States and localities create sites which have a different flavor from the "slicker" corporation sites. Sites can range from "grass roots" community concerns to recent legislation or Judicial rulings passed within the state. Most states have an "official" Home Page (some a little harder to find than others). State Universities often compile sites containing general information about their state sponsor, as well as political special interests. The bottom line is patience when browsing community sites. There is a wealth of information in current events, historically pertinent information about the region, and trends in American hometown politics. If you are new to this "research on the net stuff" don't worry! There are several research strategies that will work, even if, you have just mastered the mouse.

Think about accessing state and local city addresses on the net. With fifty states and countless cities and local municipalities, the list of net addresses could easily become quite overwhelming. Each state could have official as well as unofficial websites with each site being accessible through one or more of the different search engines discussed earlier. From there, you may be able to jump to specific city sites for links to local information and concerns. The path to these sites could become really complicated very fast! However, this page should help make your search easier and simpler.

Although there are many differences in state sites, there are also common characteristics. Graphics and layout aside, most sites provide links to state agencies and services, judicial and legislative information, and educational and business organizations. After they have dealt with these commonalties, each site usually moves into topics which are unique to the individual area. You will also find that most states use primarily web or gopher sites. Both can be displayed in the same web browser. While the web sites are more pleasing to the eye with their entertaining graphics and engaging layouts, the gopher sites tend to be loaded with information presented in a simpler text based format.

In accessing local government sites on the Net, you will find the they too contain a wide range of information presented in many different ways. As could be expected, local sites are concerned mainly with local issues and the needs of their immediate communities; but the information hardly ends there. Along with lists of local commissions and boards, you will usually find links to other closely related sites. Keeping these things in mind, you can now proceed on our tour of interesting and informative sites.

GEORGIA LINKS

Georgia Online Network (GO Net)

Sometime addresses on the Net are just plain simple, as is the case with GO Net above. By replacing the ga. in the address with any of the two letter abbreviations for any given state, then you can easily access that state's website. We here at Kennesaw State University are quite proud of our own state's page; and why not? Not only is it equipped with the latest state-of-the-art graphics and easy on the eyes, but it is also easy on the brain as well. Graphic links are provided to guide the surfer smoothly to the Governor's home page or to any of the state departments or agencies. A menu for the state Senate and the House of Representatives provides access to information on the members themselves as well as issues of ongoing concerns in the state legislature. Look up Newt Gingrich's e-mail address or maybe Cynthia McKinney's and check in to see what the hot topics are at home or abroad. An extensive list of cities and counties is provided to help narrow your search for information or a state specific search engine is provided for those who need additional help.

Carl Vinson Institute of Government

The bulldogs of Georgia know a good thing when they see one and they definitely did the right thing when they decided to support and sponsor this site. The table of contents provides choices for bulletin boards, new additions to the site, news issues, and government information. The government information link leads to an extensive source of data for the state of Georgia including links to congressional maps, voter information, and everything from regional to metropolitan areas. Drop in o11-Sep-2007 4:19 PM on-line and a link to the Georgia League of Women Voters.

Vote Central

Columbus, GA

Gwinnett County

GEORGIA General Assembly

Macon

Nerdworld
 

OTHER STATES' LINKS

Library of Congress Gopher

The Library of Congress (LOC) provides an excellent gopher site on the Internet. Its full name is Machine-Assisted Realization of the Virtual Electronic Library, but friends call it Marvel. Once on the LOC gopher page, navigate through the Government Information and the State and Local Government Information links to arrive at a page which lists the states available on gopher. From this point, pick a state! Under Georgia you'll find a menu listing everything from the Council of State Government and civic and local nets, to a voter registration list by party. Back up to the state listing and click on Minnesota. Moving through the presented menus will give way to listings on both the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives. You will also find a "What's New" menu for the Senate and House gopher, along with joint legislative departments and commissions and legislative bill tracking. And just in case you can't get enough, current session and television schedules are given.

