Latest Archive Web Publication from the National Security Archive
Yesterday, the National Security Archive (NSA) released documents that recounted the abuses committed by the Colombian Army. According to the NSA article, these documents describe how the Colombian military officers collaborated with the drug-trafficking paramilitary groups and used death squad tactics to tackle guerrillas. Continue reading
Bush Signing Statements Will Retire With Their Author
Bush Signing Statements Will Retire With Their Author, by Christopher Weaver, ProPublica, January 7, 2009.
"They will mean nothing" once Bush leaves office, said Stephen Saltzburg, a law professor at George Washington University and member of an American Bar Association task force that studied, and ultimately condemned, the practice of using signing statements to reject statutes. Presidents should veto laws they believe are unconstitutional, the task force said.Continue reading
Presidential Records Reform Act is the First Bill Passed by the New House
The National Coalition for History has the story: Presidential Records Reform Act is the First Bill Passed by the New House.
The end may finally be in sight to the seven-year battle historians and archivists have waged to overturn President Bush’s Executive Order 13233 of November 2001 that restricted access to presidential records. On January 7, 2009, the House of Representatives approved H.R. 35, the “Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2009,” by an overwhelmingly bi-partisan vote of 359-58. H.R. 35 was chosen by the House leadership as the first piece of substantive legislation passed in 2009 as a symbol of government transparency.Continue reading
Vivek Kundra – Tech Policy Advisor to Obama Administration
Vivek Kundra, the Chief Technology Officer of Washington, D.C., has adopted an uncommon approach for conducting the daily operations of the District's 86 agencies. YouTube is used to post information regarding the bidding process for city contracts. He and other DC government employees use Google Apps as a collaboration tool and for sharing information. Kundra believes that it encourages government transparency and improves government services. The Washington Post article mentioned that he may be a potential candidate for the new position of Federal Chief Technology Officer, which Obama intends to establish. Continue reading
34 to 13 Days to Government Information Liberation
Good to be back on the grid. My unexepected time away gave me a chance to gather some more threads together and plan for a post-liberation effort -- in other words, once we reach January 20, the new President joins the new Congress, what happens next? Well, just a few days after the swearing-in ceremony on the Hill, we are going into a season of library association meetings -- ALA in Denver, ACRL in Seatlle, and the Federal Depository Library council in Tampa -- in four short months. If these aren't opportunities to discuss and debate and organize about the future of government information services and civic engagement, then what are we doing with our time? In the meantime, in a brief response to Jim Jacobs thoughtful piece in response to my koan "Can there be librarians without libraries" -- don't confuse the lack of control over information with the inability to do anything positive or proactive about how public information is distributed through a democratic society. My ideal of librarians and their institutions in this changed environment does not suggest either of Jim's arguments that we will become travel agents or proto-business managers with responsibilities to manage the content management rights for a specific set of users. My argument lies less with what we will be doing in a digital world, and more with the notion that this library activity will not spring from possession (which is the same as control in Jim's argument I think), and more from mediation, context and praxis. Why is this? Even though Jim argues otherwise, the digital production and distribution of information/knowledge has upset the traditional relationships formed and exploited by librarians, users, and producers of information. Just check out the recent stories about publishers, bookstores, and other cultural institutions that aggregate (i.e. possess) information on behalf of their communities. But more on this in subsequent posts along that road to liberation and beyond. I missed you all and can't wait to get back into the thick of things. Continue reading