COUNTING AND ANALYZING SITE VISITORS
See also Usage.

Web counter.

http://www.digits.com

Websidestory.

http://www.websidestory.com

Provides visitor traffic analyses.

CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION
Can we gain creativity from the Web? Some think so. for example:

Plsek's Directed Creativity.

http://www.DirectedCreativity.com/

CRIME AND CORRECTIONS
Citizens seek to reform our public safety/law enforcement/crime control systems, with attention to the prevention of crime, limiting police brutality, help for victims and families of criminals, the court systems, help for prisoners, and alternatives to incarceration. One of the most significance moves is to restorative justice.

Selected sites for information and action:

National Institute of Justice .

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/

Bureau of Justice Statistics .

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/

Prison Data

http://www.motherjones.com/prisons/

US Catholic Bishops statement .

http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/criminal.shtml

Restorative Justice .

http://www.restorativejustice.org

Site by Prison Fellowship International.

Restorative Justice, by TC .

http://www.restorativejustice.com

Site by Tom Cavanagh.

National Center for Victims of Crime .

http://www.ncvc.org

Friends for Restorative Justice .

http://omlets.tripod.com/F4RJ/

Transnational Organized Crime .

http://www.adccp.org/palermo/convmain.html

UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.

National Legal Aid and Defenders Association. .

http://www.nlada.org

PVS: Prisoner Visitation and Support .

http://prisonervisitation.org

In addition to organized work, citizens can visit prisoners personally. This program has volunteers to visit federal and military prisons in the US.

CURRENCY INFORMATION

Currency converter.

http:///www.xe.net/

CURRENT AWARENESS OF INTERNET DEVELOPMENTS
See the sites to see how to subscribe to the notification services by e-mail.

Scout.

http://scout.wisc.edu/

Scout sends a weekly annotated list of websites.

Netsurfer Digest.

http://www.netsurf.com

Requires paid subscription.

Research Buzz.

http://www.researchbuzz.com

Librarians Index to the Internet.

http://lii.org/

Classified directory and weekly e-mail notification. From UC Berkeley.

DATES
The dates of material on the Web or the dates for material found and indexed by search engines are not often provided. Often a search engine will show no date, or will show the date a page was spidered by the robot program of the search engine. NewsBot (www.newsbot.com) will show news stories in reverse chronological order.

DEATHS
The death information from the Social Security files.

SocSec Death Index.

http://www.ancestry.com/ssdi/advanced.htm

DEFENSE AND DEFENSE INDUSTRY ISSUES
How can citizens gain the knowledge needed, and participate in debates on defense policies? The Friends Committee on National Legislation calculates that 41% of our federal taxes in 2006 went to war spending, present and past military concerns, and 47% of the federal debt is due to past military spending. The web is not enough, surely, to know what we need to know. Much study and investigative reporting are needed. For good introductory overviews on what has been called the military-industrial complex see these books:

Gottlieb, Sanford. Defense Addiction: Can America Kick the Habit? Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997.
Greider, William. Fortress America: The American Military and the Consequences of Peace. New York: PublicAffairs, 1998.
Kaldor, Mary.New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era.Stanford: Polity Press, 1999.

Some issues: military needs after end of Cold War? Influence of defense industry? disposal of nuclear and chemical toxins? close bases? return overseas troops? convert jobs to civilian production? and congressional pork? change to peacemaking and peacekeeping? stop weapons expenditures?

Quadrennial Defense Review.

http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/qdr2001.pdf

Annual Defense Report.

http://www.dtic.mil/execsec/adr_intro.html

Crimes of War.

http://www.crimesofwar.org

Federation of American Scientists.

http://www.fas.org

Friends Committee on National Legislation.

http://www.fcnl.org

See defense issues section.

Center for the Study of the Presidency.

http://www.thepresidence.org/pubs/strategic.htm

Report on Comprehensive Strategic Reform.

DIALOGUE
It is far easier to encourage everyone to engage in dialogue then to actually do it. We have books on how to do it, and consultants to help, and websites. Here are provided some of the latter as an opening into the field of action in words.

National Issues Forum.

http://www.nifi.org

A program supporting dialogue by citizens, National Issues Forums, has produced a valuable handbook in collaboration with Catholic leaders: "National Issues Forums in the Catholic Community: Handbook for Moderators and Convenors." It is available on their website.

Public Conversation.

http://www.publicconversations

Many resources provided.

Designed Learning.

http://www.designedlearning

Peter Block, consultant

Dialogos.

http://www.dialogos.com

Global Dialogue Project.

http://Global-dialogue.org

Engaging Impasse.

http://wwwengagingimpasse.org

Culture of Conversation.

http://www.cultureofconversation

To promote dialogue in the Catholic Church in the USA.

DICTIONARIES

Dictionaries.

http://www.yourdictionary.com

Free Dictionary.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com

OneLook Dictionaries.

http://www.onelook.com

DIGITAL LIBRARIES
Libraries are presenting themselves on the Web as digital libraries. See the example of the University of California beginning in January 1999. Note the project of Google to put books on the web, announced in 2004.

