Archiving the Web
A new article in Times Higher Education (THE), calls attention to the need for archiving the web and the difficulties of doing it.
- Memory failure detected, Times Higher Education, (Sept. 1, 2011). "We are taking it for granted that such material will be there, but we need to be attentive. We have a responsibility to future generations of researchers." ...While libraries are currently digitising 19th-century documents and making them available via the web, it is "deeply ironic" that websites from two years ago are being made less accessible, Meyer notes.
- Meyer, Eric T., Thomas, Arthur and Schroeder, Ralph, Web Archives: The Future(s) (June 30, 2011). In this report, the authors consider the possible future uses of web archives. This report is structured first, to engage in some speculative thought about the possible futures of the web as an exercise in prompting us to think about what we need to do now in order to make sure that we can reliably and fruitfully use archives of the web in the future. Next, we turn to considering the methods and tools being used to research the live web, as a pointer to the types of things that can be developed to help understand the archived web. Then, we turn to a series of topics and questions that researchers want or may want to address using the archived web. In this final section, we tentatively identify some of the short, medium and long term challenges individuals, organizations, and international bodies can target to increase our ability to explore these topics and answer these questions.
New book on Top Secret America
Dana Priest and William M. Arkin have a new book, Top Secret America based on their series of stories that appeared in the Washington Post in July 2010. The book describes "the new American security state." Steven Aftergood has a brief overview of the book:
- A Spotlight on "Top Secret America", Secrecy News (September 1, 2011). Since 9/11 ... some 33 large office complexes for top secret intelligence work have been completed in the Washington DC area, the equivalent in size of nearly three Pentagons. More than 250,000 contractors are working on top secret programs. A bewildering number of agencies -- more than a thousand -- have been created to execute security policy, including at least 24 new organizations last year alone.... But the vast scale of this activity says nothing about its quality or utility. The authors, who are scrupulous in their presentation of the facts, are critical in their evaluation: "One of the greatest secrets of Top Secret America is its disturbing dysfunction."
Return of the guest blogger! welcome law librarian Peggy Jarrett to FGI
It's been a few months since we had our last blogger of the month. But I'd like to introduce Peggy Jarrett to the podium for the month of September. Peggy comes to us from the University of Washington's Gallagher Law Library. I was able to twist Peggy's arm even as she so kindly hosted me at the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) 2011 annual conference -- which I highly recommend our readers attend, especially those in the Boston area where the 2012 conference will be held. Take it away Peggy! And as always, if you're interested in taking a turn at the FGI podium, please contact us at freegovinfo AT gmail DOT com. That is all. Continue reading
Peggy Jarrett: blogger of the month for September, 2011
Peggy Jarrett is the Documents and Reference Librarian at the Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington School of Law. She’s been at Gallagher for 21 years, and before that, spent 7 years working as a law firm librarian in Seattle and Washington D.C. Her interest in government information dates back to the summer of 1973, when as an impressionable youth, she spent the summer watching the Watergate hearings. She is particularly interested in public access to state legal information and the intersection of reference and collection development. Her favorite part of her job is talking to students from the Law Librarianship Program at the UW Information School about government documents. She is currently a member of the Depository Library Council. Continue reading
Open Data, New Orleans
The city of New Orleans announces a new site for open data from the city:
- Data.NOLA.gov | Enabling New Orleans Aug 20, 2011 | This site is a catalog of public data sets produced by the City of New Orleans. We're starting small, with data sets that are found within the Department of Information Technology & Innovation, and will be adding data sets from other departments over time.