ProPublica's Reporting Network is the non-profit news group's nascent attempt to tap into the eyes and ears of interested amateurs. Or at least interested reporters not on ProPublica's payroll. We're keeping a close eye on the networks first major project, a "spot check" of stimulus-funded construction projects from California to New Jersey, Alaska to Texas. And we're doing that because unlike many citizen/pro-am/unfunded journalism projects, the three-month-young Reporting Network is doing something that otherwise couldn't be done. There's no way ProPublica staff assigned to the project -- which numbers more or less one, in the form of editor Amanda Michel -- could do a real reporter's work on the hundreds of project's in the spot check sample. It's making the impossible possible. Neat, no?

And unlike other citizen journalism experiments, ProPublica is asking its network of reporters to pull together mostly quantifiable details. That opens up the pool of potential participants, since it can take only a few minutes and a some basic research skills to play along.

ProPublica is now out with its first reporting on the on-the-ground progress of Recovery Act construction projects that, pulling from a sample of 520 of the 6,000 or so approved projects, finds that while construction is more or less on track, there's a wide disparity between how far along states are. (The margin of error between that sampling and national patterns, writes Michael, is 4.5 percent.) Cold weather states, for example, are rushing along mightily, while those short-winter states like Florida are being a pit pokier about breaking ground. Read that and other finding's in Michel's report. (Photo credit: Wayne National Forest)

It's an honor just to have been recognized. Naturally, the far more satisfying honor is actually winning the thing, but whatever. We'll take what we can get. [Twitter] Vote/Inauguration Report was named a "notable entry" in the 2009 Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism, amongst such fine company as the Washington Post's TimeSpace feature and the Boston Globe's The Big Picture. Congratulations to all involved.

As of July 10th, more than $64 billion in stimulus spending has rolled out of the federal treasury, and construction projects are taking place across the country. At least we think they are. Under the law, reporting on Recovery.gov won't be fully implemented until October, and even then, we're relying upon federal agencies, states and other local entities to update the federal government on the progress of construction. And even that will happen only once a quarter. ProPublica's Reporting Network has a different idea. They've picked out 520 road and bridge construction projects of the 5,800 or so projects funded by the stimulus, and are asking for help. "We need to figure out only three things about each project," writes Amanda Michel, who heads up citizen journalism for ProPublica. "Whether a project has started, what company has been awarded the contract, and how many jobs have been created or saved by this project so far." The goal is to do a spot check to get a sense of the stimulus' overall impact. "When we’re done," writes Michel, "we’ll have a detailed look at a good sample of transportation projects nationwide." Participants can research projects from afar -- making a few phone calls, confirming what they find with a few web searches, and then reporting back to the Reporting Network. The motivation? Both civic mindedness and a bit of glory. "When we publish a story based on your research," blogs Michel, "you'll get generous credit." (Photo by Michael Kappel under a Creative Commons license)

Public figures are learning that when they say something stupid, ugly or just plain wrong, someone with a video camera may well capture it and make it widely available. We need to organize to ensure that public figures — especially politicians and business leaders — are asked key questions, and not let them off the hook the way the traditional media tend to do.

Political blog readers know that Condi Rice recently lost it.

Asked about her role advancing torture during the Bush administration in a meeting with college students, Rice claimed that no torture occurred in Guantanamo (false); Al Qaeda poses a greater threat than the axis in World War II (dubious); and -- this was big -- the President can make an act legal by authorizing it (official Frost/Nixon alert). Along the way, Rice also berated one college student, chiding him to "do your homework first" and read a report supporting her views -- an exchange that was unbecoming and uncomfortable to watch.

Harpers' Scott Horton already demolished Rice's arguments, so I won't repeat his points here. But this incident also shows the prospects for what we might call a substantive Macaca Moment - using YouTube and citizen media to scrutinize our leaders on the issues, not gaffes.

Don't miss Clay Shirky and Steven Johnson's latest ruminations on the future of journalism and the fate of newspapers; they will clear your head (if it isn't already) about how technology is driving change in this vital arena.

I've been multitasking this morning, catching up on email and glancing at Twitter, and three times I've noticed the power of the live, interactive web as a new factor in my life.

Over at NPR, Andy Carvin is leading a project to extend what we learned from Twitter Vote Report, launched by a humble blog post here on techPresident, to cover the upcoming inauguration weekend, January 17th through 20th, in DC. That's terrific. Central to the thinking behind TVR (of which Andy was a core part) was making the project as open as humanly possible so that it could be repurposed, repackaged, and improved upon. What's particularly exciting to see is that Andy and his co-conspirators, fellow TVP veterans Dave Troy and Andrew Turner, have a plan to achieve something we fell short on in the chaotic scramble of Vote Report: turning local journalists onto the valuable content that was pouring in through the channels we'd set up.

Two current examples of how bloggers are not just commenting on the political news of the day, but actually making it: Al Giordano and Bill Conroy of NarcoNews broke the Sarah Palin tanning bed story, and Eartha Jane Melzer of the Michigan Messenger broke the story of plans by the state GOP to disenfranchise voters whose homes have been foreclosed.