California Digital Library.

http://www.cdlib.org/

DIRECTORIES
See also Organizations and use the portals and Google's Directories.

Whowhere?.

http://www.whowhere.com

DISTANCE EDUCATION
Selected sites for the rapidly expanding field of distance learning or education.

The Distance Education and Training Council.

http://www.detc.org/

Clearinghouse and sponsor of accrediting commission. Lists accredited institutions, mostly correspondence schools, with more appearing on the Net.

United States Distance Learning Association.

http://www.usdla.org/

Information on federal and state programs

Distance Education.org.

http://www.distance-education.org

Degree.net.

http://www.degree.net

By Ten Speed Press, connected to Dr Bear's book on distance degrees, with info on diploma mills.

EarnMyDegree.

http://www.earnmydegree.com/index.html

An example of a resource for getting information on online colleges.

DegreeTutor.

http://www.degreetutor.com/

A guide to online colleges and distance learning.

DOMAINS
ICANN now gives information on the numerous places to register a domain name.

ICANN.

http://www.icann.org

ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
These sites are examples of resources in this area. Many government, organizational, news, statisticial sites are relevant.

National Priorities Project.

http://www.natprior.org

Urban Institute.

http://www.urban.org

World Economic Forum.

http://www.weforum.org

ELDERS
What are the resources for actions by and for elders, also known sometimes as senior citizens? A powerful overview of the changing position of old people in American society is: William H. Thomas, M.D., What Are Older People For? How Elders Will Save the World(2004). The following selection of websites provides government agencies, statistics, research organizations, and action organizations.

Elders and their families.

http://www.aoa.dhhs.gov/eldfam/eldfam.asp

A section of the website of the Administration on Aging.

Alliance for Aging Research.

http://www.agingresearch.org

National Academy on an Aging Society.

http://www.agingsociety.org

Senior Citizens Resources.

http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Seniors.shtml

NIH Senior Health.

http://nihseniorhealth.gov/

AARP.

http://www.aarp/org

Generations United.

http://www.gu.org/

National Council on Aging.

http://www.ncoa.org

Mapping the Growth of Older America.

http://www.brookings.edu/views/articles/200705frey.htm

An article by William H. Frey on the changing demographics.

Lesson Plans on Aging Issues.

http://www.ithaca.edu/aging/schools

Lessons plans for teachers in grades 7-12. Possible help for discussions?

What about the particular problem of elder abuse?

National Center on Elder Abuse.

http://www.elderabusecenter.org

Elder Justice Coalition.

http://www.elderjusticecoalition.com

National Adult Protective Services Association.

http://www.apsnetwork.org

Aging and the number of elders needs to be seen in the global context. What are the trends?

EMAIL AND LISTSERVS
Subject sites and general sites often give lists of lists and newsgroups.

Send e-mail to Congress:

Mrsmith.com/.

http://www.mrsmith.com/

Note that many members of Congress want you to use e-mail from their websites, and some ask questions to be sure a real person is emailing.

For a list of over 1000 free e-mail locations:

Free Email Address Delivery.

http://www.emailaddresses.com.

There a number of sites which provide anonymous e-mail, for example:

Anonymizer, Inc.

http://www.anonymizer.com

To move your address list:

Move it.

http://www.interguru.com/mailconv.htm

Courtesy expectations:

Netiquette Home page.

http://www.albion.com/netiquette

ENCYCLOPEDIAS

Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org

Written by contributors.

Encyclopedia Britannica.

http://www.britannica.com

The full service now (2001) requires a subscription. See your library's access.

Encarta.

http://encarta.msn.com

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
A number of these sites provide access to many resources. See also FUTURE for sustainability sites. See Government sites, and Corporations and Corporate Accountability.

Major report:

Environmental Performance Index.

http://www.yale.edu/epi/

For environmental news and commentary:

Grist.

http://www.grist.org/

Selected projects:

American Energy Now.

http://www.americanenergynow.org

Document "American Energy: The Renewal Path to Energy Security"

Carbon Disclosure Project.

http://www.cdproject.net

Clinton Global Initiative.

http://www.clintonglobalinitiative

Climate Change Technology Program Strategic Plan.

http://www.climatetechnology.gov/

Evaluating the Role of Prices & R&D in Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions.

http://www.cbo.gov/

Find on site of Congressional Budget Office.

Selected resources:

Environmental Media Services.

http://www.ems.org

Environmental Directory.

http://www.environmentaldirectory.net

Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.

http://www.ieer.org

Located in Takoma Park, MD, focuses on nuclear issues.

Public employees for Environmental Responsibility.

http://www.peer.org

World Resources Institute.

http://www.wri.org/

Environmental Defense.

http://www.environmentaldefense.org

NatureServe.

http://www.natureserve.org

Chemical Scorecard.

http://www.scorecard.org

Provides data on each area of the country/

Environmental Policy Tools.

http://www.wws.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/byteserv.prl/~ota/disk1/1995/9517/9517.PDF

Publication from Office of Technology Assessment.

