Hello everyone! I'm running a little late today, but here you go. Before I get started, if you've already looked at Challenge 8, go back and answer some questions for me. It seems I forgot to actually give you a challenge. Have you ever come across a website that required registration? Would you use Bugmenot, or just register? Why or why not? Would you recommend the Retailmenot site to a friend? (The subject of online shopping may never come up with patrons, but I'll bet you have a few friends who might want to know how to get coupon codes for free.)
Challenge 9: Vault
We’ve had the Vault Databases on our website for a while now. Have you taken a look at them?
Vault is a pretty handy career toolkit, providing everything from resume advice to "A day in the life of an Alaskan fisherman". In order to access it, our patrons must go to our databases page, and click on the Vault Online Career Library link. Patrons need to know the password in order to login, and our website directs them to ask someone on staff for the password. Do you know the password? (Hint: I’m sending it out to the staff mailing list again today.)
There, patrons can do several things. Vault provides company profiles, industry profiles, forums, as well as downloadable PDF versions of all their Vault Guides. In order to access these, you fill out a short form (first name, last name and email) and indicate whether you would like to be put on Vault's mailing list. You don't have to check yes in order to download the guides. An email link will be sent to your inbox, and clicking on this link will begin downloading your guide.
One very handy thing that Vault provides on their site are the Vault Occupational Surveys. These are anonymous surveys filled out by real people in specific fields. Not sure how accurate an employer's description of their work environment and employeee benefits are? These are real employees doing everything from software development to teaching High School Science. The only drawback to these is you cannot search by company, only by industry and then by job title. (You can go into the company profiles and see similar surveys there, but they aren't quite the same.)
Your challenge: Go to the Vault website and explore. Browse what they offer, download a guide to see how it works, and see if you can't find your dream job (or what you wanted to be when you were a kid) in the database. Is it nearly as cool as you thought it would be? Would you show this to patrons who were looking for a job? Is it just as helpful for teens as for adults?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Challenge 8: Website hints
Here's a good one for your personal use:
Retailmenot is a website that collects coupon codes for online retailers, saving you money when you shop online. Users submit codes for websites, accompanied with a description. The site allows you to mark codes that no longer work, and the "success rate" meter below each code tells you how likely a code is to work for you. You can search sites by categories and tags, or by the site's internet address. Not all sites are available, and retailers can request to be removed from the database. However, many sites are listed here, even if they only list the retailers' "official" coupon codes. Worth a look.
Bonus link:
There was a time when many websites (especially newspapers) required users to register before reading the site. The front page would provide headlines, but actually reading the article would require you to provide your name, age, email address or even your zip code. These were "needed" in order to provide the site (and their advertisers) with information about the sites users. The people who created Retailmenot also created Bugmenot, which provides "public" accounts to help users bypass this compulsory registration. Many sites have moved away from compulsory registration (in fact, I browsed through several sites I remember having compulsory registration, and I couldn't get any of them to ask me to register anymore), but Bugmenot will help if you do run across one of these sites.
Your Challenge:
In your blog, answer some questions for me.
Have you ever come across a website that required registration? Would you use Bugmenot, or just register? Why or why not? Would you recommend the Retailmenot site to a friend? (The subject of online shopping may never come up with patrons, but I'll bet you have a few friends who might want to know how to get coupon codes for free.)
Retailmenot is a website that collects coupon codes for online retailers, saving you money when you shop online. Users submit codes for websites, accompanied with a description. The site allows you to mark codes that no longer work, and the "success rate" meter below each code tells you how likely a code is to work for you. You can search sites by categories and tags, or by the site's internet address. Not all sites are available, and retailers can request to be removed from the database. However, many sites are listed here, even if they only list the retailers' "official" coupon codes. Worth a look.
Bonus link:
There was a time when many websites (especially newspapers) required users to register before reading the site. The front page would provide headlines, but actually reading the article would require you to provide your name, age, email address or even your zip code. These were "needed" in order to provide the site (and their advertisers) with information about the sites users. The people who created Retailmenot also created Bugmenot, which provides "public" accounts to help users bypass this compulsory registration. Many sites have moved away from compulsory registration (in fact, I browsed through several sites I remember having compulsory registration, and I couldn't get any of them to ask me to register anymore), but Bugmenot will help if you do run across one of these sites.
Your Challenge:
In your blog, answer some questions for me.
