POLITICAL SOUND BITES
Google Audio Indexing
September 16, 2008
“Search what the politicians are saying”
MEDIA BIAS TRACKER
SpinSpotter
September 11, 2008“Spin doesn’t belong in the news. It’s like putting motor oil in the mojito. We have tremendous respect for journalists, but who would argue that the media circus isn’t out of control? A full 66% of Americans think the press is one-sided. Now there’s a website and software tool that exposes news spin and bias, misuse of sources, and suspect factual support. At SpinSpotter, you’ll experience the news in a profound new way. Yes, the truth is back in town.”
SUBWAY STORIES
Going to the End of the Line (NYTimes.com)
August 22, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/08/22/nyregion/20080822_LASTSTOP_FEATURE.html
For those subway riders who get off before the last stop — almost everyone — the end is just a sign on the train. What’s there, anyway? It turns out there is often mystery, lonesomeness and beauty.
PUBLIC RADIO FEED
NPR API
July 27, 2008
“NPR’s API provides a flexible, powerful way to access your favorite NPR content, including audio from most NPR programs dating back to 1995 as well as text, images and other web-only content from NPR and NPR member stations. This archive consists of over 250,000 stories that are grouped into more than 5,000 different aggregations.”
CRIME REPORTS
Around the block, around the block / Chicago Crime Data (Everyblock)
July 27, 2008
http://chicagotribune.com/block “Is your neighborhood in the news? Here are Tribune reports from the last 48 hours.”
http://chicago.everyblock.com/crime/ “Welcome to EveryBlock’s Chicago crime section, formerly known as chicagocrime.org. Here, you can explore all reported crime in the city of Chicago in various ways. Use “Search near an address” to find crime near any specific block or neighborhood, and use the powerful custom filter to create customized reports of crime according to various criteria. Our data comes directly from the Chicago Police Department and is updated daily.”
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
ProPublica
June 30, 2008
“ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. We strive to foster change through exposing exploitation of the weak by the strong and the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them.”
WEBSITES MATRIX
Blogopticon (Vanity Fair)
June 29, 2008
http://www.vfdaily.com/culture/2008/blogopticon
“An indispensable guide to the blogosphere”
ELECTION GAMES
The Veepstakes Games 2008 (The Takeaway, MSNBC.com, CQ Politics, Pajamas Media)
June 25, 2008
The Veepstakes Game (The Takeaway): “Who says it doesn’t matter whom a presidential candidate picks as a running mate? Swing states have never been swingier and a smart VP choice could fill electoral holes for McCain or Obama. The Takeaway challenges you to predict the ticket in The 2008 Veepstakes, a stock-trading game based on speculation in blogs and news media.”
Veepstakes ‘08 (MSNBC.com): “Hillary Clinton, Mike Bloomberg, Mitt Romney, Colin Powell. These are just a few of the 64 names in contention for the virtual vice presidency. We’ll handicap the Republican and Democratic contests, and you get to play pundit. Read the bios, check out our tips, and cast your vote in each weekly head-to-head matchup. It’s like March Madness for politics—only there’s more than a championship on the line.”
VP Madness (CQ Politics): “It’s time for presumed Democratic nominee Barack Obama to turn his attention to a running mate. To help, we bring you the second installment of VP Madness, where users decide who Obama should choose as his #2. Vote in the head-to-head match ups below to determine which candidates advance to face each other in the next round. You can view the latest results by clicking the button at the bottom of the page. The winner will be revealed on July 1, in plenty of time for Obama to consider your choice. In the GOP Edition, former Arkansas Governor (and former presidential candidate) Mike Huckabee was chosen as John McCain’s best bet.”
PJM Veepstakes (Pajamas Media): “It’s been a long and heated battle to the White House and it’s not over yet! Here’s your chance to make your prediction for who will snag the vice presidential nominations.”
NEWS CLOTHING
CNN Shirt
June 6, 2008
http://www.cnn.com/tshirt/allshirts/index.html
With CNN Shirts you can wear the news.
