so you lost your google, now what?

(If the following was true, the world would be ending.)
Of course Google will be missed. But, do you really miss the old America Online? Sort of. Many of AOL’s best features have grown and matured into even better tools.

So, you’ll miss Google because it’s fast and delivers immediate response, the (almost) instant gratification we’ve come to rely on for information.

But, we researched without using such a tool as Google for years. What you’ve likely learned from using Google is that research takes a starting point or a starting question. That’s the same concept you were likely taught in grade school.

• What do you want to know?
  
• What kinds of people, places or things would be able to get you going in the right direction?
  
• Who would have the information you’re after?
  
• Who would be considered an expert on the subject?

Answer those questions broadly, and you’ll have your launch pad.

Where you’ll end up missing Google is in seeking the random or strange or obscure information that’s unlikely to be kept in a catalog or database: information on a product or a gadget whose name you don’t know to perform a specific function, sports scores, ticket information and so on.

So now what? You’ll need to learn how to use the other research tools and what each one of them can do for you.

You’ll learn to ask more questions before you dive right in and rely on the instant results of Google. Your research skills will become sharper as a result of having to pre-research.

Don’t worry. Google won’t go away entirely just yet: the company’s proprietary technology still powers many of the websites you love to search – many federal government sites and corporation websites used Google technology to index and search their databases.

where to go next

1. The freebies and search engines.
Start some of your searching here. Spend some time learning how each search engine works and how to use the advanced search tools on each one.
Yahoo! Free search engine, subject directory oriented means you can start with your topic and work from there
ask.com Provides fast, sometimes "smart" searches. Can interpret questions and what you meant to be looking for.
clusty.com Clustering site, fairly new. I'm just learning this one, but so far I'm loving what it can do: photo searches, subsets of your search, high powered and fast.
altavista.com Text searches, along with MP3, audio, video and image searches.
dogpile.com Combines all the biggies into one handy location.
dictionary.com and merriamwebster.com
britannica.com The newsroom subscribes to this service.


2. Business research.
Finding corporate reports and officers www.sec.gov
State and federal filings.
Stock information.
Non-profits www.guidestar.com
"Financial information comes from the IRS Business Master File of exempt organizations and IRS Forms 990, 990-EZ, and 990-PF. Other information, such as an organization's programs, accomplishments, and goals, are obtained directly from the organization or from the organization's Form 990 or 990-EZ."

3, Legal, State and Federal
Firstgov.gov,
thomas.loc.gov,
gpoaccess.gov

4. Public records
Vary county by county and state to state. Learn about your state’s specific laws and resources. Much of what you'll use in the newsroom is based through Lexis/Nexis and some reports through Accurint and Factiva the library will run. But, you can still track down a fair amount on your own. Some starting places:

State of North Carolina
Links to N.C. Counties' property search sites.
Links to S.C. Counties' property search sites.

Opensecrets.org
Money and politics. Who's giving. Who's receiving. All kinds of election-related money trails.

5. Aggregator tools. What’s been published?
topix.net
A free aggregator that combs "with over 360,000 topically based, micro-news pages presenting stories from more than 27,000 sources, including mainstream media and blogs. Each of these micro-news pages is focused on one particular subject or locality." Searchable one-year back. McClatchy and several other media groups are part owners in this venture.

Factiva
what you can get through it. Setting up feeds to keep emails coming on a particular subject. Where your stories have been picked up. Who’s published what that’s similar to your topic?

Lexis Nexis
All kinds of links to federal and government sources.
Big refer sending readers of this story to more information on how to use Lexis Nexis elsewhere in the paper or online. Also includes photo searching.

6. Photos.
The MediaGrid provides a huge number of live and archived photos. But, where do you go when AP, McClatchy or our staff isn't covering or providing what you need?

Mecklenburg County Jail
People who have been arrested or are currently being held in the Mecklenburg County Jail. Photos are downloadable and of publishable quality.

N.C. Department of Corrections
Links to current inmates, includes death row offenders. Some former inmates may be listed, but most will be archived and no longer have photos on the site. Downloadable and of publishable quality.

U.S. House and Senate, N.C. House and Senate
Many legislators include hi-res photos in the media sections of their web pages. If not, message the individual staff and request a hi-res version of the preferred photo. Most often, they are more than willing to supply a better photo than the low-res versions often posted. If not, those are usually ok for mug photos.

Media Press Groups
Television networks and movie studios often offer websites instead of or in addition to the regular press junket. Makes for easy downloading of upcoming movies or shows. Not as great for finding historical movie photos.

Lexis
Yes, Lexis has photos

Library of Congress
Historical photos

Getty Images
Large grouping of live and file editorial images. We'll often look here for stronger photos than the AP and McClatchy wire services are providing. To purchase a photo, please consult with one of the photo editors.
Stock photo side of the site has options for royalty-free, rights ready, and rights managed photos. Again, please consult a photo editor before purchasing photos.

Stockphoto.com
All kinds of stock photos from food to industry to animals to architecture to medicine. Also holds historical and people photos. Register to search, subscription service.


thanks to my jomc 714 classmates for suggesting some of their favorite sites. and to marion paynter for sharing the newsroom's backgrounding process and the websites we use to find that information.