New NAP report: Frontiers in Massive Data Analysis
Hot off the presses from the National Academies is this prepublication version of a report Frontiers in Massive Data Analysis. This is a really nice survey of much of the state of the art and current issues involved in "big data." Govt information librarians owe it to themselves to become well-versed as more and more researchers across many disciplines will become interested in govt information as a corpus to do larger analysis (I'm already getting questions about corpus research!). Continue reading
Declassified Migration Documents Website
Migration Declassified is a product of the Mexico/Migration Project at the National Security Archive, an independent research center and repository of declassified documents based at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. It supports the rights of migrants in North America by increasing transparency around security and law enforcement institutions in Mexico and the United States. The site serves as a dissemination point for recently declassified documents that shed light on such issues as migration policy, border enforcement, migrant detention programs, and deportation policies. Its blog will feature commentary on migration-related news items and links to related resources.
- Migration Declassified.
- Migración Abierta Lea este blog en Español.
Beta version of new data.gov
This week the White House announced an early beta version of a revised data.gov web site (next.data.gov), promising many improvements. The improvements include examples from data communities of how data are used, a new powerful search engine, rotating data visualizations, a flexible design that displays well on tablets and smart phones, and more. It is all built with open source tools (WordPress, CKAN, SOLR) and meant to be easily scalable.
- First Look at Next.Data.gov, by Nick Sinai and Ryan Panchadsaram, White House Blog (July 16, 2013).
- next.data.gov
California Supreme Court rules GIS files are public records
"The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that digital mapping files known as geographic information systems must be released under the state's public records law. "The decision could make it easier for media organizations, advocacy groups and others to obtain government GIS databases, rich collections of data that can be used to display and analyze multiple layers of geographical information."
- Digital mapping files are public records, state Supreme Court rules, By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles Times (July 8, 2013). Forty-seven of California's 58 counties already provide GIS parcel maps as public records for a nominal fee, said Dean Wallraff, an attorney for the Sierra Club. Los Angeles County charged the group less than $10 for a disk containing the files, he said. Monday's court ruling should compel Orange County to do the same.
Presidential Policy Directives not on White House Website
Steven Aftergood describes Presidential Policy Directives and discusses how and why they are not usually posted to the White House website -- even when they are not classified and are available elsewhere.
- Presidential Directives Mostly Withheld by White House, by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News (July 12, 2013). The Obama Administration has issued more than 20 Presidential Policy Directives (PPDs), many of which are collected or listed on the Federation of American Scientists web site. But with few exceptions (PPD 14, PPD 19) most of these cannot be obtained from the White House.