League of Conservation Voters.

http://www.lcv.org

Earth Day.

http://www.earthday.net

Earth Policy Institute.

http://www.earthpolicy.org

EarthJustice.

http://www.earthjustice.org

National Environmental Trust.

http://www.net.org

Sierra Club.

http://www.sierraclub.org

Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy.

http://www.dsireusa.org

Union of Concerned Scientists.

http://www.ucsusa.org

Faith-based organizations:

National Religious Partnership for the Environment.

http://www.nrpe.org

Environmental Justice Program.

http://www.nccbuscc.org/sdwp/ejp

From US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

EVALUATION OF WEB SITES
For general methods (questions to ask):

Evaluation criteria article in Public Access Computer Systems Review.

http://info.lib.uh.edu/pr/v8/n3/cont8n3.html

Website software to evaluate websites

Alexa.

http://www.alexa.com

Note: It is very difficult to verify the reliability of the information. Even when the site seems professional, the information may not have been authenticated.
Example: A study reported in the leading medical journal, Pediatrics (http://www.pediatrics.org, electronic abstracts, June 1998). Sites were evaluated in relation to the current AAP practice parameter on the management of acure gastroenteritis in young children. Result: "Of 60 articles published by traditional medical sources, only 12 (20% conformed to current AAP recommendations for treatment of children. The source of the information, even if from a major academic medical center, did not improve the likelihood of compliance." A conclusion: "Patients must be warned about the volumnous misinformation available on medical subjects on the Net."
Example: BMJ: British Medical Journal, 28 June 1997, "Reliability of health information for the public on the world wide web: systematic survey of advice on managing fever in children at home." One key message: a search "retrieved 41 web pages, but only four adhered closely to published guidelines". . ..
Another example: "Evaluation of Cancer Information on the Internet," by J. Sybil Bierman, and others, Cancer, August 1999.
Another example: "Health Information on the Internet," JAMA, May 23/30, 2001, pp. 2612-2621. Conclusion: Accessing health information using search engines and simple search terms is not efficient.

To help you avoid excessive reliance on the Web, I recommend you read and meditate on this article:
Rothenberg, David. "How the Web Destroys the Quality of Students' Research Papers," Chronicle of Higher Education, August 15, 1997, p. A44.

FACT CHECKING SITES
The need for citizens to check the facts of what is put out by advertisers and politicians and others is clear, and well put forth in this book:
Jackson, Brooks, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007.
The authors say the solution to spin is the Internet, but you have to find the good sites.
Here some sites specifically working on fact checking:

FAQs

Internets FAQ Archives.

http://www.faqs.org/faqs

Find groups and Web sites by topic.

FILMS
Deivert, Bert and Dan Harries. Film & Video on the Internet: The Top 500 Sites. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 1996.

CineMedia (The Internet Largest Film and Media Directory) .

http://afi.cinemedia.org

Boxoffice Online.

http://www.boxoff.com

IMDb Internet Movie Database.

http://us.imdb.com/

Gives details, casts, plot summaries, plot keywords, user comments, fun stuff, connections, etc.

Film reviews.

http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?

Find a movie.

http://www.movielink.com/

Needs high-speed connection to download.

Videos for sale and rent:

Reel.com.

http://www.reel.com

FILTERING INFORMATION
Filtering is designed to restrict access to obscene sites and other material (such as gambling, violence) so that minors cannot reach them. For an example of a secure computing site for protection:

Searchopolis.

http://www.searchopolis.com/

For websites with information on filtering, use a search engine. FINGER
A finger program enables you to find out about a person. You can do this using telnet, or on the Web. See your communication software also.

FORUMS
See also COMMUNITIES.
Web forums are sites for exchanging messages, not live like chat rooms. Examples of forums:

Excite Communities.

http://www.communicate.excite.com

Yahoo Clubs.

http://groups.yahoo.com

FUTURE
We the citizens want to know as much as possible about the future, and work to plan it and prepare it. We want to keep the welfare of future generations always in mind, and include them in our quality of life accounting. See also VISION.

There are organizations and tools for envisaging the future:

World Future Society.

http://www.wfs.org

Global Business Network.

http://www.gbn.org

Future Search Conferences.

http://www.futuresearch.net

One of the major concerns that helps us to have the courage and energy we need to confront the future is the goal of sustainability. Some selected sites that open up areas of concern and action:

The Natural Step.

http://www.naturalstep.org/

Sustainable Measures.

http://www.sustainablemeasures.com

GOVERNMENT INFORMATION
What is the federal government doing? Not doing? What is made public and what is concealed? What are policies and practices of secrecy, classification of information, deception, and lying? How we get information in order to hold the government in all branches accountable?

Some possible sources include government websites (including archives), media reports, monitoring posted by citizen organizations, either general ones or specific to field of interests, such as the environment or foreign affairs, and information from individuals (see Whistleblowers, for example). Monitoring websites help provide information of tactics to deceive, obstruct publication of critical research or critical judgments, and conceal unjust regulatory practices and corrupt connections between government personnel and outside agents.
Some library subjects for research: government information, official secrets, executive privilege (government information), security classification, deception-political aspects

Some general websites:

USA.gov.

http://www.usa.gov/

The official web portal for the US government.

