Sqoop helps biz journalists find documents fast

Tyler Soper of GeekWire writes about Sqoop, a new online tool that alerts journalists when public documents become available online, based on the companies and topics they choose to follow.

Soper writes, “After starting with patent filings and SEC documents, Sqoop is expanding its beta this week to include alerts on federal court records.

“Hankes, a former RealNetworks and Microsoft corporate communications executive, developed the idea to fill a void in the landscape of digital news-gathering tools. Hankes noted that there are one-third fewer journalists in the market compared to a decade ago, but 40 percent more content being published, illustrating the need for more efficient methods of unearthing newsworthy information.

“While there are neat data visualization applications and collaboration tools available, Hankes explained that reporters don’t have enough help when it comes to digging up stories and figuring out what to write about.

“Hankes left Microsoft two years ago and subsequently teamed up with Kellum, an expert in search and data extraction who became Sqoop’s CTO.”

Read more here.