Welcome John Shuler, blogger of the month for January, 2008
Greetings and welcome to 2008. FGI has been a little quiet over the holidays, but we're rested and ready to go for 2008. With that in mind, our blogger-of-the-month for January is John Shuler, from the University of Illinois Chicago (see John's bio for more background). Please check back early and often as there's bound to be lots of interesting posts from John as well as the FGI volunteers. The podium is yours, John. Take it away! Continue reading
John Shuler, BOTM for January, 2008
John Shuler is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a Bibliographer for Government Information and Urban Planning/Documents Librarian Collections Development. Previously he was head of the documents department at Colgate University. Shuler has published extensively on information in electronic media and is a strong advocate of virtual reference. He worked with GPO to create our first ever formal digital partnership between the U.S. State Department the FDLP, and spearheaded library virtual reference collaboration and is working with the Government Printing Office to implement the reference project as a full partnership. Shuler is also an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate Library and Information program of Dominican University. He serves on the Public Printer's Depository Library Council, on the editorial board of Journal of Academic Librarianship, and is an assistant editor for Government Information Quarterly. He is primarily interested in blogging about the impact of digital government information and local/state governments. Continue reading
Open-Source Search Engine Wikia Search
Check out the new search engine wikia search! It is not only the newest search engine on the block, but also new (and I believe unique) in its values (see Wikia Search Alpha Launched January 7, 2008):
- Transparency - Openness in how the systems and algorithms operate, both in the form of open source licenses and open content + APIs.
- Community - Everyone is able to contribute in some way (as individuals or entire organizations), strong social and community focus.
- Quality - Significantly improve the relevancy and accuracy of search results and the searching experience.
- Privacy - Must be protected, do not store or transmit any identifying data.
Plus, building on the approach that has made Wikipedia so successful, it allows users to enhance the search engine by contributing to "mini articles" on search terms that will provide short definitions of terms, help disambiguate similar or identical terms, and provide photos and "see also" references.
Here is the NYT coverage: Wiki Citizens Taking on a New Area: Searching By MIGUEL HELFT Published: January 7, 2008.
Continue readingVisit AHA online!
The Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association (AHA) began on January 3 in Washington DC and Rick Shenkman, the editor of the History News Network, is posting his "reporter's notebook" online with video excerpts of talks and panels.
- Reporter's Notebook: Highlights from the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association (Wash. DC) By Rick Shenkman
There are some really interesting and fun things to listen to here! For a sample, start by listening to Congresswoman Pat Schroeder on Day 2 recounting "the sorry history she experienced in the House as one of a handful of congresswomen."
Continue readingPending Transparency Legislation
Here’s a list of pending legislation relevant to government openness and transparency maintained by The Open House Project..
Continue reading