Federal Inspectors General

http://www.ignet.gov

The general site provides links to each government agency, each of which does audits, investigates management, and deals with fraud, etc.

Government Accountability Office

http://www.gao.gov/

Formerly General Accounting Office; called the congressional watchdog, to assure accountability to the American people

Council for Excellence in Government .

http://excelgov.org/

Organization supports a stronger public sector leadership, with use of internet.

GovSpot.

http://www.govspot.com

A general site for government-related news and resources (including tribal governments)

National Security Archive .

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/

The prime source for material obtained by FOIA.

Some organizations, often called watchdogs, that monitor the government and provide information (they usually offer email alerts and updates):

Sunlight Foundation .

http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/

Promotes transparency about elected representatives. See Resources for many links, some of which are listed below.

Public Citizen .

http://www.citizen.org/

Bush Secrecy.

http://www.bushsecrecy.org

Clean Up Washington .

http://www.cleanupwashington.org/

"taking our government back from the special interests"

White House for Sale.

http://www.whitehouseforsale.org

No longer being updated, site should be used for historical research purposes.

Project on Government Oversight.

http://www.pogo.org/

To expose corruption and other misconduct.

OMB Watch.

http://www.ombwatch.org/

"promoting government accountability"

Center for Responsive Politics .

http://www.opensecrets.org/

Investigates money in US elections.

Secrecy News, Federal of American Scientists.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html

FAS Project on Government Secrecy works to challenge excessive government secrecy and to promote public oversight.

Taxpayers for Common Sense.

http://www.taxpayer.net/

"a non-partisan budget watchdog"

Freedom of Information Act, Electronic Reading Room.

http://foia.state.gov

GROUP WORK
Here is an example of a site for facilitating group work and Web collaborative work:

WebEx.

http://www.webex.com

HEALTH AND MEDICINE
Some of the most thorough research on the quality of Web sites has been done in the field of medicine. See Evaluation topics.
Maxwell, Bruce. How to Find Health Information on the Internet .Washington, DC: Congresssional Quarterly, 1998.

In addition to concern for the reliability of health information, there is increasing emphasis on the use of the web for information on the quality of care: is the best knowledge actually being used in practice, and where are the least number of medical mistakes being made. For an ovewview, see:
Millenson, Michael L. Demanding Medical Excellence: Doctors and Accountability in the Information Age . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.

. This area may be taken as a good example of the value, variety, and functions of web sites for citizens. The categories beloware more significant than the specifics.
For general information:

Healthfinder.

http://www.healthfinder.gov

U.S. Government main health and medicine site.Links to Medline, for research publications.

Alternative Medicine.

http://nccam.nih.gov/

HealthyWorld Online.

http://www.healthy.net

Private site for general and alternative medicine.

Hardin Meta-Directory of Internet Health Sources.

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/index.html

Includes links to full-text e-journals.

Mayo Clinic.

http://www.mayoclinic.com

For quality asssement information:

National Committee of Quality Assurance.

http://www.ncqa.org

Report on Health Plans released in Feb. 2000.

Maryland Health Care Commission.

http://www.mhcc.state.md.us

National Practitioner Data Bank.

http://www.docboard.org

Nursing home data.

http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/

Choice Trust doctor information.

http://www.choicetrust.com

Note the article, "Survey of Doctor Disciplinary Information on State Medical Board Web Sites," Public Citizen Health Research Group Health Letter, March 2000.

Examples of medical reference books:

Merck Manual.

http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/home.jsp

Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/

A number of federal sites and other sites are worth monitoring:

FDA on drug safety.

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety.htm

Clinical trials.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/

Agency for Health Care Research and Quality.

http://www.ahcpr.gov

Science Panel on Interactive Communication and Health.

http://scipich.health.org

Report issued in 1999.

HISTORY OF THE INTERNET

Internet history timeline.

http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline

HOAXES

Datafellows.

http://www.Datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm

There are quite a few other sites that deal with hoaxes, this is an example.

HOME PAGES
Some sites provide free home pages. For example:

Yahoo Geocities.

http://geocities.yahoo.com

HOUSING

National Housing Institute.

http://www.nhi.org

HUD User.

http://www.huduser.org

IMMIGRATION ISSUES

National Immigration Forum.

http://www.immigrationforum.org

National Immigration Law Center.

http://www.nilc.org

Has good links to other sites.

Center for Immigration Studies.

http://www.cis.org

US bishops immigration site.

http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org

National Council of La Raza.

http://www.nclr.org

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES AND AGENDAS
Some general sources are provided here. Other international dimensions are included under specific issues and under statistics.

Some sites which provide access to a wide variety of sources:

Library of Congress International Resources.

http://international.loc.gov

Union of International Associations.

http://www.uia.org

The UIA has large databases of information and aids to analysis of problems.

