Polisci.about.com
Chip Hauss
George Mason University
chauss@gmu.edu

Ever since the mid-1990s, I've been seriously thinking about trying to create a "one stop shop" for political scientists who are a) interested in the Internet and IT but b) by no means experts or even comfortable with the new technologies. Preliminary discussions with one of my publishers suggested that this would be a hard product to sell in the professional world I normally write in where the currency of the realm is still books.

And so the idea sat until I read a piece in the New York Times one day about "expert sites," one of which was About.com (now AboutThe Human Internet). I'd used a few of its sites in preparing the on line material to accompany one of my books, but hadn't really thought about it much. But, the article pointed out that it was one of a kind --and the best --because it hired "guides" who provided links to what they think are the best sites on the web in a given field and write weekly web-based features on a subject of their own choosing.

I immediately fired up my browser and went to the home page and discovered that they were looking for someone to do such a site for political science. I applied and after a rigorous training period (my evaluator was a 22 year old computer science grad which my students thought was cool) was accepted. In short, I now have the site I had been thinking about for years.

So far, http://polisci.about.com has exceeded my wildest expectations. It turns out that About. was the seventh most visited site on the Web in May. That means (and my emails from users already confirms this) that the site can reach far more than just the academic community. Without having reached the search engines effectively or gotten much promotion from About

It is designed to be (or, better, become) the one stop shop I mentioned above where people can turn to find basic information, links to internet resources, and via an email to me, pose questions about political resources from around the world.

It has three main areas of concentration, including material on

-- teaching, research, careers and other aspects of our profession
-- countries and regions
-- issue and policy areas

There are already well over a thousand links to Internet-based resources in over 25 categories that correspond with the main divisions of our field. I also write a weekly feature and newsletter. Some of these have been on current issues like the Million Moms March. I will do an ongoing piece, updated weekly, analyzing the election campaign starting at the time of the conventions. Some of them deal enduring questions I'm interested in such as international conflict resolution. Finally, some will cover things of interest to us or our students, such as what to expect at the APSA or how to apply to grad schools.

In addition, there is a weekly newsletter that covers new stuff I’ve put on the site, interesting material from other About sites, and my “best find” of the week on the Web. By the time this newsletter is out, there will also be a section of working papers where any of us can post works in progress or anything else you want as well as bulletin boards on whatever topics users are interested in.

I am raising the site here because I want it to be as useful as possible to anyone interested in political life. So far, while it covers most of the discipline, its strengths are mine-- comparative politics, international relations, and peace studies.

To truly become the one stop shop I envisioned and to be as useful as possible for you and your students, I need your help. If there are links you would like to see included or issues you would like to see covered, just send me an email (chauss@gmu.edu or polisci.guide@about.com)

Finally, I should point out for those of you who care about these things, that about.com is very definitely a for-profit operation (and for those of you who follow the market, it is actually likely toturn a profit late this year or next). I am paid a portion of the overall advertising revenues for my site. That said, if you have qualms about promoting a for-profit site here, I will be donating everything I get above and beyond my expenses (for now DSL line and digital studio display) to groups working to close the digital divide.

last modified on
01/11/2002