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To call the collection of the Library of Congress exhaustive is understatement of the highest degree. Charged with maintaining and continuing to build on the world’s greatest treasury of recorded (and copyrighted) human knowledge, the Library has a mind-boggling amount of information and data accessible to Congress, the government, and the public at large. ‘Accessible’ is the key word there, since the public at large largely isn’t anywhere near D.C. to drop by the Library for a quick browse.

Fortunately those wishing to have their minds boggled can do it using a web browser, as a great deal of the collections are digitized and placed online. Furthermore much of the materials about American history and culture have been organized into over a hundred American Memory collections, cross-linked and searchable, and all readable and watchable online. Early animation shorts coexist with advertising broadsides and ethnographic study summaries all together in a massive store of primary source information. In addition, lesson plans and other educator resources are also provided to stimulate interesting teaching of America’s unique heritage. It’s all there to see and free to do so.

Humans at large don’t know it, but they’re embroiled in a telepathic war with malevolent alien abductors. Capable of reading and controlling minds from 100 miles away, the aliens can make humans submissive and passive to take them away. At least according to Michael Menkin, who has designed what he (and others) find to be the only solution to the alien telepathy crisis: the thought-screen helmet. On his site he provides step by step instructions for constructing such headgear with common hats and shielding material available from 3M. Again, he doesn’t sell them, he only gives instructions for construction on his site.

Also there he provides further information about the brewing telepathy war, potential weaknesses of the aliens, a possible photo of one, and testimonials for the helmets he has designed. Science fiction literature excerpts that provided the inspiration for the thought screen (at least in name) are also on the site. Such protection, as Menkin describes it, is cheaply assembled but works so well as to be a good if not essential addition to any wardrobe.

In the U.S.’s 2002 Congressional election, the candidate spending the most money won over 75% of the time. That would seem to be a direct correlation between money and political office. Knowing such a thing, finding out where the candidates come up with such funds is of utmost importance to the informed citizen. Or potential contributor. Information about the origins (down to street address and zipcode in many cases) is publicly available, but public availability means nothing without a usable way to sift through the information. Such is one effort of the Center for Responsible Politics.

Founded in 1983, the Center aims to inform the public about its elected officials and their campaign finances. With campaign finance being a hot-button issue, the ability to search the Center’s site for monetary breakdowns of soft and hard money given to individuals, parties and PACs by companies, people and even particular streets is a great feature. Also on the site is a vast array of campaign information, including publications detailing the laws and loopholes and more. It’s not light reading by any stretch, but the site’s too serious not to read.

Hundreds if not thousands of news outlets have some presence on the internet. Some of their information overlaps, but not everything. Without connections and cross-referencing, though, that information remains inaccessable, unlinked and less useful. Bringing news from many sources is easy, though, thanks to CReAte Your Own Newspaper, an independent news aggregator. The free service allows members to pick and choose from a bevy of sources from around the world. It’s no Google News, but the customizability and ease-of-use will win over most any user with a nose for news and a mouse to click.

High production values mean nothing if they’re not in place to back up good content. And good content generally is no worse when presented amateurishly. This latter case applies to The Museum of Unnatural Mystery. A labor of love given to the internet for free by Lee Krystek, whose tenacity for trivia and cryptozoology far surpasses his computer illustration abilities, the Museum boasts a wealth of multimedia content.

The subject matter covers all sort of fringe history, offering detailed looks at the fall of civilization on Easter Island, the lake and Loch monster phenomenon, the destruction of the dinosaurs, and much, much more. The curator/creator’s great at rendering, and the site is filled not only with lots and lots of words (all of which are worth reading and referencing) but also pictures, story illustrations, renderings of a dinosaur exhibit slated for Central Park but destroyed by Boss Tweed, and even short Flash-animated explanations and documentaries.

There is even a section of illustrated childrens’ stories suitable for light reading and subtle education. For grown-ups there’s a list of science links to news and findings updated daily.

Connecting a world’s worth of people should lead to world-wide cooperation, in an ideal world. In the real world, however, the internet doesn’t foster cooperation everywhere everytime, but there are one or two sites it mostly works. Everything (2) is such a site. A giant collaboration created by some geeks in Michigan, better known for their nerdy news site Slashdot, and operated, updated and edited entirely by its userbase, E2 strives to be a comprehensive archive of all the information in the world.