Have you ever come across a website that required registration? Would you use Bugmenot, or just register? Why or why not? Would you recommend the Retailmenot site to a friend? (The subject of online shopping may never come up with patrons, but I'll bet you have a few friends who might want to know how to get coupon codes for free.)
Friday, October 10, 2008
Challenge 7: Dear Reader
Haven't checked out our new Dear Reader features yet? This challenge is your chance to see it all first-hand. Dear Reader does several things for our patrons. If they click on the "What's New" button from the front page, this takes them to the central Dear Reader page. Here we can see all of the services that Dear Reade provides, and in some cases, easy links to have this information sent directly to you whenever it is updated.
The first set of links are the newsletters. Newsletters are updated once a month, and alert patrons to new items in specific genres and formats. Most newsletters include a picture of the book and a written description, to help entice patrons into checking them out. Newsletters can be viewed online, sent to a patron's RSS reader, or sent directly to their inbox by e-mail. All three of these options are available right next to each newsletter's title on the main Dear Reader page. Genres include New and Bestselling Fiction, New and Bestselling Non Fiction, as well as Horror, Romance, Home & Garden, and Christian Fiction. Formats include Large Print, Children's Picturebooks and Chapterbooks, and New Movies. The Movies newsletter is one of our personal newsletters, and is put together entirely by someone on staff. Other custom newsletters that we provide are Graphic Novels, History, Children's Nonfiction, and the Kentucky Standard's New Book List.
Just below the newsletters is the Dear Reader "Authors on the Web" index. Couldn't find your favorite author's website in the last challenge? Try it here. Be careful, though, some of these aren't necessarily the Author's webpage, and fansites may not always be accurate. Other sites for older authors are out of date. That said, as long as you're not looking for a website on Dante Alighieri (greatdante.net hasn't been updated since 2005), you will probably have some luck checking here.
Below that are handy awards and bestsellers lists for both Adults and Youth. Have a patron who will only read Oprah books? How about Sci-fi? Mystery? Need a list of the recent Caldecott Award Winners? These awards lists give them the best of the best in the genre of their choice. The only drawback I see with these is they don't go back very far. Each list shows only the most recent winners, so anyone who is looking for something a bit older will need to go to each individual award's website to find the complete list of winners.
But perhaps one of the handiest features of Dear Reader is their online book clubs, which send patrons small excerpts from a book in a genre of their choice, Monday through Friday. By the end of the week patrons will know whether or not they are interested in coming into the library and checking out the book in order to finish it. This is handy for patrons who would not usually pick up a book by an author they don't already read, allowing them to find new authors while still staying within their preferred genre. Patrons can sign up for as many book clubs as they want by clicking on the "Read Books in Your Email" button at the bottom left hand corner of our website. Each email comes clearly marked with the genre and the section number, to help in case you fall behind and need to get caught up with the week's reading. If you don't like the book they've chosen, just delete the rest of the emails for the week, and try again next week! All this, and you didn't even have to change out of your pajamas. Book clubs come in similar topics as the newsletters, and both the newsletters and book clubs link back to our library website, in order to make it easy for patrons to place holds on items they have seen through Dear Reader.
Your Challenge: Sometime this weekend, sign up for a Dear Reader book club. Just for one week. Tell us what your book was, and how you liked getting a book preview sent directly to your email. Do you want to go out and find your book now? Feel free to unsubscribe after you've completed your task.
Bonus Link: DailyLit is avery similar concept to the Dear Reader book clubs. For older books, DailyLit will e-mail you the entire book, in sections, for free. Have you ever wanted to read War and Peace? DailyLit can send it to you over the course of 663 days. A little less imposing is Oscar Wilde's Picture Of Dorian Gray, which will only take you 96 days. DailyLit also provides this service for newer books, but at a price. DailyLit will send you a few sections as a preview, but readers must pay to continue the book after their preview is over. Prices vary depending on the book.
The first set of links are the newsletters. Newsletters are updated once a month, and alert patrons to new items in specific genres and formats. Most newsletters include a picture of the book and a written description, to help entice patrons into checking them out. Newsletters can be viewed online, sent to a patron's RSS reader, or sent directly to their inbox by e-mail. All three of these options are available right next to each newsletter's title on the main Dear Reader page. Genres include New and Bestselling Fiction, New and Bestselling Non Fiction, as well as Horror, Romance, Home & Garden, and Christian Fiction. Formats include Large Print, Children's Picturebooks and Chapterbooks, and New Movies. The Movies newsletter is one of our personal newsletters, and is put together entirely by someone on staff. Other custom newsletters that we provide are Graphic Novels, History, Children's Nonfiction, and the Kentucky Standard's New Book List.