INTERACTIVE PUBLIC TV
YOUR WEEK (WETA / Reddit)
May 26, 2008
“YOUR WEEK is the beta version of a planned interactive public television and internet show from WETA Washington, D.C., and funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Hosted by Michelle Cottle and Rich Lowry and powered by Reddit, YOUR WEEK covers politics, arts, international, science, tech, social, sports, and pop culture. The Web feeds the show, the show feeds the Web, and anyone who wishes can get involved at any time to view, vote, rate, tag, comment, contribute, and learn.”
PRESS RELEASE AGGREGATOR
Eureka! Science News
May 26, 2008
“There is no human editor behind e! Science News; it is powered by the Eureka! news engine, a fully automated artificial intelligence. Its sole purpose is to ensure that you have access to the very latest and popular science breakthroughs. To achieve this, it constantly surfs the web to gather, regroup, categorize, tag and rank science news from all major science news sources.”
SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS
NNDB Mapper
May 14, 2008
“The NNDB Mapper allows you to explore NNDB visually by graphing the connections between people. Over 32,000 individuals are listed in our network.”
GRAPHIC NOVEL
Shake Girl (Stanford)
May 11, 2008
http://www.stanford.edu/group/cwstudents/shakegirl/pageturn.html
“The Stanford Graphic Novel Project independently published several hundred copies of Shake Girl that we are using to create awareness about the issues of violence against women, and more specifically, the phenomenon of acid attacks in Cambodia.”
NEWS VIDEO TIMELINE
TimeTube (dipity.com)
May 11, 2008
http://www.dipity.com/mashups/timetube
“Dipity is the easiest way to make and share interactive timelines about the people and things you care about.”
NEWS GAMES
NewsWare: NewsSkimmer, NewsBlaster, NewsBreaker, NewsScroller, Decision ‘08 Leaderboard (Msnbc.com)
May 6, 2008
NewsSkimmer - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24115502 - “NewsSkimmer is a customizable, news-visualizing, interactive screensaver. This free download saturates your idling computer with news-filled color. Just pick the topics that interest you and color-code your selections to get a custom, live news show every time it’s active.”
NewsBlaster - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24114403 - “Inspired by the rapid-fire nature of online news, NewsBlaster is a race against time to destroy all the orbs on a level. Use precise aim to match colors and careful timing to capture falling headlines to gain bonuses, extra life and awareness of the world around you.”
NewsBreaker - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24114405 - “NewsBreaker is the ultimate distraction for game lovers and news junkies. Use the paddle to keep the ball in play and to break the bricks to reveal headlines. The longer you play, the higher your score, the smarter you get.”
NewsScroller - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24053917 - “NewsScroller is a portable, animated, news ticker that can be customized to your taste in news and color.”
Decision ‘08 Leaderboard - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24112519 - “Decision ’08 Leaderboard gives you a running count of delegates won for the Republican and Democratic candidates. Presidential hopefuls need a simple majority, half the national delegate total plus one, to win their party’s nomination. This widget breaks it all down with alphabetical state-by-state tallies, delegates earned and delegates needed for nomination.”
“Delivering on its promise to provide consumers with “A Fuller Spectrum of News,” msnbc.com today launched NewsWare (www.NewsWare.msnbc.com), its home for digital tools created to let consumers explore and interact with the site’s latest news, information and entertainment in fun, surprising and useful ways.”
NEWS TRACKER
TextMap
May 4, 2008
“What is TextMap? TextMap tracks references to people, places, and things appearing in news text, so as to identify meaningful relationships between them. TextMap monitors the state of the world by analyzing both the temporal and spatial distribution of these entities. We currently analyze over 1000 domestic and international news sources every day. TextMap uses natural language processing techniques to identify entity references and a variety of statistical techniques to analyze the juxtapositions between them.”
CITIZEN MEDIA
VancouverIAM
May 3, 2008
“Local Internet TV, News, Views, Rants + Video Journalism: VancouverIAM.com is the destination for people who want to know what’s going on in Vancouver. It gives you the tools and support to become a video journalist, internet TV and film producer and an active commentator on local politics and everyday issues about life in Vancouver.”
WHERE'S SPORTS NEWS
The World (ESPN The Magazine)
April 27, 2008
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/index
RELIGION CARTOGRAM
The Changing Face of American Catholics (NYTimes.com)
April 22, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/04/13/us/20080412_CATHOLIC_GRAPHIC.html
“Pope Benedict XVI leads a church that is more Hispanic and less centered in the Northeast than it was in the late 1960s.”
