All about that data

Well-tended profiles on LittleSis can be chock full of interesting and useful information, but where do you begin? A few months ago we rolled out a new tab designed to help you isolate only the information you want to see. Now it’s time for a formal introduction. Every profile page for people and organizations now …

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Oligrapher updates: home page, interlocks, and more

We have some exciting updates to share about Oligrapher, the LittleSis power mapping tool. First, it has a brand new home page. Check out all of the amazing visualizations created with Oligrapher since we introduced the tool last year, create a map or sign up for an account, and share the page far and wide! …

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Introducing Oligrapher: power mapping on LittleSis

The Endless Chain A single example will illustrate the vicious circle of control–the endless chain–through which our financial oligarchy now operates: J.P. Morgan (or a partner), a director of the New York, New Haven, & Hartford Railroad, causes that company to sell to J.P. Morgan & Co. an issue of bonds. J.P. Morgan & Co. …

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NewsShift: Watchdog Journalism With a Long Tail

Every year for the past few years, Knight Foundation has conducted a News Challenge that awards about $5 million in funding to a selection of projects that Use digital open-source media To distribute news and information In a geographic community As Kevin recently noted, this year we finally got our act together and submitted a …

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New Ways to Follow the Money on LittleSis

Faithful readers may have noticed that a good chunk of our recent research has centered on analysis of campaign contributions made by various power players: Chicago 2016 Committee Gave More to Obama than Goldman Sachs Following the Chamber money trail, part 1 and part 2 This has been made possible by a new tool we’ve …

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LittleSis Goes Open Source: An Offering and an Invitation

As you may know, LittleSis is built entirely with open-source software, out of necessity as well as out of principle. Over the years the growing OSS movement has given budget-strapped organizations an ever-expanding suite of free and powerful tools to implement ambitious technology projects, as well as the support of a generous community of developers …

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Democrats still fighting for public option

Sen. Chris Dodd says he and key Democratic leaders in the Senate haven’t given up on a public option yet. (Reuters) Health insurance CEOs are firing back against the Senate Finance Committee‘s health bill, saying it will cost them more in the long run. (WSJ) White House aides David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel are calling …

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Almost There! Only $115 to go on Bay Area Funding

After about six weeks of drawing interest, building new friendships, and researching our brains out, we’ve managed to collect 27 donations from organizations and individuals who are rallying behind the Bay Area Research Project.  The result?  We’re inspired, and working harder than ever to close the funding gap, and publish our final research. Why Donating …

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Do you like our new look?

You may have noticed late last Friday we updated the LittleSis look. For months we’ve been asking our designer friends for help developing a site redesign plan, and we finally made our first steps towards implementing it. The changes so far aren’t exactly radical, but looking at the old design now makes us cringe a …

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LittleSis gets social with Analyst Notes

LittleSis is a latecomer to Twitter, and we’re still learning the ropes, but one thing is clear: microblogging makes nuanced argument difficult, but is quite effective for documenting simple facts and leads. What better model to mimic, then, for LittleSis’s much-needed analyst note system? We’ve decided to modify Twitter’s format to make it more flexible …

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