NiemanJournalismLab reporting:
The Internet was supposed to usher in a new era of transparency. Groups like the Sunlight Foundation, the Center for Responsive Politics, OpenCongress, and even the government’s own Data.gov provide oceans of data for the curious, concerned citizen.
If the truth is in the data, however, you still have to go find it. That’s why open-government websites are mostly popular with journalists and activists, the people willing to pull up their sleeves and wade through the numbers.
A new tool from the Sunlight Foundation would seem to seek to tweak that paradigm. It’s called Inbox Influence, a Gmail plugin that requires exactly one step: installing it. When an email message arrives — from a company, a political candidate, a PR person, your aunt — you’ll see statistics about that entity’s political connections. The plugin detects names in body text, email addresses, and links.
For example, I received a news alert from The New York Times about Comcast’s successful bid to broadcast the Olympics until 2020. The company’s name is highlighted; when I mouse over, a popup graphic tells me:
Comcast Corp. has given $16.9 million to politicians
A majority of the cash has gone to Democrats
The company has spent $66.7 million on lobbying
see video.
http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/06/inbox-influence-reveals-your-connections-connections/?utm_source=Daily+Lab+email+list&utm_campaign=cab37b8956-DAILY_EMAIL&utm_medium=email
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