Public relations is a persuasive communications tool which employs the other mass media to change people's opinions and motivate them to action. While much of the work of public relations is accomplished behind the scenes, the results are often seen in other media such as advertisements placed to respond to a particular issue. Like the other media, public relations professionals and firms have taken advantage of the World Wide Web to build sites which make doing their jobs easier. While they often use the same tools journalists use, it is illuminating how practitioners view their role in the mass media, and who is their audience.

The Canadian Public Relations Society
www.cprs.ca/
The organization for public relations professionals. The organization also offers a list of consultants which may be helpful in locating agencies. CPRS offers a student membership category. CPRS also has a code of professional standards:
www.cprs.ca/cprscode.html

International Association of Business Communicators, Toronto Chapter.
www.iabctoronto.com/
Professional organization which has student membership and offers help with jobs.

Statistics Canada
http://www.statcan.ca/start.html
Offers demographic information about all aspects of Canadian society.

Canadian Census
http://www.statcan.ca/english/census96/list.htm
Latest census statistics available.

Public Relations Student Society of America
http://www.prssa.org/
The Public Relations Student Society of America has links to its local chapters, student firm manual, and a job web to get a head start on your career

PRNewswire stories about business
http://www.prnewswire.com/
Aimed at media, professionals, and investors, this slick site shows how the Internet and public relations can go hand in hand delivering news from firms all over the world.

Web Marketing Today
http://www.wilsonweb.com/webmarket/
This site is packed with articles and information links about marketing on the Internet. If you are looking to build a web presence, they will help you with that, too.

PR Central -- on-line intelligence for communicators
http://www.prcentral.com/
Inside PRs web site finds news and analysis as well as web links and classified ads. You can also perform a keyword search of their site.

Public Relations Society of America
http://www.prsa.com
No-nonsense site links to both professional and student arms. In addition to providing information, it also allows feedback on its strategic plan.

International Association of Business Communicators
http://www.iabc.com//homepage.htm
IABC represents all aspects of businesses communicating with its internal and external publics.

Press Release Primer
http://www.webpr.com/primer.htm
I know many newspaper copy editors who would like to print this out and send it to everyone who has ever sent them a press release. This great primer contains the basics for making sure your press release is professional and printable.

American Communication Association
http://www.americancomm.org/
The American Communication Association (ACA) is a not-for-profit organization, created to enhance and promote the academic and professional study, research, knowledge, criticism, teaching, exchange, and application of the basic principles of human communication.

International Association of Business Communicators
http://www.iabc.com/messages/index.htm
IABC represents all aspects of public relations and marketing. Pros turn to these pages for job links.

Dictionary of Occupational Titles
http://www.wave.net/upg/immigration/dot_index.html
Alphabetic listing of common job titles and credentials. In what trade or profession do you find a "Jawbone Breaker?"

Logos
http://www.logos.it/
Non solo parole? You can search for words and phrases from around the world at this source.

Popspeak
http://www.blender.com/
Mix it up in the blender to find the meaning of sayings from popular culture.

Town Hall
http://www.townhall.com/
Enter the Convention Hall of this site, which is sponsored by a consortium of Conservative organizations, by clicking on the button for discussions. To gain access, you will be instructed how to register and gain clearance from the Forum Master.

U.S. News On-line Forum
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/forum.htm
Of special note is the Body Politic, a forum co-hosted along with the Atlantic Monthly that features political stories. Also available are discussions of national news, world news, and business & technology. This site requires registration.

Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://stats.bls.gov/datahome.htm
Use this source to find socioeconomic data.

The National Election Studies Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behaviour
http://www.umich.edu/~nes/nesguide/nesguide.htm
The NES creates demographic profiles of the American electorate. Tables track the demographic facts that voters have identified about themselves since 1952.

National Survey of Families and Households
http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/nsfh/home.htm
Go to the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin to access results from this study of family arrangements, patterns of communication and family psychological well-being. After reading the page, you may download the study and its results.

PerceptNet
http://www.perceptnet.com/
PerceptNet is a company that helps religious organizations target their ministries by assessing religious preferences, attitudes and behaviour. They also provide some of their data on-line that you can use to analyze the religious attitudes of an audience. Check out their Ethos City Map at http://www.perceptnet.com/ethoscity.htm/ to find profiles of religious attitudes in major American metropolitan areas. You can also check out some of the findings made public from their National Ethos Survey at http://www.perceptnet.com/natlethos.htm/.

World-Wide Web Virtual Library Demography and Population Studies
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/ResFacilities/DemographyPage.html
This is a mammoth list of links to places around the globe on various facets of demography. It is maintained by the Australian National University.

University of Virginia Social Sciences Dab Center County and City Data
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/ccdb/
This is a handy interactive page for finding demographic data for many cities in the country. The County and City Books are based principally on U.S. Census data.