Home » Posts tagged 'NARA' (Page 8)
Tag Archives: NARA
NARA and NOAA join Old Weather Project to crowdsource transcription of historic naval ship weather logs
According to today's press release from NOAA, the National Archives (NARA) and NOAA are teaming up and joining the Old Weather Project hosted at Zoonivers.org to crowdsource the transcription of historic ships' logs in order to extract critical environmental data. The Old Weather Project began over 2 years ago with British Royal Navy log books -- 16,400 volunteers have transcribed 1.6 million weather observations so far! Transcribed data produced by Old Weather volunteers will be integrated into existing large-scale data sets, such as the International Comprehensive Ocean Atmosphere Data Set (ICOADS). Human volunteers are so important in this case because Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technologies cannot currently recognize hand-written text.
Before there were satellites, weather data transmitters, or computer databases, there were the ship’s logs of Arctic sea voyages, where sailors dutifully recording weather observations. Now, a new crowdsourcing effort could soon make of the weather data from these ship logs, some more than 150 years old, available to climate scientists worldwide. NOAA, National Archives and Records Administration, Zooniverse — a citizen science web portal — and other partners are seeking volunteers to transcribe a newly digitized set of ship logs dating to 1850. The ship logs, preserved by NARA, are from U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and Revenue Cutter voyages in the Arctic between 1850 and the World War II era. [Clip] Organizers hope to enlist thousands of volunteers to transcribe scanned copies of logbook pages via the Old Weather project with an eye to Information recorded in these logbooks will also appeal to a wide array of scientists from other fields – and professionals from other fields, including historians, genealogists, as well as current members and veterans of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard.[HT to Gary Price at InfoDocket for calling our attention to this project!] Continue reading
New Declassification Portal at the National Archives
Steven Aftergood reviews a new National Archives portal for declassified information:
- New Declassification Portal at the National Archives, by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News (October 4th, 2012). The National Archives has set up a new online portal that provides an overview of declassification activity in and around the Arvhices, with input from the National Declassification Center, the Public Interest Declassification Board, the Presidential Libraries, and the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP). The new section on ISCAP declassification decisions is of particular interest, since it provides links to the documents that have been newly declassified at the direction of the ISCAP, which receives appeals from the public for release of documents that agencies have declined to declassify.
- NARA and Declassification, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
National Archives Releases John Huston’s Controversial WWII Documentary
Thanks to Gary for posting about this!
- View Online: National Archives Releases Restored Version of 3rd Film in John Huston’s WWII Documentary Trilogy, by Gary Price, InfoDocket (May 29, 2012).
The National Archives and Records Administration's restoration of Let There Be Light (1946), John Huston's controversial World War II documentary about the rehabilitation of psychologically scarred combat veterans can now be downloaded online.
The third in the World War II trilogy commissioned from Academy Award-winning director John Huston by the US Army Signal Corps, Let There Be Light follows the treatment of emotionally traumatized GIs from their admission at a racially integrated psychiatric hospital to their reentry into civilian life.
...The War Department pulled the film shortly before its premiere at the Museum of Modern Art and commissioned a replacement in which white actors took all the speaking roles and the GIs upbringing was blamed for their psychological condition instead of war trauma. Let There Be Light was first shown publicly in December 1980, after a chorus of Hollywood leaders, joined by Vice President Walter Mondale, persuaded the Secretary of the Army, Clifford Alexander, Jr., to authorize its release....
NARA, Sweden, ILO, Online Maps, Voting, Statistics, NASA, TOXNET, Transporation, DOT, Smithsonian, Federal Regulations, Energy
Another in our series of roundups of news and new resources via INFOdocket.com. 15 items in all. Federal Sources 1. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Releases Beta Versions of Several New Features 2. A Redesigned Regulations.gov Website Now Live With Many New Features 3. Smithsonian Launches New Website for Teaching African American Civil Rights Through American Art 4. Transportation: RITA Launches U.S. DOT Research Hub Searchable Database (Beta) 5. NLM Releases Mobile Interface to TOXNET Databases 6. A New Interactive Infographic From NASA Looks at The Future of American Human Space Flight 7. U.S. Census Releases Graphs on Historical Voting Trends 8. Archivist of the United States on the Competencies NARA Wants For Archives Specialists Additional Items That Might Be of Interest 9. More Than 10 Million Digitized Newspaper Pages Coming to Europeana 10. Create Custom Neighborhood Maps (Quickly Search/Locate/Visualize Neighborhoods Located In Any Zip Code) 11. Online Database: NORMLEX (Information System on International Labour Standards) From ILO 12. Foreign Affairs Releases Complete Online Archive, All Articles Back to Vol. 1, No. 1 (1922) Available 13. U.Va. Library’s New Streaming Oral History Project Tells the Legal Story of the Civil Rights Struggle 14. New Interactive Site/Database Features Info About Wyoming’s Electrical Generation Facilities 15. Legal Reasons: National Library of Sweden Will Not Archive Personal Blogs or Online Video Games Continue reading
First Audio on FDsys: President Kennedy Assassination Tape Recording
Press Release from GPO:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 30, 2012 No. 12-07 GPO SUPPORTS NATIONAL ARCHIVES ON PUBLIC ACCESS TO PRESIDENT KENNEDY ASSASSINATION TAPE RECORDING First Audio Content on FDsys WASHINGTON-The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is providing public access to the newly discovered audio tape recording of conversations between various individuals in Washington and Air Force One pilots and officials on board during the flight from Dallas to Andrews Air Force Base following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The tape recording is available on the U.S. Government Printing Office's (GPO) Federal Digital System (FDsys). This is the first time audio content is available on the system, which is a one-stop site for authentic, published Government information. GPO and NARA have a long-standing collaborative relationship in publishing the Federal Register and recently worked together to provide the public with electronic access to the Nixon grand jury testimony. Link to FDsys: www.fdsys.gov This digitized version of the two hour and twenty-two minute recording was donated to the National Archives by the Raab Collection. The tapes were found among other papers and memorabilia of Army Gen. Chester "Ted" Clifton, Jr., who served as senior military aide to President Kennedy. The White House Communications Agency (WHCA) provided the tapes to Gen. Clifton. The conversations were captured by WHCA, which routed all phone calls and radio traffic. The recording includes references to new code names and incidents, among them are a private conversation by head of the Secret Service Jerry Behn about the disposition of the President's body; an expanded conversation about how to remove the body from the plane and where to take it; an urgent effort by an aide to Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay to reach General Clifton; and attempts to locate various Congressmen from Texas. For more information go to: http://www.archives.gov/ "GPO is pleased to provide our digital services in partnering with NARA to make this important historical find available to the public," said Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks. "This collection marks the first time GPO is providing audio content on the site. We look forward to continuing our long-standing relationship with NARA and other Federal agencies in providing digital access to authentic Government information through FDsys."Continue reading
Latest Comments