So yesterday I attended the EQS (Enhancing Quality Staff) Conference at the U of MN. It was a bit long, but some of the speakers ever very interesting.
The one that I liked best was “You’re Going to Vote for them!?! -Researching Candidates and the 2008 Elections” by Kirsten Clark.
Kirsten had a great list of websites to dig up info (such as voting records, how much money they make, who gives them money-its interesting to see the various unions/organizations and the rich and famous on the lists, etc) on your favorite or you not so favorite political candidate. These sites also have info from previous elections and even campaign ads!
Congress.org, www.congress.org/congressorg/e4/
CNN Elections 2008, www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/
Factcheck.org (Annenberg Public Policy Center – U of Penn), www.factcheck.org/
Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov
Open Secrets, www.opensecrets.org
Candidate Calculator, www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html
On the Issues, www.ontheissues.org/default.htm
Politialfact.com, politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ (the truth-o-meter is great!)
League of Women Voters- Minnesota, www.lwvmn.org
Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, www.cfboard.state.mn.us
The other really good talk was by Cody Hanson “Efficient and Effective Social Media.” I was registered for a different talk, but went to this one instead. Glad I did, because he gave a lot of good suggestions on creating screencasts (videos). If you are interested in creating your own videos, checkout:
Camtasia Studio – its for PC’s (or Snapz Pro for Mac’s)
Jingproject.com
screencast.com
screencast-o-matic.com
YouTube quick capture
Vimeo.com