Best Web Tools for Journalists

And now plunge into the world of real Journalism. Why is this? Because the instruments, about which we are going to say, just last month were formally recommended for journalists BBC! This little note for journalists, who are convinced of the usefulness of online tools, but have no time or little inclination to seek such instruments by hand. And this, believe me, takes a very long time.

On my only add, that shall not provide services aimed solely at the English-speaking audience, and will speak about those who may be more or less useful to the average Russian-speaking journalist with knowledge of technical English. And of course, do not restrain myself from commenting.

People Search

Sometimes you want to find e-mail a specific person, his photograph might address and telephone number. In the former USSR the existence of such tools do not remember, so this is what used bourgeois.

If you have a little money, use 192.com and Cameo. If no money (and I do not doubt), then there are free resources.

Yoname allows you to search for a number of social sites simultaneously, saving search results as the process. Just keep in mind that if you are looking for e-mail, then the desired person will receive a message stating that she was interested.

Pipl - tool to search for people all over the internet. Results collected from the specialized directories (vklyuchaya192.com), social networks, web pages, publications and news. Do not try to introduce the Cyrillic request - give it a try. But with English-speaking requests works for Russia, and Belarus. The most advanced tool for finding people - 123people.

This is a wonderful place to search for e-mails, accounts of different instant messengers. Tag Cloud will help establish links between your target search and contacts. Also you can restrict the search for specific tags - for example, specify that your object lives in Oxford. One caveat - use these sites very carefully.

There are a hybrid people search service for Spock, which allows everyone to create a profile for every person on the planet. This is a threat to hard bases, and hoaxes, not to mention basic ethics.

Web aggregators

Web aggregators (like Netvibes or iGoogle) - a great way to create a common space for all your news feeds, social networking, video sources, a variety of entertainment widgets, etc.

Simply put - on a single page, you can collect a lot of information and not to go on with countless links every time you want to watch the weather, or find out what is happening in the world. Must try!

As an alternative, there is a service Addictomatic. This is a hybrid system, which combines the results of a user search and classic aggregator. It allows you to search for information on the Internet, getting content in the form of modules (news sources, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc.). Service does not require registration!

News aggregators

Another reading room are called RSS, RSS readers, viewers, RSS, like anyone. Their main task - to collect one tape set of news groups from various sites, so you do not need to go to the sites in general. Excellent description of RSS I found here, plain and simple.

In general, aggregators are divided into online applications running in the browser and desktop applications that run only in the operating system.

From myself immediately identify the two leaders - Google Reader as an online reader and FeedDemon as a desktop application (I use FeedDemon, as it is actually online and offline versions, which are synchronized with each other). What kind of online aggregators there are the so-called "search" aggregators, which provide RSS feed for a given keyword. The most comprehensive service here is Bloglines. By the way, one of the most complete list of aggregators for different operating systems is here.

Search Videos

Not to mention YouTube, blinkx, Russian analogues want just to talk about a rather unusual service Truveo. For journalists this is probably the best service. Yes, yes, there is a Russian version! He collects video from reliable legal sources and their official syndicates. However, this is only an opinion BBC.

Advanced search with Google

We all know how easy to drive a search query and get millions of pages in the results. But Google Advanced (link to the right of the search box) offers a whole heap of ways to improve search. There are many, functions, filters, in general, if you want to get results, not porridge, then use the advanced search is essential.

For a particularly tech-savvy journalists: you can place an advanced search use our special operators, for example, to limit your search to only the sites in the area. BY in the search bar should dial «site:. By» (without the quotes) and then with no space to type a query.

To search only for headings and titles, use the operator «intitle», to obtain, for example, such a grant.

To limit search by file type, for example, to find statistical reports, use the «filetype». For example both.

So, whether you are a journalist for BBC or another respected publication or channel, or maybe you're just a civilian journalist, or simply a user in finding the information very much hope that these notes will you really useful.

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