Google Scholar: Potentially Good for Users of Academic Information

After the previous post it's interesting to read the following positive comments for our competitor Thomson in Fred Friend's article

"The challenge for Google will be to develop a rapport with the academic community so that its services become as deeply embedded in the work of that community as open access repositories and journals are becoming. There is a commercial example for them to follow in the success of ISI, [8] whose citation products are used in research assessment in many countries. ISI's dominance of this market has led to some criticism of its role, but as an example of a commercial company becoming a key player in academic life it is unrivalled. ISI has reached that key position by understanding the importance of quality issues to both academic and publishing communities, and using the contacts its staff have had with those communities to design services which benefit both. Google has a similar opportunity, through its understanding of the importance of searching Internet resources, but its staff needs to develop close links with academic users if the opportunity is to be realised."


For tonight Phili 1-Amsterdam 0 (let's have some humor folks...)