Short screen tours of each data surface — built from real public records, start to finish. Each pairs a screen recording with a written companion you can follow at your own pace.
01 — Federal officials · live
Profiling a member of Congress
Using Senator Angus King (I-ME) — an Independent on the Armed Services, Energy, and Veterans' Affairs committees — to tour every part of a member's page. Chosen as a neutral example; DataDawn presents the records, it doesn't interpret them.
1
From the homepage, type a name into the Members of Congress search — e.g. "King" — and pick the result. You land on a clean, citation-quality URL: datadawn.org/member/K000383.
2
The Overview opens first: a stat grid (votes, bills, speeches, trades, donations received, earmarks) plus the member's committee assignments inline.
3
Votes lists every roll call with the member's position; click a date to open the official roll-call source, or a bill ID to see the legislation.
4
Stock trades shows House/Senate disclosure filings — ticker, type, amount range, and a link to the source filing. A total line sits above the table.
5
Donations breaks down receipts by PAC/committee and by donor employer, sourced from FEC filings.
6
Speeches, Legislation (with the clients that lobbied on each bill), and Earmarks round out the page — every table footed with the raw query so you can verify or extend it.
Narrated screen tour — turn sound on. Every figure links back to its public-records source.
02 — Nonprofits · live
Profiling a nonprofit
Using The Nature Conservancy (EIN 530242652) — a large land-conservation charity — to tour every part of a nonprofit's page. Chosen as a neutral example; DataDawn presents the records, it doesn't interpret them.
1
From the homepage, type a name into the Organizations finder — e.g. "nature conservancy" — and pick the result. You land on a clean URL: datadawn.org/org/ein/530242652.
2
The Overview opens first: org identity (EIN, NTEE classification, address) and its Form 990 footprint at a glance; the tabs — Financials, Lobbying, Regulatory, Federal awards, People — carry the detail.
3
Financials (990) shows the org's IRS Form 990 history — revenue, expenses, assets, mission summary — with each year linked to the source XML.
4
Lobbying lists every disclosed lobbying filing — registrants, issues, quarter, amount spent — sourced from the LDA Senate database.
5
Regulatory surfaces the federal rules it's weighed in on — each row links to the rule's own page on DataDawn, and to the comment as filed on regulations.gov.
6
Federal awards draws from USAspending — and for a charity like this one, there's nothing to show: it isn't a federal contractor, and the page says so honestly rather than a misleading zero.
7
People lists officers and key employees pulled from the 990 filings.
Narrated screen tour — turn sound on. Every figure links back to its public-records source.
03 — Public companies · live
Researching a public company
Using Microsoft Corp (CIK 789019) — a large public technology company — to tour every part of a company's page. Chosen as a neutral example; DataDawn presents the records, it doesn't interpret them.
1
From the homepage, type a name into the Organizations finder — e.g. "microsoft" — and pick the result. You land on datadawn.org/org/cik/789019 (SEC central index key).
2
The Overview opens first: company identity (CIK, ticker, classification) plus a footprint grid — Lobbying, Regulatory, Federal awards, People — clickable to dive in.
3
Congressional trades shows every disclosed stock transaction in the company by members of Congress — ticker, type, amount range — each linked to the member who made it.
4
Lobbying lists every disclosed lobbying filing on the company's behalf — registrants, issues, amounts.
5
Regulatory surfaces the federal rules it's commented on — each row links to the rule's own page on DataDawn, and to the comment as filed on regulations.gov.
6
Federal awards shows USAspending records — federal contracts and grants the company has received.
7
People lists executives and connected officials surfaced through SEC and other filings.
Narrated screen tour — turn sound on. Every figure links back to its public-records source.
04 — Regulations · live
Tracking a regulation's lifecycle
Using the CFPB's Payday, Vehicle Title & High-Cost Installment Loans rulemaking (docket CFPB-2016-0025) — a clean proposal → comment → final-rule arc with 105,129 public comments — to follow a federal regulation from proposal to adoption. Chosen as a data-rich, illustrative example; DataDawn presents the records, it doesn't interpret them.
1
From the homepage, search the Regulations & dockets surface by topic — e.g. "payday" — and pick the docket. You land on a clean, citation-quality URL: datadawn.org/docket/CFPB-2016-0025.
2
The Overview opens with the rulemaking's lifecycle: proposed (2016-07-22) → public-comment window (through 2016-10-08) → final rule (2017-11-17) — 483 days end to end — plus stat tiles (105,129 comments, documents, proposed/final-rule counts, activity score).
3
Public comments breaks down who weighed in — total, unique submitters, organizations vs individuals — with notable substantive comments linked to regulations.gov. Where the agency didn't classify submitters, the page says so rather than guessing.
4
Documents & rules lists the Federal Register documents — the proposed rule and the final rule — each linked to its official FR page, above the full document timeline.
5
From any docket, jump to the agency's whole footprint at datadawn.org/agency/CFPB — its most active dockets, Federal Register output, OIRA meetings, and what's open for comment now.
Narrated screen tour — turn sound on. Every figure links back to its public-records source.
05 — Overview · live
How it all connects
A narrated tour that ties the surfaces together: following Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), an OSHA workplace heat-injury rule, and two of its commenters — UPS and the American Medical Association — to show how a member of Congress, a federal regulation, and the organizations that weigh in all link to one another. DataDawn presents the records; it doesn't interpret them.
1
Start with a member of Congress — Rep. Gwen Moore — at datadawn.org/member/M001160: her votes, committees, contributions, and the bills she's sponsored.
2
From a sponsored bill, follow DataDawn into the regulatory record and search the rulemaking space — landing on an OSHA proposed rule, Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings.
3
The docket's Public comments show who weighed in — 591 organizations on the record, from community groups to major companies and national associations.
4
Open a company commenter — UPS — for its full profile: lobbying, the members of Congress who've traded its stock, its officers, and its own filing on this very rule.
5
Open a nonprofit commenter — the American Medical Association — for its 990 financials, lobbying, and regulatory record. From a name in a comment to a full profile — every figure traceable to its source.