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List of government services moving to The Cloud
Agencies identify 78 services for cloud transition, By Joseph Marks, NextGov (05/26/2011).
Federal agencies have identified 78 computer systems they plan to migrate to the cloud within a year, according to the Office of Management and Budget. ...Computer clouds essentially are large banks of computer servers that can operate much closer to full capacity than standard servers by rapidly repacking data as one customer surges in usage and another one dips. Data storage in the cloud is operated like electricity grids or other utilities, with customers paying only for what they use. A handful of low-risk government services, such as websites that don't take in sensitive public information, are already in privately owned cloud space.Agencies Have Identified 78 Systems Migrating to the Cloud Within One Year (10 page PDF listing and describing services by agency). Continue reading
Preserving History at the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Preserving History at the U.S. National Library of Medicine, by Kristi Davenport, Peter Gabriele, Stephen Greenberg, Holly Herro, Christie Moffatt, Paul Theerman, and Jeffrey S. Reznick, History News Network (May 23, 2011).
In this landmark year for the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM)--its 175th anniversary--its staff have been facing down nature through a project that looks to the next 175 years and beyond. Engaging in the emerging field of forensic conservation--a cross-over application of forensic science and state-of-the-art analytical technologies--staff are seeking to protect and save for future generations one of the most important historical documents of the twentieth century: the first summary of the genetic code, created by the American biochemist and 1968 Nobel Laureate, Dr. Marshall Nirenberg (1927-2010), whose papers the Library makes publicly available through Profiles in Science, the NLM's premier digital manuscript project that celebrates twentieth-century leaders in biomedical research and public health. Written in multiple blue-ballpoint pen inks on several sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" paper taped together with pressure-sensitive tape, the Nirenberg genetic code chart records the author's deciphering of the genetic code contained in DNA.Continue reading
Pinboard report on link rot
A new report on link rot on the blog of the social bookmarking service Pinboard:
- Remembrance of Links Past, by Maciej Ceglowski, Pinboard Blog (May 26, 2011).
Geospatial Data Preservation Resource Center
Geospatial Data Preservation Resource Center
A new Web site, the Geospatial Data Preservation Resource Center, aims to help those responsible for producing and managing geospatial data learn about the latest approaches and tools available to facilitate long-term geospatial data preservation and access. The Web site provides descriptions and links for a variety of relevant resources, including education and training modules, useful tools and software, information on policies and standards for preserving geospatial data, and examples of successful preservation and associated benefits. This first release of the Web site, which CIESIN will be enhancing over the next year, was developed as an element of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) of the Library of Congress. The Geospatial Data Preservation Resource Center is accessible at http://geopreservation.org/ CIESIN, the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, is a unit of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, based at the Lamont campus in Palisades, New York.Continue reading
Eleven Words in Pentagon Papers to Remain Classified
Eleven Words in Pentagon Papers to Remain Classified, by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News (May 26th, 2011).
The Pentagon Papers that were leaked by Daniel Ellsberg four decades ago have been formally declassified and will be released in their entirety next month -- except for eleven words that remain classified. David S. Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States, announced the surprising exception to the upcoming release of the Papers at a meeting of the Public Interest Declassification Board on May 26.The Real Pentagon Papers, by A. J. Daverede, National Declassification Center blog (May 26, 2011)
The conditions under which the copies of the Report [leaked by Daniel Ellsberg] were made and distributed, coupled with the speed with which the copies were distributed and the urgency to publish the material, meant that the newspaper and magazine releases of the Papers covered only a very small portion of the 7,000 page Report. The copies of the Report that were leaked to Congress ultimately had better luck in publication. Ultimately, Senator Mike Gravel (D, Alaska) made available his copy of the Report to the publishing house of Beacon Press, located in Boston. The Beacon Press editions, published in 1971 in both hard and soft cover versions, were the definitive account of the Report until now. However, Beacon Press had its own copy problems that led to words, paragraphs, and even full pages of the Report being deleted, possibly due to the quality problems in the copy received from Senator Gravel. ...NARA's June release of the Report of the OSD Vietnam Task Force will present the American public with the first real look at this historic document. It is true that 11 words are redacted from one page of a 7,000 page report. However, this is very much a complete release of the Report.Continue reading
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