PRAXIS Resources for Social and Economic Development.

http://caster.ssw.upenn.edu/~restes/praxis.html

Resources for human rights information:

Human Rights Watch.

http://www.hrm.org/

Amnesty International.

http://www.amnesty.org/

See reports, and links to USA and other sections.

US Dep't of State Human Rights.

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/

State Dept on International Religious Freedom.

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/irf/

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS
See Washington Post, "Annual Survey of Internet Service Providers."

For data see:

TheList.

http://www.THELIST.com

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
A major challenge for organizations is to integrate Internet resources into their other resources and especially the personal knowlege of the staff. Knowledge management systems try to do this, and knowledge is a big deal these days. Companies are installing Chief Knowledge Officers (CKO). Citizen groups may want to create KM systems to share their expertise, including their uses of the web. For example of resources see:

@Brint.

http://www.brint.com

"The premier network for business, technology, and knowledge management"

LAW
There are a number of books which provide lists of law sites.

FindLaw.

http://www.findlaw.com/

Appleseed Centers for Law and Justice.

http://www.appleseeds.net/

Legal Engine.

http://www.legalengine.com

HALT.

http://www.halt.org

An organization of Americans for legal reform.

LEADERSHIP
Citizens normally develop their leadership visions and skills in informal, experiential learning, but there are a number of centers which provide education and training, and other resources. Here is a selection, of course, the links on these sites are also useful.

Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.

http://www.greenleaf.org

De Pree Leadership Center.

http://www.depree.org

Center for Creative Leadership.

http://www.ccl.org

J M Burns Academy of Leadership.

http://academy.umd.edu

Heartland Center.

http://www.heartlandctr.org

Center for Public Leadership.

http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/leadership

LIBRARIES
See the University of Maryland Libraries' home page or those of other libraries for entries to other libraries.

LICENSE PLATES: DIPLOMATIC
Some auto drivers are curious about the nations connected with the diplomatic plates they see in the DC area.

Diplomatic license plates.

http://www.clothmonkey.com/plates

LIFESTYLE CHOICES
Every citizen needs to make responsible lifestyle choices, and many have formed groups and created websites to help each other in their projects.
For a collection of websites, see the Google Web Directory, under Society, Lifestyle Choices.

Google Directories.

http://directory.google.com

Simple Living Network.

http://slnet.com

Alternatives for Simple Living.

http://www.simpleliving.org

LINKS
To find who has made a link to your site, use the AltaVista command: link:URLtext
Finds pages with a link to a page with the specified URL text.

To check the links on your pages, use the link checking service at:

Net Mechanic.

http://www.netmechanic.com/

Give your URL, ask for notification by e-mail.

LISTS
To host and archive a list, see one of the sites such as Yahoo.

Yahoo Groups.

http://www.groups.yahoo.com

MAPS
Map sites generally prepare a map and turn-by-turn directions for your trip.

Mapquest.

http://www.mapquest.com

Mapsonus.

http://www.mapsonus.com

Mapblast.

http://mapblast.com

MARYLAND
Maryland was one of the first states in which the libraries provided a statewide Web resource, which was going to be "Seymour" the dog, but became Sailor.

Sailor.

http://sailor.lib.md.us

MEDIA, JOURNALISM, AND CIVIC JOURNALISM
Web sites for citizens interacting with the media

Promoting media literacy

Action Coalition for Media Education .

http://www.acmecoalition.org

Alliance for a Media Literate America .

http://www.amlainfo.org

The Free Expression Policy Project (NYU School of Law) .

http:// www.fepproject.org

see the 2003 report "Media Literacy: An Alternative to Censorship"

Sources for journalists:

Columbia Journalism Review Daily .

http://www.cjrdaily.org

Committee of Concerned Journalists .

http://www.concernedjournalists.org/

Military Reporters and Editors .

http://www.militaryreporters.org

Reporters without Borders.

http://www.rsf.org

"for press freedom"

Committee to Protect Journalists .

http:// www.cpj.org

They publish a magazine, Dangerous Assignments, "covering the global press freedom struggle"

Investigative Reporters and Editors .

http://www.ire.org

Muckraker: Website of Center for Investigative Reporting .

http:/ www.muckraker.org

A philanthropic foundation supporting journalism:

Knight Foundation .

http://www.knightfdn.org

For monitoring the media:

Media Channel .

http://www.mediachannel.org

"global network for democratic media", with lists of organizations by type

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting .

http://www.fair.org

Media Matters for America .

http://www.mediamatters.org

PR Watch .

http://www.prwatch.org

"non-profit public interest organization that strengthens participatory democracy by investigating and exposing public relations spin and propaganda, by promoting media literacy and citizen journalism"

Media Transparency .

http://www.mediatransparency.org

"the money behind conservative media"

Pundits and partisanship .

http://www.lyinginponds.com

Public Broadcasting PolicyBase .

http://www.current.org/pbpb

provides documents on the history of public broadcasting

Citizens, responsibilities, open government, and the media

Pew Center for Civic Journalism .

http://www.pewcenter.org

Working since 1993 to help news organizations work to re-engage people in public life

