Threats to Open Government
As noted here, many of the Obama administration's top open government initiatives (including USASpending.gov, Data.gov, FedRAMP, paymentaccuracy.gov, Apps.gov/now, and IT Dashboard) are set to be turned off in May or June. Here are two good articles that cover the issues very well:
- Why Cutting E-Gov Funding Threatens American Jobs, by Beth Simone Noveck, Huffington Post (March 25, 2011).
- Congress weighs deep cuts to funding for federal open government data platforms, by Alex Howard, GovFresh, (April 1, 2011).
OMB prepares for open gov sites to go dark in May
This is just too depressing! OMB prepares for open gov sites to go dark in May By Jason Miller Executive Editor Federal News Radio
Many of the Obama administration's top open government initiatives are set to be turned off by May 31. Government sources confirm that the Office of Management and Budget is planning to take seven websites dark in two months because of a lack of funding. One government official, who requested anonymity because they didn't get permission to discuss the topic, said funding will begin to run out on April 20 for public sites IT Dashboard, Data.gov and paymentaccuracy.gov. The source said OMB also is planning on shutting down internal government sites, including Performance.gov, FedSpace and many of the efforts related the FEDRamp cloud computing cybersecurity effort. The official said two other sites, USASpending.gov and Apps.gov/now, will run through July 30 but go dark soon after.[HT to John Wonderlich at Sunlight Foundation!] Continue reading
Segregation Illustrated with New Census Data
The 10 most segregated urban areas in America, By Daniel Denvir, Salon (Mar 29, 2011). "Slide show: The new census numbers provide a sobering reminder of how separate white and black America still are."
Decades after the end of Jim Crow, and three years after the election of America's first black president, the United States remains a profoundly segregated country. That reality has been reinforced by the release of Census Bureau data last week that shows black and white Americans still tend to live in their own neighborhoods, often far apart from each other. Segregation itself, the decennial census report indicates, is only decreasing slowly, although the dividing lines are shifting as middle-income blacks, Latinos and Asians move to once all-white suburbs -- whereupon whites often move away, turning older suburbs into new, if less distressed, ghettos.Continue reading
Closer Look: Inside Obama’s West Wing
Much fun: interactive 3D map of the West Wing.
- Closer Look: Inside Obama's West Wing, The National Journal (March 25, 2011)
HathiTrust Certified as Trusted Repository by CRL
An important milestone for digital preservation of government information: CRL has completed its audit of HathiTrust, which contains digital copies of many printed government publications, and certified it as a "trusted repository." The audit uses the Trustworthy Repositories Audit and Certification checklist (TRAC), which is based on the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS).
- HathiTrust Audit Report 2011, Executive Summary, Center for Research Libraries
- PDF of Full Report on HathiTrust Audit 2011.