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A Smart Tool For Informal Government Blogging?
When technology makes a difference: How about a blog that uses email as a way of posting? "For government employees, it could be a breath of life in an otherwise locked-down state of cybersecurity affairs. "
- Why Posterous Is a Smart Tool For Informal Government Blogging, by Mark Drapeau, O'Reilly Radar (Oct 19, 2009).
Confused about RDF? Semantic Web? Linked Data? Don’t be. Read this!
Here is an excellent article on these important technologies:
- The Web's next act: A worldwide database. by Jackson, Joab. Government Computer News, November 9, 2009.
...the idea of machine-readable data can be a hard sell to people who are unfamiliar with the idea. The idea of Linked Data, like the idea of a World Wide Web when it was first introduced, "solves a problem we didn't know we had," said Ronald Reck, head of consulting firm Rrecktek. In other words, many of the benefits offered by the then-nascent Web, such as the ability to share documents, was already offered through other technologies, such as the File Transfer Protocol. Likewise, it is difficult to understand the concept of a single format for Web-based data when plenty of formats such as relational databases and spreadsheets already annotate data in ways that make it reusable by other systems. ...Berners-Lee said that to use an API, a systems administrator or developer must write a program for the data to be accessible. With RDF, a Web browser should be able to reuse the data, requiring no additional work on the part of users.See also: 13 resources for government Linked Data. 2 examples of how government data linking can work. Continue reading
Review of Congressional Committee Webcast Archives
Joshua Tauberer of GovTrack.us surveyed House and Senate standing committee websites this week and has written up his findings here:
- Congressional Committee Webcast Archives Review, Joshua Tauberer, Joshua Tauberer’s Blog (November 10th, 2009).
FAQ for Recovery.Gov
ProPublica’s FAQ for Recovery.gov. ProPublica has been doing some fine work with public information. Their latest is a Frequently Asked Questions file for recovery.gov. As they say:
While it’s fabulous that the stimulus oversight board has made so much data available on Recovery.gov, understanding it all can be a daunting task. In response to some of the questions we’ve had from reporters about the data and Recovery.gov, we’ve started a tip sheet.Continue reading
CRS report on Congressional Printing
Congressional Printing: Background and Issues for Congress, by R. Eric Petersen, Congressional Research Service, R40897 (November 5, 2009).
This report, which will be updated as events warrant, provides an overview and analysis of issues related to the processing and distribution of congressional information by the Government Printing Office. Subsequent sections address several issues, including funding congressional printing, printing authorizations, current printing practices, and options for Congress. Finally, the report provides congressional printing appropriations, production, and distribution data in a number of tables.Continue reading
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