Obama’s Inauguration Via Web 2.0
For detailed information on the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, take a look at this website. An Inaugural Events Calendar is also available. You can track the inauguration ceremony using Twitter and Facebook or watch the Inauguration's Channel on YouTube. The Presidential Inaugural Committee even has photostream for the event on Flickr. Continue reading
2 Days to Government Information Liberation
There's President-elect Obama and Vice-President Elect Joe Biden riding that crown jewel of 19th-century technology, the railroad. The two are riding into a city that was laid out by a French man with dreams of a urban an landscape that would match the 18th century democratic ideals of a new country. When Biden and Obama stand on the western portico of the nation's capitol -- watched by millions strung along the broad vistas of the national mall, as weill as through the hundreds of digital and analog media channels -- and they look west to the Washington Monument, their vista will be one largely framed by another Chicagoan over a hundred years ago -- Daniel H. Burnham, who also designed the Union Station where the train arrived on Saturday. Mr. Burnham's plans for Washington, D.C. were considered by many to be the first 20th century examples of how expertise and technology could make vast urban areas more livable and productive. A promise he ultimately capped with his heralded 1909 Plan of Chicago. All of this is simply a lyrical way to show hw the moment of Obama's official assumption of duties occurs in a rich, and deeply interconnected, context of history, present and future. It is a condition librarians can understand and appreciate -- considering we are learning to live with the transformation of our 19th century collection/ideals or paper and print and trying to imagine how they will work in a new century dominated by digital demands of e-government and the private world wide web. As we discuss, plan, scheme, argue, advocate, debate, insist, and talk (and talk) about the future plans of civic information mechanisms, let us keep constantly in mind that as much as the digital wonders change how we do things -- the substance of what we do as civic librarians does not change – ensuring the sustainability and openness of the civic conversation between the governed and their governors. I hope Obama's speech on Tuesday captures some of this essential truth. See you on Day 2. Continue reading
Guide of the Week: Surface Transportation
Note: In three days, President Elect Obama will officially become our 44th President. On John Shuler's calendar, it will be day zero for government information liberation. While I'll drink a toast that day as soon as I'm off duty, the "Transition edition" of Guide of the Week will continue until we finish off GAO's 13 critical issues on February 7, 2009. The Government Accountability Office recently identified surface transportation 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 are three librarian produced guides on the Handout Exchange which look useful:
- Government Documents on Railroads (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 2002) CC Last updated 3/10/2008
- Government Documents on Transportation (Bert Chapman, Purdue University, 1999)Last updated 3/10/2008
- Transportation as a Civil Rights Issue (Sally Lawler, University of Michigan, 2004) Last updated 7/5/2007
Can you take a bus to Detroit Metro Airport? to downtown Detroit? Can you commute to work on Amtrak? Get around the city and suburbs on a mass transit system? In contrast, think about the number of highways in and around Detroit and the amount of time news channels spend on traffic reports.While not part of the Handout Exchange Wiki, people interested in surface transportation issues should also check out state transportation department databases linked from another ALA GODORT project, State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States. Some of the available databases include:
- California - Caltrans Cost Data - This database contains cost data at the bid item level for contracts from 1993 to the present, and is updated approximately every other week. From 2002 to present, the data includes bid data from non-awarded bidders as well. Search is by item code/description, bidder, district/county, year, price and quantity.
- Colorado - Transportation Statistics and Data - "Information is provided on current and projected traffic volumes, state highway attributes, summary roadway statistics, demographics and geographic data. Listings, calculators, GIS shape files, maps and database files are provided to access data that are used and maintained by CDOT."
- Iowa - Bridges in Iowa - Requires Google Earth. From the website, "To provide increased access to bridge information, the Iowa DOT has developed a Web program that allows Iowans to pinpoint a state highway bridge in their area using Google Earth software and Iowa DOT data. Information available online now includes the year a bridge was originally constructed and reconstructed, if it has undergone major work, the average daily traffic count, the highway it carries and feature crossed, and its national bridge sufficiency rating."
- Ohio - Bridge Photos - Access photos of Ohio bridges by county.
Newly Declassified Documents on the Iranian Nuclear Program, 1974-1978
The National Security Archive has released a new set of declassified documents that focus on the Iranian Nuclear Program from 1974-1978. These documents show that during the 1970s the Shah of Iran claimed that his country had a right to pursue nuclear technology and that both the Ford and Carter administrations were concerned that it might lead to the production of nuclear weapons. Continue reading
Lunchtime Listen: Greg Elin on One Click Disclosure
Here is a short, informative interview from NPR. You can listen online or download. It is only about 6 minutes long -- more of a coffee-break listen! One Click Disclosure, On the Media, (January 16, 2009). "Government spending data has long been publicly available but it's never been easier to find and interpret. That's thanks to USAspending.gov, a site created by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 which was sponsored by Tom Coburn and Barack Obama. The Sunlight Foundation's Greg Elin explains what makes the site so revolutionary. " Continue reading