Top 10 Most Usable Content Management Systems

There are plenty of options when it comes to picking a content management system for a development project. Depending on how advanced you need the CMS to be, what language it’s built in, and who is going to be using it, it can be a nightmare trying to find the “perfect” CMS for a project.

However, some CMSs have a slight edge over the rest of the competition because of the usability of the software. Some are just easier to install, use and extend, thanks to some thoughtful planning by the lead developers. Here are 10 of the most usable CMSs on the web to use in your next project.

1. WordPress

What is there left to say about WordPress that hasn’t already been said? The PHP blogging platform is far and away the most popular CMS for blogging, and probably the most popular CMS overall. It’s a great platform for beginners, thanks to their excellent documentation and super-quick installation wizard. Five minutes to a running CMS is pretty good. Not to mention the fact that the newest versions auto-update the core and plugins from within the backend, without having to download a single file.

For those users not familiar with HTML or other markup language, a WYSIWYG editor is provided straight out of the box. The backend layout is streamlined and intuitive, and a new user should be able to easily find their way around the administration section. Wordpres also comes with built-in image and multimedia uploading support.

For developers, the theming language is fairly simple and straightforward, as well the Plugin API.

The WordPress Community is a faithful and zealous bunch. WordPress probably has the widest base ofplugins and themes to choose from. A great part about the WordPress community is the amount of help and documentation online you can find on nearly every aspect of customizing WordPress. If you can dream it, chances are it’s already been done with WordPress and documented somewhere.

2. Drupal

Drupal is another CMS that has a very large, active community. Instead of focusing on blogging as a platform, Drupal is more of a pure CMS. A plain installation comes with a ton of optional modules that can add lots of interesting features like forums, user blogs, OpenID, profiles and more. It’s trivial to create a site with social features with a simple install of Drupal. In fact, with a few 3rd party modules you can create some interesting site clones with little effort.

One of Drupal’s most popular features is the Taxonomy module, a feature that allows for multiple levels and types of categories for content types.

Drupal also has a very active community powering it, and has excellent support for plugins and other general questions.

3. Joomla!

Joomla is a very advanced CMS in terms of functionality. That said, getting started with Joomla is fairly easy, thanks to Joomla’s installer. Joomla’s installer is meant to work on common shared hosting packages, and is a very straightforward considering how configurable the software is.

Joomla is very similar to Drupal in that it’s a complete CMS, and might be a bit much for a simple portfolio site. It comes with an attractive administration interface, complete with intuitive drop-down menus and other features. The CMS also has great support for access control protocols like LDAP, OpenID and even Gmail.com.

The Joomla site hosts more than 3,200 extensions, so you know the developer community behind the popular CMS is alive and kicking. Like WordPress, you can add just about any needed functionality with an extension. However, the Joomla theme and extension community relies more on paid plugins and themes, so if you’re looking for customizations, be ready to pay.

4. ExpressionEngine

ExpressionEngine (EE) is an elegant, flexible CMS solution for any type of project. Designed to be extensible and easy to modify, EE sets itself apart in how clean and intuitive their user administration area is. It takes only a matter of minutes to understand the layout of the backend and to start creating content or modify the look. It’s fantastic for creating websites for less-than-savvy clients that need to use the backend without getting confused.

ExpressionEngine is packed with helpful features like the ability to have multiple sites with one installation of software. For designers, EE has a powerful templating engine that has custom global variables, custom SQL queries and a built in versioning system. Template caching, query caching and tag caching keep the site running quickly too.

One of my favorite features of EE that is the global search and replace functionality. Anyone who’s ever managed a site or blog knows how useful it is to change lots of data without having to manually search and open each page or post to modify it.

ExpresssionEngine is quite different than other previously-mentioned CMS in that it’s paid software. The personal license costs $99.95, and the commercial license costs $249.99.

5. TextPattern

Textpattern is a popular choice for designers because of its simple elegance. Textpattern isn’t a CMS that throws in every feature it can think of. The code base is svelte and minimal. The main goal of Textpattern is to provide an excellent CMS that creates well-structured, standards-compliant pages. Instead of providing a WYSIWYG editor, Textpattern uses textile markup in the textareas to create HTML elements within the pages. The pages that are generated are extremely lightweight and fast-loading.

