Digital Research Strategies Poynter. Essential Skills for the Digital Journalist II Kathleen A. Hansen, University of Minnesota October 15, 2009
Goals for Today Strategies and tools to gather information for ongoing tasks Strategies and tools to gather information for specific tasks Public records online Strategies for evaluating information from digital searches
Ongoing Tasks Come up with story ideas Keep track of a story or topic Listen in on people Find examples of stories done by others
Monitoring as a Strategy Automagically follow topics, get most recent information pushed to you PUSH strategy RSS feeds, alerts and filters Available on almost every type of online site now All are ways to manage the constant updating of information on the web RSS / Alerts: everyone who signs up gets the same thing Filters: customized feed based on your keywords RSS feeds go to a reader, Alerts go to an email address, Filters can go to either
RSS Defined: Really Simple Syndication Think of RSS as a subscription Selected content feeds, often several available from one site No limit to number of subscriptions (virtually always free) Feed goes to a reader application Why use them: get updates from sources you re tracking without having to visit them individually
RSS Readers Also called an Aggregator A reader is software that checks the feeds you subscribe to and displays articles as they are added Browser-based: Google Reader, FeedDemon, NewsGator, MyYahoo, etc. RSS reader software is free
igoogle and Google Reader Use Reader feature on igoogle homepage Tailored page based on the feeds I m getting sent to my Google Reader Information can be organized into folders, searched, sorted, archived Way to manage flood of materials rather than having your email box filled with stuff
Find Appropriate Feeds Use the Browse for Stuff link on the Google Reader page Use RSS search tools e.g., RSS-Locator Health Care Reform as an example
Look For RSS Feed Link on Sites You Visit Regularly Often the RSS link is at the bottom of a web site s home page The NYTimes, for example, has several RSS feeds to sign up for.
Sign Up and Choose Reader After you click on the RSS feed, you will be relocated to a page where you will choose your news feeder
Alerts/Filters Email alerts have been around for a long time Sites allow you to sign up for an alert that goes into your email box everyone gets the same thing www.recalls.gov Filters can be tailored to your specific interests and keywords Unfortunately, Google and Yahoo both call their filter services alerts
Google Alerts (really filters) You choose the specific terms for your searches Choose what types of materials should be searched Choose how often you get the updates Choose whether to get things sent to your email or to your Reader Example
Ongoing Tasks Come up with story ideas RSS feeds, alerts and filters on your beat key words Keep track of a story or topic RSS feeds, alerts and filters on the topic Listen in on people RSS feeds from bloggers or Twitter-ers you want to follow; Google filter on name of specific person; become a friend or a fan on a social networking site Find examples of stories done by others use standard databases OR create custom Google search engine
Google Custom Search Engines You specify the web sites you want to include in your customized search engine Enter the URLs once, use that specific search engine whenever you want to tailor your searches Example
Specific Tasks Find an expert on Find someone with experience Find a specific person Find digital public records Become an instant expert
Searching as a Strategy Unlike monitoring, where you have things pushed to you, searching takes more work SEEK strategy Overwhelming number of search tools Better to think about the type of information for which you are searching lots of options are better than Google, depending on what you are trying to find
Find an Expert or Someone With Experience Usual sources directories, back files Google Scholar Specialized social networking sites Ning e.g., sustainable gardening LinkedIn social networking for professionals
Find a Specific Person Deep Web tools Pipl.com 123people.com Public records sources BlackBook Online Visual records YouTube, Flikr, Google Images or Google Video Social networking sites Many users now set privacy settings to block outsiders Become a friend or a fan to see more detail
Find Digital Public Records Aggregator sites Public Records Directory Online property ownership and tax records nation-wide SearchSystems.net public records by category, location, etc. Non profit filings GuideStar IRS Form 990s online Campaign finance Center for Responsive Politics OpenSecrets.org
Become an Instant Expert Yes, I ll say it Wikipedia Kosmix one-stop-shopping Librarians Internet Index vetted by humans with some judgment also a great way to find sites that you can trust evaluation tool
Other Evaluation Tips Should I use this video someone sent me from YouTube? Look at the statistics for that video How long has it been online? How long has the YouTuber been a part of the community? Does that YouTuber connect to a lot of others and does s/he have a lot of subscribers? Uber-example Boh3m3 Props to Julie Jones, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Oklahoma University, YouTube ID joneszz08
Bottom Line Find the two or three tools or sites that are most useful to what you do every day Keep up with those and be open to suggestions from fellow-users about what else might be helpful for the type of work you do Continue to take advantage of opportunities like the one you ve had this week to stay on top of your craft
Questions? Thanks for your time k-hans@umn.edu