Hollander's Reporting Links

	Grady Reporting Links Grady College University of Georgia		This is a search site maintained for years by Dr. Barry Hollander for Grady College students. There is a special section on just UGA and Georgia stuff, plus a wide choice of other useful sites. Please email Hollander any dead links or suggested additions. Last updated 10/5/07 but in serious need of a cleaning to kill off dead links, crappy sites.
	Search Engines Useful starting places, search engines, though often with more info than you want. Google is simply the best. Always try it first and take advantage of its other functions, such as searching for images or within groups. Before a search, go here and learn more about the right way to use search engines. Also, find the most popular searches. My advice? Use search engines sparingly and build your own list of useful sites that save you time, especially on deadline. I also like this little chart. There are pros who do nothing but keep up with searching. Other Searchstuff Chocolocate (chocolate, really) Vivisimo (search in clusters) Kartoo (visual search. Try it) A9 (a neat search engine) Teoma (a powerful search tool) Speeches (a compilation) Famous Speeches AltaVista (use advanced features) Disaster Finder! (kinda weird) Wisenut (good search engine?) IXQuick (a meta search) FirstGov (fed search engine) Search System (public records)		Google This is the best search engine, period. Take advantage of its ability to search images and video, various USNET discussion groups, and a little thing about the first time sometihing was mentioned on usenet. Also, the news available online, and a host of other goodies in its beta lab or just search UGA via Google. Play with this stuff, especially their mapping software ... it's cool. Also there is the Google Proximity Search (search for words close together) and a blogsearch. Tons of features are available, including a new one called Google Scholar. These guys never rest and will probably someday rule the world. Doubt it? See this. Microsoft Search (fast, but not great yet) Microsoft Maps Blog Searches & Info Technorati (maybe the best) IceRocket (damn good) Google Blogsearch (Google's there) TruthLaidBear (ranks blogs; useful) GlobeofBloggers (find local blogs) Annotated Times (blogs about NYT) PubSub (lets you know when something out there) BlogPulse (trend searches of blogs) CyberJournalist (has nice list) PowerReporting (their list) Online News Association OJR (online journalism review) PressThink (Rosen blogs) New Media Musings (Lasica blogs) First Draft (Porter blogs) WikiNews (open source news)
	Journalism Sites These people have done the work for you. These are sites either constructed by journalists or useful for journalists. I especially find Power Reporting a useful site. Also take a good look at the Robert Niles site and the NICAR one. Also, visit Poynter often, especially MediaNews. I admit the list to the right is rather eclectic. Try everything! Sites to Train Journalists No Train, No Gain Writing with Numbers RobertNiles J Site Poynter More Writing with Numbers News University Sites for Writing and Such Word Spy (fun) Word Counter (same word too often?) Thesaurus Translator Dictionary Political Test (analyze your text) Do you write like a Boy or Girl? Writer's Handbook Armchair Grammarian Cliche Finder (perfect for sports writers) Interactive Grammar Tutorial Style Tests (good and hard) Stuff Journalists Want to Read MediaNews (read this every day!) Industry News from AP Read Pulitizer Prize Winning Stories! J-Quotes Site 1 \| Site 2 \| Site 3 Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press National Freedom of Info Coalition Fun Facts about Newspapers The Smoking Gun Newsroom Diversity Paid Content		General Journalism Help Power Reporting NewsLab Journalists Toolbox Reporter Net Guide Journalism Resources MegaSources Usually Useful Net Guide for Journalists CyberJournalist (blogs, the net, etc!) Journalism Bloggers (from CyberJournalist above) J-Lab New Media Musings Grass Roots Journalism IRE's ExtraExtra! (great stories, online) Casey Journalism Center (covering kids, famlies) Newspaper Archives (free, or not) Computer-Assisted Reporting National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting Poynter's Online Links Journalist Data Bases (bit dated) JournalismNet's Database List Calculators of All Types News by the Numbers Public Records Online Memory Hole (rescued data) Investigative Sites IRE Beat Page Tapping Officials Secrets NewsCenter by Gary Price Finding Odd Info FOIA Requests State Public Records Requests Who owns what Media? Geography Network Virtual Reference Desk and RefDesk for Journalists Journalism lists Who is John Doe (backgrounding) Open Secrets (follow the money) Money in Politics Various Calculators More Calculators How Stuff Works Database of File Extensions Home Values CBS News Disaster Links ( lPublic Opinion about the Press (from pollingreport) Social Explorer (cool census maps) Law and Policy Info NewsKnife (ranks online news) SearchSystems databases
	Finding People Find names, email addresses, those telephone numbers, even maps. Some of these charge, so simply try another. I think the reverse directory and the Whitepages site are particularly good. The CataList is one that looks for listervs, useful if you want an expert. Also see Profnet for the same thing. You have to be a little more nerdy to find IDing sites useful, but sometimes you want to identify where someone is coming from or who owns a particular web site.		Phone & Email Addys Whitepages InfoSpace BigFoot SwitchBoard Reverse Phone Directory Another Reverse Directory Argali White & Yellow cool! Other Stuff Zabasearch (backgrounding) ZoomInfo (backgrounding) Maps! Search via Birthdays CataList Profnet (for experts) iWeb Traffic Understanding Email Headers Network Tools Resolve IP Numbers BetterWhois Sam Spade Network Solutions UWhoIs