INVESTIGATIVE MULTIMEDIA
How the Pentagon Spread Its Message (NYTimes.com)
April 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/04/20/washington/20080419_RUMSFELD.html
“David Barstow, an investigative reporter for The Times, examines primary source documents detailing the Pentagon’s response to criticism of then-Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld by a group of prominent retired generals.”
WHERE'S NEWS
The New York Times on Google Earth (earth.google.com)
April 16, 2008
“The New York Times offers geo-coded news, and Google Earth offers the platform for reading that news in a 3D browser. This is the first time we’ve endeavored to show news updated in real time, and we’re very excited to work with this first-class publication to bring you the latest and greatest news.
To experience this new way of getting your daily dose of news, launch the latest version of Google Earth and make sure the “Geographic Web” folder is turned on. Click on a New York Times placemark and you will see the latest news and features pertaining to that geographic region. Want to see more than just headlines? Click on the “Show this layer” button at the top of the preview bubble and you’ll get a list of news articles dating back one month.” — Google LatLong
More: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F8OumHi_BE
CITIZEN VIDEO
CBS imobile
April 15, 2008
“Where everyone reports… News photos and video and from journalists like you.”
IM NEWS
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) News Alerts (USATODAY.com)
April 13, 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/marketing/alerts.htm
“Now you can receive real-time news alerts and search current and archived USATODAY.com headlines – all through AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).
With USATODAY.com’s real-time news alerts, you can be the first to know:
- Breaking news and top stories.
- Latest celeb news and gossip.
- Updates on your favorite sports team.
- Election coverage and analysis.
- News on any topic that’s important to you!”
CEO PAY & PERFORMANCE
Executive Pay: The Bottom Line for Those at the Top (NYTimes.com)
April 5, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/04/05/business/20080405_EXECCOMP_GRAPHIC.html
“Compensation and accumulated wealth of 200 chief executives for large public companies that filed proxies for last year by March 28.”
SENTIMENT TRACKER
Political Pundit: Candidate Pundit and Topic Pundit (Jodange)
April 4, 2008
Topic Pundit: “Daily updates showing the opinions of the most popular 2008 Presidential Candidates”
“View these Presidential Candidate opinions like you’ve never done before using Jodange’s patent pending sentiment service. The gadget shows all the opinions from the Presidential Candidates over the last 48 hours, extracted from the all the most reliable information worth reading on the web”
Candidate Pundit:
“Daily updates showing people’s opinions on the most popular 2008 Presidential Candidates.”
“View opinions from people on the 2008 Presidential Candidates like you’ve never done so before, using Jodange’s patent pending sentiment service. The gadget discovers people’s opinions on the 2008 Presidential Candidates over the last 48 hours, extracted from the all the most reliable information worth reading on the web.”
WOMEN'S MAGAZINE
Shine (Yahoo.com)
April 1, 2008
“When we started talking about creating a new website for women, we wanted to avoid all of the common categories that advertisers or marketers tend to put us in. We didn’t want to be a site just for moms or just for single women or working women, or any specific demo- or psychographic. We wanted to create a smart, dynamic place for women to gather, get info and to connect with each other and the world around them. The important thing wasn’t how to talk to a 32.5 year-old with 2.2 kids but how to inspire you laugh, think, get mad, empathize, and be surprised and entertained. With Shine, we want to address the commonalities that make us such an amazing group. And we want you to be a part of it, not just a bystander. This isn’t a magazine or a tv show where you are an inactive participant. You help create this site. On Shine we want you to blog (go here to start your own, it’s pretty easy), to comment on articles, to vote in our daily polls, to join in the harangue as we discuss daily events.”
GEOTAGGED NEWS
MetaCarta GeoSearch News
March 29, 2008
http://geosearch.metacarta.com/
“Identify and leverage the geographic references in content.