Failing that, they’ll settle for any information members are willing to post. Every topic, called a node, can be added to by any number of users. Some of the nodes are more active than others: being an outgrowth of a geeky site the Matrix nodes are particularly well populated, but others
are often lavished with similar care.

Though the nodes are the site’s focus, E2 also is somewhat unique in its inter-node linking. Commentary and ’see-also’-esque links are added simply by searching from a node, and every link expands a node. Writeup authors can easily link any word in a writeup to its corresponding node simply by typing brackets around it. The site’s underlying software does all of the necessary database and hyperlinking functions, and the result is a massively linked and cross-referenced database of some very good yet free information.

In these days of copyright infringment, intellectual property and ‘fair use’, it seems that ‘fair’ isn’t fair, copyright isn’t always right, and intellectual property debates rarely stay intellectual. There remains, in the face of corporate momentum and legal precedence, a school of thought that ‘information wants to be free’, and it is at the intersection of that mindset and the art world that Illegal Art exists.

Created by the revolutionary ‘zine Stay Free! and currently on a tour to shake up both the realm of art and intellectual property, Illegal Art is a multimedia spectacle showcasing art of all forms that, despite the concept of ‘free speech’ has been (or would likely be) ruled illegal. Hence the name.

Movies, paintings and music pieces abound. Of course much is lost in the translation to web site, but it still retains most of its punch and all of its informative content. On the site can be found details (including mp3s of the songs in question) of several prominent sampling and infringement court cases, as well as an enture album of legally grey or black songs–ironically, many without their creators’ permission. Also to be found on the site are several short unauthorized films which are completely watchable and downloadable. Stories of persecuted
artists, at the hands of Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Mattel, Starbucks, U2 and the Rolling Stones (and many, many more) can be read and downloaded as well as the artworks in question.

Basically it’s a big middle finger stuck right in the face of the copyright and trademark idea. Well worth checking out, and once finished, the site’s links provided offer further adventures into the world of ’sampled’ arts.

Enacted in 1967, the Freedom of Information Act has opened up the vaults of the American government, laying bare every move made in those smoky rooms filled with shadowy figures. Well, not quite. The actual implementation leaves a lot to be desired, but at least they’re trying.

The end product of it is reams upon reams of photocopies, each with still-classified words blacked out and margin scribbling intact. Every agency does it a little differently, but the scribbles and the piles are the same, pretty much. Except that the FBI has material collected on Mickey Mantle, UFOs and Majestic-12, Nelson Rockefeller, John Wayne, the Rosenbergs, and many many more famous events and people. Much of it is in bad condition, and no great revelations are obvious, but the idea (if not the execution) is intriguing if not downright interesting. One major feature not found on the site is an easy request facility for finding less famous (or infamous) information. But, they’re trying, at least.

A long standing institution in the midwest (well, Madison, Wisconsin at first), the print ‘newspaper’ The Onion is a satiric and sometimes outrageously absurd skewing of the news. Some stories mirror current events, yet others reflect the staff’s (and audience’s) dryer sensibilities when it comes to humor.

In addition to fake news, The Onion also produces some real journalism in the form of The Onion A.V. Club, providing weekly reviews of books, movies and music in addition to hard-hitting artist interviews and general entertainment information.

The American news media is laregly becoming an outgrowth of the entertainment business, seeking to entertain viewers and readers rather than inform them. The audience is hand-held into proper displays of grief, shock, outrage and sympathy, without all the nasty self-determination that would normally inform such emotions and reactions. Once emotion and human interest stories completely take over (such as those horrid Hollywood ‘newsmagazines’) no objective news sources will be left.

Unless the Information Clearing House has its way. Admittedly slightly biased (but against the media more than anything else), ICH seeks to publish “the news you won’t find on CNN”. The site’s main focus is the US foreign policy, but stories often cover areas as well. Columns and editorial commentary are also provided on many of the issues.

As if this one site were not enough, ICH also links to other alternative news sources for cross-referencing and further exploration of news that really matters.