NASA Video Mashups
Thanks to BoingBoing.net for posting about NASA's "remixable videos", audio clips, and images, as well as a DIY Podcasts page.
You can mix and mash these video clips with NASA images and your own narration, original video, special effects and transitions. Preview the video and download the clips you want to use in your creative masterpiece.I hope the collection grows. It looks like the only remixable videos so far are about spacesuits. Anyway, I thought this would be fun for those of you who love mashups! I become more and more impressed with the NASA website and all the cool stuff it has to offer. I hope they continue to post more remixable videos and audio files for us to download and manipulate. Continue reading
Won’t Get Fooled Again: Day 14
The Obama administration is well into the civic wilderness of administration at the national level. Several nominations have faltered and failed. The extremely critical , and massive, economic recovery legislation is wallowing in the half-century long trench philosophical warfare between democrats and republicans. Obama attempts to include the republicans in the discussion, they continue to hold their approval. So far the age of bipartisan tranquility is still aborning. Though the election in November clearly pointed the way to a desired change, our political parties do not want to follow the suggestion. While the quick cannon shot of opportunity fades with time, the Government Printing Office announced today the first public release of FDsys. Described as "a one-stop site to authentic, published government information. FDsys allows GPO to receive information from federal agencies in all three branches of government and create a repository for permanent, public access. More than 154,000 documents are currently accessible, with additional documents being added daily. FDsys offers incredible search capabilities for users such as: searching by Congressional Committee, a Member of Congress, keyword and date. FDsys will replace GPOAccess in mid-2009 and releases with additional functionality will occur throughout the next several years." The upshot for this small milestone on the journey to ALA's summer conference -- the more things change, the more they stay the same. We have our work cut out for us. While the GPO continues to evolve in many good ways, and while we have a President whose rhetoric and policy perspective mirrors our own civic sensibilities, we should not be too surprised by the staying power of partisan muck to gum up the civic machinery of hope and change. See you on Day 15. Continue reading
Won’t Get Fooled Again: Day 13
Almost two weeks gone since Liberation Day. I got to say the signs are still thumbs up for the optimists who believe government, and its information infrastructure, can be a positive force in our country. Obama talks of upgrading the digital aspects of the health care system; parts of the economic recovery legislation moving through Congress want to throw billions of dollars at securing broadband access to areas and communities now without any easy access to the web. And the debacle regarding the switch to digital television by February 17 might be mitigated by a four month extension. So librarians, and their allies, still have reason to hope -- but there are some cautionary tales out there. In Slate magazine there is an article about the digital poverty in the National Archives. And the New York Times throws cold cautionary water on the hot possibilities the stimulus package would level the digital playing field. It is the old "if we build it they will come" debate. What I find more interesting is the intersection between this story and the delay in digital television switch over. The ostensible reason the broadcast TV grid is going digital is provide more of the public's broadcast spectrum to other information streams, like accessing the internet. So where are the dots connected here? Here is an interesting article that touches upon these nuances -- Broadband access for all: The economic and political implications of municipal wireless networks. See you on Day 14. Continue reading
More on the Federal CTO
The Federal Chief Technology Officer (CTO) position to be created by the Obama administration has been on the radar of government information specialists for some time (check out Chella Vaidyanathan's recent comments on one of the high profile candidates, Vivek Kundra). Via Mark Drapeau's Twitter stream, take a look at a recent CRS report on the new position. The report reviews the history of the CIO Council established by President Clinton in 1996, and discusses the similarly widespread nature of CTO responsibilities throughout federal agencies.
Among the early challenges a CTO may face are defining and communicating the roles of the position; identifying and recruiting talent, from both inside and outside of government; and negotiating domains of responsibilities, formal and informal, within the White House (if that is where the Obama Administration or Congress decides to establish a CTO) and with executive branch agencies that have overlapping missions. Beyond these initial challenges, a CTO would need to establish goals and milestones, set priorities, secure resources, and develop and execute a strategy. If the position or office of a CTO is not established by Congress and provided with statutory authorities and a dedicated budget, it may be difficult for a CTO to affect change in individual federal agencies or systemically throughout the federal government. In such a case, the efficacy of a CTO may depend largely on the mandate provided by President Obama to a CTO (and agencies’ perception of the mandate), the imprimatur of the White House, and the personal attributes of a CTO (e.g., relationship with the President, past accomplishments, knowledge, professional reputation, persuasiveness). Perhaps one of the most difficult and enduring challenges a CTO may face would be “turf wars” associated with overlapping responsibilities with other executive agencies and their principals on issues such as technology and innovation policy, computer and network security, and intellectual property enforcement...When the plan for the CTO position is finalized, it may benefit the government information community to develop a message and a means to share it with the CTO in a way that is tailored to the powers and capabilities of the position. Our concerns about transparency certainly complement the stated concerns of the new administration, and while the new CTO may be hearing messages from throughout the government, our message deserves to be heard. Continue reading
Call for articles for DttP
Hi all. I'm forwarding this announcement for article submissions to Documents to the People (DttP), the official journal of the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT). I hope you'll consider submitting an article! (Editor's note: I'm currently the chair of the GODORT Publications Committee, which has oversight of the DttP editorial staff. However, there is no relationship between FGI and GODORT.)
Announcement: The editors of Documents to the People (DttP) announce a call for proposals for the Fall 2009 issue. DttP: Documents to the People is the official publication of the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) of the American Library Association (ALA). DttP features articles on local, state, national, and international government information, government activities, and documents the professional activities of GODORT. All topics relevant to the mission of the journal and GODORT are welcome. Brief proposals of 250-500 words are due by March 1, 2009. Notifications to authors of acceptance for the Fall 2009 issue will be made by March 15, 2009. Full manuscripts of 2,500-3,000 words are due by July 1, 2009. Style and manuscript information can be found in the DttP instructions for authors Please note that while this is a call for proposals for the Fall 2009 issue, we will use the pool of submissions for content of future issues - particularly Spring and Summer 2010. Please send queries and proposals to one or both of the Dttp co-lead editors: Beth Clausen phone: 847-491-2891 b-clausen AT northwestern DOT edu or Valerie Glenn phone: 205-348-4971 vglenn AT gmail DOT comContinue reading