JISC

Only a month after launch, over two thousand people have already registered to use a new service which allows them to personalise web resources for their own use and alert them to newly available resources.

My Intute , from the newly-launched Intute - formerly the Resource Discovery Network (RDN) - is a personalisation service helping users to get the most out of web resources. As well as alerting registered users to new resources in specified subject areas, the service also allows users to create reading lists of online resources for students’ use.

Communications Manager of Intute Mark Williams says that the new functionality builds on successes at the RDN. ‘The technology was originally developed at Humbul,’ he says, ‘the former Humanities hub of the RDN. It was a highly successful development there and an important part of the reorganisation has been rolling out that functionality to all subject areas.’

Intute, a free national service funded by JISC, enables lecturers, researchers and students to discover and access Internet resources hand-picked by subject specialists. Launched last month at an event in London, the service now comprises new subject groupings for arts and humanities, science engineering and technology, health and life sciences, and social sciences.

Mark Williams sees some important applications for My Intute across all these subject areas. ‘As well as alerts and being able to e-mail selected records to others,’ he says, ‘you can build customised collections of resources which have been described by subject specialists and embed them in your own web pages.

‘You can also create reading lists of online resources for your students,’ he continues, ‘knowing that the resources have been through an invaluable process of assessment. These are proving really useful for teachers and lecturers. Registering for the service and using it are also extremely easy and intuitive.’

To find out more about My Intute and to register for the service, please go to: My Intute