Cornell Law Library's InSITE Website Reviews

Reviews published in the September 22nd, 2008 issue of InSITE:

• Earmark Watch
• International Alert
• Lehman Collections: Lehman Special Correspondence Files
• Speechology
• Taxpayers for Common Sense

Earmark Watch

Earmark Watch is a project of Sunlight Foundation and Taxpayers for Common Sense, non-partisan organizations dedicated to increasing public awareness of government activities.  Earmark Watch contains a database of spending appropriations (earmarks) which House Resolution 6 and the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 require Senate and House members to disclose; this covers earmarks contained in three bills:  the House and Senate versions of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bills, and the House version of the Defense appropriations bill.  Users can search a database of these earmarks by state, sponsor, description, or recipient.  When users search by one of the four criteria, the search engine returns the text of relevant earmarks.  Users cannot refine their searches beyond the selected criteria, and cannot search multiple criteria at the same time.  Generally, the search results do not provide much information beyond the text of the earmarks matching the selected criteria.  Earmark Watch’s content may improve in the future; it is based on a Wikipedia-like model which allows registered users to contribute information about and comment on specific earmarks. [LB]

International Alert

International Alert is "an independent peace building organization that works to lay the foundations for lasting peace and security in communities affected by violent conflict."  International Alert works all over the globe with governments and victims of conflict to help achieve peace.  Regions where International Alert is active include Asia, Latin America, and Africa.  Users can use a drop-down menu to select either the region they are interested in or they can use the same menu to select a particular country to learn about the efforts of International Alert in that country.  The information posted includes when the work began and what its focus is.  For instance in the Philippines, Alert’s current focus is on "Peace Process Support," "Peace Advocates/Constituency-Building," "Peace-Related Politics Advocacy," and "Key Peace Issues."  By clicking on the link to each of the subcategories, users can access more specific information on those projects.  The "Thematic Work" drop-down menu on the homepage allows users to access resources by choosing from among five spheres of activity: "Aid effectiveness," "Climate change," "Gender," "Peace and Economy," and "Security." In the "Publications" section (under "Resources"), the user is able to search International Alert's collection of (mostly freely available) documents by keyword, or select them by theme or region. Users can sign up to receive email updates on the organization’s activities.  The entire site is keyword-searchable. [SA]

Lehman Collections: Lehman Special Correspondence Files

The Lehman Special Correspondence Files of the Herbert Lehman Collections at Columbia University Libraries contain correspondence and other documentation between and involving Herbert H. Lehman and nearly 1,000 individuals from 1864 through 1982.  Herbert Lehman had an extensive public service career which included serving as governor of, and later, U.S. senator to, New York State.  He was known for his unwavering dedication to public service and liberal causes.  The strength of collection lies in materials on himself, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, New York State, the Democratic Party, McCarthyism, immigration, refugees, philanthropy, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), and the Allied Military Government during World War II.  Materials concerning civil rights, African American history, and working women in New York State are also well represented.  The Lehman Special Correspondence Files are a digitized and searchable subset of the larger Lehman collections.  Users can search the Files by correspondent, keyword, date, document type, or document id number.  For researchers interested in this segment of US history, this could be a valuable source for primary archival materials. [JJ]

Speechology

Speechology was launched by Matthew Burton and Dan Phiffer, acquaintances from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, and is supported in part by a grant from the Sunlight Foundation.  Bringing Web 2.0 to presidential politics, the site archives video of political debates, speeches, and campaign ads.  Burton and Phiffer want to provide a space where users can find what politicians have been saying: "If a candidate or elected representative said it on TV, we want you to be able to find it on here."  The other goal of the site is to provide verification for the factual claims made by candidates and other politicians.  For each video, users may contribute comments with the idea that the commenter can confirm or refute claims made by offering their own independent research.  This feature of the site is still developing, but does show promise.  Otherwise, the video collection is the reason to visit the site.  Videos may be browsed by politician, including George W. Bush, John McCain, and Barack Obama, or they may be browsed by video set.  These sets cover Democratic and Republican debates; McCain, Obama, and Clinton ads; and PAC ads.  The site tracks which videos are viewed most, as well as the highest and lowest rated. [MM]

Taxpayers for Common Sense

Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) is an independent, nonpartisan, non-profit organization (with an affiliate 501(c)(4) lobbying arm, TCS Action), dedicated to cutting wasteful government spending and subsidies in order to achieve a responsible and efficient government that lives within its means.  The TCS website offers resources arranged by broad subject categories such as "Energy", "Agriculture," "National Security," "Government Contracts," and "Water Resources".  These main project areas are covered by detailed reports, articles, white papers, and other TCS publications.  Within these broad categories, each publication listed is assigned one or more subject tags, to help users locate related information on the site. The extensive list of tags is available for browsing, as well. Other features of the website that are accessible from the homepage include a keyword search box, a link to the TCS "Resource Center & Archives," and a link to the downloadable "TCS database of FY '08 earmarks." [JPC/BWK]

InSITE contributors:  S. Allen, L. Buechner, J.P. Cusker, J. Jones, B. Kreisler, M. Morrison, J. Pajerek (editor)

InSITE highlights selected law-related Web sites in two ways: as an annotated publication issued electronically and in print; and, as a keyword-searchable database. The law librarians at Cornell evaluate potentially useful Web sites, select the most valuable ones, and provide commentary and subject access to them. This information can be accessed via the channels below, in addition to this mailing list:

1. Searchable database or by browsing current and archived issues on the web: InSITE home page   
2. RSS feed
3. Print format for the Cornell Law School community.