1. Internet 101 Neil Reisner Florida International University

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3. “Once in awhile you can get shown the light in the strangest of places......if you look at it right. Robert Hunter

4. First Things First

5. Google is the It makes us lazy. Is it the best source? What about: Devil  Telephone-Assisted Reporting  Almanac-Assisted Reporting  Encyclopedia-Assisted Reporting  Reference Librarian-Assisted Reporting

6. Google is an A grand, unified source of information if… Angel  You know what you’re seeking  You focus your search  You know it when you see it

7. The Web is part of your beat!  Surf around  Treat it like your beat  Bookmark the ones that work for you  Don’t search, ORGANIZE

8. But Remember…  Most records start out on paper  The “Document Frame of Mind”  There’s a record out there and I’m going to find it!  The intersection of government and citizens  How does information flow?

9. Have a Strategy  Know the law  Know the records  Know where to get the records  A primer http://www.nreisner.com/PublicRecords.htm

10. Your new best friend…  Records Retention Schedules Records Retention Schedules Records Retention Schedules  Rules for records disposal  Inventory of all records an agency keeps  Make it your first record request

11. Main Entrances  NICAR `Net Tour http://www.ire.org/training/nettour/index.html http://www.ire.org/training/nettour/index.html http://www.ire.org/training/nettour/index.html  Reporter.Org: http://www.reporter.org http://www.reporter.orghttp://www.reporter.org  Reporters Desktop: http://www.reporter.org/desktop http://www.reporter.org/desktop http://www.reporter.org/desktop  Power Reporting: http://www.powerreporting.org http://www.powerreporting.org http://www.powerreporting.org

12. Utility Sites  WHOIS: http://whois.domaintools.com/ http://whois.domaintools.com/ Who owns that site?  Portico: indorgs.virginia.edu/portico/ indorgs.virginia.edu/portico/ Asset locator, property records, more.  FedStats: www.fedstats.gov www.fedstats.gov Portal to government statistics.  FirstGov: www.firstgov.gov www.firstgov.gov Portal to federal and local governments.

13. More Utility Sites  Census Bureau: www.census.gov www.census.gov Numbers and much more.  CIA World Factbook: www.cia.gov www.cia.gov International info.  More International info: http://www.nationmaster.com

14. People Finders  Argali: www.argali.com www.argali.com Phone numbers, addresses, reverse directory. Download required.  Backgrounding John Doe: http://www.reporter.org/desktop/tips/johndoe.htm http://www.reporter.org/desktop/tips/johndoe.htm http://www.reporter.org/desktop/tips/johndoe.htm Where to find the paper. Where to find the paper.  Freeality: www.freeality.com www.freeality.com Metasearch phone directories.

15. Public Records Search Engines  Search systems: http://www.searchsystems.net Public records search engine. Slower, more variety and choice.  Pretrieve www.pretrieve.com Better organized, faster, less variety and choice

16. When you have to search  Google: www.google.com www.google.com Broad search, ranks sites, but still not complete. Less organized.  Yahoo: search.yahoo.com search.yahoo.com Google-like interface.  Invisible Web: www.invisibleweb.com www.invisibleweb.com Deeper search, hits sites others don’t.

17. When you have to search (cont’d)  Mrsapo http://www.mrsapo.com/ Search engine portal.  Topix www.topix.net News portal  Article Search www.findarticles.com/ If you don’t have Lexis/Nexis.

18. More Google  Google advanced: http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en  Academic/professional works: http://scholar.google.com http://scholar.google.com http://scholar.google.com  Pictures/documents http://images.google.com  Nearby businesses http://local.google.com

19. Even More Google  Be notified about a story/source: http://www.google.com/alerts  What Google’s working on: http://labs.google.com/ http://labs.google.com/

20. Lurking Dangers  What do Yogi Berra, Niels Bohr, Samuel Goldwyn, Dan Quayle and Mark Twain have in common?  According to Google results, they all are responsible for the saying, “Prediction is difficult, especially about the future.”

21. More Lurking Dangers  http://www.martinlutherking.org/ http://www.martinlutherking.org/  http://www.whois.domaintools.com /martinlutherking.org http://www.whois.domaintools.com /martinlutherking.org http://www.whois.domaintools.com /martinlutherking.org

22. Finding government audits  Government Accountability Office reports: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gaoreports/i ndex.html http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gaoreports/i ndex.html  Federal Audit Clearinghouse Database of audits of all non-federal entities that receive federal money each year. http://harvester.census.gov/sac http://harvester.census.gov/sac

23. What the government publishes  Government Printing Office http://www.gpoaccess.gov/databases.ht ml http://www.gpoaccess.gov/databases.ht ml http://www.gpoaccess.gov/databases.ht ml

24. Everything else  Quick Reference: http://www.refdesk.com/index.html What you used to keep on your desk – almanacs, dictionaries, thesauri, etc. Run by Matt Drudge’s father Bob.

25. nr@nreisner.comwww.nreisner.com