Mapping the Response to BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico
Have questions about how the federal government is responding to the BP oil spill? This new web site seeks to provide answers.
- Mapping the Response to BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of Interior.
The dynamic nature of the BP oil spill has been a challenge for a range of communities -- from hotel operators to fishermen to local community leaders.... GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse is a new online tool that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. Developed by NOAA with the EPA, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of Interior, the site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information. The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill's trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources -- such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships -- into one customizable interactive map. GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA®) a web-based GIS platform developed by NOAA and the University of New Hampshire’s Coastal Response Research Center.Continue reading
Steven Aftergood on Wikileaks
Steven Aftergood from the Federation of American Scientists has a thoughtful review of Wikileaks on Secrecy News today. He says that some of what Wikileaks does is "not whistleblowing and it is not journalism. It is a kind of information vandalism" and that "calling WikiLeaks a whistleblower site does not accurately reflect the character of the project."
- Wikileaks Fails “Due Diligence” Review. by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News (June 28th, 2010) From one perspective, WikiLeaks is a creative response to a real problem afflicting the U.S. and many other countries, namely the over-control of government information to the detriment of public policy. WikiLeaks has published a considerable number of valuable official records that had been kept unnecessarily secret and were otherwise unavailable... [but] WikiLeaks must be counted among the enemies of open society because it does not respect the rule of law nor does it honor the rights of individuals.
CQ report on Offshore Drilling
CQ Researcher has a new report on offshore drilling. As usual for such report, there are lots of good references to government publications.
- Offshore Drilling: Is tougher federal oversight needed? By Thomas J. Billitteri, CQ Researcher (June 25, 2010m Volume 20, Issue 24). [subscription required]
OMB: Federal policy on web cookies changing
Online 'Cookies' Crumble Under Tougher Fed Guidelines, by Chris Strohm, Tech Daily Dose (June 25, 2010). An OMB spokesman said that the federal government is issuing new policies today governing how agencies may use Web "cookie" files and other technologies to collect information from visitors to government Websites. Continue reading
A website that tracks promises in race for California Governor
While government information specialists mostly focus on information by the government, our users also want and need information about the government and the political process. Here is an interesting case of a website that tracks the political promises of those running for governor in California.
- Politics Verbatim collects and categorizes the promises, proposals, arguments and attacks made by the two major-party candidates for governor in California, Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown. The site allows voters to drill down on issues and hold the candidates accountable.
- California Watch launches Politics Verbatim, by Mark Katches, California Watch blog (June 21, 2010) "Check out the search tool that Davis created. It allows readers to sort candidate statements by nine different categories – including promises, attacks, and vague policy points. If they dodge an issue or a subject, there’s a search category for that, too. Readers can also sort by geography, to see where the candidates have been appearing – and what parts of the state they’ve been ignoring.... "The candidates’ statements are sorted by 26 topics -- from abortion to welfare."