Revision [20060]
This is an old revision of ProfilesHelfulHintsFAQ made by Peter on 2017-05-15 12:27:56.
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Keep in Mind:
When starting out research profiles, here are a couple things to remember:- Ask questions if you are uncertain about anything.
- Many candidates are already in our database and will therefore already have some information
- Check the information against what the candidate has most recently given us. Follow the general rule that more is better (e.g. if a nickname is in the database but not on the new bio info, leave it in). Bio data should only be removed if it is a duplicate entry or a reputable source has proven the information to be incorrect.
- Do not abbreviate anything, even if typing it out seems redundant or unnecessary. If an acronym is more commonly known, use the written-out version and put the acronym in parentheses
- If you cannot read something or need help, never hesitate to ask for help
- Do not, under any circumstances, write on a candidate's returned bio form. If there is a problem with the form or you cannot read an entry, tell your supervisor
- For all current positions use "present" with a lower-case "p" rather than "Present" or "current."
- Example: Representative, United States House of Representatives, 1996-present.
- If you are unable to verify if a candidate still holds or when they may have stopped holding a position for which 'present' is listed, delete the years and move the position to the proper place amongst the other positions listed without years.
- If there are no years listed, do not assume that the membership is present. Only use "present" if a candidate has specifically listed it as present.
- All years should be written out in full.
- Example: correct: 1985-1989 incorrect: 1985-89.
- SAVE YOUR CHANGES - if you forget this, it's like you didn't do the work.
Develop a Process
Like most departments at Vote Smart, developing your research process is essential for thoroughness, accuracy, and speed. Below, you will find a detailed description of some steps you should take during the development of your process as well as some tricks and tips.Step 1: Research the candidate exhaustively
First check the Secretary of State's site. Sometimes they will list websites and emails.
Next, search for any website or social media outlet the candidate may have.
Standard Searches:
1. (candidate's name) for (state) (office)
2. (candidate's name) for (state) (office) (district)
3. (candidate's name) for (state) (office) Facebook
When you find a site, create a new tab by right-clicking the link and selecting “Open Link in New Tab”
Go about 5 pages into Google's search for each
Notes:
-The most important websites to find, in terms of information, are Websites and Facebook. LinkedIns
are very detailed and helpful, but not that many candidate's actually have a functioning LinkedIn.
The best way to identify a if a candidate has a LinkedIn is if they write something like “Candidate for
Michigan House of Representatives” on the top. Otherwise, you will have to cross reference
experiences, or compare photos.
-Don't forget about WebMail, which can usually be found on a candidate's website under some
variation of 'Contact' or 'Contact Me/Us'
-Additionally, sometimes in 'Contact' sections, a candidate will provide an email and/or phone number
that isn't provided by a SoS site.
-The same goes for Facebook's. You'll tend to find a lot of additional emails/phone numbers under a
Facebook's 'About' page.
Step 2: Inputting the data
If the candidate does have a LinkedIn and you can confirm that it is theirs, start at the bottom of the
page and copy/paste everything into the data input boxes. Also, if there is already a lot of data
previously inputed into our database, go through the LinkedIn to find 'years' data.
The next most specific source is generally the website 'About' page. Almost every candidate with a
website will have an 'About' page. Sometimes the data will be listed, but most of the time it will be in
an annoying paragraph format.
Most likely, the last source of data you will check is a Facebook. About half the time candidate's will
have information on their Facebook as well. Most of those times, the 'About' section of their website
will just be copied and pasted into their Facebook, but other times, it will be a completely new
composition of their bio. Other information like: Religion, Birth Date, etc. can often be found on
Facebook because Facebook is very specifically formatted.
Notes:
-There is no universal code to how candidate's word their experiences. Just keep in mind that we want to
say exactly what they say and to basically keep our brains away from manipulating anything as much
as possible.
-'Additional Information,' which is the second tab of a bio in admin, will most often be found in a
Facebook's bio page, so just pay attention to that possibility.
-The manner/order in which you input data is important. You will be most accurate if you stick to a
standardized way of going through a candidate's bio information and inputing it into admin. The best
way is to start at the top of a page and scan down until the bottom. Sometimes, data will scream at you
right away, but if you go straight to it, you may miss something more obscure, but equally important.
Step 3: Issue Positions
Generally, it might be easiest to input this data last because it is usually separated from other data on
websites/facebooks. The way it is inputed is also very standardized.
Occasionally, however, you might notice a potential position in a random section of a bio or in a
facebook post. This is especially true if there weren't any Issue Positions specific sections of a site.
Step 4: Vetting Your Own Work
Start by looking at the candidate's admin page and begin scanning for formatting errors. Commonly, the
'Family' section will be formatted incorrectly (Married; John; 3 children; John, Jacob rather than
Husband: John; 3 Children). Another is the 'Gender' category. It is often left blank ('Unknown') initially
and it will be up to you to update that.
When you are checking for formatting errors, make sure to remember that grammatical errors are most
likely from the candidate and not from one of us.
Next, if there was already data inputed for a candidate, make sure to go through and cat/tag data as you
see fit. Most of the previous bio's were only sporadically cat'tagged, or not at all.
Lastly, do a final scan of a website/Facebook to see if you notice something you missed.
Overall:
Bios are all about creating a strategy/routine for 1. finding all the data, 2. inputting it accurately, and 3.
doing it quickly. And, like the wiki says, that order is important. As you do more bios, you will get
faster naturally and develop your own routine. The order above is just a guideline, as you get more
observant you will naturally just do things as you see them, but it helps initially to do things very
structured so that you can focus on one step of creating a bio at a time.
Policy on Taking Down Information:
It is common to get calls form candidates asking us to take down their information. As a general policy, we do not do this. The information is public and we are under no obligation to take information off of our website. However, there are certain exceptions to this policy. If a candidate asks us to take down family information for a legitimate reason, we can oblige. Before taking information off of the site, the National Director needs to give final approval.
