Home » Articles posted by James A Jacobs (Page 347)
Author Archives: James A Jacobs
New book on web archiving
Web Archiving, Masanès, Julien (Ed.) 2006, VII, 234 p., 28 illus., Hardcover
Julien Masanès, Director of the European Archive, has assembled contributions from computer scientists and librarians that altogether encompass the complete range of tools, tasks and processes needed to successfully preserve the cultural heritage of the Web. This book serves as a standard introduction for everyone involved in keeping alive the immense amount of online information, and it covers issues related to building, using and preserving Web archives both from the computer scientist and librarian viewpoints. Practitioners will find in this book a state-of-the-art overview of methods, tools and standards they need for their activities. Researchers as well as advanced students in computer science will use it as an introduction to this new field with a hopefully stimulating review of open issues where future work is needed.Some of the chapters:
- Selection for Web Archives
- Copying Websites
- Archiving the Hidden Web
- Access and Finding Aids
- Mining Web Collections
- The Long-Term Preservation of Web Content
- Small Scale Academic Web Archiving
Gov Docs on OMB Watch
Here is a quick source of links to agencies and some key government documents dealing with government information policy.
OMB Watch is a nonprofit government watchdog organization whose mission is to promote open government, accountability and citizen participation. One of its major issue areas is Information Access. On its website, it lists several specific categories of information access issues that it tracks: Homeland Security, Environmental Right to Know, Data Quality Act, Peer Review, Politics & Science, Freedom of Information, Whistleblowers, and State Policies. In most of these policy areas, they have a useful page devoted to "Gov Docs" where they link to agencies and official and unofficial sources of laws, regulations, and reports dealing with government information policy.
- Homeland Security Gov Docs
- Environmental Right to Know Gov Docs
- Data Quality Act Gov Docs
- Peer Review Gov Docs
- Freedom of Information Gov Docs
- Whistleblowers Gov Docs
FCC program to fund broadband for rural healthcare
FCC LAUNCHES "RURAL HEALTH CARE PILOT PROGRAM" WEBSITE Press Release (November 21, 2006) fcc.gov
The FCC has launched a website (http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/rural/rhcp.html) that provides a consolidated source of information about the FCC's recently announced Rural Health Care Pilot Program. The website includes the Order adopting the pilot program and the accompanying news release, a PDF slide presentation giving an overview of the program, and frequently asked questions (FAQs), The website will be updated periodically, as appropriate. The FCC's pilot program is an innovative, enhanced funding initiative intended to help public and non-profit health care providers construct state- and region-wide broadband networks to provide telehealth and telemedicine services throughout the nation. The program will fund up to 85% of the costs of constructing those networks, as well as the costs of advanced telecommunications and information services that will ride over these networks. If selected, up to 85% of the cost of connecting to Internet2, a dedicated nationwide backbone, may also be funded by the pilot program. Connection to Internet 2 is not required, but may be requested by the applicants....Continue reading
Caution on comparing ACS to Census 2000
While this won't be news to those who follow Census developments closely, it is a nice summary of some of the important deficiencies in the American Community Survey:
- 2005 American Community Survey by Roger Owen Green, NYS SBDC Research Network (November 21, 2006)
Writing for the New York State Small Business Development Center (NYS SBDC) Green notes that:
...because of previous cuts in the Congressional funding, the 2005 ACS does not capture data from group quarters, which include prisons, college dormitories, and nursing homes.
One thing this means is that in geographic areas where there is a large group quarters population, comparisons of figures from ACS to Census 2000 may be inaccurate or misleading. As Green says, "...politicians and the media have glommed onto these new statistics, making assertions about populations that the methodology does not support."
Continue readingMore on Google working with agencies
Here is another article about Google working with government agencies to get them to use Google SiteMaps to make their information more accessible:
- Google wants you, by Joab Jackson, GCN (November 20, 2006).
John Lewis Needham, development manager for Google, is quoted as saying that at least 20 percent of all government information is locked in databases that can only be accessed from web forms. He also cites a study that discovered that "70 percent of visitors to the National Institutes of Health were directed there by search engines, whereas only 4 percent of the visitors came directly to the site by simply typing in the Web address."
Continue reading
Latest Comments