Just below the newsletters is the Dear Reader "Authors on the Web" index. Couldn't find your favorite author's website in the last challenge? Try it here. Be careful, though, some of these aren't necessarily the Author's webpage, and fansites may not always be accurate. Other sites for older authors are out of date. That said, as long as you're not looking for a website on Dante Alighieri (greatdante.net hasn't been updated since 2005), you will probably have some luck checking here.
Below that are handy awards and bestsellers lists for both Adults and Youth. Have a patron who will only read Oprah books? How about Sci-fi? Mystery? Need a list of the recent Caldecott Award Winners? These awards lists give them the best of the best in the genre of their choice. The only drawback I see with these is they don't go back very far. Each list shows only the most recent winners, so anyone who is looking for something a bit older will need to go to each individual award's website to find the complete list of winners.
But perhaps one of the handiest features of Dear Reader is their online book clubs, which send patrons small excerpts from a book in a genre of their choice, Monday through Friday. By the end of the week patrons will know whether or not they are interested in coming into the library and checking out the book in order to finish it. This is handy for patrons who would not usually pick up a book by an author they don't already read, allowing them to find new authors while still staying within their preferred genre. Patrons can sign up for as many book clubs as they want by clicking on the "Read Books in Your Email" button at the bottom left hand corner of our website. Each email comes clearly marked with the genre and the section number, to help in case you fall behind and need to get caught up with the week's reading. If you don't like the book they've chosen, just delete the rest of the emails for the week, and try again next week! All this, and you didn't even have to change out of your pajamas. Book clubs come in similar topics as the newsletters, and both the newsletters and book clubs link back to our library website, in order to make it easy for patrons to place holds on items they have seen through Dear Reader.
Your Challenge: Sometime this weekend, sign up for a Dear Reader book club. Just for one week. Tell us what your book was, and how you liked getting a book preview sent directly to your email. Do you want to go out and find your book now? Feel free to unsubscribe after you've completed your task.
Bonus Link: DailyLit is avery similar concept to the Dear Reader book clubs. For older books, DailyLit will e-mail you the entire book, in sections, for free. Have you ever wanted to read War and Peace? DailyLit can send it to you over the course of 663 days. A little less imposing is Oscar Wilde's Picture Of Dorian Gray, which will only take you 96 days. DailyLit also provides this service for newer books, but at a price. DailyLit will send you a few sections as a preview, but readers must pay to continue the book after their preview is over. Prices vary depending on the book.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Challenge 6: Author Websites
Have you ever looked to see if your favorite author has a website? What about checking an author's website to see if they've got a new book coming out? If you've never visited an author's website, you're missing out on lots of handy information and cool extras.
What authors have websites? Well, children's authors, bestselling authors, and authors you've never heard of all have websites. Some are simple and informative, and some are fancy. Some are just rediculous.
Nora Roberts helps you keep track of her numerous series here. Jasper Fforde has separate sites for each of his series. Scott Westerfeld blogs. Neil Gaiman is posting video readings of his newest book on his website, so by the end of this week you will be able to go and watch a reading of the entire Graveyard Book for free. Daniel Handler doesn't have a website, but he should.
How do you find out if an author has a website? Well, you could always try a search engine. The Author Yellow Pages are very helpful, but they don't have every author. (As an example, the Douglas Adams webpage is not listed.) Google and Yahoo both have author categories in their directories.
Your Challenge: Pick an author. Could be your favorite, or it could be someone you have to look up constantly for patrons. Do they have a website? Post about it in your blog. How did you find them? Is it easy to use, or confusing? Does it take forever to load? Are there any extra-cool special features? Would you go back for information? Would you send a patron?
What authors have websites? Well, children's authors, bestselling authors, and authors you've never heard of all have websites. Some are simple and informative, and some are fancy. Some are just rediculous.
Nora Roberts helps you keep track of her numerous series here. Jasper Fforde has separate sites for each of his series. Scott Westerfeld blogs. Neil Gaiman is posting video readings of his newest book on his website, so by the end of this week you will be able to go and watch a reading of the entire Graveyard Book for free. Daniel Handler doesn't have a website, but he should.
