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NARA engages Wiki-transcribers
The National Archives asking volunteer transcribers at Wikisource to turn paper and ink historical manuscripts into simple, searchable Web text.
- National Archives' first Wikipedian in residence to bring more holdings to the public, by Joseph Marks, NextGov (07/11/2011).
A major barrier, McDevitt-Parks said, is the quality of the Archives' digitized files, the most important of which were scanned in the 1990s using early technology that makes them difficult to read online. ...Unfortunately, it's hard to [make the case to] go back and scan things that are already scanned when there are millions and millions of things that aren't in any digitized form at all.I think there is an important lesson here. As we develop policies for our individual libraries today and plans for the FDLP of the future, we should always remember that digitization technologies improve over time and the uses we make of digital documents evolve over time. We should avoid choices that are merely good-enough today. We should aim for a future that will enable us to increase access and functionality in the future, not lock us into what we are technologically capable of today. Continue reading
A frustrated scholar warns of trusting Google
We've written here before about Google cancelling its newspaper digitization project. Here is a new story with some details about how Google took the most extensive searchable archive of Mexican historical newspapers in the world (The "Paper of Record" archive) and abandoned it.
- How Google Disrespected Mexican History, By Richard J. Salvucci, Miller-McCune (July 10, 2011). So you want Google (or perhaps any commercial enterprise) to digitize your books and papers and make them available to everyone for all eternity? Profits and losses come and go, but history is forever and not necessarily responsive to market incentives. Be careful what you wish for. Google may give it to you, or, then again, maybe not.
Census cuts could end some surveys
Census cuts could end some surveys, By Carol Morello, Washington Post (July 12, 2011).
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...The agency, which is closing half its regional offices to save money, has warned that cuts [of 25 percent, as proposed under a bill being considered by the House Appropriations Committee] would likely mean an end to next year's Economic Survey, which is conducted every five years and is used to calculate the nation's Gross Domestic Product, among other things. There also could be deep cuts in the American Community Survey...
The Library of Congress: A C-SPAN Original Documentary
From C-SPAN: The Library of Congress A C-SPAN Original Documentary Premieres Mon., July 18, 8 & 11 pm ET on C-SPAN Join us this Monday evening on C-SPAN for the premiere of our latest original documentary, The Library of Congress. Founded in 1800 and sitting adjacent to the U.S. Capitol in the heart of America's capital city, the Library of Congress has collected nearly 150 million items, making it the world's largest library. This documentary explores the Library's 211-year history and the scope of its collection. Go behind the scenes and:
- Learn the history of the institution as you tour the Library's iconic Jefferson Building.
- See the treasures found in its collections of rare books, photos, and maps, as well as the thousands of pages of presidential and personal papers.
- Learn how the library uses technolgy to preserve its holdings and expand public access to them.
President’s Twitter Town Hall
Good coverage of the Twitter Town Hall:
- Plenty of 140-character questions, few new answers in Obama's Twitter town hall, by Joseph Marks, NextGov (07/06/2011). ...fewer than two-dozen questions asked during the 75-minute town hall included one question by [the Speaker of the House] and [one from a] New York Times columnist. ...White House staff posted several Tweets to summarize a single answer, sometimes leading to strange non sequiturs...
- The 'Twitter Town Hall' that so really wasn't, by Megan Crepeau, Chicago Tribune (July 7, 2011) Obama's event wasn't really Twitter, and what's more, it wasn't really a town hall.
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