- Geosearch: Find all content, data, and information about a place in a single view
- Geotagging: Analyze content to identify geographic references; use geotagged content in other applications
- MetaCarta puts your data on any map: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, ESRI - virtually any map server”
TOURNAMENT TRAVEL
2008 NCAA Men’s Division I Championship Bracket Map (LATimes.com)
March 26, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/basketball/brackets/la-2008bracket-map,0,828189.htmlstory
“Tournament tracker: Map”
IRAQ WAR TIMELINE
Iraq 5 Years In (NYTimes.com)
March 23, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/03/18/world/middleeast/20080319_IRAQWAR_TIMELINE.html
“An overview of major events in the conflict.”
CLINTON VS OBAMA
Democratic Super Delegate Tracker Widget (Online NewsHour)
March 22, 2008
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED ARCHIVE
SI Vault (SI.com)
March 20, 2008
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/
“Your link to sports history”
TROOP DEATH DATABASE
Casualties in Iraq (USATODAY.com)
March 20, 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-03-13-iraq-casualties_N.htm
“A personal, statistical view … Casualties in Iraq: A look at the American lives lost … This list includes fatal U.S. government casualties — military and civilian — in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Its totals will usually be slightly less than those in media reports because they are based on Defense Department reports of each casualty’s name and other personal details, which are not released until next of kin are notified.”
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Interactive NCAA Brackets 2008 (Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, New York Times, The Associated Press, NBC Sports, Fox Sports, USA Today)
March 17, 2008
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/bracket
http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/ncb/tournament/bracket
http://sportsline.com/collegebasketball/mayhem/brackets/viewable_men
http://q8.nytimes.com/pages/sports/ncaabasketball/bracket/men/
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_sports/ncaa_tourney/charts_data/photo_bracket/index.html
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/23487117/
http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/4719203
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/tourney08/bracket.htm
SUPER DELEGATES
UPDATED: Democratic Super Delegate Tracker (Online NewsHour)
March 14, 2008
Democratic Super Delegate Tracker
“These nearly 800 Democratic party leaders and officials, who may vote independently of their state’s primary or caucus results, will comprise 20 percent of the total delegate pool at the 2008 nominating convention. In this year’s tight race, their flexible votes may determine the Democratic presidential candidate.”
COMMENT EMOTIONS
White | Spectrum (BBC Two)
March 14, 2008
http://www.bbc.co.uk/white/spectrum.shtml
“Spectrum is a different way of presenting a BBC News Have Your Say Debate. It allow you to investigate the debate around BBC 2’s White Season by associating different comments by emotion, location and similarity.”
MISSING SUB AND CREW
‘Sub ladies’ uncover tale of lost crew (USAToday.com)
March 14, 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-12-grunion-submarine_N.htm
“Three women — now affectionately dubbed the sub ladies — have taken it upon themselves to make sure the 70 men who went down with The Grunion are not forgotten.”
USER-GENERATED ELECTION COMMENTARY
Get My Vote (NPR)
March 13, 2008
“Get My Vote is an online space where people explain their core political beliefs and share personal stories about how those beliefs were formed. It is an online discussion that seeks to move beyond the talking points and conventional wisdom of the 2008 election season to get at the heart of what people want from their politicians. It all starts with one question: What will it take for a candidate to get your vote?”
VIDEO ON DEMAND
Hulu.com: NBC News Specials, CNET News, E! News, and The Onion
March 12, 2008
The video-on-demand service Hulu.com is now public and offering programs from NBC News, CNET News, E! News and The Onion News Network.
CITY DATA ON MAP
Nanaimo’s Fire Rescue Incidents, Interactive Mapping Site and Downloadable City Map Data (City of Nanaimo)
March 12, 2008
City of Nanaimo’s fire rescue incidents: http://www.nanaimo.ca/fire_rescue_incidents/daily_calls.aspx
City of Nanaimo’s interactive mapping site: http://www.nanaimo.ca/residents/index_inside.asp?id=117&collection=19
City of Nanaimo’s downloadable city map data: http://earth.nanaimo.ca/data.html
NEWS AGGREGATOR
Mixx on NPR.org and NYTimes.com
March 12, 2008
Mixx links are now on NPR.org and NYTimes.com.
“Mixx is your link to the web content that really matters. … You find it; we’ll Mixx it. Use YourMixx to tailor the content categories, tags, specific users and groups, and we’ll deliver the top-rated content as chosen by you and people who share your passions.”