How do you find out if an author has a website? Well, you could always try a search engine. The Author Yellow Pages are very helpful, but they don't have every author. (As an example, the Douglas Adams webpage is not listed.) Google and Yahoo both have author categories in their directories.
Your Challenge: Pick an author. Could be your favorite, or it could be someone you have to look up constantly for patrons. Do they have a website? Post about it in your blog. How did you find them? Is it easy to use, or confusing? Does it take forever to load? Are there any extra-cool special features? Would you go back for information? Would you send a patron?
Monday, October 6, 2008
Challenge 4 & 5: New ways to get the same old content
Challenge 4: Pandora Radio
Pandora is a creative way to find new music online. Need music to listen to while you work? Have an internet connection? Perfect. Pandora allows you to create “stations” by artist sound-alikes, or song sound-alikes. Want to hear music that sounds like David Bowie? Type in David Bowie in the search box, and Pandora will create your very own station with artists and songs that are similar to David Bowie. They'll start you out with an actual David Bowie song (you don't get to pick which one, sorry) and if you like that track, they'll pick another similar one. Don't like a track they play? Click the thumbs down button, and they'll not only stop playing that song on your station, but they'll attempt to figure out what is different about that track and stay away from other tracks that are similar. The longer you listen to the station and rate the tracks, the more tailored the music is to your personal tastes. Pretty awesome.
If you want to get deeper into the hows and whys of what they've picked, click on “About this Music” and then on “Song”, and you can see how the Music Genome Project has the song categorized. Like your radio station and want to share? Click on “Share”! You can even browse shared stations.
Bonus Link: Internet Radio has been in some trouble lately, due to the way the music industry's current royalty rates work. Read the PC Magazine article about it here. However, things are looking up, as the Webcaster Settlement Act 2008 has passed in the House, and is moving on to the senate. Read about it here.
Your Challenge: Create a Pandora station. You don't have to have an account to create a station and listen to it-- only if you want to save it for later. What station did you create? Did you agree with Pandora's choices? If not, did it get better as you listened? Would you continue listening to Pandora?
Challenge 5: Playaways
So we've had Playaways in circulation for several months now, have you tried one? These pre-loaded mp3 players allow for patrons to listen to audiobooks on the go, doing dishes, working in the garden, anything that needs a hands-free and wireless experience. Playaway provides a PDF tutorial for using the devices here.
Your challenge: Take one home and try it out! Post about it in your blog. What did you take? Would you rather listen to your audiobook on the computer? Could you listen to an audiobook and do something else at the same time?
Pandora is a creative way to find new music online. Need music to listen to while you work? Have an internet connection? Perfect. Pandora allows you to create “stations” by artist sound-alikes, or song sound-alikes. Want to hear music that sounds like David Bowie? Type in David Bowie in the search box, and Pandora will create your very own station with artists and songs that are similar to David Bowie. They'll start you out with an actual David Bowie song (you don't get to pick which one, sorry) and if you like that track, they'll pick another similar one. Don't like a track they play? Click the thumbs down button, and they'll not only stop playing that song on your station, but they'll attempt to figure out what is different about that track and stay away from other tracks that are similar. The longer you listen to the station and rate the tracks, the more tailored the music is to your personal tastes. Pretty awesome.
If you want to get deeper into the hows and whys of what they've picked, click on “About this Music” and then on “Song”, and you can see how the Music Genome Project has the song categorized. Like your radio station and want to share? Click on “Share”! You can even browse shared stations.
Bonus Link: Internet Radio has been in some trouble lately, due to the way the music industry's current royalty rates work. Read the PC Magazine article about it here. However, things are looking up, as the Webcaster Settlement Act 2008 has passed in the House, and is moving on to the senate. Read about it here.
Your Challenge: Create a Pandora station. You don't have to have an account to create a station and listen to it-- only if you want to save it for later. What station did you create? Did you agree with Pandora's choices? If not, did it get better as you listened? Would you continue listening to Pandora?
Challenge 5: Playaways
So we've had Playaways in circulation for several months now, have you tried one? These pre-loaded mp3 players allow for patrons to listen to audiobooks on the go, doing dishes, working in the garden, anything that needs a hands-free and wireless experience. Playaway provides a PDF tutorial for using the devices here.
Your challenge: Take one home and try it out! Post about it in your blog. What did you take? Would you rather listen to your audiobook on the computer? Could you listen to an audiobook and do something else at the same time?
