![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
E-Sources: Reference, Facts
A few sites that I find helpful in both day-to-day settings and when I'm in a pinch for some quick journalism fact checking:
1. European Union
Ever wonder about what countries are part of the EU? What are the five EU institutions? When is Europe Day? Answers to all these and (literally) tons of other relevant information about the European Union.
My favorite part of the site is the section called "The European Union at a glance." It features the ABCs of what the EU is, who are its current member states, what political documents have been drawn since the establishment of the EU, and more. For those doing European political reporting I'd recommend the "Eurojargon" page. It is a list of over 60 terms that are often thrown around by European politicians and the media.
Hands down, the EU site is your one-stop site to everything you need to know about the European Union.
2. The Internet Broadway Database
Visiting New York City? Live there? Taking a day trip to the Big Apple from New Jersey? This comprehensive site is the place to check for Broadway shows, answering the who, what, where, when, and sometimes the why and the how, of each show—all a click of the mouse away.
The first thing I did when I clicked into the site was to search for Avenue Q. Lo and behold, less than a second later, I had access to more info than I'd ever need to know about the show:
~ Avenue Q plays at John Golden Theatre
~ Preview began on July 10, 2003 and ran for 22 shows
~ 708 (non-preview) performances as of April 10, 2005
~ Links to awards and nominations, songs, and info about every person who's involved in the production
~ Link to the official Avenue Q Web site
~ "Choreographed by Ken Roberson" :)
A few quick clicks onto other productions' pages showed the same kinds of information offered for each show.
I'd give this site a 9.5 out of 10. Had I known to use this site when we all edited the Ken Roberson article, I wouldn't have had to wade through my list of Google search results for credible Web sites for fact checking. The only teeny tiny critique I have for the site is that I wish it has pictures—it would have been nice to see at least a cast picture for each show.
3. The World Clock - Time Zones
Ever wonder what time is it in Norway (hi [Bad username or site: lynkemma / @ livejournal.com])? Portugal (hi [Bad username or site: sra_black / @ livejournal.com])? Japan (hi [Bad username or site: akaisakura / @ livejournal.com] and [Bad username or site: ee970 / @ livejournal.com])? Hong Kong (hi Dad and Kwok Ching if you're reading this)? Or even closer to home...California (hi Mom)? I certainly have! This is a great quick-ref site to make sure I didn't convert my times wrong in my head.
The site features on-the-dot times for cities around the world, all based on Coordinated Universal Time/Greenwhich Mean Time, but handily displayed in a.m./p.m. format. Daylight saving time is taken into account. If you're not the type to pick out a city from a long list, try the Time Zone Converter, a nifty time calculator that took me less than 15 seconds to find out that Vishakhapatnam, India is 9.5 hours ahead of New York time.
Besides time conversion, timeanddate.com also provides meeting planners and a page for figuring out international dialing codes. And if you're interested, there's also a page that tells you all about the what and why behind daylight saving time.
This site gets a 9. It's useful, but navigation isn't the easiest. Certain functions like the Time Zone Converter requires thinking and math skills (the times displayed for source and target times are not real time), which can be a pain if someone's fact checking in a pinch.
Another critique: I initially expected pages with time displays to automatically update every minute or so, but that's not the case. The pages don't refresh themselves. This means any given time becomes wrong after a minute. Granted, this isn't the type of Web site for people to spend a lot of time staring at, but given how easy it is to create self-updating pages nowadays, timeanddate.com would probably benefit from making their time pages perpetually accurate.
[ETA: Extra info, 4/14/2005, 8:11 p.m.]
1. European Union
Ever wonder about what countries are part of the EU? What are the five EU institutions? When is Europe Day? Answers to all these and (literally) tons of other relevant information about the European Union.
My favorite part of the site is the section called "The European Union at a glance." It features the ABCs of what the EU is, who are its current member states, what political documents have been drawn since the establishment of the EU, and more. For those doing European political reporting I'd recommend the "Eurojargon" page. It is a list of over 60 terms that are often thrown around by European politicians and the media.
My favorite -->How useful is this site? On a scale from 1 to 10, it gets a perfect 10. The site is extremely well organized—information is located in a very common sense kind of way, pages are up to date, content is geared toward a wide range of audience (students, reporters, Europeans, non-Europeans, etc.), and everything is translated into 20 (!) languages.
Cultural capitals: Every year a number of European cities are designated as “cultural capitals”. The aim is to publicise and celebrate the cultural achievements and charms of these cities and so make European citizens more aware of the rich heritage they share.
Hands down, the EU site is your one-stop site to everything you need to know about the European Union.
2. The Internet Broadway Database
Visiting New York City? Live there? Taking a day trip to the Big Apple from New Jersey? This comprehensive site is the place to check for Broadway shows, answering the who, what, where, when, and sometimes the why and the how, of each show—all a click of the mouse away.
The first thing I did when I clicked into the site was to search for Avenue Q. Lo and behold, less than a second later, I had access to more info than I'd ever need to know about the show:
~ Avenue Q plays at John Golden Theatre
~ Preview began on July 10, 2003 and ran for 22 shows
~ 708 (non-preview) performances as of April 10, 2005
~ Links to awards and nominations, songs, and info about every person who's involved in the production
~ Link to the official Avenue Q Web site
~ "Choreographed by Ken Roberson" :)
A few quick clicks onto other productions' pages showed the same kinds of information offered for each show.
I'd give this site a 9.5 out of 10. Had I known to use this site when we all edited the Ken Roberson article, I wouldn't have had to wade through my list of Google search results for credible Web sites for fact checking. The only teeny tiny critique I have for the site is that I wish it has pictures—it would have been nice to see at least a cast picture for each show.
3. The World Clock - Time Zones
Ever wonder what time is it in Norway (hi [Bad username or site: lynkemma / @ livejournal.com])? Portugal (hi [Bad username or site: sra_black / @ livejournal.com])? Japan (hi [Bad username or site: akaisakura / @ livejournal.com] and [Bad username or site: ee970 / @ livejournal.com])? Hong Kong (hi Dad and Kwok Ching if you're reading this)? Or even closer to home...California (hi Mom)? I certainly have! This is a great quick-ref site to make sure I didn't convert my times wrong in my head.
The site features on-the-dot times for cities around the world, all based on Coordinated Universal Time/Greenwhich Mean Time, but handily displayed in a.m./p.m. format. Daylight saving time is taken into account. If you're not the type to pick out a city from a long list, try the Time Zone Converter, a nifty time calculator that took me less than 15 seconds to find out that Vishakhapatnam, India is 9.5 hours ahead of New York time.
Besides time conversion, timeanddate.com also provides meeting planners and a page for figuring out international dialing codes. And if you're interested, there's also a page that tells you all about the what and why behind daylight saving time.
This site gets a 9. It's useful, but navigation isn't the easiest. Certain functions like the Time Zone Converter requires thinking and math skills (the times displayed for source and target times are not real time), which can be a pain if someone's fact checking in a pinch.
Another critique: I initially expected pages with time displays to automatically update every minute or so, but that's not the case. The pages don't refresh themselves. This means any given time becomes wrong after a minute. Granted, this isn't the type of Web site for people to spend a lot of time staring at, but given how easy it is to create self-updating pages nowadays, timeanddate.com would probably benefit from making their time pages perpetually accurate.
[ETA: Extra info, 4/14/2005, 8:11 p.m.]