I’m no different from many E&P readers in sounding vociferous complaints about my overflowing Inbox. There seemingly is no end to the influx of information.

What has become known as “information overload” is actually, to quote a friend of mine, “information pollution.” There is too much information to process, and it is next to impossible at times to determine if what I am reading is adequately researched or sufficiently substantiated by facts. Often, I have no knowledge of the source.

Today, with anyone and everyone setting up a Web site and making pronouncements that sound official, it is hard to know if you’re reading something written by an expert or by an articulate quack.

Fortunately, there are reputable sites that contain information that has been vetted and verified, and those are the sites that need to be bookmarked or tagged as favorites. If www.EPmag.com has not made it onto your list, it is time to change that.

E&P magazine re-launched its Web site in July of 2008 and has added content and capabilities to the site in the course of the ensuing year-and-a-half. Today, the site provides an enormous amount of useful information that is easily accessible to users.

For one thing, the site houses eight years’ worth of searchable archives.

If a reader wants to see the articles published in the magazine on coiled tubing, for example, a site search turns up 225 articles. A search for a newer technology like “controlled-source electromagnetics” produces a list of 29 stories. These “hits” include news releases, pieces specially written for the Web site including blogs (opinion or informative pieces written by the editors) and Web exclusive stories (articles written for online publication that do not appear in print), and articles printed in the magazine.

There are also videos (featuring such things as E&P editors providing oil and gas industry commentary) and animations (some of which show manufacturing processes and downhole tools at work) and a listing of names and dates of significant industry events that feature live links to sites that provide additional event information.

If you just want to see today’s headlines, you can read the industry’s most recent press releases on the home page, where news is posted daily as it is released. The editors’ latest blogs also are on the home page, along with live weather from the Weather Research Center.

The site also contains a full inventory of Webinars, online presentations that were recorded live and followed by question and answer sessions at the end. All of these are available on demand, which means if you see one that looks interesting, you can register to view it at your convenience from your computer even if the actual event took place six months ago.”

Some of the Webinars come with perquisites like the one with Dr. Michael J. Economides that aired on November 11. Everyone who paid to participate in the Webinar also received Dr. Economides’ book, Energy: China’s Choke Point. And if your company is interested in submitting an application for consideration for Hart’s prestigious Meritorious Engineering Awards for 2010, you can access the application form online as well.

As the way readers look for information changes, E&P is adapting its online offering to ensure subscribers have access to the best information we can provide.

If you haven’t been to www.EPmag.com in a while, you might be surprised at the enhancements and additions. If you’ve never been to the site, you now have a long list of reasons to go.

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