With what is arguably one of the most innovative eras in human history going on at the moment, there has to be a source for designers, engineers, and the technology industry as a whole to gather and quantify its information. As Meagan Cooke, director of content strategy at The Knovel Corporation, puts it, “Knovel is like a walled garden of content, as opposed to an internet full of weeds. Engineers search and find information that is relevant to the problem at hand without having to sort through what is applicable and what is outdated.”
Cooke spoke with GoodEReader.com about the need to have validated content for engineers to use as a jumping off point to begin the design process, as this compiled data can streamline the creativity in an industry in which getting new devices to market is a race against the clock and the competitors.
“One of the reasons engineers come to our company when they are designing devices and products is because we bring together mechanical properties of various materials and we have a broad database of engineering concepts that help manufacturers come up with the best possible design,” explains Cooke. “Some of the industries our database supports include aerospace, oil and gas, specialty chemicals, industrial equipment, and engineering design and construction. But the technology industry is a key player as well.”
“We’ve been around for ten years and in that time, we’ve come to think of ourselves as a web-based application that help engineers be more productive. SLA 2011 (in Philadelphia) was a great meeting for us because we got to speak to a lot of our champions who further us in our 700 partner special libraries. Because all of our client companies are large—we have seventy-five of the top Fortune 500 companies on board with Knovel and 300 of those companies are through university libraries—there’s not one place where they can get all the information they need via the web. We fill that need for their engineers.”
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.
