A "workaround"
My rant about the deficiencies in The Oregonian's website struck a chord with a number of readers. (I was afraid of comments on my blog before I switched to Movable Type, but now I see that overall, they're a very good thing. Keep 'em coming, all.) From my friend and research guru Rob Truman comes a suggested "workaround" -- i.e., a way to work around some of the headaches that one encounters on that site:
Saw your early morning post-o'-frustration regarding The Oregonian's horrific website and I did, indeed, feel your pain. This might help: try using Google News. Sure, sometimes it is balky, mainly because oregonlive.com changes/deletes/screws up links. More often it works:Google news: http://news.google.com/
Search: (w/o the quotes) "source:oregonian searchterms"For example, try this:
source:oregonian baseball kanter
Using the source: syntax also allows you to limit to the washington post, new york times, etc. For example, if you want a streaming version of the new york times online, search Google News for:
"new york times" source:new_york_times (quotes and underscores required)
If you then click on Sort by date (top right) it seems to pull up the NYT articles as they are posted online.
Thanks for the tip, Rob. I'll file that one for future late night use.
Unfortunately, even the Google trick won't work with the piece I was looking for. It was in Saturday's paper (on the front page of the Metro section, no less), and from what I can tell, that entire day just isn't in the oregonlive.com database.
As a legal researcher, I do have access to The Oregonian on Westlaw, and the story I want is there, all right. But I can't link it for my readers, even with the clever Google trick. Oh, well. It was the Kathryn Bogle obituary. I think I was able to give readers here the gist of it.
| Posted at 10:53 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (2)
Paul Nickell mistakenly posted this as a comment to a different entry on this blog. I'd move it more elegantly if only I knew how. But I don't, so here it is the hard way:
Jack,
Here's another workaround I use regularly to circumvent OregonBarelyAlive.com. If you have a current Multnomah County Library card, the Oregonian (not to mention many other newspapers in Oregon and the rest of the United States) is available at the library system's website (http://www.multcolib.org). Click through to "Electronic Resources" and then "Oregon." (Or skip all these steps by going directly to the database page (http://www.multcolib.org/ref/oregon.html). Then choose "The Oregonian (NewsBank InfoWeb) 1988- " and enter your library card number (all 14 digits). Voila! There will be the Oregonian and all the other newspapers. There's a basic search engine to help you find your article.
I don't know how often it is updated, but judging from the fact that this is Wednesday and the obituary was Saturday, I'd say it must be within 24 to 48 hours -- but I'm only guessing.
It's not elegant, it's not linkable and you DO need a valid library card -- but it sure has saved me more than a few times when I really needed to locate a lost article.
At any rate, here is the text of Kathryn Bogle's obituary:
[Snipped; see below for link. -- J.B.]
Posted by Paul Nickell at August 27, 2003 10:53 AM
Oops. I see I posted this in the wrong place. Still getting the hang of your new "comments" section. Feel free to move it!
Posted by Paul Nickell at August 27, 2003 11:03 AM
UPDATE, 8/28, 11:32 am: The "workaround" via the county library appears not to be available from behind a firewall. --JB
Posted by Jack Bog | August 27, 2003 11:33 AM
Another research guru and buddy of mine, Seneca Gray, was finally able to find a linkable address for the Bogle obit: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/exclude/106172620657160.xml
Thanks, Seneca. It looks like The O finally got the story up on Oregon Live, albeit around four days late.
Posted by Jack Bog | August 28, 2003 12:49 AM