By Adam Gaffin
Universal Hub

Tip O'Neil famously said all politics is local. And nothing is more local than campaign contributions from people in the towns and neighborhoods you cover. The elections may be over, but state and federal campaign-contribution databases can provide a series of interesting stories—who's giving money to whom, and why? Let's take a look at what's in these databases and what to do with it.

In Massachusetts, political finances are overseen by the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF). On its website, www.mass.gov/ocpf, you'll want to link to “Online campaign finance reports,” a searchable database of contributions of more than $50 and expenditures. On Jan. 22, candidates for local and state offices (i.e., city councilors, aldermen, selectmen, state representatives, state senators and statewide office holders such as governor and attorney general) are required to file their annual reports. Most years, these might be fairly boring, but since 2006 was an election year, the next round of reports might have some interesting figures in them.

Doc Searls, writer, editor of the Linux Journal, Berkman Center fellow and all around web guru-type, composed a pretty interesting list of recommendations to newspapers entering the mysterious and ever-changing world of the interweb. He doesn't come from a newspaper background, but most of what he says seems to be close to the mark.

Many of the list items are right in line with what the ACJ is striving for for Boston's neighborhood newspapers, including free archives, live web and linking to other websites.

As the ACJ-built JPGazette.com stands today, it is already RSS capable (meaning people can have headlines delivered right to their feed readers), and thus a "live," web 2.0 savvy website. The Gazette's archives are open to the public and searchable on Google and other search engines, with more improvements for ease of use yet to come. The Gazette's staff also has the option of adding links to outside sources in their articles, just as this article does.

A key new feature of the site is reader’s ability to comment on Gazette stories. After a new "look" is applied to the site by the Gazette art department and ACJ’s tech staff, the comment feature will be promoted heavily.

Features that are still in the works for the include the ability to submit letters to the editor and articles online, giving editor Sandra Storey another way to receive content that doesn't involve converting scads of dated versions of Microsoft Word and other programs into a format she can use.

The events listings are also due for a revamp. The new versions of the JP Agenda and Happenings will give readers more search and browsing options.

Aside from all these benefits to readers, there is the hope that the site will add to the Gazette’s bottom line. We are determined to see that it does. It will take time before the positive results can be measured, but the Gazette’s name is already rising on Google’s search pages in several categories, improving the paper’s brand recognition and reach.

The Gazette is number five in a search for Jamaica Plain real estate and number eight in a search for Jamaica Plain business, and rising.

The ACJ built JPGazette.com at no up front cost to the Gazette, instead, the ACJ shares a portion of web-advertising revenues. If you’re interested in the details of this arrangement for your own paper in the Boston area, feel free to contact us.