list of citations or articles.
The difficulty for the vendors, of course, is that they do not own the data. They need to get permission and pricing from each database producer, and coerce and entreat those reluctant to put their databases on the Internet. Many database producers who have depended on online royalties must guess at prices for the new types of access, and are very hesitant to change anything that affects their bottom line.
New Databases on the Web
There are a variety of new databases on the web, although not many from the traditional database publishers. Disclosure and American Business Information have developed the Big Business Database which provides access to company reports and targeted mailing lists and labels. With easy web access, forms based searching, transactional pricing and secure web payment schemes, this is truly designed for anyone browsing the web looking for business leads or company information.
Many of the new databases are supported by advertising and are free to the users. These range from shopping malls to directories of companies, to fulltext of newspapers, magazines and journals. There a number of different yellow pages available, and not all from the companies that produce the print versions. The best ones provide a link to a home page for the company, or a map showing where they are located. If you are looking for a specific directory, try dNet, the online database of directories.
Of course, the largest and most popular of the databases on the web are the search engines that index and retrieve information from the millions of web pages out there. Some of these, like Infoseek, NlightN, and IBM's InfoMarket combine web searching with access to proprietary databases as well. The goal is to make all sorts of information instantly available, through a point and click interface with minimal effort on the part of the searcher. Information professionals may bemoan the lack of sophisticated search capabilities and boolean logic, but how many of the millions of Internet users would bother to use such tools anyway? Isn't it interesting that none of the search engines on the Internet have come from any of the traditional database producers - companies with decades of experience in organizing information.
What's Next
The world of information is changing. Suddenly information is becoming the world's fastest growing commodity. Database producers originally came into existence to handle the overflowing number of articles from journals and other print sources. Professionals from all disciplines came to rely on them to find the information they needed. Now that the amount of information is even more overwhelming shouldn't the traditional databases step in and provide the filtering and funneling services so desperately needed by today's users? The database producers need to scan the total realm of information sources, from email to video to print. They need to verify and edit. They need to provide analysis and filtering and artificial intelligence so that users can ask a question and get an actual answer. And finally, the information needs to be priced and marketed for a variety of users - from the information professional to the end-user. Can this be done? Yes, eventually. Can it be done by the traditional database producers? If they continue the way they are, I doubt it. There are lots of new companies entering the information industry that never heard of an abstracts journal. They are not hindered by a long history of doing things a certain way, and they embrace the newest technologies and aim at the mass market. For libraries and end users, there will be a wide variety of choices for information products, at least in the short term. In the long run, let's work to make sure it is the best that survive.
Copyright 1996. Next Wave Consulting, Inc.
Deborah Lynne Wiley is the president and founder of Next Wave Consulting, a Maryland-based firm specializing in developing and marketing a wide variety of electronic publications. She can be reached at deb@consultnw.com, or 410/394-1091.
