Archive-It Wiretapping and the National Security Agency Collection
John Gilmore is an open software proponent, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and perhaps most importantly an Archive-It partner (as an independent researcher). His Archive-It collections focus on open access to government information and policy as well as free and open source software. John has been archiving sites related to wiretapping and the National Security Agency since 2007. Describing the reasons for creating this collection, John says:
"I'm trying to record and make searchable some documents related to the controversy over NSA wiretapping domestically without warrants, or with general warrants, which the Fourth Amendment outlaws. "This collection demonstrates how the recent change in administration has opened up further crawler access to the National Security Agency (NSA) website. Previously, most NSA web content was blocked to the Archive-It crawler (as well as other crawlers) using the robots.txt exclusion protocol. Looking at their old exclusion list, for example this one from 2008 you can just how much of their website was blocked from crawler access. (all the directories listed could not be accessed). Since January 17, 2009 however crawlers have access to much more content. At the Internet Archive, we have noticed similar changes in other .gov websites including www.whitehouse.gov (compare this version from 2006 to the current exclusion list). Its exciting to know that moving forward John and other Archive-It partners will be able to collect more complete snapshots of government websites. -Molly and Lori Continue reading
Update on Data.Gov
Sunlight Labs has an update on the status of data.gov: Data.gov gets an update, by Clay, Sunlight Labs, June 19 2009.
Data.gov has given itself a slight upgrade, adding a bunch more feeds. To compensate, Data.gov has turned itself into three subcatalogs: A raw data catalog, a tool catalog and a geodata catalog.Continue reading
National Archives now on YouTube
www.youtube.com/USNationalArchives Thanks and a tip of the hat to Kate. Continue reading
Idaho Digital Publications Archive
As an Idahoan, I was excited to learn that the Idaho Commission for Libraries and the Idaho state legislature have made preserving and providing digital access to government publications and other information a priority. First a little background: the Idaho Commission for Libraries is the State Library of Idaho, and assists libraries throughout the state to build the capacity to better serve their clientele. The Commission has been charged with the responsibility of establishing and maintaining a digital repository of state publications in a publicly accessible database in revised Idaho Code 33-2505. Many state publications are preserved and made available online here. To further achieve this end, the Idaho Commission for Libraries has used Archive-it to preserve Idaho state government websites in their Idaho Digital Publications collection. This collection includes websites for state departments, universities, local and statewide initiatives, and even the first lady’s website. Check it out! -Lori Continue reading
LOC to Capture #sotomayor Tweets
The Library of Congress announced via their Twitter account, that:
LOC will capture tweets on #sotomayor for its web archives on the Sotomayor nomination. http://www.loc.gov/webcapture/Here is a list of some of the latest web capture projects they are working on:
Supreme Court Nominations 2009 The Supreme Court Nominations 2009 Web Archive will be a selective collection of Web sites archived between June 2009 through the completion of the hearings process. Web sites collected will include materials produced by watchdog, public policy, and political advocacy groups, blogs and tweets, community and religious organizations, foreign and domestic news sources, educational and research institutions, and independent websites. Collection dates: June 2009 through confirmation hearings. Indian General Elections The Library's Delhi Overseas Operations Office is documenting the ongoing process of India general election in 2009. Presidential Transition During a Time of Crises Web Archive Presidential Transition During a Time of Crises Web Archive will be a selective collection of Web sites archived between January 2009 and June 2009. Web sites collected will include materials produced by domestic and foreign political groups, community and religious organizations, advocacy groups, foreign and domestic news sources, and independent websites. Collection dates: January 2009 - June 2009. The collection will be evaluated prior to completion and may be extended.I would suggest they start archiving the tweets about the #iranelection (see earlier blog post) by James R. Jacobs. Continue reading