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress also provides a website on the Internet. Like many other extensive sites, the only question here is which state will you choose. We have chosen Colorado as is indicated by the co-gov section in the above address. This address will take you directly to home page for the state of Colorado. Choose the state government link to look into state offices and agencies along with sites for the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. By clicking on the Local Government link, you can access multiple county and municipal sites. You may want to check out Boulder County and track how their representatives are voting in Washington, ... they do.

California Electronic Government Information

Leave it to the people of California to take an idea and make it better! Not only does the state have it's own website, it also has this site for the sole reason of providing state government information. This home page for the CEGI boasts 230 hypertext links for state, regional, and municipal databases. The table of contents provides headings for state topics such as Politicians and Candidates, County and Regional, and Municipal concerns. The Municipal menu provides thirteen pages of local county and city governmental agencies, commissions, and concerns. You can look under the "New in this Edition" and learn about Gov. Pete Wilson's Competitive Government, a plan for less bureaucracy and more results.

Institute of Government

The Institute of Government is located in North Carolina and this address and website proves it. This site is provided and supported by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and boasts the largest and most diversified of the university-based governmental training and research organizations in the United States. The site was developed in partnership with the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners and the North Carolina League of Municipalities and provides many links to useful state and local government resources. Menus for the state executive, judicial, and legislative departments are available along with many other state and local government agencies and commissions. You can look in on the House and Senate committees, check out the N.C. Almanac of Government and Politics, or plan your schedule around the N.C. General Assembly's calendar of events, bill status, and legislator information. If that is not enough, then you may want to look into the on-line publications of Popular Government, Daily Summary, or School Law Bulletin.

New York Wired

Tripping around the states would not be complete without a journey up to the "Big Apple" and "wired" definitely describes the New York site. Feel free to spend the next twenty-four hours checking in the different links to state and local government sites found here. Strong links here are the State Assembly, House and Senate, and Unified Courts System sites. There are also further links that access an extensive list of city, county, and municipal sites, along with the usual state departments and governor's page. New York Wired also provides its own state specific search engine to help detail your information and keep you surfing well into the morning hours.

The Wonderful World of Piper

For those of you who must be spoon-fed, The Piper Letter was designed to make being an informed citizen painless. Piper offers official home pages of states that are periodically updated. Take time to read the FAQ (a list of "Frequently Asked Questions").

piperinfo

A note to the wise: Piper sets stringent guidelines before it places its name above site resources and so should you. There are sites that claim to be representative of a state or local community- What you really find is a carefully disguised personal agenda of an organization or individual. Your criteria may not need to be as stringent as Piper's, but be aware of where your resources are coming from.

Piper's Criteria for Links - Piper screens to ensure that the site is maintained by a state agency/ local government agency or has an obvious state/local government domain name and servers that include specific mention of the government agency responsible for the home page (Piper excludes chamber of Commerce sites). You are responsible for setting the criterion for the resources you choose to use in any research. Always give credit for ideas that you have "borrowed."

Quick Picks

Council of State Governments

National Conference of State Legislatures

Public Technology, Inc

Government Technologies

Public Affairs Web

Search Strategies for Local and State Sites

General searches using the search terms "State and Local Government" will result in volumes of search addresses. Unfortunately, states are not represented in alphabetical order in search results. State home pages often provide a link to community /city sites and State Agencies. If you are struggling with choosing a topic in state and local politics this search strategy will reveal ideas and information using the available hypertext links.

yahoo

google

altavista

webcrawler

lycos

hotbot

go

Specific searches aren't limited to commercial search engines. Gopher space is text only, but will allow you to link to other gopher sites easily and contains many government resources. Wiretap includes links that will take you to various US State laws and some State Constitutions. The Library of Congress is a goldmine of information on various state resources.

gopher://marvel.loc.gov:70/11/federal/state.local

Searching for Cities on the Net

http://www.city.net

http://www.cais.net/nlc

Other Places to Look

Many local sites are linked to our supported by FREENETs. A FREENET is a community based computer system supported by volunteers and contributions. They provide information which meets the needs of their respective local communities. Newsgroups are also a valuable resource but they aren't always open to everyone. Newsgroups provide reviews and discussion on relevant local and state political events.

http://www.clari.net/index.html

http://www.dejanews.com