	Poll Data Need to know how many people think what? Polling Report is up-to-date releases of all polls while NES site provides surveys collected over time (especially choose the graphical display of data rather than just numbers). The Pew sites are for specialized survey results, particularly about journalism.		National Election Studies PollingReport Pew Center People-Press Pew Internet & Life Gallup Poll Georgia Poll archives (raw data of Ga.) Mystery Pollster (a blog on polling) National Council on Polls Survey Random Sample Calculator
	Georgia Stuff Here is a bunch of UGA, Athens, and Georgia sites. These are good not only for answering questions but for surfing to find story ideas. I like the UGA find-it page, and searching UGA via Google. The crime log is particularly interesting and useful for stories. The FACTS page, unfortunately, is open only to UGA staff and faculty (they are worried that if you burrow deep enough in the data you can identify individuals, which is a no-no according to federal privacy law). You can get some other UGA data through the info site, or from the Factbook.		UGA & Athens Info UGA Web Site UGA's Find It Page Campus Crime Stats! UGA Police Crime Log Google searches UGA UGA FactBook irritating pdf format Main UGA Data Page FACTS (requires faculty/staff ID) Common Data Set for UGA and all universities. (little of use) Greeks at UGA (includes frat grades) Athens Tax Assessor office (cool!!!) Athens Area Government Links Athens Property Values (find out what homes worth) Athens-Clarke Online Athens-area traffic data (some neat stuff) College News Online! (wire stories about colleges) Athens timeline (handy historical UGA info) Clarke Links (tons of Clarke County) State (and faculty) salaries Georgia Info Atlanta traffic webcams GeorgiaStats (county breakdowns) Georgia timeline (to match Athens above) Search Georgia Deeds (property) Georgia Census QuickFacts Georgia Community Indicators (health, etc.) Georgia Reporting Links Georgia Spatial Data Sets Georgia Weather And more Georgia weather Georgia Urban-Wildland maps More Georgia Spatial Data Georgia Public Health data Georgia Forest inventory Georgia Rare Species Frogwatch (seriously, about Ga.) USDA Info about Georgia Georgia Search Water Resources of Georgia Various Georgia Surveys Georgia Sex Offenders Georgia Dept of Corrections Georgia Crime Over Time Campaign Contribution Disclosure Reports Corporation Database Licensee Examining Boards Lobbyist Lists Charities in Georgia Storms in Georgia Basic storm site (if above doesn't work) And more storm stuff Driving in Georgia (taxes and stuff) Annual Traffic Counts Georgia School Info Georgia School Data Georgia Dept of Education Georgia public school data Even Better Ga. School scores Education Accountability in Georgia Georgia Data Sources Georgia Public Health Georgia GIS Data Catalog Georgia Spatial Data Georgia Public Records Georgia Sunshine Law Info Tapping Georgia Records
	Odds and Ends Stuff here that doesn't really fit anywhere else, much of it reference sites. For fun, see what your phone number spells. Hear a rumor or get one of those annoying forwarded emails with a story that just sounds wrong? Check out the hoaxes and urban legends page. You can find out the official time or how stuff works, search the Bible and Koran, and a boatload of other stuff. Rate libraries, see books most often challenged and banned, or just find out the exact date you're gonna die. It's all here. Please send me more suggestions, useful and silly alike.		The Useful ChillingEffects (online defense) Find sex offenders (scary) Rate Libraries (including the Athens public library) Hoaxes and Urban Legends Banned Books and Challenges National Geographic MapMachine Official Time! Instantly Compare Countries Distance Calculator Search the Bible: Site 1 \| Site 2 (better) Search the Koran Text of U.S. Constitution Quotation Search Center for Public Integrity Compare States on Health Data on Religions Maps on Religion Religion Research Religion stuff (beliefnet) American Religion Data Archive Pew Forum (on religion) I Hack Stuff Health Info healthopedia Health Reference Wireless Stats (on cell phones, etc) IPUMS (census numbers) The Silly Who's Alive, Who's Dead? Trivia and other Useless Information What Does Your Phone Number Spell? Slang by City The Death Clock Biographies of Everyone (well, not me) Who was born today? Find a Grave Popular Baby Names (from the feds) Payphones across the world Origins of names (mostly baby names) Want webcams? Webcam Locator Webcam Central Webcam Index
	Federal Sites & Other Data A ton of stuff here. Obviously the Census is great for describing or exploring a city, town, county or state. There's some good stuff on who contributes to political campaigns (fundrace is a lot of fun because you can search by neighborhood to see who gives to whom), national centers that collect various data, and so on. If you're looking at non-profits, there are a couple of good sites here. The Toxic Release data is searchable by community. The Federal Register is a great searchable site to see what federal regs affect your city.		Census Bureau * Reporting the Census! * Basic Georgia State Data * Quick Georgia/County Facts * American Factfinder at Census State Data Centers IPUMS (census data done differently) Federal Register IRS Tax Stats Labor Stats Economic Stats County Level Economic Envirofacts Juvenile Accountability Data National Transportation Data Homocide Trends in U.S. FECInfo FundRace (find neighborhood giving) C-SPAN's Campaign Giving Congress Toxic Release Data Crime Data Federal Data Access (GILS) Storm Prediction Center Real Estate Data Government Statistics National Center for Education Stats Aircraft Registration Securities & Exchange Commission GuideStar Non-Profit Info Internet Nonprofit Center Foundation Searches Nursing Home Database Drinking Water Indicators Farm Subsidy Data Mapstats for every State Transborder Freight Data FlightAware (find flight info, Athens is AHN designation)

	The End As always, this labor of love is always in progress. Email Hollander with dead links, suggestions of good sites, and cash payments for all his time and effort.		Hollander's Web Site Email Hollander at barry <at> uga.edu