Open Source code from the White House!
White House contributes to open-source project, GCN (Apr 22, 2010).
Much of the [White House website] is already open source as part of the Drupal project.... Today's release [of open source code for Whitehouse.gov] adds custom code to Drupal, making the White House a participant in open-source development. The release adds four modules to enhance three key characteristics: scalability, communication and accessibility.See the announcement "WhiteHouse.gov Releases Open Source Code" Posted by Dave Cole on April 21, 2010 at 04:26 PM EDT at http://www.whitehouse.gov/tech. Continue reading
April 2010 Lost Docs Report and Appeal
REPORT For this first time since we started the Lost Docs Blog, we had no false positives. None of the 38 reports made to GPO and posted by us were in the Catalog of Government Publications at the time the report was made. The reports were sent to lostdocs@freegovinfo.info in late March and April. Some of the original reports to lostdocs@GPO were made in February, but not sent to us until late March. One of the 38 reported items that were posted to the blog in April has been cataloged by GPO since the initial report. This item was Tornado Protection: Selecting Refuge Areas in Buildings. You can find the report and cataloging date at http://lostdocs.freegovinfo.info/2010/04/tornado-protection-selecting-refuge-areas-in-buildings/. We are appreciative that this was cataloged. APPEAL If you like the concept of a public listing of fugitive documents reported to GPO, there are a number of easy ways to help us:
- If you report a fugitive document to GPO, send your e-mailed receipt to lostdocs@freegovinfo.info. We welcome any item reported to GPO in the past month. It is best if you can send us the receipt the same day you get it from GPO. Some e-mail programs will support auto-forwarding. If so, please consider autoforwarding items where the subject contains "lostdocs submission."
- Visit the blog at lostdocs.freegovinfo.info and comment on the listed items. Comments can include -- Did your library receive the item? Did you find it in the CGP? Do you think the item is out of scope for the CGP? Did you report the item as well and so on.
- Post the blog link to your website or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media.
- Subscribe to the blog feed at lostdocs.freegovinfo.info/feed/ or better yet incorporate the feed into your website or blog.
Historically Relevant Links
The American Historical Association blog, AHA Today, has a wonderful weekly feature called "What we are reading." This week's edition has several entries that I think you will find interesting:
- How future historians will use the Twitter archives, By Christopher Beam, Slate (April 20, 2010).
- 21st Century Public History, Part I, Sharon Leon at the Center for History and New Media (April 21st, 2010).
- The Tea Party Challenge, By Erik Christiansen and Jeremy Sullivan, Inside Higher Ed (April 23, 2010).
Open-Government Related News
The Sunlight Foundation is starting an experiment that they are calling "the day in transparency." Every day, they will post a selection of transparency-related news stories, upcoming hearings on the hill, and related legislation introduced in Congress. They are currently posting the stories at http://www.theopenhouseproject.com/, but may move these announcements to their own blog home soon.
- The Day in Transparency 4/27/2010 by Eric Naing.
Printable Congressional District Maps: Behind The Scenes
Printable Congressional District Maps: Behind The Scenes, Joshua Tauberer, February 26th, 2010. I missed this when it came out a couple of months ago, so this may be old news to some of you. Seems worth mentioning for those who missed it.
Today I’m releasing print-quality maps of congressional districts, with street-level detail and county border lines. This has been one of the most sought-after resources based on emails I’ve received over the last some four years and I don’t think you can find this anywhere else. (At least not comprehensively for the whole nation. Local state clerk’s offices may have them. NationalAtlas.gov has maps but not with very much detail.) This was a solid 2-day project with less than 300 lines of code and it’s something that only recently became this easy to do.Continue reading