WWU Unveils 'Query,' a New Tool to Help Journalists Find Expert Local Sources
Contact: John Thompson, Western Washington University Office of University Communications at (360) 650-3350 or john.thompson@wwu.edu.
BELLINGHAM – Western Washington University has unveiled “Query”, a new online tool designed to allow local journalists to find expert sources for their stories among WWU’s faculty.
Query is an easy-to-use online database of more than 400 of Western’s faculty, and it allows users to search by name, academic department, or research area. Query’s web address is http://www.onlinefast.org/query/.
How likely is Mount Baker to erupt? Do Teen Courts really work? How does military service affect families? What causes our local “red tides?” How is global climate change affecting the Pacific Northwest? How does sugar addiction work? What kinds of dinosaurs stalked the Pacific Northwest 50 million years ago? How will the next generation of Washington’s teachers improve K-12 education? How do electric vehicles work? WWU’s researchers are working on questions like these – and hundreds more like them, and Query allows journalists to quickly and easily find and contact these faculty members.
“WWU’s faculty are working on countless projects that have real, immediate, and lasting impact on the lives of people in the Pacific Northwest,” said John Thompson of WWU’s Office of University Communications and the developer of Query. “And what we hope is that this tool will just make it easier for journalists to tap into that reservoir of expertise when they are developing their stories.”
Query was built using existing resources and with a free, open-source software platform called Drupal. Along with Gaia, a previous web project that highlights faculty research in the life, earth and marine sciences (http://www.onlinefast.org/gaia/), Query is just one more effort to shed light on the research being done by Western’s faculty.
For more information on Query, contact John Thompson at (360) 650-3350 or at john.thompson@wwu.edu.