SEARCHING STREET ADDRESS RANGES

Google has a peice of syntax that lets you enter number ranges into a search by putting two dots between two numbers. For example 2007..2011, will search for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, or 2011, if any of those numbers appear in a page it will be returns in the search results. This can be useful when searching for money ranges, eg. $40..$120.

However i didn't use this syntax very often, until I recently discovered that it works within quotes. That means if you are searching a municipal website you can put a range of numbers before the name of a street, and find any mention of those addresses on the site. This is great when you are researching not a specific address but rather a strip, or block with numerous street addresses.

Here are a couple of examples of what the search might look like:

site:phila.gov “4800..5300 Baltimore”

or

site:toronto.ca "800..1200 Bathurst"

Note: If you add St. or Ave. to the end ofthe street name you will not get all the results since you will miss the full spellings, Street, and Avenue, and visaversa.

ChangeDetection

Changedection.com is a site that lets you monitor a webpage to see if it has changed. If it does change you get an email. Ideal for tracking a site that doesn't have a RSS feed. I got tipped off about this site a few week ago at the IRE confernce. I tried it out and have been impressed.

After signing up for an account, I entered a the url for the site I wanted to track. I then got brought to a page that gave me a lot of options; Do i want to be notified only if information is removed from the page? Or if it is added? How often to receive notification? Most importantly they let you enter a word that must appear on the page before you are notified.

When the page changes you get an email that contains a link to the changedetection site, where they show a summary of the new information (highlighted) and the removed inforamtion (crossed out).

I haven't had a great need for this tool yet, So far the most useful way i have put it to use is on the websites for annual conference. Now if they add the word '2010' I will find out and get a head up on the when they update their website with information on next years conference. However I am certain this tool will come in real handy in my research at some point.

TASER DATABASE

The CBC and Canadian Press colaborated on a great investigation into taser use by the RCMP. They used freedom of information requests to get a hold of incident reports that officers are required to file when ever they draw their taser. On the CBC website you can find extensive coverage including a list of taser related deaths and a search tool that lets you search the data they compiled.

Their searchable database lets you search during specific years, by province, by the type of incident, and by the number of cartriges/spin cycle used by the officer. You then get a list of reports and can read the details from the report.

In a quick look I found that there were 23 recorded times when eight or more stun and cartrige cycle were used since 2002. And That there were six recorded incidents of tasers being used on cell blocks.

On the CBC website they write:

“By putting a searchable version of our database online, we hope that people can discover a few more details about the use of a device that has been the subject of increased public scrutiny and political debate after the death of a Polish immigrant, Robert Dziekanski, who died shortly after being stunned five times with a Taser at Vancouver International Airport in October 2007.”

check out the web site here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/taser-deployment/