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Useful Internet Tools for Staff
Added 25 May 2005
The internet is a big place, and buried within it are some immensely valuable tools for MPs and their staff, mostly built outside official channels by groups like MySociety, a charitable project which builds websites that give people simple, tangible benefits in the civic and community aspects of their lives.
Tom Steinberg, director of mySociety.org, guides you through some of the sites that he thinks are key. As he points out 'by the time you've made use of these tools your jobs will be so easy you'll be *begging* for photocopying to fill up your time.' If you have any questions you can contact him at w4mp@tomsteinberg.co.uk
1 - TheyWorkForYou email alerts at
www.TheyWorkForYou.comThis is a brilliant, searchable, annotatable version of Hansard built by volunteers. One of the most powerful tools it has is the ability to send emails whenever certain words of phrases crop up. Just use the search box on the homepage, and then click 'Email me when the word 'hats' is spoken in parliament'. Remember, to search for phrases, you need to put double quote marks around your words. Lastly, it can also email you whenever your MP says anything in the House - a handy way of keeping tabs!
2 - The Public Whip at www.publicwhip.org.uk
This makes the complex process of working out who voted which way on which divisions into a doddle. Apparently it's become the default tool for the parliamentary librarians, so be smart and keep an eye on it.
3 - TheGovernmentSays at www.thegovernmentsays.com
Every day the departments and agencies of government pump out endless press releases. TheGovernmentSays makes keeping tabs on these as easy as can be - scanning through a day's releases can be done on one page in just a few seconds. Furthermore, you can also set up email alerts to send you information whenever a word or a phrase crops up in a government press release.
4 - Google News Alerts at www.google.com/alerts
Yet another email alerts service, Google closes the circle of Total Information Awareness by sending you emails whenever words or phrases crops up pretty much anywhere in the media. It doesn't yet have a lot of local press, but for all the major news sources it is brilliant.
5 - WriteToThem.com at www.writetothem.com
Need to find out which councillors, assembly members, MEPs or MSPs also represent one of your constituents? Just plug their postcode into WriteToThem.com and you'll get the complete list. Also handy as a tool to give people when they phone up demanding action - they can easily raise a stink at all levels of governance, not just parliamentary.
6 - PledgeBank at www.pledgebank.com
Still in testing, PledgeBank lets you say things like 'My MP will come to this event, but only if 20 people pledge to come along', or lets your constituents say things like 'I will organise a resident's association, but only if 5 other people on my street will come to my house to talk about it'. Used alone or in conjunction with WriteToThem.com and BBC iCan (www.bbc.co.uk/ican) it is a powerful, free and instant tool to help your constituents get things done in their area.
7 - DirectionlessGov at www.directionlessgov.com
Finding stuff on government websites is pretty tough, but this simple site makes one very simple tweak to google searchs that makes them show up. Handy.
8 - Meeting Wizard at www.meetingwizard.com
Is arranging multiple people's diaries for the most trivial of meetings giving you a headache? Try MeetingWizard and watch your 'diarizing' problems vanish in a puff of smoke.
You can also
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Visit the mysociety.org website