I have recently started visiting OpenCongress and am impressed by the organization and accessibility of information. OpenCongress is a self-described "free, open-source, non-profit, and non-partisan web resource with a mission to help make Congress more transparent and to encourage civic engagement." I believe they have succeeded in their goal.
I have always been a big fan of using Thomas (the portal to legislative information provided by the Library of Congress) to find the text of bills. However, OpenCongress goes a step beyond text.
On the OpenCongress site, you can find: the most frequently viewed bills, profiles for senators and representatives, discussions of controversial provisions and much, much more. I especially enjoy reading the Congress Gossip Blog which gives a little extra insight into what actually happens on the hill.
Whether you are monitoring a piece of legislation, gathering information for a cause, or simply curious about what is going on in the legislative world, OpenCongress is a great place to visit!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Google Knol - Units of Knowledge
Well Google has done it, again. Google Knol was made available to the public yesterday and has already gained my interest. As defined on the Offiicial Google Blog, "Knols are authoritative articles about specific topics, written by people who know about those subjects."
These Knols are attributed to the author who can put together a profile to verify his or her authority. "The key principle behind Knol is authorship. Every knol will have an author (or group of authors) who put their name behind their content. It's their knol, their voice, their opinion. We expect that there will be multiple knols on the same subject, and we think that is good. "
I anticipate that attributed authorship will not only make Google Knol more authoritative than other wikis, but it will also facilitate productive discussions about the topic at hand.
People love writing about what they know. So, it is my guess that knols are going to be created like mad, in the next few weeks. I would love to hear about your experiences with Google Knol. Have you found interesting knols to read? Have you contributed an article? Post a comment and let us know!
I plan to submit a knol or two myself. Stay tuned and I will let you know how it works out! As always, thanks for reading and I will blog to you soon!
These Knols are attributed to the author who can put together a profile to verify his or her authority. "The key principle behind Knol is authorship. Every knol will have an author (or group of authors) who put their name behind their content. It's their knol, their voice, their opinion. We expect that there will be multiple knols on the same subject, and we think that is good. "
I anticipate that attributed authorship will not only make Google Knol more authoritative than other wikis, but it will also facilitate productive discussions about the topic at hand.
People love writing about what they know. So, it is my guess that knols are going to be created like mad, in the next few weeks. I would love to hear about your experiences with Google Knol. Have you found interesting knols to read? Have you contributed an article? Post a comment and let us know!
I plan to submit a knol or two myself. Stay tuned and I will let you know how it works out! As always, thanks for reading and I will blog to you soon!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Time Saving Research Tips
It seems that as information on the internet becomes increasingly more complex and abundant, researchers become increasingly more impatient. I am guilty of this myself. If I click on a link and have to wait more than 3 seconds, I suspect something is wrong. If downloading a video takes more than 10 seconds, it must not be worth my time.
Instant gratification has become the order of the day and the internet generation has learned to stand for nothing less. However, the truth is that some pages take a while to load and some very worthwhile videos are slow to retrieve. Does this mean they are not worth our time? No. It simply means we have to wait. (and the crowd GASPS in awe at the thought...)
Now, the point of this post is not to disparage over lost seconds waiting for slow-loading sites. It is to point out that there are other ways to save time while researching. Genie Tyburski, of The Virtual Chase, has published a list of "Tips for Conducting Internet Research". This is not a list of links or search techniques. It is simply a list of time savers for those of us in a constant rush.
I had completely forgotten about using Ctrl + W to close a pop-up window instead of searching the screen for the elusive "close x". How many times have I lost the start point of my research when I could have easily preserved it by right-clicking links to open them in new windows? I know these seem like small time-savers, but we are so worried about the extra second it may take to open a web page, I thought these might help save us a bit of time (and sanity!).
Feel free to comment with your own time-saving techniques. I would love to hear them!
Instant gratification has become the order of the day and the internet generation has learned to stand for nothing less. However, the truth is that some pages take a while to load and some very worthwhile videos are slow to retrieve. Does this mean they are not worth our time? No. It simply means we have to wait. (and the crowd GASPS in awe at the thought...)
Now, the point of this post is not to disparage over lost seconds waiting for slow-loading sites. It is to point out that there are other ways to save time while researching. Genie Tyburski, of The Virtual Chase, has published a list of "Tips for Conducting Internet Research". This is not a list of links or search techniques. It is simply a list of time savers for those of us in a constant rush.
I had completely forgotten about using Ctrl + W to close a pop-up window instead of searching the screen for the elusive "close x". How many times have I lost the start point of my research when I could have easily preserved it by right-clicking links to open them in new windows? I know these seem like small time-savers, but we are so worried about the extra second it may take to open a web page, I thought these might help save us a bit of time (and sanity!).
Feel free to comment with your own time-saving techniques. I would love to hear them!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Maiden Voyage
Welcome to everyone who is visiting the Monroe Infoblog! Years from now, you can tell your children's children that you were there at the very beginning...
This blog is meant to be a resource for researchers, librarians and those of you who are just curious about what is new in the world of online research. I am excited to get started. So, I will jump right in with my first recommendation (and shameless plug).
Monroe Information Services (the brain-child of yours truly) offers a free Monthly Research Tips publication for legal researchers. If you are interested in finding out about useful sites and interesting resources to help you solve your legal research puzzles, try subscribing to this free, electronic publication.
For those of you who are not legal researchers, I plan to come out with some more general tips from time to time and will post them here as they become available. However, you may find some useful resources in the Legal Monthly Research tips. Click here to see the latest issue and decide if you are interested!
Again, thank you all for being here at the beginning and I hope to blog to you soon!
This blog is meant to be a resource for researchers, librarians and those of you who are just curious about what is new in the world of online research. I am excited to get started. So, I will jump right in with my first recommendation (and shameless plug).
Monroe Information Services (the brain-child of yours truly) offers a free Monthly Research Tips publication for legal researchers. If you are interested in finding out about useful sites and interesting resources to help you solve your legal research puzzles, try subscribing to this free, electronic publication.
For those of you who are not legal researchers, I plan to come out with some more general tips from time to time and will post them here as they become available. However, you may find some useful resources in the Legal Monthly Research tips. Click here to see the latest issue and decide if you are interested!
Again, thank you all for being here at the beginning and I hope to blog to you soon!
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