|
What Is the CRG Network Grassroots Action Web
Portal?
The CRG Network Grassroots Action Web Portal is an
Internet-based tool designed to help unify fiscal conservatives by
allowing them to share information and work together. They can use
it to get news,
investigate issues, follow political activities, provide input, and air
complaints and concerns about state, county, and local politics
especially those concerning taxation, ethics, corruption, and property
rights.
Each member chooses the level of involvement they desire.
Basic "At Large" membership is free. Privileges increase for
"Associate" members who pay a modest $19 yearly fee to fund the
operation. Delegate level members ($99) form the de facto "Board
of Directors" and vote on internal issues of importance. This site
is different from other websites in that it is not just a central
location to "consume information." It is a member-driven meeting
ground where insights and information can be added, shared, and managed
by the community of users.
Operational Differences Using Database-Driven
Websites
First, if you have trouble logging-in to this website,
make certain your browser and/or firewall except cookies. This is
a small file sent by our server to create a unique log-in ID that allows
you to access members-only content on this site (it is automatically
erased by your browser when you are done). Second, keep in mind that database-driven web pages don't
actually exist until you select what you want to see. For
example, the list of State Senators displayed on the Politician Watch
page is actually a set of individual records stored in a database.
If you change the "Gov't Body" selection to "Assembly" it goes to the
database, retrieves the data for the 99 Assembly Representatives and
literally creates a new page "on the fly" that displays the Assembly
members rather than the Senate members. This poses a problem for
search engines because many of them are incapable of searching databases
(they search only static pages). We could have simply built a
static page with the name and picture of each politician but then you
could not sort it or dynamically update the information. For
example, if you wanted to find information on Senator Glenn Grothman
using the Search Tool you might find very little because the search only
searches static web pages of which there are very few (one notable
exception being our "Special Report" pages). However, if you go to
the Politician Watch page, select "Senate" as the "Gov't
Unit" and sort by "Name" then scroll down to the "Grothman" record you can access a
wealth of information, provide a rating, and leave comments. The
moral to the story, don't rely on the search tool too much. Go to
the relevant section of this website and search using the selection
options provided (see the "For Tech Heads" section at the bottom of this
page for info on how to link to the database-driven pages). What Are Some of the Unique Features on This
Website?
We mentioned that The CRG Network Grassroots Action Web Portal is unique
in that it is primarily database-driven. It is doubly-dynamic in that the data is
constantly changing and being updated by an entire network of
contributors. Members have multiple opportunities to add and edit
data on things like events, political opinions, complaints about the
government, and votes and ratings about everything from issues to
politicians to bloggers. In short, it provides a collective
experience where users are not simply passive consumers but active
participants in the process.
There are many interesting interactive features such as
the Network Calendar for sharing information about events, or CRG Radio
for tapping into radio broadcasts over the Internet, and many, many others. However there are three interactive functions that are
central to what CRG Network sees as it most basic function -
educating fiscal conservatives and stimulating direct and successful political action!
Issues Analysis
Issue Analysis is the most interactive of all the
website features. In its simplest form, it provides summary data
on issues of interest to members. Members can retrieve and sort
this information by specifying issue types, units of government , and
many other factors. Users can further interact and "analyze" the
data by adding their vote and comments in support or opposition to the
issues and supplying links to outside information sources and action
items pertinent to the issues. Support/opposition and action on
issues evolve dynamically as more members interact.
Politician Watch
Perhaps the most enjoyable feature is politician watch.
As the name implies it is a place to go to watch collective responses to
the actions of state politicians (Senate, Assembly, and Executive
offices). In many ways the Politician Watch function acts as a
"dashboard" for monitoring the performance of state politicians
individually and collectively. Members enter and update their
"approval rating" for each politician as often as they wish. Four
separate ratings are derived from member input. The Overall Rating
is an average of all member ratings for a given politician. The
District Rating includes only members whose profile identifies
them as living within the politicians district (make certain your
Member Profile reflects
the proper Senate and Assembly district you live in so your approval
rating is accounted for properly). This rating serves
as an indicator of popularity among potential voters in a district.
