In a Q&A over at Poynter I discuss some of what we've done so far with our citizen journalism effort -- the ProPublica Reporting Network -- our overall strategy, lessons learned, membership demographics, next steps, and more. Instead of rewriting the Poynter piece I'll just excerpt a section that's most relevant to the work we're doing now.

Question from Poynter: Your focus right now is the massive federal stimulus package. Tell me how you are using your citizen journalists to report on the stimulus.

Amanda: We started off simply with a project called "Adopt a Stimulus Project." We're coordinating this project with public radio station WNYC and "The Takeaway," its morning news show. Sure, it sounds "warm and cuddly" -- as Sunlight Foundation Executive Director Ellen Miller jokingly tweeted -- but that's really not the case. We are asking people to monitor a local bridge or road reconstruction effort funded by the stimulus. Volunteers file on-the-scene reports. They're charged with identifying subcontractors and helping us perform background checks on companies receiving stimulus contracts. This is slow going, as many construction projects have not yet started.

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Today's roundup of stimulus coverage:

Remember when Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal mocked the stimulus package by saying it included a levitation train from Las Vegas to Disneyland? The Democrats were quick to rebut Republican criticism. But it looks like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., might get a train line after all. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced late Thursday that Las Vegas is now included in the California high-speed rail corridor (PDF), making the Sin City train a strong contender for stimulus funding. After the stimulus passed, Republicans accused Reid of trying to steer money to his home state when, during final closed-door negotiations, funding for high-speed rail jumped from $2.25 billion to $8 billion. It still remains unclear if the Las Vegas train will benefit from stimulus funding. Reid dismissed the magnetic levitation concept Thursday and backed the privately funded DesertXpress project, whose officials say they have "no interest in tapping the stimulus money." The deadline for initial applications for high-speed rail funding from the stimulus is Friday.

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Calling the Department of Transportation is far less painful than managing a breakup over the phone, I can assure you of that. Or, at least, it should be.

I asked two of our members who are pros for their advice on getting answers from the DOT. Rhiannon Bowman, a freelance journalist in Charlotte, N.C., and Trent Larson, an IT director in West Bountiful, Utah, don't settle for "no" or "I don't know." Here are their suggestions.

* Be kind, not demanding. Definitely don’t begin by stamping your feet. Most public servants are happy to help. (Rhianna)

* Remember people’s names and then use them. (“Hi, John.” “Thank you, John.”) (Rhianna)

* Be prepared: Before you call, make sure the answer isn’t already available on the department Web site. (Rhianna)

* Prepare your questions with any relevant numbers and data on hand. (Trent)

* It helped me to be on a computer where I could look up things, so when they say, "Go to the Web site and click XYZ," I could see it and probe some more (or ask them to repeat it many times). (Trent)

* I wrote down notes as we talked. (Trent)

* Don’t assume the person you are speaking with has the answers you seek. Ask, “John, can you help me with this, or can you direct me to someone who can?” (Rhianna) I filled out an online form for information, and they got back to me about a week later with some good information about contractors, etc.  It helps to try multiple avenues. (Trent)

* Be thankful. Remember, the person on the other end of the line was busy working on something else when they answered your call. Be patient and give them a minute to catch up. (Rhianna)

* And, of course, in the South, we begin and end most conversations with niceties: “How are you today?” “What are you and your family doing this weekend?” (Rhianna)

* There is a chance you and your DOT contact person will chat quite a bit over the next many months, so take time to develop a friendly, professional relationship with them. (Rhianna)

Got more? E-mail me and I'll add them to the list.

The map below shows you where the 1,200 citizen journalists of the ProPublica Reporting Network live. As you can see, our members are geographically dispersed throughout almost all 50 states. Two organizations working with ProPublica to track the stimulus, the Takeaway and WNYC, are here in New York, which is one reason why the city's five boroughs are so well represented.

But a map can only do so much. Over the next two months we will roll out new tools -- including a social networking platform that will make it easy for members to meet others in their cities and states and to organize around shared interests. I'm also open to using tools developed by other organizations, such as the Sunlight Foundation's Transparency Corps.

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