The Words They Used
The Words They Used, by MATTHEW ERICSON, New York Times, September 4, 2008. "The words that speakers used at the two political conventions show the themes that the parties have highlighted." This is a bubble graph of number of times words were used per 25,000 words spoken and a list of which speakers used which words. Ericson has done a good job of looking at phrases as well as individual words, of combining similar words and phrases, and of noting phrases that have very little or no use by one or both parties. Another good example of how, when we have access to the "raw data" (as opposed to transaction-based, search-and-retrieve, one-page-at-a-time access), the data can be used, re-used, and analyzed. Continue reading
Getting Documents from NARA about NARA – UPDATE
[Cross posted on LegalResearchPlus] About one month ago, I posted an item about the difficulty of getting documents about NARA from NARA -- the entry was based on an article written by Anthony Clark (Why Is It So Hard to Get Documents from the National Archives About the National Archives?, History News Network, July 21, 2008). Here is an update to this very interesting story. On the Archivists' Forum, there is a recent entry from Anthony Clark detailing the latest ups and (mostly) downs of this saga. Clark writes:
"Some readers may know that I have had great difficulty accessing NARA's own records for my research into presidential libraries and NL, or NARA's Office of Presidential Libraries (see http://hnn.us/articles/52350.html) for more information). What you might not know is that in July NARA offered me a deal" - if I dropped all of my pending FOIA requests for NL's records, they would commit to systematically process all of NL's records - some 230 boxes - at a rate of nine boxes per month, until all boxes have been processed and made available. Just a few weeks later, not only did NARA "take back" part of that offer (while claiming it was never made), they have now reneged on it completely. I was so shocked by what NARA did today that I felt I had to make the list aware of what they had done. [Full details available on the Forum page.]"As I hear more about this NARA-tive, I'll be sure to pass it along. Continue reading
Not the impact I hoped for
My apologies for anyone who relied on my post "Catloging Gets Results in Alaska." Revised data has forced me to retract my claim. Please see details at http://freegovinfo.info/node/1940. But don't be afraid to share information and new ideas. Sometimes we're going to be wrong. That's just the nature of the game. But we as a community are stronger when we share information and admit our mistakes as well as celebrate our successes. Continue reading
Two new federal government blogs
Two new blogs appeared on the USA.gov Blogs from the U.S. Government page recently:
- Arctic Chronicles, by Jessica Robertson, Public Affairs Specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey. She will be documenting her journey to the Arctic as she accompanies scientists on an expedition to map the seafloor.
- The Energy Savers Blog, which aims to provide "a place for consumers to learn about and discuss energy efficiency and renewable technologies at home, on the road, and in the workplace."
Please welcome Starr Hoffman to the podium
Hi all. We're starting a little late this month due to the labor day holiday. Please welcome to the podium Starr Hoffman, digital librarian from the University of North Texas (more bio here). Take it away Starr! And we really need to thank Acting Superintendent of Documents, Ric Davis for joining us last month. Ric posted quite a few interesting and thought-provoking posts (below). This was a great opportunity for Ric and the Government Printing Office to reach out to the library community, so I would strongly suggest that readers go to those posts and submit comments. Thanks again, Ric. We really appreciate your efforts! Continue reading