Technology and the Obama Administration
Here is a good overview of some of the technology issues and opportunities that the Obama administration will be dealing with soon.
- What's Next For Obama's Wired White House?, by Sarah Lai Stirland, CongressDaily, "Issue Of The Week" (Jan. 12, 2009).
For example, instead of static Web pages and disparate formats, such as PDF files and other kinds of database-generated files that each department comes up with when presenting public information, each department may have to start standardizing the formats of their streams of information so that those seeking access will find it more useable and ready to analyze. One example of this idea already underway is at the SEC, which has required since Jan. 1 that all public corporations and mutual funds file their financial reports in a specific Web format known as eXtensible Business Reporting Language. The idea is that the information would become more accessible on the Web, and to the public at large. The information would be available in a format that Web applications and spiders could more easily interpret than a simple text of PDF file. As a result, it would become more accessible to the public in a more timely fashion -- rather than being buried and obscured in a database.In a 2007 interview at Google with YouTube's News and Politics Editor Steve Grove, Obama said
"If we can apply technology to some of the biggest issues we face, [such as ] health care, energy, or education, then we can leap over some of the problems that have been plaguing us for a very, very long time. And one of the things that I've seen is that technology gets pushed aside as something separate, when in fact, it's really an opportunity to make progress that we haven't seen in a long time."Continue reading
Congress on YouTube
Congress Comes to YouTube, by Steve Grove, YouTube blog, January 12, 2009. YouTube Teams With Congress to Show Lawmakers at Work By Miguel Helft, New York Times, January 12, 2009.
On Monday, YouTube, in collaboration with Congress, will unveil two new Web pages, one for the House and one for the Senate, where every lawmaker will be able to create a video channel on the site. Already several members of Congress have channels on YouTube. But by creating a central hub for all senators and representatives, YouTube is hoping to encourage more members to create their own channels, not only as a place to promote their agendas but also as a forum for interacting with citizens.The Senate Hub: youtube.com/senatehub The House Hub youtube.com/househub Continue reading
Not Your Father’s Censorship
Not Your Father's Censorship, Quasi-monopolies and wary governments curb Web freedoms, by HARRY LEWIS, The Chronicle of Higher Education: "The Chronicle Review", Volume 55, Issue 19, Page B9. [subscription required, but freely available here for a short time]
Now, with almost everything digitized, new communication technologies have led to a global proliferation of censorship agents, methods, and rationales.... Should we feel comfortable relying almost exclusively on private companies to help us find the truth, when we cannot know what version of the truth they are showing us?... Storing information and making it available are now service businesses, and therein lies another censorship opportunity.... U.S. copyright law is such a heavy club that it can abet censorship by parties that simply object to what people are saying about them....Harry Lewis is a professor of computer science at Harvard University and a fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. He is a co-author of Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion (Addison-Wesley, 2008). Continue reading
FEMA on YouTube, Twitter
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) now has its own channel on Youtube: youtube.com/fema and its own twitter feed: twitter.com/femainfocus. And, of course, it has a number of RSS feeds, fema.gov/help/rss.shtm. More here: FEMA In Focus: Where FEMA Was, Is Now, and Where FEMA Is Going, FEMA Press Release HQ-09-004, January 7, 2009. FEMA starts channel on YouTube, By Alice Lipowicz, FCW.com, Jan 08, 2009. Continue reading
Obama Plans to Digitize Health Records
A special report from CNN.com states that Obama plans to digitize health records within the next five years. This is one of the endeavors to restore the economy as government estimates that this program will create around 212,000 jobs. However, there are some concerns about it because: 1) Commonwealth Fund, RAND, and Harvard have conducted independent studies which reveal that this program would cost between $75-100 billion dollars over the implementation period. The major cost will be incurred in traning the work force. 2) At present, only "about 8% of the nation's 5,000 hospitals and 17% of its 800,000 physicians currently use the kind of common computerized record-keeping systems that Obama envisions for the whole nation." 3) The privacy of patients must be protected as the nationalized system may be affected by system failures and hackers. Obama asserts that this program will create new jobs, cut medical costs, and save $200-300 billion per year for the health industry. Continue reading