Mashups Make Finding Information Even Easier

The internet has made finding information a nearly instantaneous process. Mashups - or websites that combine data from other sites into their own unique database – have made finding specific data even easier. An SOA Magazine article by John Crupi and Chris Warner gives a more detailed explanation on mashups.

These websites can be excellent tools for journalists, enabling them to find information immediately that may have taken hours or days to find before the emergence of the mashup. Using the site thisweknow.org, for example, journalists have access to government data about any community at their fingertips, ranging from the unemployment rate to the number of bills introduced in the area by members of Congress. Never before has that information been accessible from the same location.

Some mashups, like govpulse.us/, even provide information that was not easily accessible to the public prior to the creation of the site. Here, journalists are able to search for any notifications or proposals the government has made in the last fifteen years. The fact that this type of information is readily available will save journalists a lot of headache.

Many of the mashups we have discussed in class allow you to search for data by specific location, giving you accurate information on a variety of subjects. In addition to making the search for global and national stories or statistics easier, it creates an excellent source for hyperlocal news stories or statistics.

Everyblock.com lets you choose a city and search for information pertaining to a certain neighborhood or city block. By typing my address in the search engine, the results produced news, real estate listings, crimes, lost and found postings, and business reviews all very close to my location, all of which are potentially useful items for a journalist.

Some mashups do not go hyperlocal and instead focus on statistics based on city, state or country. Statemaster.com, for example, is a database full of statistics regarding only U.S. states from sources such as the FBI and the U.S. Census Bureau. Another great mashup to check out is Politifact.com, which tracks whether or not Barack Obama is keeping or breaking the promises he made to get elected.

Some mashups are created and run by journalism outlets, and some are created and run by web developers, database companies, or other private companies. Politifact.com and Everyblock.com, for example, are run by the St. Petersburg Times and MSNBC.com, respectively. The other sites mentioned above are run by web developers, private companies, or combinations of the two.

Prior to a couple of weeks ago, I was unaware that mashups existed. Recently, however, I’ve found myself using them more and more often. As an aspiring journalist, they are definitely helpful resources for me.