Even though Textpattern is deliberately simple in design, the backend is surprisingly easy to use and intuitive. New users should be able to find their way around the administration section easily.

While Textpattern may be very minimal at the core level, you can always extend the functionality by 3rd party extensions, mods or plugins. Textpattern has an active developer community with lots of help and resources at their Textpattern.org site.

6. Radiant CMS

The content management systems that we’ve listed so far are all PHP programs. PHP is the most popular language for web development, but that doesn’t mean we should overlook other popular web languages like Ruby. Radiant CMS is a fast, minimal CMS that might be compared to Textpattern. Radiant is built on the popular Ruby framework Rails, and the developers behind Radiant have done their best to make the software as simple and elegant as possible, with just the right amount of functionality. Like Textpattern, Radiant doesn’t come with a WYSIWYG editor and relies on Textile markup to create rich HTML. Radiant also has it’s own templating language Radius which is very similar to HTML for intuitive template creation.

7. Cushy CMS

Cushy CMS is a different type of CMS altogether. Sure, it has all the basic functionality of a regular content management system, but it doesn’t rely on a specific language. In fact, the CMS is a hosted solution. There are no downloads or future upgrades to worry about.

How Cushy works is it takes FTP info and uploads content on to the server, which in turn the developer or the designer can modify the layout, as well as the posting fields in the backend, just by changing the style classes of the styles. Very, very simple.

Cushy CMS is free for anyone, even for professional use. There is an option to upgrade to a pro account to use your own logo and color scheme, as well as other fine-grain customizations in the way Cushy CMS functions.

8. SilverStripe

SilverStripe is another PHP CMS that behaves much like WordPress, except has many more configurable options and is tailored towards content management, and not blogging. SilverStripe is unique because it was built upon its very own PHP framework Saphire. It also provides its own templating language to help with the design process.

SilverStripe also has some interesting features built in to the base, like content version control and native SEO support. What’s really unique with SilverStripe is that developers and designers can customize the administration area for their clients, if need be. While the development community isn’t as large as other projects there are some modules, themes and widgets to add functionality. Also, you’ll want to modify the theme for each site, as SilverStripe doesn’t provide much in terms of style, to give the designer more freedom.

9. Alfresco

Alfresco is a JSP is a beefy enterprise content management solution that is surprisingly easy to install. A really useful feature of Alfresco is the ability to drop files into folders and turn them into web documents. Alfresco might be a little bit more work than some of the other CMS and isn’t as beginner-friendly, it certainly is quite usable given the massive power of the system. The administration backend is clean and well-designed.

While Alfresco might not be a great choice for most simple sites, it’s an excellent choice for enterprise needs.

10. TYPOlight

TYPOlight seems to have the perfect balance of features built into the CMS. In terms of functionality, TYPOlight ranks with Drupal and ExpressionEngine, and even offers some unique bundled modules like newsletters and calendars. Developers can save time with the built-in CSS generator, and there are plenty of resources for learning more about the CMS.

If there is a downside to TYPOlight, it’s that it has so many features and configurable options. Even though the backend is thoughtfully organized, there are still a lot of options to consider. But if you’re wanting to build a site with advanced functionality and little extra programming, TYPOlight could be a great fit.

Librarian and Asst. Librarian Vacancy, MRK Institute of Engg. and Technology, Rewari, Haryana

Librarian Vacancy, S.R. Group of Institution, Jhansi

http://www.srgi.ac.in/jobs.htm

Assistant Librarian and Information Scientist Vacancy, Tejpur University, Assam

Source:-www.tezu.ernet.in

University Librarian Vacancy, Central University of Rajasthan

Source:-
http://www.curaj.ac.in
http://www.curaj.ac.in/pdf/vacancies/Re-Advertisement%20-%20Required%20Regular%20Teaching%20positions-%202012%20(Final).pdf

Asst. Librarian at NICMAR - Hyderabad Campus

National Institute of Construction Management And Research

India's premier management Institute with focus on construction industry is looking for suitable candidates for appointment as full time Assistant Librarian

Essential Qualifications: 

1.  Bachelor's degree in Library Science/ Information Science/ Documentation or an equivalent professional degree.
2. 5 years experience in an educational institute's Library & having consistently good academic record.
3. Familiar with library software & experience in library automation.

