Learning Objectives

• Explain the role and main steps of the monitoring process.

• Identify reliable information sources based on a specific need.

• Use a digital tool to organize their monitoring.

• Produce a short and clear monitoring report or presentation.

Targeted Skills

• Searching for and selecting relevant information.

• Critically analyzing and sorting sources.

• Working collaboratively online (shared monitoring work).

• Thinking critically about misinformation and algorithmic bias.

Introduction

Opening discussion: “How do you stay informed in your field?”

Why Information Watch matters

Staying informed is not optional anymore.

Whether you study or work, technology, laws, and tools change faster than ever — and what you learned last year can already be outdated.

When you’re a student, monitoring helps you:

• stay aware of new ideas and innovations in your field,

• find topics for projects, essays, or research,

• understand how theory connects to real-world practice.

When you’re a professional, it becomes a survival skill:

• to spot new trends before competitors do,

• to adapt your tools, your strategy, or your skills,

• to make smarter, faster decisions with better information.

Monitoring is not just reading news — it’s learning to filter, connect, and share what really matters.

And in many companies, it’s an actual job.

Some people are information analysts, competitive intelligence officers, or innovation watch specialists.

Their role: track what’s changing, analyze signals, and help guide strategy.

Ici on en parle

• Feedly Market Intelligence https://feedly.com/market-intelligence

• Inoreader Enterprise https://www.inoreader.com/enterprise

Basics of Intelligence (Information Watch)

• Intelligence on Domain :

  Type of Information watch	Goal	Examples
  Technological	Follow innovations, tools, and IT trends	Programming languages, frameworks, AI
  Strategic / Competitive	Observe competitors, innovations, and business models	New apps, strategies
  Regulatory	Anticipate legal and compliance requirements	GDPR, accessibility, standards, cybersecurity
  Social / Ethical	Understand social impacts	Data, AI, environment

• Goal : anticipate changes, detect opportunities, and avoid becoming outdated.

• Information intelligence cycle :
  1. Identify the information need
  2. Collect data ( type of sources, sources and tools)
  3. Sort
  4. Analyze
  5. Share results
  6. Keep information updated continuously

Methods

1. Define the type of monitoring and your specific information needs by asking clear questions.

2. Search for information sources:
   • blogs,
   • websites :
     • government websites
     • public agencies and observatories
     • laws and regulations
     • professional magazines and journals (on line version)
     • general press (on line)
     • specialized media
   • newsletter,
   • open data,
   • conference,
   • podcast,
   • social media,
   • academic publications.

3. Build a database of sources.

4. Set up a process for sorting and analyzing collected information.

Tools

Collecting Information

• Advanced Search Engines
  • Google / Qwant / Bing – teach how to use:
    • search operators (site:, filetype:, intitle:…)
    • news search, PDF reports, and recent pages
  • Google Alerts — automatic notifications for a keyword (e.g., “independent bookstore trends”).
  • Talkwalker Alerts — alternative to Google Alerts, more privacy-friendly.

• RSS Feed Readers
  • Feedly – simple interface to follow websites, blogs, magazines.
  • Inoreader – more advanced for sorting and filtering content.

Organizing and Analyzing

• Curation / Bookmarking Tools
  • Raindrop.io — save links with tags and images.
  • Wakelet — create themed collections (easy to present in class).
  • Notion — database for monitoring: columns like title / link / source type / insight.
  • Google Sheets — simpler option: shared table with Date / Source / Summary / Interest.

• Note-Taking / Analysis Tools
  • Zotero — for academic or research-based sources.
  • Miro — to create a visual “trend map” of your monitoring topic.

• Sharing and Collaboration
  • Padlet — each group posts their links and comments.
  • Slides — create a visual summary of trends.
  • Shared Notion Page — one space for all monitoring work (economic / legal / competitive).
  • Use an API to develop a connection between the feed tool and the reporting/sharing tool. Some tools already include API features that let you connect your feed tool with your reporting or sharing tool automatically.

Organization and Communication

• How to classify and archive information (labels, tags, categories).

• Write a short monitoring report:
  • Summary of what was found
  • Relevance of the sources
  • Main insight or trend identified

• Present results through a newsletter, Notion board, summary slides, shared document, or blog.

• Work on source reliability and misinformation awareness:
  • What makes a source reliable?
  • How to avoid confirmation bias?

Avoiding Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias means we tend to look for, believe, and remember only what confirms what we already think. In monitoring, this is common — we end up reading only sources that agree with us.

To avoid it:

• Ask neutral questions.

  Not “why are independent bookstores better than Amazon?” but “what are the economic differences between independent bookstores and major platforms?”

• Diversify sources.

  Mix professional press, blogs, public reports, and even company statements.

• Search for opposite views.

  Add keywords like limitations, criticism, risks, drawbacks.

• Cross-check data.

  Compare several figures or studies before concluding.

• Work in groups.

  Peers can spot your bias faster than you can.

• Be careful with algorithms.

  Personalized feeds reinforce opinions — sometimes you need to search manually.

How to Automate and Maintain Monitoring Over Time

• Automate Collection
  • Automatic alerts:
    • Google Alerts or Talkwalker Alerts → weekly email for chosen keywords.

      e.g., independent bookstores, audiobook market, bookstore trends.

  • RSS feeds in Feedly or Inoreader — new articles appear automatically in a dashboard.
  • Follow hashtags or keywords on social media —

    LinkedIn / Mastodon (e.g., #bookindustry, #publishing, #reading).

  • Specialized newsletters —

    Subscribe to Publishers Weekly, or book industry blogs.

• Organize the Monitoring
  • Gather all feeds in one tool (Feedly, Notion, Raindrop, Wakelet).
  • Sort by topic: economy, technology, competition, regulation.
  • Tag sources based on reliability and usefulness.
  • Archive or delete outdated feeds every few months.

• Summarize Regularly
  • Write a monthly note
  • Create a newsletter

• Integrate Monitoring into a Routine
  • Spend time each week reading and classifying.
  • Every month to summarize findings.

Example of Economic Monitoring Map

Information intelligence Map — Bookstores: Economic Focus

Main Goal

Understand how the book market is evolving and identify new economic models for bookstores.

Scope of the Topic

Key Actors to Follow

Data Sources

Emerging Topics Identified

Examples :

• Revival of printed books after COVID.

• Rising transport costs and smaller profit margins.

• Growth of audiobooks and self-publishing.

• New loyalty models (subscriptions, events, customer experience).

• Increasing ecological awareness in publishing and distribution.

Example Monitoring Questions

• What economic strategies help independent bookstores compete with Amazon?

• Which hybrid models (bookstore coffe-shop, reading clubs, local e-commerce sites) are successful?

• How is the balance between physical and digital sales changing?

• What is the impact of public policies supporting the book sector?