using the web as an investigative reporting tool

Strategy Know what you’re after

Know what is available

Know when enough is enough

Be a smarter searcher

Be skeptical – treat each online source just as you would any other

Advanced search

Search for phrases

Use Boolean logic

By domain or site

By file type

Words in URL

• No one knows for sure, but estimates are that Google searches far less than half of what’s available on the Web – maybe a small fraction.

• Each search engine has its own strengths and weaknesses.

• Total shared results of any two search engines: 8.9 percent.

• Any three search engines: 2.2 percent

Source: 2007 study by Dogpile, Penn State and Queensland University of Technology

• Alltheweb.com (advanced search options)

• Ask.com (Subject-Specific Popularity™)

• Clusty.com (clustered results)

• Yahoo! (directory)

• Jux2 (Multiple search site results returned)

• Bing

• Twingine (side-by-side results)

Wikipedia (for links, sources only)

Census (esp. Data Finders feature)

Public records portals

• BRB Publications

• Portico

NICAR Net tour

Reporter’s Desktop by Duff Wilson

FedStats - Portal to government statistics. FirstGov - Portal to federal and local

governments.

Federal spending USASpending – search and download federal

contracts, grants and more.

The Visible Web (“Surface Web”) is made up

of the typical results in search engines.

The Invisible Web (“Deep Web”) includes

searchable databases / dynamic content.

Some estimate the Invisible Web is 550 times

bigger than the Visible Web.

Google says more than 1,000 federal

government sites can’t be “crawled.”

Facebook

Pipl

123people

SocialMention

Whostalkin

Samepoint

Icerocket

PeekYou

Search engine cache (Google, Bing)

Wayback Machine

CyberCemetery – sites of defunct government

agencies and commissions

Yahoo Site Explorer

Domain searches reveal all.

Domain Tools http://www.domaintools.com

Allwhois http://www.allwhois.com

Quarkbase

Find the location:

Find IP: “Show original” or “View source” of the

email.

Lookup IP: Whois

Reverse email searches:

Facebook

People searches:

Pipl, spokeo

Check usernames at Knowem

Salaries, travel: www.legistorm.com

Cash and votes: www.maplight.org

Federal: www.opensecrets.org

From the source: www.fec.gov

990s –What all 501(c)3 organizations that

have more than $25,000 in annual revenue

must file with the IRS.

Churches are exempt.

IRE database library