ProgressOhio

Ever wonder how reporters stay in tune? Or better yet, how bloggers find the time to catch onto stories?

Over the past few months, ProgressOhio readers have emailed, written and called about how best to stay up on news and do research on issues.

Another frequent question we’ve gotten is how in the course of a busy day technology can simplify your information stream.

There are tools you can use to simplify how you use the internet and keep up on Ohio issues and political policy. And there easy steps at your own fingertips to help you get information and send information to others.

So, foregoing a research-based Shadows for the week – here are some of the handy Ohio tools that Shadows has used that will give you instant access to do your own sleuthing – scoping the cracks in the Shadows of the Statehouse on a variety of topics.

1. INSTANT OHIO AND NATIONAL CLIPS – PROGRESSOHIO’S PAGEFLAKES

In just the past year, clips have begun to be a part of the past. Pageflakes is live instant updates of Ohio news, national news and Presidential election news. All you have to do is click here and bookmark the page and news will flow 24-7 – just choose the appropriate tab at the top of the page.

It eliminates the need to look at news - paper by paper, blog by blog - and instead organizes the information by topic – all instant, live and fed by something called RSS feeds (which our online director Dave Harding can explain in detail – but RSS suffices for me.)

PAGEFLAKES gives you instant Ohio news, national news and Presidential Election news on Democratic and Republican candidates.

Back in the 1980s, it used to be that Trustees from the State Pen clipped Ohio newspapers – some weeklies days old from the mail – for distribution to Governor Celeste’s staff. In the 90s, clips began to accumulate online. Later in the 90s, political parties, interest groups and others began emailing clips and posting them online.

The problem in today’s world is that news is instant and everywhere. It’s on your cellphone, on the Dispatch façade at the Statehouse and Public Square in Cleveland and news cycles are blurred with the instant reporting of newspaper websites, blogs and email lists.

PageFlakes is a timesaver and a convenience – and some of the latest technology the web has to offer. And as one of ProgressOhio’s services to partner organizations, we can personalize pages for instant news flow and research.

1. ONLINE MEDIA, MEDIA ARCHIVES AND ONLINE RESEARCH TOOLS
1. Online Newspaper, TV & Radio Websites: Newslink.org has a comprehensive list of all Ohio media with direct links to Ohio newspapers, television stations and websites.
2. Online Newspaper Archives: NewsLibrary.com has a comprehensive list of Ohio newspapers that is searchable by subject and topic. There is a charge for full article downloads, but the search process allows you to see headlines and hone in on your subject to determine which articles meet your research needs. The archives vary by years available although most major Ohio newspapers go back to the early 1990s. There are some free archived articles on local newspaper websites – although policies vary by site regarding the amount of time free records are kept.
3. OPLIN – Ohio Public Library Information Network: You would be surprised at what the State of Ohio’s public library offers on the web for your own home use. The research page has access to both free databases and for-profit data sets.

1. FOLLOW THE MONEY – SECRETARY OF STATE, OHIO MONEY TREE, OHIO CITIZEN ACTION

Computers and open government make many Ohio funding details readily available via the internet.

1. The Ohio Secretary of State contains two tools for researching donors:
1. Search Candidates And Committees: Under the Campaign Finance Section listed on the left, this tool allows searches of donors, employers and candidates in a variety of fields. One caution, it is dependent on spelling and correct dates"
   
   For a more laborious but detailed look at politics:
   
   
2. Download Common Reports (FTP): Also under the Campaign Finance Section, these reports can be downloaded, first to an FTP document on your hard drive and then by clicking downloading as a spreadsheet. The reports are more detailed, but searching is limited to candidate or committee report.
2. ProgressOhio’s Ohiomoneytree.org: A site which visually traces relationships between donors, developed in partnership with Joseph from Plunderbund. The site uses Secretary of State data to map out patterns of donations. The site helps track legal donations, but requires a user to either know the policy issue donor money is related to or do additional research as well.
3. Ohio Citizen Action: The site has a number of useful articles, studies and tools. The “Follow the money” section breaks down into easy digestible forms donor history and policy categories.