Desirable Qualifications: 

1. Well conversant with various activities of an Academic Library.
2. Procurement & processing of books & periodicals.
3. Supervision of Special collections, maintenance of Library materials, borrowing systems etc.

Remuneration:

A suitable compensation package depending upon qualifications, experience etc. will be considered.

Location: Hyderabad

For details information & application from, please visit NICMAR website:

http://www.nicmar. ac.in/vacancy. php <http://www.nicmar. ac.in/vacancy. php%20>

Apply within 10 days to:

The Dean, NICMAR Construction Industry Staff College, NAC

Campus, Kondapur, Hyderabad – 500084. Tel: 040-64510762,

23113475 / 1286 / 2104. Email: nicmarhyd@nicmar.ac.in

Libraries are great places for savers

By SAMANTHA MAZ IARZ CHRISTMANN

BUFFALO NEWS

In the past, it was always thrilling to think that, if my closest branch didn’t have a copy of a book I was looking for, they would arrange for it to be delivered there for me. What service!

So how much more incredible is it now that my library magically beams free books directly to my e-reader? It’s like an episode of “Star Trek.”

It’s easier to appreciate just how awesome the entire concept of libraries is if you imagine it applied to items other than books.

But what if there were a library of kitchen gadgets where I could just bring my library card and check out whatever I needed?

Not only would I be able to borrow it, but there would be someone there –a kitchen librarian –to show me where to find it and how to use it. Best of all, it wouldn’t cost me a cent.

The only time money would come into the equation would be if I failed to return my mixer on time. Even then, the penalties would be a pittance. How cool would that be?

You hear a lot about how much money libraries cost because politicians are always trying to cut them out of their budgets. But have you ever stopped to think about how much money libraries save the people who need them?

A recent report released by the Buffalo&Erie County Public Library shows that every $1 of funding received by our public library system returns a minimum of $6.70 in services.

That’s better than money in the bank –literally –considering the average interest rate on a standard local savings account runs between 0.01 percent and 0.10 percent.

In total, Erie County’s library system estimates it saved borrowers more than $76 million in 2011, including more than $10 million in computer usage and more than$727,000 in children and adult programming.

And that just accounts for one county in Western New York. Libraries in Niagara County and elsewhere are similarly spinning straw into gold.

source: The Buffalo News

Librarian Vacancy, Manava Bharti International School, New Delhi

Source- The Hindustan Times, Page No.14 Classified Section, New Delhi Edition.                          05 June 2012

Librarian Vacancy,Trinity Institutions, New Delhi

Source- The Hindustan Times, Page No.14 Classified Section, New Delhi Edition.                          05 June 2012

Librarian Vacancy, Happy Senior School, New Delhi

Source- The Hindustan Times, Page No.14 Classified Section, New Delhi Edition.                          05 June 2012

Policing the Net in mufti--Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta 

Issues relating to whether the Internet should be governed or managed, and if so, how, are exercising the minds of many across the globe. Those who believe freedom of expression is a fundamental right of individuals are agitated over attempts that are made from time to time by governments to decide what people should read, listen to or watch. Those who argue that the Internet can and does strengthen democracy in communities and countries also realise that control over the World Wide Web by not just governments but by powerful corporate establishments as well can and does throttle its potential to empower the weak and the underprivileged.

Even as the “digital divide” in the world and across nation-states slowly but inexorably narrows (according to one estimate, at least two out of three people on the planet still have not used the Internet), debates on who decides what can and cannot be publicly disseminated tend to swing from one extreme to the other. The point of view of free speech libertarians is that anything and everything should go (stopping short of child pornography), while those at the other end advocate strict control over content on a variety of claims and considerations, from protecting children from purveyors of porn to checking those who allegedly abuse their right to free speech to create social disharmony, including religious intolerance, defame others, disrupt public disorder and/or compromise national security. A balance is urgently called for.

