The Public Library Manifesto
The Public Library Manifesto, by David Morris, Yes Magazine, (May 06, 2011).
We need a grassroots effort to defend our public libraries, an effort that can and should be part of a growing nationwide and international effort to defend the public sphere itself.Continue reading
Could Pass-The-Hat Kill Open Government?
Could Pass-The-Hat Kill Open Government?, By Joseph Marks, NextGov (05/18/11).
With the E-Gov fund, which paid for open government websites such as data.gov and usaspending.gov, severely trimmed and unlikely to be restored, the open government group OMB Watch speculated in an article Wednesday that those sites may have to turn to the so-called pass-the-hat funding model to stay in business.The Trouble with the "Pass-the-Hat" Funding Model for Government Technology Projects, OMB Watch (May 17, 2011).
Rather than using funding expressly designated by Congress, a project under a pass-the-hat model is funded by contributions from other purpose accounts of multiple agencies, frequently prorated based on agency size or use. This model is different from "fee for service," which also involves agency payments but is usually in return for specific services, such as payroll.Continue reading
Wegman ‘Hockey Stick’ report in the news
Earlier this week I reported on a significant report that may be hard to find and preserve (Senate Anatomy Of Financial Collapse). Here is another example of a prominent government report that may be hard to identify and preserve.
- Wegman, E.J., Scott, D.W., Said, Y.H., 2006. Ad-hoc Committee Report on the ‘Hockey Stick’ Global Climate Reconstruction, "A Report to Chairman Barton, House Committee on Energy and Commerce and to Chairman Whitfield, House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations: Paleoclimate Reconstruction." (PDF, 1.5 MB), 91pp (missing page 1) [citation based examination of item and on a footnote in the Computational Statistics & Data Analysis article listed below.]
This report is in the news this week because a scholarly journal has withdrawn a paper based on the report.
- Climate study gets pulled after charges of plagiarism, By Dan Vergano, USA Today (May 15, 2011).
Based on information in another USA Today story, (Retracted climate critics' study panned by expert, By Dan Vergano, USA Today, May 19, 2011), the retracted paper is, apparently, this one (still available as of this morning from ScienceDirect):
- Yasmin H. Said, Edward J. Wegman, Walid K. Sharabati, John T. Rigsby, Social networks of author-coauthor relationships, Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Volume 52, Issue 4, 10 January 2008, Pages 2177-2184, ISSN 0167-9473, DOI: 10.1016/j.csda.2007.07.021. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V8V-4PCPFBJ-1/2/ed2ebad17cecf44b880d0d266133cbfc)
A hearing before the same committee, from 2006, with testimony by Wegman is available from FDsys:
- House Hearing, 109Th Congress - Questions Surrounding The 'Hockey Stick' Temperature Studies: Implications For Climate Change Assessments, U.S. House of Representatives. Committee on Energy and Commerce, July 19, 2006, July 27, 2006, Serial No. 109-128, Y 4.C 73/8
Because climate change is a contentious political issue, it is easy to find on the web lots about the original "Wegman report" and the retraction of the journal article. It is not easy to find citations to the article that has been retracted (one citation in USA Today was apparently built from a Google Scholar search and breaks). Copies of the report with the missing first page are available at a number of web sites, but I could not find it in FDsys. The only "official" copy I found (linked above) was buried on the Committee web site. One wonders if this report will be easy to find and attribute and authenticate in a year or ten years or fifty years. Continue reading
Post from Meredith, New LostDocs Team Member
As one of the new members of the LostDocs team I want to provide a little more information about my background. My professional interest in government information goes back to an undergraduate internship with my congressman in D.C. For the past thirteen years I have been working with government documents/information through the field of archives and also through work at an academic selective depository while completing my MLIS. My MA thesis focused on the local administration of a federal program—Urban Renewal. As an archivist I helped establish an archive focused on preserving materials related to USDA Child Nutrition Programs. So, government information—Federal, state, and local— has always been central to my work and research endeavors. My interest in the LostDocs project revolves around a concern for the permanent preservation of all formats of government information, but of particular concern and urgency is the need to ensure permanent access to electronic/digital born publications. Very happy to be a part of the team. Meredith Johnston Continue reading
Senate Anatomy Of Financial Collapse
It is not always clear to me if reports like this are centrally listed or cataloged anywhere and when or if or where they will end up in FDsys. This report is massive and important and seems worth listing here with links that may or may not last.
U.S. Senate. Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
- PSI Financial Crisis Report, "Senate Investigations Subcommittee Releases Levin-Coburn Report On the Financial Crisis" Press Release, (April 13, 2011) [PSIfinancialreportrelease041311.pdf] (PDF 86.2 KBs). (Another copy in HTML available at Committee Chairman Carl Levin's website. Using their own words in documents subpoenaed by the Subcommittee, the report discloses how financial firms deliberately took advantage of their clients and investors, how credit rating agencies assigned AAA ratings to high risk securities, and how regulators sat on their hands instead of reining in the unsafe and unsound practices all around them. Rampant conflicts of interest are the threads that run through every chapter of this sordid story.
- Wall Street And The Financial Crisis: Anatomy Of A Financial Collapse, Majority And Minority Staff Report (April 13, 2011) (PDF 5.7 MBs, 646pp). Another copy at Committee Chairman Carl Levin's website.
- Footnote Exhibit Locator (by FN and Bates)
- FN 107 - 1342 (pgs 1-1037)
- FN 1343 - 1459 (pgs 1038-2164)
- FN 1462 - 1576 (pgs 2165-3003)
- FN 1584 - 1622 (pgs 3004-3448)
- FN 1623 - 2406 (pgs 3449-4484)
- FN 2409 - 2706 (pgs 4485-5459)
- FN 2724 - 2831 (pgs 5460-5901)