NATHAN ALTADONNA / The Working Press
Internet research can be intimidating. Sifting through millions of Web sites, looking for the credible ones, can cost time and patience.
Don’t get overwhelmed, says Gary Price, director of online resources for Ask.com and founder and co-editor of ResourceShelf.com and DocuTicker.com. In his session “Hot New Research Tools for Journalists,” he offered these resources to help you navigate:
1) Use the public library. It has a wealth of useful databases free of charge.
2) Save a copy. The Web is constantly changing. If you find something useful, save a copy to your hard drive. It might not be online tomorrow.
3) Use a watchdog. Organizations don’t announce every change in a news release. Track when they change any text on their Web sites with applications like Web-site Watcher, available at http://aignes.net/, or services like TrackEngine.com.
4) Go back in time. Curious about what an organization’s Web site looked like in the past? View archived copies at http://www.archive.org/.
5) Check out a complete list online. A list of all the useful links discussed at the session will be available online for the next two weeks at http://tinyurl.com/3db2nd
October 4, 2007 • 2007: Washington, D.C.