J-lab The Institute for Interactive Journalism .

http://www.j-lab.org

At the journalism school of the University of Maryland, the Institute "helps news organizations and citizens use new information ideas and innovative computer technologies to develop new ways for people to engage in critical public policy issues" (a spin-off of the Pew Center

Public Journalism Network .

http://www.PJNet.org

Coalition of Journalists for Open Government.

http://www.cjog.net

Alliance of over 30 journalism-related organizations concerned about secrecy in government

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press .

http://www.people-press.org/

Center for Citizen Media .

http://www.citmedia.org

Online Journalism Review .

http://www.ojr.org

See articles on participatory journalism

Free Press .

http://www.freepress.net

Sponsored the National Conference for Media Reform in January 2007

Sunshine Week .

http://www.sunshineweek.org

For open government, "your right to know"

NewsTrust .

http://www.newstrust.net

"developing an online news rating service to help people identify quality journalism"

Progressive Media Project .

http:// www.progressivemediaproject.org

Connected with The Progressive magazine, helps people do articles for op-ed pages, "offers op-ed writing clinics for activists, staff of nonprofit organizations, participating writers, and foundation grantees."

METADATA
Metadata: a way to provide systematic data elements for indexing websites.

The Dublin Core project.

http://purl.oclc.org/dc/

Instructional Management Systems Project.

http://www.imsproject.org/metadata/index.html

"Meta-data is the digital equivalent of the label on a can of soup that describes the ingredients, nutritional value, manufacturer, and price. These digital labels when published on the Internet constitute an enormous distributed index that will transform the way people search for materials on the Web. Today, for example, a biology instructor looking for a Web site, an online simulation, or a reference to conventional instructional materials can use a standard search engine to match a phrase typed into the search field. This method is clumsy and is likely to produce so many hits that useful material, if found at all, is buried in a long list of irrelevant items. In the future that the workshop attendees are preparing for, the instructor will give the search engine a set of specific criteria such as "advanced college level", "genetics", "simulation", "site license available" through pull down menus. The instructor's search draws on repositories of content, catalogs, and individual web sites. Publishers of educational content of any kind will apply a standard set of labels to their Web-accessible materials as well as to their online catalogs of conventional materials making them searchable. . . .

METAPHORS AND SYMBOLS
Citizens need to understand how we use metaphors in our rhetoric and conversations, to interpret others and to design their own rhetoric to be effective. Books are the main source, but see the web also.

Metaphor, Morality, and Politics.

http://www.wwcd.org/issues/Lakoff.html

Union of International Organizations.

http://www.uia.org

See the metaphor section of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential.

NATIVE AMERICANS, THE FIRST NATIONS
What are the current conditions of indigenous peoples, particularly in North America? What are the issues? What are their own organizations, what are the groups mobilized to help them? Can both American Indians and Native Americans be terms for their identity?
Native American tribes have their own websites, and issues involving them will be found there. The work of the Bureau of Indian Affairs is important.

Bureau of Indian Affairs.

http://www.doi.gov/bureau-indian-affairs.html

A select list of useful sites:

National Tribal Justice Resource Center.

http://www.tribalresourcecenter.org

Native American Rights Fund.

http://www.narf.org

Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development.

http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/hpaied/

Friends Committee on National Legislation

http://www.fcnl.org/

See Issues, Native American

Native Americans News.

http://www.Indianz.com

Native Web.

http://www.nativeweb.org

American Indian Movement.

http://www.aimovement.org/

Some sites for the First Nations in Canada:

Aboriginal Canada Portal.

http://www.aborginalcanada.gc.ca/acp/site.nsf/en/index.html

Aboriginal Canadians-CBC.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aboriginals/

NEWS
There are many sites providing current news, some will send you news according to your interests. For an overview evaluating news sites, see this book:
Broderick, James F., and Darren W. Miller. Consider the Source: A Critical Guide to 100 Prominent News and Information Sites on the Web. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2007.

NEWS - INTERNATIONAL
The US newspapers and news sources usually do not give good coverage on international news, so others sources must be monitored.

UN Wire.

http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire

NEWSPAPERS
See Libraries' Web site: News Sources on the Web
Some newspapers have web editions that are free, some require registration, some have a fee for current issues or archives.

Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com
The Post Internet site was named the best overall online service among large newspapers (Feb. 21, 1999).

Christian Science Monitor.

http://www.csmonitor.com

One of the few papers with an extensive online archive or morgue, free back to 1980.

American Journalism Review.

http://www.ajr.org

Has links to newspapers.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND MATERIALS ISSUES
How we do end the possession and use of nuclear weapons? How do we make good decisions on the use of nuclear power and the disposal of nuclear waste?

NUTRITION
We should all eat right, right?

