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Free Government Information (FGI) is a place for initiating dialogue and building consensus among the various players (libraries, government agencies, non-profit organizations, researchers, journalists, etc.) who have a stake in the preservation of and perpetual free access to government information. FGI promotes free government information through collaboration, education, advocacy and research.

Happy Birthday Web!

On March 12, 1989, Tim Berners-Lee published Information Management: A Proposal and, soon, the first web server was running on a NeXT workstation. So, Happy Birthday to the Web! I’m guessing some FGI readers were not librarians (or born) 25 years ago, so return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear and see the first bookstore on the web (no, not the one named after a river…), the first White House web page, and many more:

  • Happy Web day! 25 websites for 25 years, By Serdar Yegulalp, InfoWorld, (March 12, 2014).

    On the Web’s 25th anniversary, look back on those early websites, when a plaintext version of a home page was mandatory and 56K dial-up was as good as it got for many of us

From Sea to Stress: USA.gov Adds Six Federal Government Mobile Apps to Directory

Direct to Blog Post with Links to Download apps (via INFOdocket)

1. National Ocean Service (Mobile Web)
From NOAA
Cost: Free

A new mobile version of the National Ocean Service’s [part of NOAA] website delivers news, audio, video, Ocean Facts, and more straight to your smartphone.

Includes local tides database.

Direct to NOS Mobile Web Site
2. Release Mako
From the National Marine Fisheries Service

With the Release Mako Android app you can now report your live releases of shortfin mako sharks from Android mobile devices while still on the water.

The app uses a device’s built-in GPS, when available, to fill in exact location coordinates on the shortfin mako live release data form. The catch and release reports submitted via email allow fishermen to put their mako on the Shortfin Mako Shark Live Release Interactive Web Map at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/shortfinmako/Map/index.htm.

The submission form is easy to fill out and operates like the online submission form. Touching the latitude and longitude boxes provides an location when GPS is available. The app also includes information about shortfin mako stock status, fishing regulations, FAQs, and safe handling and release guidelines.

3. T2 Mood Tracker (iPhone App)
From the National Center for Telehealth and Technology
Cost: Free

T2 Mood Tracker allows users to monitor their moods on six pre-loaded scales (anxiety, stress, depression, brain injury, post-traumatic stress, general well-being). Custom scales can also be built. Users rate their moods by swiping a small bar to the left or to the right. The ratings are displayed on graphs to help users track their moods over time. Notes can be recorded to document daily events, medication changes and treatments that may be associated with mood changes, providing accurate information to help health care providers make treatment decisions.

4. Breathe2Relax (iPhone App)
From the National Center for Telehealth and Technology
Cost: Free

Breathe2Relax is a portable stress management tool which provides detailed information on the effects of stress on the body and instructions and practice exercises to help users learn the stress management skill called diaphragmatic breathing. Breathing exercises have been documented to decrease the body’s ‘fight-or-flight’ (stress) response, and help with mood stabilization, anger control, and anxiety management. Breathe2Relax can be used as a stand-alone stress reduction tool, or can be used in tandem with clinical care directed by a healthcare worker.

5. Tactical Breather (iPhone App)
From the National Center for Telehealth and Technology
Cost: Free

Tactical Breathing Trainer can be used to gain control over physiological and psychological responses to stress.

Through repetitive practice and training, anyone can learn to gain control of your heart rate, emotions, concentration, and other physiological and Psychological responses to your body during stressful situations. This can dramatically benefit soldiers during stressful combat situations. Many of the techniques taught in this application were provided by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman from his book “On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace”.

6. mTBI Pocket Guide (Android App)
From the National Center for Telehealth and Technology
Cost: Free

In collaboration with the Traumatic Brain Injury Clinical Standards of Care Directorate of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE)the National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) developed a smartphone Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Pocket Guide to provide care providers with a comprehensive, quick reference that includes clinical practice guidelines for assessing and treating service members and Veterans who have sustained a mild TBI.

Direct to Blog Post with Links to Download apps (via INFOdocket)

Really? Free? As in — watering the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants?

In trying to decide where to start our blog, we have been discussing all the different topics that interest us related to government information, but that discussion leads us from one corner of the earth to another. Issues of information access are central to just about any aspect of governance, from the neighborhood watch to the United Nations. So we thought perhaps it would be best to start with a few personal reflections and opinions.

Readers who know us, know that we are strong advocates for permanent public access to government information. It seems counterintuitive to those of us grew up in a time when, for the cost of a few good sneezes, we could dig up just about anything from the dusty bowels of our favorite research library. But permanent access is something we cannot take for granted in a time when a small agency that has little interaction with the public can press a button and delete a good chunk of its history without stirring up any notice — yet it’s double-edged sword. The technology that makes it so easy for valuable information to disappear also empowers all of us to participate in a truly democratic process at a global scale like never before.

In this modern information universe, of course, the only way to begin any inquiry is with a Google search. So let’s see what we get.

“Free Government Information” returns 24,300 hits, topped off by ours truly. A quick scan down the list shows that the bulk of the hits are to sites discussing or linking to FGI, so it’s only somewhat enlightening. One thing that pops out to us is the fact that people are using the terms “open government,” “transparency,” and “free government information” interchangeably and differently depending on context. You see quotes like “open government leads to transparency,” while others take transparency as an element of open government. Of course the bulk of them are political in nature, concentrating on government information policy, from the radicals at Radical Reference to pretty tame municipal government sites on open meetings. But some interesting snippets caught our eye.

There’s a conspiracy website whose motto is “Those who are unaware are unaware that they are unaware.” Our first inclination is to shrug it off, but it’s something to make note of. In the current public debate over health care reform, it’s fascinating to see how deeply these kinds of ideas affect — at times it seems, even steer the public debate. Even if we can’t take these ideas themselves seriously, the fact that so many people take them very seriously and consider them the main point of connection between their lives and the government is sobering, and vital to a clear understanding of our political landscape. The fact that a search of “free government information” places this near the top of the list is telling.
http://newsworldorder.tripod.com/

We are scanning for other weird, fun, and offbeat sites to cover in the next few posts. Until then …

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