The Political Weather Report (found on the Home Page) provides an
average for the ratings of all members for all politicians combined,
converts it to a 0 to 100 scale, and reports it as the "Political
Temperature" (a "temperature" of 50 is average). The "Political Barometer" (also on the
Home Page) is a trend
indicator which compares the average of the most recently updated 20% of
all ratings against
the Political Temperature and displays whether the trend is rising,
level, or falling. Finally, members can share their opinion and
comments about selected politicians with the rest of the community.
A graphic indicator displays at a glance whether the comments are for or
against a politician so you can quickly determine whether comments are
trending positive or negative without even having to read them!
Better Government Bureau
At first glance the Better Government Bureau (BGB)
appears to be among the most mundane features but will likely grow to be
the most influential. Like the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the BGB is searchable database that catalogs member complaints against
government agencies and officials. The power of the BGB is that,
over time, it provides an indelible record of the offenses of
government. This establishes trends that serve as the impetus for
action. Gone are the days when government transgressions fall into
a "black hole" and are forgotten before the next election. The
cumulative power of the BGB will become a force to be reckoned with.
When two or three or more people see the same problem with the same
person or office, they no longer feel alone but empowered to take action
jointly. That, my friends, is exactly what CRG Network is all
about!.
Help the Grassroots Action Web Portal Grow
This website is of, by, and for fiscal conservatives.
It was built entirely with time and services donated by businesses and
people with a
passion to make Wisconsin the "Mecca of the Midwest", the preferred
destination of families, businesses, and visitors. Wherever
possible, free web-resources were employed to keep costs low (that is
why you see outside advertising on some of the pages). In fact,
not one penny was spent in its design and construction. Use it.
Contribute your input. Help it financially if you can.
Contact us with any idea or suggestion you may have to improve it,
no matter how small! For Tech Heads Only
Because this site is database-driven, the question
becomes, "If the pages do not actually exist until a user asks for them,
how can someone link to information on a specific politician, issue, or
other item." The answer is, "There is a method to remotely ask the
database to display specific information." Politician
Database Suppose you wanted to link to information
on Senator Glenn Grothman from your or another website. If you simply
use the link:
http://www.crgnetwork.com/f_pol_watch.asp (Note: In all cases what
may look like spaces are actually underscore characters) you would
display the full list of Senators. While you could always find and click on
the Grothman record, that is not exactly the slickest way to handle the
situation. Try this instead.
http://www.crgnetwork.com/f_pol_viewcom.asp?unit=Senate&pol=GrothmanG1
the file "f_pol_viewcom.asp" is the page that displays individual
politicians based on their unit of government and ID code. By
simply replacing the value after "unit=" with the proper government unit
(Senate, Assembly, Executive) and politician ID code (typically the
politicians last name, first initial, and the number "1") you can
directly link
to information on a selected politician. Here is how to
link to other specific information in the CRG Network Grassroots Action
Web Portal Issues Database
http://www.crgnetwork.com/f_iss_analyze.asp?rid=1
Replace the value after "rid" with the proper Issue ID.
Unfortunately, there is no clever way to deduce the Issue ID like their
is with the politician database as they are simply sequentially
assigned numbers. You need to find the Issue ID the
old-fashioned way. Look it up on this website.
Better Government Bureau
http://www.crgnetwork.com/f_bgb_file.asp?rid=5
Replace the value after "rid" with the proper Complaint ID.
Unfortunately (again), there is no clever way to deduce the Complaint ID
as they they are also just
sequentially assigned numbers. You need to locate the Compliant ID
the old-fashioned way. Look it up on this website (it is to the
right of the complaint date).
CRG Network Affiliate Websites http:/www.crgnetwork.com/affiliates/xxx
Replace the "xxx" with the proper affiliate code. Contact each
affiliate to get their private code and permission to link to their website.
CRG Network Calendar
http://www.crgnetwork.com/f_cal_main.asp?date=08/18/2006
Replace the value after "date" with the date you wish to display
events for. The date should be in "mm/dd/yyyy" format.
Other Databases There are other more sophisticated
ways to access and display information in the CRG Network Grassroots Action
Web Portal.
Contact us if you would like to incorporate additional elements in
your website. Limitations If you
link users to a page that requires log-in they must still enter a user
name and password after which they will automatically jump to the
requested page. If they abort the login sequence and return to
your website they may have difficulty in linking to the correct page
with other links to this website from your website. This can only
be rectified by closing the current browser window. You can solve
this problem by opening each link to this website in a new browser
window. |