1. HIDDEN OHIO GOVERNMENT RESOURCES: STATE CONTRACTS, BILL TRACKING & FLOOR SPEECHES:
1. Office of Budget and Management State Contracts and Documents: Click the link and bookmark it because there is a secret to getting into the back page. But once you are there you can search by department or all departments from any search term (just hit the pull down bar in the second window.) Up will pop a myriad of researchable documents for any sleuth through the shadows of Ohio government (or to bring back a Voinovichian phrase – the bowels of state government – yick.) Not all documents are in here, but you’ll be surprised what you can find.
2. Status Report on Legislative Bills and Bill Analysis: The Status Report on Legislative Bills is simply a pdf document that lists the bill number, name of the bill, lead sponsor and where the bill resides in legislative committee. If you want to know what’s in the bill (and aren’t a lawyer) go to the corresponding Bill Analysis searchable by bill number and sponsor (hence you need the status report first.) This is the Legislative Service Commission’s cliff notes version of the bill (hint: even legislators use the cliff notes.)
3. ProgressOhioEducation.org: Our sister site contains a variety of progressive position papers and links to online resources by subject that are Ohio specific about progressive policy issues in the state.
4. BillHop: Ohio Billhop is sponsored by Glass City Jungle, Writes Like She Talks and ProgressOhio. It gives bloggers a page to research and blog by legislative bill.
5. Session Video: Yep, you can actually see and hear your legislators from the comfort of your computer and couch. They are even archived for viewing pleasure. But don’t think about republishing – in the lame duck session last December, politicians made it illegal to use the footage. Funny you can watch it if you can find it, but can’t send it to a friend. If you find the date that the House or Senate voted on a bill in the Status Report (mentioned above), you can see if your local rep gave a speech. But don’t worry- if they go to overturn the law in the Ohio Supreme Court, remarks on the floor are not considered part of legislative intent. So if you give a speech, but you can’t spread it around and it isn’t legislative intent – did it really happen? Well only on OGTV.

In addition to these outside news sources, through ProgressOhio.org’s site, users have the ability to blog, to create public or private listserves for organizations, to submit email letters directly to newspapers and legislators in the Statehouse and Washington, D.C.

Over 1200 Ohioans have used the system to communicate in one way or another since we opened our doors last September. So here are a few resources at ProgressOhio.org for your use. All you have to do is register and the service is private, secure and free.

1. PROGRESSOHIO TOOLS: LISTSERVES, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, LETTERS TO ELECTED OFFICIALS, WIDGETS AND MORE:
1. My Progress Listserves: By setting up an account, you have the ability to create a public or private group and communicate privately and securely to your list. Even our administrator has no access to your listserv account.
2. Letters to the Editor and Letters to Elected Officials: Sending letters to the editor or to elected officials is a simple process. After logging into your MyProgress account, the system asks you to enter your zip code and gives you the local newspapers and legislators for your area.
3. ProgressOhio’s Widgets: Widgets allow you to place a section of ProgressOhio on your Google page or website. A widget is a piece of a site that you can download and adjust its size and color to fit your Google home page or web site and it loads to your site (RSS feed again). Check out the link and download PO’s blogs or events for convenience.
4. ProgressOhio’s Toolbar: Just like Yahoo or Google, ProgressOhio provides a toolbar that lets you view the PO blog or access you’re MyProgress account with the click of a button.
5. Video Site and ProgressOhio MySpace Page: Fan of YouTube? Progress Ohio hosts a video site. You can view, post or share a video or load it onto your homepage or website as a widget. Want to connect with Progressives socially? Try ProgressOhio’s MySpace page which (much to our surprise) has grown to over 8300 friends since April – larger than many national organizations. You can view PO widgets, invite friends of your own, or communicate with thousands of Ohio and national progressives in the comfort of your living room.
6. ProgressPoints: And don’t forget to register on ProgressOhio. For every action you take you receive ProgressPoints – more details on the rewards to come very soon.

These are all Ohio-based tools to let you do your own research and sleuthing. But there are simple and foolproof ways to do initial research by using search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and other sites.

And then there is the ancient old fashioned way – going to the local library and asking the librarian for local clipping files and microfilm or making a public record request to government agencies.

One thing is certain: news is instant, technology is changing daily, and the tools to find out just about anything you want to know are at your fingertips.