A Web site critiquing and rating health news from 50 mainstream media outlets to help readers understand what they are reading while also encouraging the media to be more accurate and complete with its coverage. Launched by a professor and health journalist, this site rates stories on a five-star scale based on accuracy, balance and completeness.

A comprehensive aggregator of international blogs and news indexed by country and topic, run by a core of 15 international, multilingual bloggers who select, explain and translate important conversations and citizen reporting in regions outside of North America and Western Europe. Another 80 contributing bloggers post daily features on what is important to bloggers in their countries. Since its launch last year, the site has formally partnered with Reuters.com.

A bold initiative by the Spokane Spokesman-Review to lift the veil on the newsgathering and publishing process by Webcasting daily news meetings, offering editor blogs to explain news of the day, and online chats where readers can criticize news coverage or pose questions. The newspaper’s Web site also posts raw documents, such as interview transcripts and handwritten reporter notes on major stories.

A risk-estimator Web site that tracks Atlantic Ocean tropical storm and hurricane activity, and helps users assess at-risk buildings and report actual damage. The database was created from public records of 8 million properties in the state. Visitors can chart a storm's path, make damage predictions and view 155 years' worth of hurricane paths and damage on an interactive map.

This database scrapes several other sources of information to enable users to search every recorded House and Senate vote since January 1991 by a variety of descriptors. Users can search by year, legislator, state or party, and can see who missed the most votes. "Key votes" are identified and simple descriptions are given. An interactive map displays this year's congressional and gubernatorial races. The map provides candidate profiles, background information, district demographics and links to campaign finance records.

The Bakersfield Californian has created and launched Bakomatic, a participatory media platform that takes Myspace.com concepts and applies them locally. The platform gives people an avenue for self-expression and networking by allowing them to create profiles, keep a Friends list and submit stories, photos and events for publication. Available on the flagship news site, Bakersfield.com; citizen media sites The Northwest Voice, The Southwest Voice and the Tehachapi News; Spanglish site Mas; area newcomer site NewtoBakersfield.com; and music, marketing and young people site Bakotopia.com.

This community news Web site aggregates the best work of more than 35 local community news organizations covering a wide array of cultures and communities in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Independent citizen journalists also write articles for the site, which is updated daily. The effort fills a gap in mainstream reporting, gives voices to community members, allows local media to share stories and resources and encourages citizen journalism.