Tools for Finding People
Finding people is what we do as journalists. Finding people to react, to comment, to illustrate a point ... Like everything else on the information highway, searching for people is an inexact science at best. But here are some tips and sites to help you.
LET YOUR FINGER DO THE CLICKING...
One of the new entries on the Web are electronic versions of most of Canada's -- and the world's -- phone books. This can be a gold mine for journalists because not only can you save time and money looking for that bad guy who fled your hometown to Utah without going through the operator. The net phone books also give you addresses and postal codes ... which can take some coaxing before Ma Bell will give you that.
Canada411 has all of the provinces listed ... except Alberta and Saskathcewan, strangely enough. You can hunt for all the people with your surname in Canada, or for John Q. Smith in Thunder Bay ... or for the best florists right next to your Mom's home in Charlottetown.
Many yellow pages have excellent search functions. For example, in the BC Yellow Pages if you were doing a story on recycling in the Fraser River Valley, you can click by subject and region and find the 10 companies in the business you want in the region you want.
A special treat for journalists is the Federal government phone book. This little-known web page lists over 150,000 Ottawa names -- not just the politicians and their aides, but the deputy ministers and low-level bureaucrats. Say you have the name of a civil servant mentioned in some document or referred to by one of your sources. Just punch in their name -- even their last name, or part of their name -- and you'll get a phone number and department listing right away.
Infospace boasts over 110 million listings in Canada and the U.S. -- including white pages in most cities, plus government blue pages and even a fax directory.
And if you want to reach Uncle Edward in Yemen or a business contact in Australia. The World Phone books lists directories from many countries across the globe.
And it's all free ...
FINDING THE EXPERTS
As journalists, we spend a lot of time hunting for the right expert. Sometimes it's for that golden clip, sometimes it's for the background information you need to make sense of some government mumbo-jumbo or a scientific squabble.
Sure you could pick up the phone and ask the local university PR department to dig up the best expert they have on the subject. But why talk to one university when you can check out all the major campuses and think tanks in North America.
Profnet is a free service that does just that for you. Simply fill out their form and within a day or so they will get back to you -- by e-mail, fax or phone. You can specify if you need an expert in your region (say, for a TV clip). And you can even ask Profnet to make your request anonymous if , for example, you don't want Acme Inc to know you're asking everyone about its pollution history.
This is not an instant service so don't wait until 4 PM to book an expert for your 6 o'clock show or tomorrow's front page. You need some lead time. However, Profnet has also launched an excellent database you can access immediately, with a list of over thousands of experts by name and specialty.
For Canadian sources, the old reliable Sources magazine most of us have our desks is also available on-line in a much easier electronic format (at ) ... by far, the fastest way to find a Canadian expert.
There is even an ExpertNet for United Kingdom specialists, if you think a crusty ol' Brit has the nugget of news you need.
FINDING PEOPLE'S E-MAIL ADDRESS
It sounds funny, but by far the simplest way to find someone e-mail address is to pick up the phone, call the person and ask him or her.
That's because there are no central white pages for people on the net. There are, however, several services that compile millions of listing.
The biggest service is WorldWide Directory which claims 11 million listings and gives you links to other directories in the countries you want. But I have found its reliability lacking at times.
Whowhere boasts a listing of eight million. Also reliable is Four11 . Most of these service will also connect you a telephone directory and sometime they will produce the person's street address and phone number.
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