Building Your CI Skills, Part 1: Using the Opaque and "New" Web for Competitive Intelligence Research: Strategies and tools for CI research on the web

This lively course, offered by information expert Mary Ellen Bates, will provide fresh approaches, strategies and methodologies to conducting in-depth competitive intelligence research on the web. This session provides tools for searching the invisible and deep web, areas that are not accessible through search engines. It also examines how to "look sideways" to glean new information from sources that do not, on their face, appear to be resources for CI research, including blogs, podcasts, social networking sites, and other Web 2.0 content. Through discussion and exercises, attendees will creatively perform and apply in-depth competitive intelligence research using these sources, and analyze and synthesize this information into accurate answers and actionable information.