PEACEMAKING AND NONVIOLENCE
Our hope for peace and unity may sum up our desire for a better world, because we understand the peace must be based on justice and the end of the oppression of the poor by the powerholders. Peace means sharing in the common good, ending conflicts of all kinds (war, genocide, state and non-state terrorism), crime and corruption, and so it means conflict resolution, disarmament, forgiveness and reconciliation, changing our behaviors. Because of the scope of peace, many subjects of concern for the faithful citizen are relevant, such as DIALOGUE, DEFENSE AND DEFENSE INDUSTRY ISSUES, CRIME.

One of the major moves to direct the actions of the US government toward peacemaking is the creation of a Department of Peace, outlined in HR808.

Dept of Peace Campaign.

http://www.dopcampaign.org

Provided by The Peace Alliance.

What can citizens do to resist wars that are unjust? Some options are to refuse military service and refuse to pay the part of federal taxes that support the war. There are support groups for these risky actions.

I will not kill.

http://www.iwillnotkill.org

From the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors.

http://www.objector.org

National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

http://www.nwtrcc.org

It is also possible for those in the military to speak out.

Appeal for Redress.

http://www.appealforredress.org

Some resources (this list will be expanded):

Peace and Justice Studies.

http://www.peacejusticestudies.org

Nonviolence.

http://www.nonviolence.org

Nonviolence Directory.

http://www.lmccf.org/nvdirectory.cfm

Associations and centers:

Pax Christi USA.

http://www.paxchristiusa.org

Jewish Peace Fellowship.

http://www.jewishpeachfellowhip.org

Center for International Development and Conflict Management.

http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidcm/

Has large databases on conflict worldwide.

Selected peace tools (note: the primary process for building relationships is dialogue: see DIALOGUE section):

peace games.

http://www.peacegames.com

Alternative Dispute Resolution.

http://www.opm.gov/er/adrguide_2002/index.asp

Other selected sites:

Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict.

http://www.ccpdc.org

One of the major issues in peacemaking is how to move to disarmament. For data on the arms trade see:

Arms Trade data.

http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp

For a general analysis from an economic point of view, see this website and the book:

Economists for Peace and Security.

http://www.epsusa.org

Elsner, Wolfram, ed. Arms, War and Terrorism in the Global Economy Today: Economic Analyses and Civilian Alternatives. Münster: Lit Verlag, 2007. After the end of the Cold War, the world has experienced a more mono-polar power structure. In contrast to promises of a peaceful `one' world, this seems not to have provided more international justice and security, nor reduced international conflict. Defense-related issues, long given minor attention in economics, have surfaced rather as a central mechanism in the current stage of globalization. Increase in military expenditures, the multiplication of wars, new generations of sophisticated weapons, and increased interest for defense stocks at the financial markets, indicate that a new type of relation between defense and economy has set in. The papers presented here investigate on what economics has to say on conflict, war, and terrorism today, a selection of sophisticated economic analyses of the theoretical and applied industrial, macroeconomic, fiscal-policy, financial market, regional, and alternative policies dimensions. Here, modern economics has a considerable and critical contribution to make.

PERIODICALS
Many are tables of contents or abstracts or current issues only.
Full texts: See lists at general sites, see E-journals lists on Libraries' sites.

PubList.

http://www.publist.com

Periodicals directory: Publication information about periodicals (based on Ulrich's International Periodical Directory and others)

New electronic journals.

http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour

PHILANTHROPY
Citizens need to discuss the functions of donations and the best policies for giving, and monitor the performance of those who receive the money.
Sites provide information for donors.

National Charities Information Bureau.

http://www.give.org

Nonprofits.

http://www.guidestar.org

Network for Good.

http://www.networkforgood.org

Information for giving and volunteering.

Chronicle of Philanthropy.

http://philanthropy.com

POLICIES AND THINK TANKS

Electronic Policy Network- Moving Ideas .

http://www.movingideas.org/

RAND.

http://www.rand.org/

An example of the many think tanks.

POETRY
People can put their own poetry or their favorite poems on the Web.

The Academy of American Poets.

http://www.poets.org

Sponsors National Poetry Month (April 1999).

POLITICS
This large category is divided somewhat arbitrarily into subcategories. Extensive additions will be made in 2005.

Political parties and candidates:

Republicans.

http://www.gop.gov

Ralph Nader.

http://www.votenader.com

Nader has founded new citizen advocacy oranizations in 2001.

New Party.

http://www.newparty.org

Voter information and aids:

Vote Smart.

http://www.vote-smart.org

Go Vote.

http://www.govote.com

SpeakOut.

http://www.speakout.com

Center for Deliberative Polling.

http://www.la.utexas.edu/research/delpol/cdindex.html

Cyberspace Lay Institute.

http://www.cli.org

See Deliberation Project.

Vanishing Voter Project.

http://www.vanishingvoter.org

Communitarian Network.

http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/

Leadership by Amitai Etzioni).

Political protests:

Protests.

http://www.protest.net

POLLS

PORTAL SITES
We are calling the sites that want to do everything for you "portal" sites.

