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
Obama’s Inaugural Speech: visualized, video-searchable
President Obama's inaugural speech has generated some interesting examples of how technology can be applied to government information when the information is freely available for use and re-use and not locked into government databases or proprietary formats. It is a small piece of text with a lot of public interest and high visibility and, therefore, ripe for these kinds of demonstrations and experiments. Of course, to make use of the information, we have to actually have a copy of it. Imagine what would happen if all government information was actually distributed in open formats to libraries so that we could build collections that were index-able, search-able, visually browsable, and analyzable in interesting ways. Imagine freeing government information from its .gov silos and integrating it with non-government information in digital collections created for particular virtual communities of interest. Imagine the future of digital collections that are as easily re-usable as this small bit of text. Check out these examples!
- Inaugural Words: 1789 to the Present, New York Times. "A look at the language of presidential inaugural addresses. The most-used words in each address appear in [an] interactive chart..., sized by number of uses. Words highlighted in yellow were used significantly more in this inaugural address than average."
- Visual of the Inaugural Address, ProPublica. [Compare this to the NYT version. Stop words matter!]
- Search Inside Obama’s Inaugural Speech. Delve Networks. "We invite you to experience President Obama’s inaugural speech using our search inside technology. To do this, type what you’re looking for into the player searchbar above. A heatmap will show you where information related to your topic appears in the speech. You can move your mouse over the heatmap to see the matches. Click to jump to that place in the speech."
President Obama’s New TIGR Team
A new group called the TIGR (Technology, Innovation and Government Reform) Team has been started by the Obama Administration. A recent article in Government Technology states that this group "is dedicated to fostering innovation within government." A link is provided to the YouTube video in which Vivek Kundra, the CTO of Washignton, D.C., and a member of the TIGR group discusses how this innovation would help to improve the efficiency of government programs. Continue reading