Friday, October 3, 2008
Challenge 3: Online Research
Welcome to challenge three! Only twenty more before you get that awesome prize!
So the last challenge focused on websites that can help prove a rumor true or false. But what about academic research? Can you use the internet to write a school paper?
First off, let me start by saying that I do not advocate writing a paper with just internet sources. However, just like there are a multitude of print sources that you can use in research, there are many electronic sources that can provide more depth to your research, and the internet can hold far more information than just our reference section, or any library’s reference section for that matter. How many times have you had a patron come in looking for something we just don’t have any information on? Or the entire seventh grade is writing papers on inventors and we only have one book? What if they were assigned the inventor of the ballpoint pen, and all we have is a tiny paragraph of information for them?
Many teachers do not allow their students to use online sources in their research. This is probably to ward off twenty papers written (or copied and pasted) entirely from wikipedia. But I think that teachers do students a great disservice when they block out internet sources entirely. In a perfect world, students would be given instruction on how to evaluate web sites so they could responsibly use online sources. In the meantime, could you help a patron find reliable web sources?
Web Based Internet Evaluation - The University at Albany has an excellent interactive tutorial on evaluating webpages. The focus of the site is on research for college papers, but many of these rules apply to all research, whether for fifth graders or twenty-five year olds.
Evaluating Internet Sources and Sites - The Purdue University Library provides a less interactive but shorter tutorial. This is a good site to go back and refresh your memory later.
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly or Why it's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources - This one is my favorite, and your challenge for today. On this page, they provide a link to a good website, a not so great website, and a website you should never, ever use for research. Read through the tutorials above and then do the same thing for a topic of your choice. Pick a topic, do a websearch and see what comes up. Evaluate the results, and post in your blog a link to a good website for researching your topic, an okay website (remember, the information here isn't necessarily incorrect, just not appropriate for use in a research paper), and an absolutely awful website. The worse the better! Make sure to explain why each site is what you say it is.
Bonus link:
In late 2005, Scientific Journal Nature, did a study comparing Wikipedia and The Encyclopedia Britannica. Comparing science articles, the Journal discovered that while Wikipedia had an average of four errors per article, the Encyclopedia Britannica had an average of three. NPR has an interview with a Nature reporter here.
So the last challenge focused on websites that can help prove a rumor true or false. But what about academic research? Can you use the internet to write a school paper?
First off, let me start by saying that I do not advocate writing a paper with just internet sources. However, just like there are a multitude of print sources that you can use in research, there are many electronic sources that can provide more depth to your research, and the internet can hold far more information than just our reference section, or any library’s reference section for that matter. How many times have you had a patron come in looking for something we just don’t have any information on? Or the entire seventh grade is writing papers on inventors and we only have one book? What if they were assigned the inventor of the ballpoint pen, and all we have is a tiny paragraph of information for them?
Many teachers do not allow their students to use online sources in their research. This is probably to ward off twenty papers written (or copied and pasted) entirely from wikipedia. But I think that teachers do students a great disservice when they block out internet sources entirely. In a perfect world, students would be given instruction on how to evaluate web sites so they could responsibly use online sources. In the meantime, could you help a patron find reliable web sources?
Web Based Internet Evaluation - The University at Albany has an excellent interactive tutorial on evaluating webpages. The focus of the site is on research for college papers, but many of these rules apply to all research, whether for fifth graders or twenty-five year olds.
Evaluating Internet Sources and Sites - The Purdue University Library provides a less interactive but shorter tutorial. This is a good site to go back and refresh your memory later.
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly or Why it's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources - This one is my favorite, and your challenge for today. On this page, they provide a link to a good website, a not so great website, and a website you should never, ever use for research. Read through the tutorials above and then do the same thing for a topic of your choice. Pick a topic, do a websearch and see what comes up. Evaluate the results, and post in your blog a link to a good website for researching your topic, an okay website (remember, the information here isn't necessarily incorrect, just not appropriate for use in a research paper), and an absolutely awful website. The worse the better! Make sure to explain why each site is what you say it is.
Bonus link:
In late 2005, Scientific Journal Nature, did a study comparing Wikipedia and The Encyclopedia Britannica. Comparing science articles, the Journal discovered that while Wikipedia had an average of four errors per article, the Encyclopedia Britannica had an average of three. NPR has an interview with a Nature reporter here.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Challenge 2: Combating Truthiness with the Internet
Challenge 2
So. We all know everything you see on the internet is correct, right? Well, some people certainly think so, which is why silly email forwards circulate about how Bill Gates is going to give you $1,000 for each person you send the email to or how George W. Bush waved at Stevie Wonder to get his attention. Do you know where to go to check the facts when something on the internet just doesn't sound right?
