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New aggregator of open government technology blogs
Josh Tauberer, tireless freedom-fighter, has created a blog aggregator that combines many of the open government technology blogs: http://planetopen.occams.info/ There are RSS and Atom feeds. This is a convenient way to follow lots of open-government conversations! So far, he is aggregating these blogs:
* CDT (Open Government category) * Free Government Information (FGI) * GPO FDSYS * GovTrack.us * Joshua Tauberer * Just a Govy * LII Announce * LII b-screeds * Larry Lessig * Library of Congress (LC Web site category) * Open Congress * Open Secrets * Sunlight Foundation * The Open House Project * The Open Senate ProjectAlso, don't forget that FGI provides similar aggregations for the govdocs community. Just follow the In other news... link at the top of every FGI page. Continue reading
RSS feeds (and more) for Congressional YouTube Videos
Josh Tauberer at GovTrack.us, our hero and a prince, has created an easy way to follow new videos posted at Congress's YouTube sites. (See Congress on YouTube).
- Tracking YouTube Videos which aggregates all videos posted by Members to YouTube. The RSS is here.
- Pages for Members at GovTrack.us now highlight their latest YouTube video at the top of the page.
- Feeds/Trackers at GovTrack.us for Members (which you can subscribe to directly, include with your other trackers, or get email updates for) now include their latest video postings.
International News
For those of you who follow international news, there is a new source of international journalism to check out, GlobalPost. It has a mission to "redefine international news for the digital age" (mission statement). It "will try to fill a void left by newspapers and network television, which collectively have pulled back sharply in deploying journalists abroad. If it's successful, GlobalPost will be one of the most spectacular against-the-grain stories since news companies began their accelerating revenue slide almost two years ago" (GlobalPost: A startup treads where big media retreat, By David Westphal, OJR, Jan. 8, 2009). For more background, see the Executive Editor's blog and his links to news coverage of yesterday's launch of the GlobalPost. Continue reading
Finding Government Blogs
As we see more government information move off the .gov domains and into the commercial sector, the problem of finding and identifying government information becomes more difficult. As more agencies are blogging, one would hope that there would be a central registry of agency blogs. The closest I can find is the USA.gov listing, Blogs from the U.S. Government, which lists 38 links to active blogs. Some of those link to more than one blog, however (see for example, http://www.si.edu/blogs/default.htm), so the count is not complete. Out of curiosity, I checked how many of the 38 links were not to .gov or .mil sites. There are 10, including two to Smithosonian's .edu sites and GPO's own FDsys blog:
* ASY Live Blog http://asylive.blogspot.com/ – The "ASY Live Blog," an extension of the Department of Defense America Supports You program, highlights the support supplied by citizens and corporations nationwide to our men and women in uniform and communicates that support to our troops. * Energy Savers http://eere.typepad.com/energysavers/ – The Energy Savers Blog provides a place for consumers to learn about and discuss energy efficiency and renewable technologies at home, on the road, and in the workplace. * Eye Level http://eyelevel.si.edu/ – This Smithsonian American Art Museum blog covers American art and the ways it reflects American history and culture. * Future Digital System http://fdsys.blogspot.com/ – U.S. Government Printing Office blog about the Future Digital System program that will be a world-class information life-cycle management system * Grants.gov http://grants-gov.blogspot.com – Updates for the grant community. * Mount Rainier National Park Volunteers Blog http://rainiervolunteers.blogspot.com/ – Get the latest news about the volunteer program at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington. * National Parks http://blog.nationalparks.org/ – The National Park Foundation enriches the connection Americans have with our National Parks. * Pushing Back http://pushingback.com/blogs/pushing_back/default.aspx – Office of National Drug Control Policy blog to educate Americans about illegal drugs and the latest international, federal, state, and local efforts to reduce drug use * Smithsonian Institution http://www.si.edu/blogs/default.htm – Bloggers offer insights and information about Smithsonian Institution exhibitions, events, collections, research projects, and more. * Take Pride in America: The Blog http://takeprideblog.blogspot.com/ – Take Pride in America, a national partnership program aimed at increasing volunteer service on America's public lands, hosts this blog to empower volunteers from every corner of America to maintain and enhance our natural, cultural, and historical sites.Continue reading
Are Federal Record-keeping Laws Out of Step With Modern Communications?
All the President's IMs: Are Federal Record-keeping Laws Out of Step With Modern Communications?, by MICHAEL C. DORF, FindLaw, Jan. 12, 2009. Dorf argues that our federal record-keeping laws are out of step with the ways in which people now communicate. Continue reading
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