Big week for open access to government information
You almost certainly have seen at least one story in the past week about "Open Government" and the release of new data. Reporters have slowly been picking up on a massive release of information spurred by President Obama's Open Government Directive. (See: New 'high value' data posted to data.gov.) Below are a few announcements and stories that you may find of interest. But, in addition to all the data released this week was a new policy that will, potentially, affect usability of government information in the future. In the December 8, 2009 memo (Open Government Directive [pdf] Memorandum For The Heads Of Executive Departments And Agencies, M-10-06, Peter R. Orszag Director, Office of Management and Budget) that implemented the President's Open Government Initiative, OMB specifically mandates open file formats.
To increase accountability, promote informed participation by the public, and create economic opportunity, each agency shall take prompt steps to expand access to information by making it available online in open formats.And, OMB defines open formats as:
An open format is one that is platform independent, machine readable, and made available to the public without restrictions that would impede the re-use of that information.This is big news for two reasons. First, it should lead the government away from proprietary formats which are hard to preserve, hard to re-use, and typically require either proprietary software or only operate on specific platforms, or both. Think: documents in ODF format rather than Microsoft Word. Second, the directive mandates formats "without restrictions [on] re-use." Think: no DRM (and no licensing restrictions!). As the ODF Alliance noted back in December when the OMB memo was released, much of government information is still released in "documents" which are not ideal for re-use of information even when the document formats are open. But, this is still an important, essential step:
Like it or not, government bureaucracies are still very document-centric and there is a lot of government “data” stored in documents, the challenge being how to provide easy access to this data. ...With today's announcement, the Obama Administration has taken an important step on open government data and acknowledged the role open formats play in this regard. For document-centric governments, an open document format remains essential to delivering on this promise.Open formats will help libraries that want to preserve digital government information by making it easier and less costly to do so. Here are some of the announcements about releases of new government data:
-- Obama Administration To Require Government Agencies to Make Information Available in Open Formats. ODF Alliance, December 08, 2009.
- Open Government Initiative White House.
- Another Milestone In Making Government More Accessible and Accountable. White House.
- U.S. Government, OSTP, Open New Troves of Data to the Public
- Justice Department Announces Release of New Information Online as Part of President’s Open Government Initiative
- How "Open Gov" Datasets Affect Parents and Consumers. White House.
- Open Government Initiative. White House.
Chat with GPO: Helping GPO Identify Fugitive Publications
If you'd like to hone your skills at locating and reporting fugitive documents, check out this e-mail from GPO: ----------------------
From: Announcements from the Federal Depository Library Program [mailto:GPO-FDLP-L@LISTSERV.ACCESS.GPO.GOV] On Behalf Of FDLP Listserv Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:40 PM To: GPO-FDLP-L@LISTSERV.ACCESS.GPO.GOV Subject: Chat with GPO: Helping GPO Identify Fugitive Publications On Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 1:30PM EST, Joe McClane, Manager of GPO's Content Acquisitions and Linda Nainis, GPO's Acquisitions Librarian will discuss how documents librarians can help GPO identify fugitive publications. The presentation will feature a 30-minute slideshow that explains how GPO staff find fugitive documents and ways the community can help GPO improve the researching and processing of new documents. Time will be allocated at the end of the session for questions. Space is limited to the first 100 participants on a first come basis. GPO recommends arriving at least 10 minutes early in order to reserve your spot and test your connection. Connect to the GPO OPAL Room: <http://www.conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs38bb0e4b3a5a>. For more information on GPO's OPAL implementation and OPAL requirements, visit: <http://www.fdlp.gov/outreach/onlinelearning/68-opal>. _________________________________ If you have questions or comments, please use the askGPO help service at: <http://www.gpoaccess.gov/help>. When submitting a question, please choose the category "Federal Depository Libraries" and the appropriate subcategory, if any, in order to ensure that your question is routed to the correct area.----------------------- If you have an interest in identifying fugitive publications, I strongly encourage you to attend this OPAL session. The better reports that GPO has, the faster any given item will be cataloged. This benefits everyone. Hope to see you there. Continue reading
Critical commons adds to Hitler bunker remix meme
No doubt folks have seen at least 1 of the growing video remixes of Hitler in the bunker. Well here's a new one from Critical Commons that highlights digital scholarship, open courseware, and fair use. Nicely done.
Critical Commons provides information about current copyright law and its alternatives in order to facilitate the writing and dissemination of best practices and fair use guidelines for scholarly and creative communities. Critical Commons also functions as a showcase for innovative forms of electronic scholarship and creative production that are transformative, culturally enriching and both legally and ethically defensible. At the heart of Critical Commons is an online tool for viewing, tagging, sharing, annotating and curating media within the guidelines established by a given community. Our goal is to build open, informed communities around media-based teaching, learning and creativity, both inside and outside of formal educational environments.
New ‘high value’ data posted to data.gov
Government Posting Wealth of Data to Internet, By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, New York Times (January 22, 2010).
The Obama administration on Friday is posting to the Internet a wealth of government data from all Cabinet-level departments, on topics ranging from child car seats to Medicare services. ...Under a Dec. 8 White House directive, each department must post online at least three collections of "high-value" government data that never have been previously disclosed. ...All the new data collections will be added to the government's Web site, data.gov.Continue reading
data.gov.uk
The United Kingdom has it's own version of data.gov and it has the added cachet of being promoted and advised by Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
- data.gov.uk This site seeks to give a way into the wealth of government data. [T]his means it needs to be: easy to find; easy to licence; and easy to re-use. We are drawing on the expertise and wisdom of Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt to publish government data as RDF – enabling data to be linked together.
- Tim Berners-Lee unveils government data project, BBC (21 January 2010). Web founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee has unveiled his latest venture for the UK government, which offers the public better access to official data. A new website, data.gov.uk, will offer reams of public sector data, ranging from traffic statistics to crime figures, for private or commercial use.