As these debates rage, the Indian government’s reaction has been rather ham-handed, clumsy and peculiar, if not downright regressive. The department of information technology has chosen to define the word “intermediary” in a ludicrous manner to include telecom service providers, network service providers, Internet service providers, Web-hosting service providers, search engines, online payment sites, auction sites and cyber cafes. And the new rules have defined as “unlawful” all content considered “grossly harmful, harassing, blasphemous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, libellous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling…” The government expects the intermediaries, instead of the judiciary, to identify such content and remove it on their own within 36 hours, saddling Internet service providers with an adjudicating function for which they are neither equipped, nor capable.

These rules were sought to be annulled in the Rajya Sabha by CPI(M) member of Parliament P. Rajeev on May 18, a move which was supported by the Leader of the Opposition and BJP leader, Arun Jaitley. Faced with a unified Opposition, Union minister for communications and information technology Kapil Sibal said: “My assurance to the House is that I will request the MPs to write letters to me objecting to any specific words (in the rules). I will then call a meeting of the members and the industry and all stakeholders. We will have a discussion and whatever consensus emerges, we will implement it.”

The story does not end here. Even as the discussion on the IT intermediary rules was taking place in the country, in October 2011, the Indian government quietly and without any public discussion took a position in the UN General Assembly that effectively implies greater government control over the Internet. Of course, New Delhi’s position was cleverly couched in language that makes it appear as if government control over the Internet was not being advocated or suggested. And, where it is, it is only to challenge the current global structure that controls the functioning of the Internet which is heavily biased in favour of the United States.

These are two different issues that need to be separated.

American and Western domination over key resources, notably root zone server systems and the management of names and addresses through ICANN (Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers), is a matter of grave concern for all informed observers of the Internet and not just activists, especially those in developing countries. While the not-for-profit ICANN claims that it is an independent, non-governmental global body accountable to different sets of stakeholders, including civil society, these claims are taken with more than a pinch of salt given its relationship with the US federal government in particular and the American establishment in general.

There are already two UN bodies, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), that are engaged in examining various issues relating to the functioning of the Internet.

What India suggested in October last year was the establishment of a Committee on Internet Related Policies (CIRP) that would be under the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) and governed by bureaucrats and politicians representing the governments of 50 countries across the world, including the governments of nations that have a rather questionable track record of freedom of expression, such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda and Cuba.

The Indian proposal says the CIRP would strengthen the Internet “as a vehicle for openness, democracy, freedom of expression, human rights, diversity, inclusiveness, creativity, free and unhindered access to information and knowledge, global connectivity, innovation and socio-economic growth” and that any attempt by governments to “take over”, “regulate” or “circumscribe” the Internet would be “antithetical”, not only to the Internet “but also to human welfare”. It adds that India’s commitment to “multi-stakeholderism” is evident from its proposal to have four advisory groups, one each for civil society, the private sector, inter-governmental and international organisations and the technical and academic community.

That sounds fine on paper. But could the medicine prove worse than the disease? Civil society representatives, technical experts and academics in India will have to intensify struggles on at least three fronts. One is to ensure that politicians and bureaucrats do not effectively control the CIRP if and when it is formed. Two, efforts to reduce the domination of Western governments and multinational corporate oligopolies over the Internet will have to continue with renewed vigour. Thirdly, it must be ensured that the Indian government listens to more voices while rewriting the fine print of extant IT guidelines relating to “intermediaries”.

Only then can one hope that the Internet will truly be able to serve the wider interests of the majority of humanity.

The writer is an educator and commentator

Source: http://www.asianage.com/, 05 May, 2012, Editorial Section

Librarian at Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi

Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi

(A Central University established by an Act of Parliament of India in 2009)

ADVERTISEMENT FOR REGULAR APPOINTMENT

Adv. No.CUJ/Advt./12-13/04                                       Date: 17.05.2012

Central University of Jharkhand invites applications from the eligible citizens of India for the following position to be filled by direct recruitment on regular basis:

LIBRARIAN    1(UR)     Pay Band 37400-67000 Grade Pay 10000

Essential Qualifications:

i. A Master’s Degree in Library Science/Information Science/documentation with at least 55% marks or its equivalent grade of B in the UGC seven points scale and consistently good academic record.

ii. At least thirteen years as a Deputy Librarian in a University Library or Eighteen Year’s experience as a college Librarian.

iii. Evidence of innovative library service and organization of published work.