Lycos.

http://www.lycos.com

Netscape.

http://home.netscape.com

Yahoo!.

http://www.yahoo.com

PUBLIC RECORDS
Many public records, on births, marriages, deaths, property ownership and transactions, voting registration, political donations, etc. are available in local government offices, and many are also available online. For systematic searching there are some commercial websites that offer searches for a fee. Some examples:

Knowx .

http://www.knowx.com

USA People Search .

http://www.usa-people-search.com

RADIO
There are many ways now to listen to the radio on the web, so it is a good way to get news not available from the networks. We find the BBC particularly valuable.

Radio Directory.

http://www.radio-directory.com

Webactive: What's new in activism online.

http://www.webactive.com/

REFERENCE
Selected general reference sites are listed here. See also Portals and Public Records.

Internet Public Library Reference Center.

http://www.ipl.org/ref/

refdesk.com.

http://www.refdesk.com

Galaxy: The Professional's Guide to a World of Information .

http://www.einet.net/galaxy/Reference.html

E Blast from Encyclopaedia Britannica .

http://www.ebig.com

Selective Web sites by subject, with ratings.

Ask Scott.

http://www.askscott.com

Alexa.

http://www.alexa.com

A site for Internet reference information.

REFERENCE HELP
These sites provide answers to your submitted questions. Note that the UM Libraries also offer reference by e-mail.

Answers.

http://www.answers.com

Virtual Reference Desk.

http://www.vrd.org/

For k-12 community

RELIGION

dl>

RINGS
A Web ring is a group of sites organized around content, which can be travelled in either direction. One of the most significant developments of hyperlinking.

Webring .

http://dir.webring.com/rw

Therail.

http://www.therail.com

SCAMS

Federal Trade Commission.

http://www.ftc.gov

Scambusters.

http://www.scambusters.com

SEARCH TOOLS AND ENGINES

Search Engine Watch.

http://www.searchenginewatch.com

Selected meta-search engines

Dogpile.

http://www.dogpile.com

Metacrawler.

http://www.metacrawler.com

Selected search engines. Remember no search engine finds everything.

Altavista.

http://www.altavista.com

Ask.

http://www.ask.com

Alltheweb.

http://www.alltheweb.com

Google!.

http://www.google.com

Google is the favorite of many people.

SERVICE-LEARNING AND COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING
Public service and service to our communities in closely connected to learning, and can also be and should be connected to community-based participatory or action research. The military forces, for example regularly review and study their actions and practices. (after-action reviews)

SPAM
Spam is unsolicited e-mail, often commercial junk mail. A number of sites offer information on what to do about it and provide some consolation of knowing that you are not alone.

Spam.abuse.net.

http://spam.abuse.net

Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE).

http://www.cauce.org

An organization of Netizens. See, for example, HR 1748, The Netizens Protection Act of 1997.

STATISTICS

Statistics article.

http://onlineinc.com/onlinemag/OL1990/berinstein3.html

Finding International Statistics Online.

http://www.lib.umd.edu/UMCP/MCK/GUIDES/instat.html

UNDP Poverty Report 2000.

http://www.undp.org/povertyreport/

US Federal Statistics.

http://www.fedstats.gov

TELECOMMUNICATIONS
A good general site:

National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

http://www.ntia.doc.gov

TEXTS
Under Texts we consider especially older texts, no longer in copyright, which are being digitized for free access or subscription access on the Web.

Literature Online (LION),

ALEX: A Catalogue of Electronic Texts on the Internet
Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia
The New Bartleby: A National Digital Library
Oxford Text Archive
ReadPrint

The following site will lead you to additional electronic text archives

Jack Lynch's catalogue of 18th Century E-Texts

TOOLS FOR COMMUNICATION, PLANNING, AND ACTION
See also community tools.

Intercultural Communication: Links.

http://www.loopcentr.org/sinc/icclinks.html

Thinking Maps.

http://www.thinking maps.com

Goldratt TOC tools.

http://www.goldratt.com

TRANSLATION SERVICES
You may search for a variety of software and online translation services.

Systran Translation.

http://www.systransoft.com/

AltaVista translation service.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/cgi-bin/translate?

TUTORIALS ON THE INTERNET AND RESEARCH TIPS

Learn the Net.

http://www.learnthenet.com

UC Berkeley Internet Guides.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Help/search.html

UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES

Braintrack.

http://www.braintrack.com

Access to universities worldwide.

UTOPIAS AND UTOPIAN COMMUNITIES
We use stories of utopias and experiences of utopian communities, such as those of a kibbutz, to move our imaginations to create better worlds.

Utopia on the Internet.

http://users.erols.com/jonwill/utopialist.htm

Kibbutz Artzi.

http://www.kba.org.il/eng/kbaeng.htm

WHISTLEBLOWING
Citizens often feel a responsibilty to blow the whistle, but it means taking a risk. A book on the topic:
Project on Government Oversight, Government Accountability Project, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The Art of Anonymous Activism: Serving the Public While Surviving Public Service . Washington, DC, 2002.

Government Accountability Project.

http://www.whistleblower.org

Qui Tam and False Claims Law.

http://www.megalaw.com/top/quitam.php

The End

Created: Jan. 29, 1999

Revised: at intervals (see beginning)