Author Archives: James A Jacobs

GovTrack Announces New Features for the New Congress, Sabrina I. Pacifici, BeSpacific, January 15, 2007. Sabrina summarizes some excellent new features of the excellent remix of government information at GovTrack. Track committee meetings with iCal, see changes in bills in HTML, voting history, an ideology meter on the people pages, and more... Continue reading →

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The Web Curator Tool Project

The Web Curator Tool (WCT) is a tool for managing the selective web harvesting process. It is designed for use in libraries and other collecting organisations, and supports collection by non-technical users while still allowing complete control of the web harvesting process. The WCT Project is a collaborative effort by the National Library of New Zealand and the British Library, initiated by the International Internet Preservation Consortium. The WCT software was developed by Sytec Resources Ltd and is now available under the terms of the Apache Public License.

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Technology and Policy in Acquiring Digital Collections, by Roger V. Skalbeck and Iva M. Futrell, Legal Tech Newsletter, January 11, 2007.

While focusing on legal information from the perspective of law firms, this article examines many issues relevant to government information and access to digital materials. For example, in referring to the Hein Online version of the Federal Register it says, "With a source such as the Federal Register, downloaded documents are superior to both the version on Westlaw as well as the actual printed reports. Documents are available in their familiar three-column format, and they can be printed on normal laser paper instead of the fragile paper used by the Government Printing Office."

In acquiring access to new digital collections, law firms and other information consumers need to think about issues of cost, technology requirements and ease of use. Beyond that, merely acquiring a new collection will not ensure that all people who need the information will know it exists when the need for that information arises. This article addresses several topics relating to digitized collections, framing the discussion by first discussing two legal-specific digitization projects available for private law firms.

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We usually focus on US government information policy, but this story from the UK warrants a mention. It notes that "Among those which are being axed are out-of-date sites...."

• Government to close 551 websites, BBC NEWS, January 11, 2007.

Hundreds of government websites are to be shut down "to make access to information easier" for people. Of 951 sites, only 26 will definitely stay, 551 will definitely close and hundreds more are expected to follow. In future government information will be streamlined through two main sites - Directgov and Business Link. The Cabinet Office called it a natural step as people shifted their interest to use what it called "supersites" such as Directgov and the BBC website. The annual report on "transformational strategy" [Transformational Government Annual Report 2006], published on Wednesday, said 90 websites had already been closed.

It is not completely clear from the BBC story what information will be permanently removed, what will be kept online but moved to a new location, and what will be removed, but archived. Responses from readers reflect some of this concern and confusion:

"Closing down sites with outdated information is part of the natural evolution of the internet. However I trust the National Archive is taking static copies of these closed sites before they go offline..." "It's a bit academic how may web sites there are. It's not called the web for nothing; information can be linked from site to site and appear to be quite elsewhere from where it appears. If the government is going to reduce the number of silos with their own web teams then good but if less information is made available to the public then this will not be a good move at all." "Nowhere on the internet could I find out how much the UK governments spends on the NHS, either in total pounds or as a proportion of the income tax take. They should provide essential info like this. How else can we take political decisions?" "I note, with interest, that one of the sites being axed is Home Information Packs. If you recall the Government reversed its policy regarding the Home Survey which was to be included in HIPs. Now it removes all web traces of the failed HIPs project."

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