The Guantánamo Docket
ProPublica points out (Gitmo Database Details 779 Prisoners’ Cases, by Eric Umansky, ProPublica, January 15, 2009) that the New York Times has an interesting resource:
One of the handiest—and least-noticed—places for finding that information is the New York Times’ Guantanamo Bay Docket. Launched quietly on November 3, the searchable database has government documents on all of the prisoners the Pentagon has acknowledged have been held at Gitmo. 779 have been detained there since 2002; 248 remain there today.Continue reading
Rethinking usa.gov
The Sunlight Foundation has interesting thoughts (and images!) of what a better USA.gov might look like and how it might function:
- Rethinking usa.gov, Sunlight Labs Blog, January 23 2009.
In thinking about a new structure and new design for usa.gov we had a few goals that we wanted to accomplish. They basically were: letting the user customize and personalize the content that was displayed on the site, having better structure and navigation, and just having a cleaner, more powerful overall look to the site. ...Taking that idea a step further would be pulling content from other government websites. For example, if you have student loans and what to see your balance, or if you just need to know where you’re currently registered to vote, wouldn’t it be nice to see all of that content in one place?Check it out and add your comments! Continue reading
Guide of the Week: Retirement of the Space Shuttle
President Obama was sworn in on January 20th, but we're still continuing the "75 days until Government Information Liberation" inspired "Guide of the Week: Transition Issues edition until we finish all of the 13 "urgent issues" identified by the GAO. The Government Accountability Office recently identified Retirement of the Space Shuttle as one of 13 urgent issues facing the next President and Congress. Today on Guide of the Week, we'll talk about some librarian produced guides from the ALA GODORT Exchange Wiki that can help inform citizens, Congress and President-Elect Obama on this issue. There appear to be two librarian-produced guides that can provide information about the Space Shuttle and its possible successors:
- Government Documents on Space Policy (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 2001) CC Last updated 3/10/2008
- Space (University of Colorado at Boulder Government Publications Library, 2008)
NH state government digital library
New Web site makes NH govt publications available, Associated Press, January 23, 2009.
The service was designed to provide access to the growing number of State of New Hampshire agency publications that are available in digital format. It serves as a permanent archive of publications that would otherwise become unavailable when state agencies update their Web sites.New Hampshire State Library
The New Hampshire State Publications Digital Library is a database that provides easy and permanent access to born-digital publications created by agencies of the State of New Hampshire. All publications are in the public domain unless otherwise noted.Continue reading
Won’t Get Fooled Again: Day 3
Wow. I just watched the dvr'd version of Obama's remarks. Wow. Two things are remarkable to me as I sit here and think about what I just saw. First, his remarks are stitched together with both subtle and outright references to the mother of all government information sources: the constitution and bill of rights. Have I been such a cynic for so long when I listen to our politicians that I have forgotten the civic wonder contained within that foundational document? Second, or perhaps I was equally stunned to hear a politician who can think in complete, metaphoric, and appealing sentences. I do not remember him once glancing down at any notes, or obviously towards a teleprompter. What's more, is it just me, or has nearly thirty years of banging the drum of "the government is the problem, not the solution." rant really deaden any sense of optimism in most of us? To hear one of our presidents speak of a government with such positive (and realistic) tone -- why does it feel like walking into a bright shining patch of sunlight after toiling so long through a dark and confusing forest? I can understand much better how the promise of this one politician married to the reach and power of the information technologies that it seems we have rediscovered the ruins of our humble information tribe's former city. Documents to the people indeed. I can only redouble my urgency and encourage all of you to contribute to the great discussion now being joined about the future of the federal depository library program. This is the first president, and perhaps the first congress as well, who share in a civic vision where the expansiveness of the democratic and civic possibilities of a well ordered digital library system just might be in reach. Before I return with a gimlet-eyed weariness to the civic project, I am going to enjoy this moment of rediscovered idealism in the democratic experiment. See you on Day 4. Continue reading