NTIA website redesigned
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is redesigning its web site. You might want to check for broken links in your catalog.
- the legacy NTIA website. (Note: When visiting legacy website pages where content is already migrated, you may be redirected to the new website.)
- the new NTIA website NTIA is the Executive Branch agency that is principally responsible for advising the President on telecommunications and information policy issues. NTIA's programs and policymaking focus largely on expanding broadband Internet access and adoption in America, expanding the use of spectrum by all users, and ensuring that the Internet remains an engine for continued innovation and economic growth.
- New Website Notice We are in the process of launching a new website to better serve you. While most content has been migrated, some content is not yet on the new website and will not yet appear through the search feature.
From Link Rot to Web Sanctuary
Here is an interesting story about preserving British government information.
- From Link Rot to Web Sanctuary: Creating the Digital Educational Resource Archive (DERA), by Bernard M. Scaife, Ariadne, Issue 67 (4 July-2011)
It occurred to us that this software could enable us to eradicate our link rot problem, whilst building in a core level of digital preservation and increasing the discoverability of these documents. We were convinced that a citation which linked to a record in a Web archive was far more likely to survive than one which did not.They knew that government budget cuts were increasing the risk of losing content from government departments. The article describes their experiences and summarizes what they learned:
- Placing files in a repository gives digital preservation to key documents in the subject field and eradicates the link rot problem.
- Adding high-quality metadata enhances the resource and allows it to hold its head high and become an integral part of a library's collection.
- A specialist library can play an important role in preserving domain-specific government content as part of its long-term strategy and ensure high-quality resources remain available.
- Provided you are prepared to get to grips with its complexity, the EPrints software is well suited to the task and provides good interoperability with other legacy systems for importing metadata
- The added value of being able to search the full text provides a potentially very rich resource for data mining whether by current or future researchers of educational history. Continue reading
Sunlight evaluations of Congressional Web Sites
The Sunlight Foundation has posted the first in a series of blog posts about congressional committee websites:
- Congress Online: Evaluating Congressional Committee Websites, By policy interns Eric Dunn and Jacob Hutt, Sunlight Foundation (July 25, 2011). Recently, we went through all forty-five House, Senate, and Joint Committee websites and evaluated them based on a transparency checklist made by Sunlight in 2010. In this first of a series of blog posts, we reveal general trends from our evaluation and highlight the websites that stood out, the ones that need some work, and a few that were just awful.
-
The websites for the Joint Committee on Printing and the Joint Committee on the Library are by far the worst of them all - they have not been updated in years. Half of the committee members pictured on these websites are no longer in office.
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) Continue reading
Full Text Reference Book (Free): African Statistical Yearbook 2011 (3rd Ed.)
Just Released: Full Text Reference Book (Free) 343 pages; PDF The 2011 African Statistical Yearbook was prepared under the overall umbrella of the African Statistical Coordination Committee set up by major continental organizations dealing with statistical development namely the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the African Union Commission (AUC), and the United Na tions Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in the framework of the implementation of the Reference Regional Strategic Framework for Statistical Capacity Building in Africa (RRSF). As with the previous two editions, this third edition presents time series showing how African Countries performed on several economic and social thematic areas over the 2002 to 2010 period. We have continued our efforts to privilege the use of data sourced from countries national sources, validated through a rigorous process. Direct to Full Text Report (343 pages; PDF) Continue reading