Desirable: A M.Phil/Ph.d Degree in Library Science/ Information Science/documentation/achieves and manuscript-keeping

For More Information, Please Click and Download Application Form

Mysore's library row gets murkier

MYSORE: The city centre library project, which has already kicked up a storm over its location in the city's prime park, seems to be heading for more trouble. 

The private firm, with which the department of public libraries had signed an agreement in 1994 to construct the library-cum-commercial complex, has petitioned the high court to allow it to implement the now revived project. 

The firm, now seems to be trying to fish in the troubled waters, argues that the agreement still holds significance as it was not explicitly cancelled by the government though it shelved the project. Meanwhile, the department of public libraries has made its stand clear that the project will not be utilized for commercial purposes which is one of the primary concerns of the activists opposing it. 

"There is clear directive from the government that the project should be taken up with public funding. We are following it. Now that we have taken up the long-pending project with public funding, the private firm which had signed the agreement earlier, has opposed it and approached the court. There will be no commercialization of the project," B Manjunath, deputy director of the department of public libraries told TOI. 

"We have got the notice and are preparing our case. We will intimate the court about the government's directive," he said and added that the groundwork will start from June end. 

BONE OF CONTENTION While the government dropped the library-cum-commercial complex project, it did not cancel the agreement signed with the private firm on May 25, 1994. 

The plan was to construct a complex on BOOT basis and transfer the property to the department after 30 years. The project is pending since 1984 after the government allowed 400 ft X 340 ft plot in the park to the department. While the activists are getting ready to create awareness about the importance of the People's Park which serves as lung space in the crowed central business district, the officials are moving in to secure the land by fencing the mega plot. 

"We are not against the library project. But we are opposing its location. Our awareness drive is to tell people the importance of the open space," Bhamy V Shenoy of the Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP), which is spearheading the 'save park' campaign, said. 

It is a prime property located in front of the KSRTC suburban bus stand which could be utilized for commercial gains. There are evidences to this as the officials included a commercial complex in the proposed library building, he said. The MGP is planning to file a PIL. 

Manjunath said it was a mistake that the department thought to house a commercial complex in the library but attributed it to lack of funds. 

According to officials, 50 per cent of the Rs 4.08-crore project will come from the library cess collected by the MCC. The rest will be funded by the state libraries authority.

source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysore/Mysores-library-row-gets-murkier/articleshow/13834974.cms

Tardy pace of library construction in Shaheed Udyan (Varanasi) irks localites

VARANASI: The slow repairing work at the only library of Varanasi Nagar Nigam (VNN) in Shaheed Udyan in Sigra going on for more than a year, is creating trouble for book lovers and hundreds of morning and evening walkers. 

"Nothing could beat the pleasure of reading newspapers and magazines after a pleasant morning and evening walk in the park. However, the library is struggling and the morning and evening walks have lost the charm," said Shishir Kumar, a regular evening walker in the park. "Half of the summer vacations have already passed and the construction work is still crawling. Children, particularly those who cannot afford to buy expensive books, are losing an opportunity to have access to free reading," said Kritika, a tutor. 

The library specially meant for children has a capacity of over 8000 books which includes Hindi and English novels, children story books, books on science fiction and nearly 30 different editions of newspapers and magazines. The library gives an opportunity for people to read books without any fee or registration charges. 

According to an employee of VNN who looks after the library, after the continuous degradation of the library for over a year, the construction work started in Spetember 2011. "The construction in the library is still going on. The three reading rooms are badly in shape crammed with damaged furniture and bundles of books, leaving no space for the readers and even book racks to be adjust," he said. In 1987, when the library was established as children's library, the number of readers used to be around 100, which often increased to 150-200 during summer vacations. Since the building started getting dilapidated, the number of readers reduced sharply. At present, the construction is going on inside the library, leaving no space for readers to sit. The library is serving the morning walkers by making newspapers available outside the library. "In spite of the lack of space for reading, the library does not issue books to be taken to home," Abhishek, a morning walker said. 

