Once in a while, members of our news staff want to do an article about a specific kind of person, but don’t know how to find the most important element: the people. For instance, last Sunday Peter Cox did story on people who are being mobilized for war against Iraq, or who are affected by it. We could only include the ones we’d heard about, and we surely missed some. Similarly, in the past, we’ve wanted to find people who got married after meeting on the Internet, or had relatives in New York or Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, for instance. It is not always easy to find people who fit the description, especially on short notice.

If only there were a simpler way to find some local people who fit the bill …

And sometimes, we find it appropriate to get a sampling of public opinion about a news happening. Whether it’s the country’s path toward war, the Farmland fire, the courthouse controversy, an election result or another issue people are passionate about, letting average residents express their opinion makes for good and well-read stories.

If only there were an easy way to find a large volume of average people to ask, so we could take the best or most representative responses …

Hmm ….

At the risk of sounding like an infomercial: Now there is a way to do all that and more!

We at the Tribune never saw a good idea we couldn’t steal. After reading about a similar system used by the San Francisco Chronicle and at least one other paper, we decided to create an e-mail database of people who live in our readership area, allowing us to quickly fire off questions to a broad group of residents and see what responses we get.

It’s apparently worked well in San Francisco, where they have more than 1,300 e-mail addresses in their database. When they want to get &uot;man on the street&uot; opinions in a hurry, they send out questions to a targeted group and then forward responses to reporters.

We figured there’s no reason we can’t do the same thing here. We’re calling our system &uot;TribLink.&uot; When it’s ready, public reaction and help with story ideas will be no more than a quick e-mail message away.

The advantages abound. If we want to do a feature story on people who collect Civil War relics, but don’t know of any ourselves, we can send an e-mail out to the TribLink list members asking for their help locating someone. Chances are, somebody knows somebody who fits the description we’re looking for.

We can measure people’s opinions about the newspaper by sending out research questions. We can offer promotions and keep people up to date on changes to the paper. And the flow of information can go both ways; we can take feedback and suggestions from TribLink members.

I look at this as an excellent way for people to be more involved with the newspaper. Besides the possibility of having their opinions used in articles, it provides the chance for people to really take ownership in the paper. Members’ input could be used to shape future decisions or make our news stories better.

Technology is what makes this all possible. It allows us to write one e-mail message and send it out to potentially hundreds of people. The biggest drawback of using technology, though, is that people who don’t have access to that technology can’t participate. However, even those who don’t have computers can get access to the Internet at the public library, and free e-mail is available on several Web sites like Yahoo! and Hotmail.

This system will never be a substitute for good old human contact when it comes to writing news stories or making contacts in the community. We’ll make sure not to rely on TribLink exclusively for these types of things. But the system can be an awfully nice supplement, especially if our staff is stumped or under deadline pressure.

For TribLink to work, we need people to sign up. There’s no cost, and if you get sick of getting our messages, you can cancel at any point. You don’t have to be a Tribune subscriber, but you do have to live in our readership area in and around Freeborn County. All you have to do to sign up is send an e-mail with the word &uot;Subscribe&uot; in the subject line to triblink@albertleatribune.com. You’ll need to include your name, age, phone number, address and occupation.

This can be an exciting and useful tool for the Tribune, and if it works it can be a great way for the community to be involved in the newspaper.

Dylan Belden is the Tribune’s managing editor. His column appears Sundays. E-mail him at dylan.belden@albertleatribune.com.