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Health IT Blog
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched Health IT Buzz, a new blog for the discussion of Information Technology (IT) issues, particularly electronic health records. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said on the initial posting:
With this new venture, we hope to create a forum for engagement. We plan to report on progress, and create an open dialogue among members of the health IT community. We intend to address a wide and diverse range of timely topics relevant to the “why’s and how’s” of efforts to support the secure and seamless exchange of electronic health information. We will discuss our ongoing work to protect patient privacy, secure information, and implement standards. We’ll also be using the blog to provide additional information regarding our new grant programs. And the conversation wouldn’t be complete without discussing the meaningful use rulemaking and incentive programs, clarifying our vision and addressing key challenges. We want to hear from citizens, patients, health professionals, managers, policymakers, technology enthusiasts and technology skeptics. We can’t succeed unless we understand the wishes and concerns of the many constituencies we serve.Continue reading
FTC will webcast its workshop on Journalism and use Twitter and RSS
Libraries, Journalism, and Publishing share some common issues and face many common challenges in the digital age. It seems particularly appropriate that, as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) holds a workshop on the future of journalism, it is using digital tools to reach more people. The FTC will hold workshops in Washington, DC on December 1 and 2, 2009, to explore how the Internet has affected journalism. The event is free and open to the public. The workshop will assemble representatives from print, online, broadcast and cable news organizations, academics, consumer advocates, bloggers, and other new media representatives.
You can submit questions using the Twitter tag #ftcnews. Comments can be filed online at https://public.commentworks.com/ftc/newsmediaworkshop. See submitted comments here. A live webcast will be available on the day of the event. Bookmark this page and come back on December 1st and 2nd to link to the webcast. Updates regarding workshops, including an agenda and panelists will be posted on this webpage, or can be accessed via RSS Feed. Continue readingDefense Department Social Media Links
Here is an interesting collection of officially unofficial military blogs, facebook, flickr, myspace, and delicious pages, youtube channels, twitter accounts, and more.
- DoD Social Media (Defense.gov "Registered Sites")
The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense of the linked web sites, or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) sites, the United States Department of Defense does not exersise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. All links are provided consistent with the mission of Defense.gov.While these quasi-official social media channels are at least quasi-official, there is even more, less-official, information coming soon. A Twitter thread on Gov 2.0 has been hot recently asking the question, "What if every govt employee have a blog?" and referring to this O'Reilly post: Why Posterous Is a Smart Tool For Informal Government Blogging. See also: Lost Conversations, Lost Decisions, Lost History. Continue reading
More on Congressional Committee Webcast Archives
Josh Tauberer has a follow up to his earlier post on Congressional Video. In it he quotes and notes:
> With the exception of distinct 'direct download' links on the House > Energy Committee page, committees' technology choices stand in the > way of reuse or archival. Saving streams from the various proprietary > protocols used by committees requires specialized tools which may > violate DMCA. Given the public domain status of these videos, formats > and technologies which encourage -- rather than defeat -- archival > and reuse by citizen/users should be adopted. To reiterate some of that: it may be illegal to make copies of some of these videos under the DMCA law because the videos are provided in particular proprietary formats. That is so even if the committee says it is ok to copy it.and suggests:
* For the sake of archives and use by professional journalists, provide a stream that is high-quality (it probably exists but just isn't public). * Similarly, provide the streams at least additionally in a format that does not make it a violation of federal law to copy (again, it's a problem regardless of whether the committee says "go ahead"). * Remove any additional assertions (e.g. House Rules) on how congressional video may be used. Either it is public or it is not. It is an affront to free speech if Congress thinks government records, of all things, should be off-limits to any part of public discourse. * Partner with experts in the public --- e.g. Aphid and Carl Malamud --- on establishing goals for congressional video.Continue reading
Lost Conversations, Lost Decisions, Lost History
Oliver Bell summarizes the issue of new forms of government communication and the need for new ways of preserving them:
- Lost Conversations, Lost Decisions, Lost History..., by Oliver Bell, TalkStandards (November 13, 2009)
Work needs to begin on archiving standards that will retain the information that is driving decisions today and as technology plays an increasingly larger role in the business of government archiving standards needs to be a core part of systems design, not a problem that we try and solve after the fact.One important element of this issue is Title 44 of the US Code that defines what GPO and the FDLP can handle. Its definitions limit what we can archive within those boundaries of the FDLP. But... if we had digital deposit, GPO could deposit official Title-44-approved content in FDLP digital libraries and those libraries could combine that content with non-Title-44 (Gov-2.0) content. GPO can't do this because of the limits of Title 44, but individual FDLP libraries have the flexibility to build their own collections combining Title 44 content with other content. We can do this today without changing the law. But we need digital deposit to make those collections rich and useful. Continue reading
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