According to additional municipal comissioner Sachidanand Singh, the construction is expected to get finished by the end of June.

source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/Tardy-pace-of-library-construction-in-Shaheed-Udyan-irks-localites/articleshow/13832528.cms

Punjab Agricultural University library: Stocked with books, inspiration

LUDHIANA: Fabled as a Mecca for those appearing for competitive examinations, Punjab Agricultural University's (PAU) library boasts of a vast collection of books and journals. The library is a boon for countless students who cannot afford to pay hefty coaching fees and the results have borne fruit with many such candidates coming out with flying colours in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and other competitive examinations. 

PAU student Shalini Agnihotri, who ranked 285 in the UPSC examination, is proud of the library. "I am from a middle-class family and was dependent on the library for the preparation for UPSC examination. It is a storehouse of knowledge and for the last one year, the library has become my second home," said Agnihotri, who is from Himachal Pradesh. "Besides, you will find many like-minded people here and the spirit of competition and excelling is in the air," she added. 

For Harbhajan Singh Naghi, who cleared Punjab Civil Services (PCS) examination last month, the library is the place that oozes motivation and energy. "I can sit here for 12 hours at a stretch and study and not get tired at all. This is an amazing place, full of energy and motivation. On working days, I used to come here at 3pm and study till 11pm," said Naghi, 37, who is working as a medical officer at Samrala civil hospital. 

"I started coming here in December 2010 and even after clearing the examination, I visit frequently to read books by my favourite authors," said Naghi, who did not take any coaching for the examination. He stays near Jalandhar bypass chowk. "I stay in a two-room rented accommodation in Ghumar Mandi area. We are four siblings and it was impossible to study at night while during the day I was busy with my job." 

For many aspiring to clear various competitive examinations, the library at PAU is nothing short of a second home. 

"The library reading room and reference books proved saviour and helped me clear the probation officer test of a nationalized bank," said Rahul Aggarwal, 27, the son of an autorickshaw driver. 

Rahul, who had done BSc from PAU, got his first posting as PO in Faridkot. 

"I could not afford to pay the fees of coaching institutes so I started coming to PAU library and reading room. The staff here is very supportive. I have cleared the test for food and supplies department and now am preparing for the PCS examination," said Rajinder Khanna, 25, resident of Sarabha Nagar.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ludhiana/Punjab-Agricultural-University-library-Stocked-with-books-inspiration/articleshow/13833971.cms

Book returned to library after 80 years

London, June 3 (ANI): A book that had been issued from Navan library in the Republic of Ireland, has been returned 80 years late.

A mystery borrower slipped the book discreetly through the letterbox at the county library at the weekend.

It was checked out in 1932. County librarian Ciaran Mangan estimates that the book has chalked up a fine of 4,160 euros, based on the original 1930s fine of one penny per week. But they are just delighted to see it back.

"It was an item that had been out on loan effectively since it was published and put into stock and the system in 1932," the BBC quoted him as saying.

The librarian calculated the fine incurred by the book, but they would like to make a bargain for the penalty.

"As good Christians, we decided we would waive that fine if the person appears in person and confesses to having returned the book," the librarian said.

There are no details on the original borrower because the library's computerised records only date back to 1994.

However, someone may have had their conscience pricked because the overdue book is a pictorial record of the 31st International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in 1932.

The 50th International Eucharistic Congress takes place in Dublin next month.

The book has generated a lot of interest.

"We believe it was well cared for and was probably shelved with the family's collection, getting lost among their own books.

"We have it on display as it is attracting a lot of attraction," Mangan said. (ANI)

source: http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/06/03/162-Book-returned-to-library-after-80-years.html

Librarian Trainees at Health Education Library for People, CST, Mumbai

Applications are invited for the post of  Librarian Trainees at  Health Education Library for People, CST, Mumbai The candidate should possess excellent communication and administrative skills and should be able to get along well with people.  Freshers may apply.*Candidates from Mumbai* only please apply. Interested candidates may apply with full details of their Educational Qualification/ Experience and post applied for to helplib@vsnl. com or helplibrary@ gmail.com

Ms.Anjoo Chandiramani,
Health Education Library for People,
206, Dr.D.N.Road, Gr.Floor,
Near New Excelsior Building,
CST, Mumbai - 400 001.

