For decades Dialog® has been the gold standard for professional researchers. With the advent of Google® Scholar, which is free, why does anyone need to use a fee-based alternative like Dialog®?
There are many reasons, but the big 3 in my opinion are …
1) Sophisticated search language … Time, as we all know, is money. Dialog’s ability to accommodate complex search statements makes it possible to tighten your focus and minimize the number of irrelevant hits you have to browse through
2) Depth of coverage … Dialog® is a system of databases, produced by a variety of vendors. However it is fair to say that in most cases, the first year of coverage goes back much futher than you will find in a Google® search. The engineering index Compendex, for example, includes publications from 1969 to the present.
3) Minimal duplication … As you may have noticed from the previous post to this blog, a typical Google® Scholar search will result in numerous duplicates. Dialog has a feature which enables you to filter out duplicates before producing the results of your search.
The net result … in many cases a Dialog® search is more cost-effective than a Google® Scholar search, when you include the cost of the time you spend filtering Scholar results.
Keep reading for more background information on Compendex, as well as a fascinating history of the development of Dialog®. It was first applied to the problem of providing real-time access to the tens of thousands of technical reports indexed in NASA’s STAR database. A Lockheed team solved the problem by creating the NASA RECON system, using Dialog information retrieval technology.
RECON has since morphed into NTRS, the NASA Technical Report Server, accessible by the public at:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp
COMPENDEX
“Compendex is a comprehensive engineering bibliographic database. Compendex is the computerized version of the Engineering Index, an index of engineering materials started in 1884, now published by Elsevier. The name "Compendex" stands for COMPuterized ENgineering inDEX.[1] Compendex currently contains over 9 million records and references over 5,000 international sources including journals, conferences and trade publications. Approximately 500,000 new records are added to the database annually from over 190 disciplines and major specialties within the engineering field. Coverage is from 1969 to the present, and is updated weekly.
“Many subject areas of engineering are thoroughly represented including nuclear technology, bioengineering, transportation, chemical and process engineering, light and optical technology, agricultural engineering and food technology, computers and data processing, applied physics, electronics and communications, control, civil, mechanical, materials, petroleum, aerospace and automotive engineering as well as multiple subtopics within all these and other major engineering fields.”
Source: Wikipedia
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Excerpts from "Reflections on the Beginnings of Dialog"
“There was an ideal database to test our proof-of-concept and that was the NASA Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports (STAR) database. Not only was it the largest database around (200,000 citations), but access to it was in great demand. Though NASA was running searches against STAR on a batch, IBM 1401 computer, I knew we could surpass this effort with Dialog if given the chance. Mel Day of NASA was the key figure in this regard.”
...
“NASA RECON. In 1967 NASA issued a competitive RFP (request for proposal) for development of the NASA RECON system. We submitted a bid of $180,000 against a dozen or so prominent software companies including such giants as Informatics, Computer Sciences, IBM, and others. We received the award, which was our first major development. The contract specified several enhanced features but otherwise was very close to the original Dialog. The result was called NASA/RECON (Remote Console Information Retrieval System). In preparation for the work, we upgraded the laboratory computer to an IBM 360/40 computer that was faster and contained more internal memory. In the bid, we included a rights-in-data clause that gave Lockheed the right to use any software developed for our own purposes. This right proved invaluable to the future success of the business as will be seen.
“Following successful installation of the NASA/RECON software on the NASA facility computer, our group was awarded contracts from the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) to install Dialog on their computers.
source: "Reflections on the Beginnings of Dialog"
http://support.dialog.com/publications/chronolog/200206/1020628.shtml
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