About

Tour the US onAir Network

About Aircasting

Basics

US residents can experience the US onAir network of online governance and elections Hubs in a similar way on both desktop or laptop displays (minimum display resolution of 1200 pixels) and on phones.

US onAir takes advantage of big screen displays to provide additional features such as slide shows and interactive maps. If possible, it is best to experience US onAir on big screen displays.

Viewing slide shows

1. Select the post’s thumbnail image to view the posts then
2. Select the Top News item you are interested in to view content in the display area to the left.
3. To view all the post’s content, select anywhere on the feature image or select the post’s title.
4. Select the Discuss button to go to the post’s forum. Only Hub members can add comments.
5. Select the Supporter field, to learn more about the organization and how they are supporting US OnAir.
6. Select the Share button to share a post with another network

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Using a table of contents

For most laptop and desktop computer displays, the right hand column of most posts has a persistent Table of Contents. 

1. Select the heading you are interested in to go directly there
2. Select the first heading to return to the top of the post
3. Select the  “X”  to hide the Table of Contents and the “<”  to display 

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Browsing posts

Hub posts are organized in categories and subcategories.

1. Select category interested in – Top Posts display curator selected best posts in category
2. If there are subcategories (arrow to the far right), select the category to see the next level of categories

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Finding & going to a state Hub

1. a) Select the US Representatives drop down; b) Select Go to your State Hub; c) Select the state you want to go to; d) Select the link to state Hub  OR
2. You can go directly to a state Hub by typing a state’s two letter abbreviation into the URL field  OR
3. a) Select US Representatives drop down; b) Select region, then state; c) Select the first post in the slide show

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Non- curated state Hubs

Currently, all 50 state state Hubs with the exception of Virginia are not curated. Over the coming months, our US onAir coalition partners and students from our onAir university chapters will begin curating state Hubs. Curated state Hubs have Top News updates, moderated forums, curators who monitor and respond to feedback, online interviews, and online events. All state non-curated Hubs have:

1. A post on registering and voting and other information related to elections
2. A summary post on all of a state’s key congressional and state representatives
3. Posts on the Governor and two US Senators
4. Posts on current US House representatives

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Curated state Hubs

Virginia onAir is our first curated state Hub. Over the coming months, our US onAir coalition partners and students from our onAir university chapters will begin curating other state Hubs. Curated state Hubs have Top News updates, moderated forums, curators who monitor and respond to feedback, online interviews, and online events.

1. Curated Hubs have posts on elections under Voting in November
2.  Under VA Representatives, you will find state, city, and county representatives and
3. issue posts under Governing Today

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Phone user experience

Hub content is displayed on smart phones as widgets with tabs and drop down browsing. The interactive maps are currently not available on phones. Search works in the same way on a phone as it does on a laptop or desktop screen.

1. Top News items are viewed in the same way as on bigger screens.
2. To view more information in a post, select the tab icon. Tabs function like the table of contents in a big screen display.
3. To find posts in categories, select the category for the post you are interested in viewing.

Maps

Using country maps

1. Under the Voting in November drop down, select Election Maps then select 2020 Senate Races or 2020 Governor Races
2. All the Senator and Governor races are displayed by default. Viewers can filter the races by selecting the buttons at the lower right
3. Select the state buttons to display the appropriate election post.

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4.   Similarly, you can also view maps on the current US Congress and Governors. By late fall, these maps will have links to the representatives politician post.

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Using state maps

State maps are similar to US maps.

1. To find US House races this year in Virginia, select Voting in November > Elections Maps > US House Elections.  Then select the race you want to learn more about.

Link to above example        2.      To find current Virginia US House representatives, select VA Representatives > Member Maps > US House Members.  

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Learn

Who represents me?

1. Go to your state Hub
2. Select the Governing Today drop down and then select Who represents Me?
3. Enter your street address including city and state (zip code not required) and then select the search icon
4. Select the representative you want to learn more about

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Comparing candidate positions

The above graphics shows the kinds of content available for election posts.

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Learning about a politician

The posts on politicians aggregate information from a variety of sources.

The About and Issues sections primarily sourced from campaign and/or government websites

Politics sections aggregate content from multiple sources including: Follow the Money, Federal and state government websites, Wikipedia, Vote Smart, BillTrack50, and Govtrack Us.

Politician Twitter feeds are displayed in each post.

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Learning about issues

After the November 3rd elections, curated state Hubs will focus on governance and issues important for a state residents and what their representatives and candidates are saying and doing about these issues.

1. Under Governing Today, select the issue category you are interested in. In each top level category, there are Top Posts ordered by the post’s curator based on the most relevant .

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Discuss

Interfacing with curators

When selecting the Discuss button (assuming it’s not greyed out which means there is no post curator), you will go to the Feedback and Forum sections.

Above is the text you will see when you go to the Feedback section.

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Participating in post forums

If Hub would like to add a forum topic, send an email request to the post’s curator. Go to forum topic you want to comment on.

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Participating in online events

US onAir curators will be coordinating a variety of online events, recording the event, and inserting the video into one or more relevant posts.

1. Sign up to participate as an audience member in a town hall, debate, or forum (max. 250 participants)
2. You will receive a link to the event from the event coordinator
3. Audience members can ask questions directly when prompted or typing your comment in the chat field

Engage

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