USER ELECTION PHOTOS
Polling Place Photo Project (New York Times)
March 12, 2008
http://pollingplaces.nytimes.com/
“The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that encourages voters to capture, post and share photographs of this year’s primaries, caucuses and general election. By documenting local voting experiences, participants can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America.”
BALLOT ISSUES
Town Meeting 2008 (New Hampshire Public Radio)
March 12, 2008
http://www.nhpr.org/node/15156
“Granite Staters will soon be voting and attending town meetings to decide on key issues in their communities. This interactive map is a new way to look at town meetings in your community and those across the state.”
BLOG EMOTIONS
Blews - what the blogosphere tells you about news (Microsoft Research)
March 7, 2008
http://research.microsoft.com/projects/blews/blews.aspx
“While typical news-aggregation sites do a good job of clustering news stories according to topic, they leave the reader without information about which stories figure prominently in political discourse. BLEWS uses political blogs to categorize news stories according to their reception in the conservative and liberal blogospheres.”
RAW VIDEO FEEDS
LiveNewsCameras.com
March 4, 2008
http://www.livenewscameras.com/
“The idea behind this page is simple - to bring together the resources of newsrooms around the world, and make it easy to find and watch on your computer. As of today, there are more than 50 channels of live streaming video on this page - that number is growing every day.”
ONLINE PUBLIC RADIO
KCRW’s NEW Media Player
March 3, 2008
http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=live&id=kcrwlive
“The station is opening up the doors to their archives in a way they never have before, allowing users to create their own ‘Channel’ – a Tivo-like function that will enable them to bookmark shows, performances and interviews to listen to at their convenience. They will also be able to easily share links to performances with friends or embed them into a blog.”
BASKETBALL PLAYS
The Defense Never Rests (New York Times)
March 3, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/02/28/sports/playmagazine/20080229_GUNDY_GRAPHIC.html
“Former head coach Jeff Van Gundy, now an analyst with ESPN, outlines ways to stop some of the N.B.A.’s most potent offensive weapons”
ANIMATED EDITORIAL CARTOON
Secret Document Man (Detroit Free Press)
March 1, 2008
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080228/BLOG2401/80228005
“With big-time help from the musically talented singer/guitarist Rachel May of the Detroit Free Press, I [Mike Thompson] was able to create an animation within 24 hours of yesterday’s Michigan Supreme Court ruling in the continuing legal saga of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.”
HUMAN IMPACTS ON OCEANS
Mapping the Other 70 Percent (New York Times)
March 1, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/02/25/science/earth/20080225_COAST_GRAPHIC.html
“Scientists are building the first worldwide portrait of human impact on the world’s oceans.”
HILLARY VS. BARACK
How Can Obama Or Clinton Win The Nomination? You Decide! (Forbes.com)
February 29, 2008
http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/27/obama-clinton-election-oped-cx_jb_0227delegates.html
“With the delegate-rich primary contests in Texas and Ohio rapidly approaching, it’s time for you to figure out who will win the Democratic nomination and how he or she can do it. Use our delegate calculator to see what combination of wins will propel your candidate (or your candidate’s opponent) to victory.”
BOX OFFICE $ GRAPH
The Ebb and Flow of Movies: Box Office Receipts 1986 - 2007 (New York Times)
February 26, 2008
“Summer blockbusters and holiday hits make up the bulk of box office revenue each year, while contenders for the top Oscar awards tend to attract smaller audiences that build over time. Here’s a look at how movies have fared at the box office, after adjusting for inflation.”
FLIGHT DELAYS
McCarran Flight Delay Calculator (Las Vegas Sun)
February 25, 2008
http://www.lasvegassun.com/guides/flightdelays/
“This interactive map shows how frequently individual direct flights were delayed by 15 minutes or more when traveling to and from McCarran International Airport in 2007.”
CITIZEN IDEAS
Idea Generator: Your Economy (Minnesota Public Radio)
February 22, 2008
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2008/02/your_economy/
“What worries you most about the economy … and what can we do about it? Share youe experience and ideas or browse, discuss and rate the ideas of others. Public radio reporters will be listening, and using your insights to help us cover the issues that matter most in the 2008 election.”
