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.
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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
Privacy California: “Library Privacy Protected with New Legislation”
Via: InfoDocket Congrats to Mary Minow! From a San Mateo Daily Journal Article: A new state law that takes effect Jan. 1 will add an extra layer of privacy for library users in the digital age. California’s library privacy laws were created before the advent of the Internet and, as a result, an individual’s interaction with the library outside of circulation was not protected under state law until Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 445 earlier this month. The bill was authored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, but inspired by Librarylaw.com founder Mary Minow, who also manages the Stanford Copyright and Fair Use website.Minow proposed the legislation as part of Simitian’s “There Oughta Be A Law” contest. Read the Complete Article: Continue reading
State Agency Databases Activity Report: 7/24/2011
VOLUNTEER AND ORPHAN NEWS This week the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States Project welcomed Julie Huskey as our latest volunteer documents specialist. Julie has adopted Tennessee and has fixed a number of broken links. That leaves the following pages as orphans waiting for a volunteer government documents specialist: Connecticut District of Columbia Illinois Indiana Mississippi New Jersey New Mexico Texas Vermont West Virginia Wisconsin If you're interested in one of the above states, check out our volunteer guide and then send me an e-mail if you'd like to adopt one of the above states. If you adopt a state, be prepared to put your name and contact information on the main project page AND your state page within two weeks of receiving your wiki login. See the Volunteer guide for more details. WIKI ACTIVITY See our last seven days of activity at http://tinyurl.com/statedbs for a blow by blow description of changes to the page. Here are a few highlights: SUBJECT PAGES We have several "subject focused" pages of state agency databases. We moved this list to the front project page. In additon, the Biographical Databases page has been updated. We fixed the Colorado link and added resources from Florida, Indiana, and North Dakota. If you spot problems with any of the other "subject focused" pages, please let me know. Preferably with new links to replace broken ones. REFORMATTING The State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States Project simply wouldn't be viable without our volunteers. So we've reformatted all the state pages so that the volunteer name and contact information stands at the top of the page above the table of contents. DATABASES ADDED Kentucky (Glen McAninch) Kentucky Financial Incentives Project Database - From the web site, "is a searchable database of all projects approved for incentives by either the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) or the Bluegrass State Skills Corporation (BSSC), which are active as of January 1, 2008 through the present. Missouri (Annie Moots) Active Missing Persons Map - Click on a county to see a list of missing persons along with details about them. Tennessee (Julie Huskey) License Verification - From the website, "The Tennessee Health Related Board's website verification system is the official licensure verification site of the Health Related Boards. The site contains data obtained from primary (original) sources and is updated daily" Washington (Marilyn Von Seggern) Cleanup Site Search - A searchable inventory of sites currently being investigated, cleaned up, or that have already completed the cleanup process. Sites can be searched by ID number, name, and location (address, city, county or zip code). DATABASES REMOVED Missouri (Annie Moots) Uniform Crime Reporting Statistical Analysis - Searchable by time frame, year, type of report, and geographical area. Continue reading