If it's a regular run of the mill e-mail forward, Snopes.com is your best bet. They cover all sorts of urban legends, old and new, and have an extensive community where people research those that haven't quite made the main website yet. They break these into categories like "politics", "frauds and scams", and "inboxer rebellion", but there is also a search window to find specific myths and a list of the 25 most searched urban legends on the site. (As of this typing, the top three were Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, and burundanga business cards.) Articles are marked with the date it was last updated, as well as a list of resources used to prove or debunk the myth.
Speaking of politics, what better time to know about the websites that can help our patrons make informed decisions on election day? There are several websites that separate the fact from fiction in ways that are easy to understand and easy to verify.
Politifact.com is a website run by the St. Petersburg Times, and details political claims by all parties, giving them labels like "true", "barely true", "half true" and "pants-on-fire". Users can search by politician, political party, or ruling. Also handy is the "flip-o-meter", which lists issues that candidates have changed their stances on. The writer, researcher and editor are all listed on each article, as well as sources used.
Factcheck.org is another nonpartisan website (provided by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania) that covers political claims by politicians. This site checks entire ads (and now the debates), so these articles are not nearly as short as the Politifact site, but articles are still written clearly and show readers exactly what was said in a specific ad and whether or not it is correct. Author and Sources are included with each article.
GoogleLabs "In Quotes" compares politicians stances on issues side by side. Users can select two politicians, up to four issues, and see direct quotes from each candidate. Quotes are accompanied by a source article, where users can read more.
This PBS.com article discusses nonpartisan fact check sites, and their partisan counterparts.
Your challenge: Browse these fact check sites. Which ones do you find most helpful? Would you recommend these to patrons? Is there anything about any of these sites you do not like?
Bonus Link:
File this under video games doing awesome things: X-box Live is allowing users to register to vote without ever leaving their television.
Truthiness (noun) :
1 : "truth that comes from the gut, not books" (Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," October 2005)
2 : "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true" (American Dialect Society, January 2006)
(http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/06words.htm)
So. We all know everything you see on the internet is correct, right? Well, some people certainly think so, which is why silly email forwards circulate about how Bill Gates is going to give you $1,000 for each person you send the email to or how George W. Bush waved at Stevie Wonder to get his attention. Do you know where to go to check the facts when something on the internet just doesn't sound right?
If it's a regular run of the mill e-mail forward, Snopes.com is your best bet. They cover all sorts of urban legends, old and new, and have an extensive community where people research those that haven't quite made the main website yet. They break these into categories like "politics", "frauds and scams", and "inboxer rebellion", but there is also a search window to find specific myths and a list of the 25 most searched urban legends on the site. (As of this typing, the top three were Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, and burundanga business cards.) Articles are marked with the date it was last updated, as well as a list of resources used to prove or debunk the myth.
Speaking of politics, what better time to know about the websites that can help our patrons make informed decisions on election day? There are several websites that separate the fact from fiction in ways that are easy to understand and easy to verify.
Politifact.com is a website run by the St. Petersburg Times, and details political claims by all parties, giving them labels like "true", "barely true", "half true" and "pants-on-fire". Users can search by politician, political party, or ruling. Also handy is the "flip-o-meter", which lists issues that candidates have changed their stances on. The writer, researcher and editor are all listed on each article, as well as sources used.
Factcheck.org is another nonpartisan website (provided by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania) that covers political claims by politicians. This site checks entire ads (and now the debates), so these articles are not nearly as short as the Politifact site, but articles are still written clearly and show readers exactly what was said in a specific ad and whether or not it is correct. Author and Sources are included with each article.
GoogleLabs "In Quotes" compares politicians stances on issues side by side. Users can select two politicians, up to four issues, and see direct quotes from each candidate. Quotes are accompanied by a source article, where users can read more.
This PBS.com article discusses nonpartisan fact check sites, and their partisan counterparts.
Your challenge: Browse these fact check sites. Which ones do you find most helpful? Would you recommend these to patrons? Is there anything about any of these sites you do not like?
Bonus Link:
File this under video games doing awesome things: X-box Live is allowing users to register to vote without ever leaving their television.
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