Veterans’ Affairs institutes rights management software
The Veterans' Affairs Administration has recently instituted Microsoft’s Rights Management Services (RMS) (AKA DRM) to "manage" security of internal documents, email, handheld traffic. This sounds to me like a REALLY bad idea on so many levels, especially for a government that plays loose with emails, has a problem with classification and transparency. This seems to me a nuclear solution to a manageable social problem (duh! don't put home records of more than 26 millions veterans on a laptop PC that can be stolen!!), and one that will have far-reaching affect on open and transparent government. "VA gets its rights: Department specifies how people can use — or not use — documents employees create." By Joab Jackson. Government Computer News, 3/3/08.
Perhaps not surprisingly, VA has become one of the earliest adopters — and thus far, the largest — of rights management software with its use of Microsoft’s Rights Management Services (RMS). VA expected that by press time all employees would be able to set restrictions on what can be done with the documents they create. When Word, PowerPoint or Excel files, or Outlook e-mail messages are sent to others, the authors can set permissions on what the recipients can do with those documents. The creator of the document can decide whether it can be printed, forwarded or edited by other people. It’s the employee’s or the agency’s call. Moreover, the documents are encrypted, so anyone without the appropriate permissions cannot see the contents. "This ability provides our agency and users the assurance that only the author of the content or someone that has been given full-control permission to the content can remove the persistent protection from the e-mails and documents," De Sanno said. "For instance, say I send you an e-mail and RMS that message," De Sanno said. "I can actually say you cannot print this [document], or that you cannot forward this. Or, it can evaporate in 30 days." Among employees, contractors and other people, more than 250,000 individuals will shortly begin using this feature, the agency said.Continue reading
Creating Gov Doc “Libraries” in Google Books
Digitized Government Documents in Google Books has been written about quite a lot over here at the FGI (check them out) and I'd like to revisit this topic again but with a different focus.
I was searching for Civil War era government documents for a History Professor, and I realized that we did not own one of the documents he sought. Before suggesting that he interlibrary loan a copy of this document, I decided to search online for a full-text digitized version. Alas, it did not exist in the digital realm, but I did find some other digitized gov docs pertaining to his research needs in Google Books. We were both elated, he because I had found what he needed, and I because so many documents I found digitized on Google Books were the same documents we had lost to mold and water damage from Hurricane Rita!
Out of curiosity, I did a Google Book search for other types of government publications and found these gems:
Trial of the Conspirators, for the Assassination of President Lincoln
Illustrations of the Gross Morbid Anatomy of the Brain in the Insane (isn't that a Cypress Hill song? Nevermind...) by the Government Hospital for the Insane.
How it Feels to be the Husband of a Suffragette (not published by the Government Printing Office, but it is a book housed in the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection in the Library of Congress).
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion
Most of these documents were scanned at large research universities or depositories, but the quality is not always decent andcan sometimes border on the illegible. I was quite amused when I discovered a staff person's hand digitized on this document's cover:
However, there are bigger snafus than a digitized librarian's hand. For example, despite government documents being in the public domain, Google Books treats most post-1922 (i.e. post-copyright law) government documents as copyrighted material by only allowing a limited view! For more details, please read James Jacobs' post on this issue.
Despite all these issues (which have yet to be resolved), I decided to take advantage of the access to full-text, pre-1922 government documents and create a McNeese Gov Docs "Library"account in Google Books for my depository. The account also allows you to subscribe to updates of its holdings via an RSS feed. I put a link to the library account and the RSS feed on my depository's homepage and our "Gov Guides" wiki. I'll add more of these interesting and old documents as I come across them, especially those pertaining to Louisiana or documents that were lost to Hurricane Rita.
Here are some tips for finding gov docs in Google Books: Use Advanced Search, and in the Publisher field, type in Govt OR GPO OR "Government Printing Office". You can also search by agency, (i.e. "Department of the Interior") by typing the name of the agency in the Author field.
Have fun exploring and building your own digital collections, but please let me know if you find some really cool gov docs, ok? Continue reading
Lunchtime listen: Karen Schneider at Code4lib conference
For some reason I just went back to review the keynote given by Karen Schneider -- aka Free Range Librarian -- at the 2007 Code4Lib conference. I found some really great practical tidbits for talking about open source in libraries as well as some food for thought. So please take the 50 minutes to sit back and enjoy Karen's most interesting talk. You'll be glad you did!
- @ the 19min mark...seizing control of the tools we know we need to have and that we can create oursleves...we're really in a renaissance of librarian-built software for the first time it's like we're shaking ourselves awake and really grabbing hold, seizing the day. Librarian-built software begins to restore the balance of power in our profession...
- @27min mark (slide 16), there's an interesting exchange about open source including stereotypes of open source and how to talk to directors about open source at @ 36min.
- Slide 32 = every library needs a developer
- 48min mark = Q&A from Dan Chudnov discussing free software and Schneider's over-simplification that there's no free software. Dan points out that there's a higher level of conversation about free software that needs to happen.
Presidential Libraries and Museums and EO 13233
Presidential libraries have historical problem, Commentary By Benjamin Hufbauer, Chicago Tribune, March 3, 2008. Also available here from NewsBank (subscription required).
The problem with presidential libraries is that there is often tension between what presidents want -- whitewashed memorials that attempt to enhance their reputations through propaganda -- and what historians and the public want -- accessible archives and good history museums.Continue reading
CDC Employees Gather Round a Blog
While browsing ThinkProgress, I came across a reference to CDC Chatter, which says it is for:
ABOUT CDCChatter.net Welcome to CDCChatter.net, an unofficial blog for employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), external partners and others who are interested in CDC. This blog was established for CDC employees and others to post information, express opinions, make comments and otherwise communicate about decisions, changes, events and other issues that are occurring at CDC. This blog is intended to provide a forum for people to express their views. It is not intended as a forum for disclosing classified or confidential information nor is it intended in any way to compromise the mission and efficacy of CDC.The site statistics they post on their front page suggests they get good traffic:
Site Statistics Thru January 2008 561 - Stories 6,373 - Comments For the month of January: 16 - New stories 250 - New comments 6,477 - Unique visitors 1215 - Average visits per day 14,175 - Average hits per daySome of the most recent news/discussion topics included:
- A reader has written expressing concern that in times of tightened resources, NCCDPHP leadership is not marshalling its energies to continue to address the threats of chronic diseases.
- With the impending budget cuts what are some ways CDC can cut its budget and still provide the public with the healthcare knowledge and service they deserve?
- CDC CAREER DAY - Setting People up for Failure?
- Congress to probe CDC for withholding report