KNIMBUS- Connecting Researchers across the world

Knimbus is a collaborative research platform that enables researchers to find and share knowledge globally. Knimbus combines the best of Search, Social features and Library tools to enable higher research productivity and valuable insights.

It allows Researchers to:

• Discover: Valuable and relevant information from subscribed library resources and open/web content
• Personalize: How they interact with and organize discovered content and
• Collaborate: With other researchers to build collective intelligence and insight
• In a nutshell, Knimbus provides a smarter way to do research.

Knimbus hopes to connect researchers across the world

Niche social networking sites and forums online are trying to fill the gaps, where the likes of Facebook might fail.

Knimbus, a New Delhi-headquartered start-up, targets one such critical niche users — researchers worldwide — and seeks to provide them with a platform to access cutting-edge journals and network with people from their fields of study.

Knimbus co-founder Rahul Agarwalla says the service hopes to address the serious aspirations of researchers, in India and abroad. India, he points out, trails the rest of the world by a distance in research and development, and also in contributions to scientific, technical and medical journals.

Currently, the country has only 2.2 per cent of the world's R&D professionals contributing to around 0.7 per cent of journal articles and 0.2 per cent of patents. Research productivity has a high correlation with the amount of research (a scientist typically reads 280 articles a year) and the nature of research works is more collaborative than individual (93 per cent of the world's published research is co-authored). The scientific, technical & medical (STM) information sector is estimated to be worth $24.9 billion.

REAL-TIME SEARCH

Since its launch two years ago, Knimbus has reached out to more than 450 campuses in the country, including the IITs and the IIMs and also the state-run research institutions such as the CSIR laboratories and DRDO. It has provided researchers with a platform for real-time search across millions of articles, books, patents; facility to share articles and tags; and an opportunity to create shared projects and build profiles and peer networks.

But this is just the beginning. As the network further reaches out to the critical mass, Mr. Agarwalla says, the analytics engine will be able to give both institutions and researchers helpful insights. “Already, some research organisations are asking us if the networks will be able to provide leads on what are the growth areas, and which sector to concentrate upon to earn the biggest bang for the buck invested.”

Knimbus hopes to become a mix of Google and LinkedIn for researchers online; a place to find relevant information and link with relevant people. The articles listed under the Knimbus search engine include both paid-for content from leading STM publishers as well as content from open source communities like the Open Science Project that is publishing free content.

For more information, visit www.knimbus.com

Library Positions in Central Manufacturing Technology Institute, Bangalore

Source: Times of India, Ascent dated 30th May 2012

Vacancy of Librarians in Engg. Colleges in Lucknow and Allahabad

 

Source: Times of India, Ascent dated 30th May 2012

11 College Librarian Posts in Mahatma Educational Society's Colleges in Mumbai

Source: Times of India, Ascent dated 30th May 2012

Vacancy of College Librarian in Mumbai (NCRD's Sterling College of Arts, Commerce and Science)

Source: Times of India, Ascent dated 30th May 2012

Vacancy of College Librarian in Mumbai (Niranjana Majitha College of Commerce)

Source: Times of India, Ascent dated 30th May 2012

Vacancy of Librarian in Media Sector, Mumbai

Source: Times of India, Ascent dated 30th May 2012

Vacancy of School Librarian in Mumbai

Source: Times of India, Ascent dated 30th May 2012

Authors win class status over Google digital books

REUTERS - A U.S. judge awarded class-action status to thousands of authors challenging Google Inc's (GOOG.O) plan to create the world's largest digital book library.

The plaintiffs have contended that Google's plan to create the library, which would have included millions of out-of-print works, amounted to "massive copyright infringement."

U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin on Thursday said it would be more efficient for the authors to sue as a group, and that forcing them to sue individually would have risked disparate results and "exponentially" raised litigation costs.

Chin was elevated in 2010 to the federal appeals court in New York, but kept jurisdiction over the Google case, which he had begun overseeing as a trial judge.

source: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/05/31/google-books-idINDEE84U0KE20120531