Lost webpages?
CBS reported that the Alabama Department of Homeland Security has a website that listed groups they consider possible terrorists. However, after the agency received complaints from people, some Web pages were removed from the list. The original list of the groups that the agency considered possible terrorists were:
- Environmentalists
- Anti-Genetics (those opposed to genetically-altered crops)
- Animal Rights
- Anti-Abortion
- Anti-Nuclear
- Anti-War
- Pro-Gay Right
FGI SLA 2007 Promo
In response to a request made on bibliocasting-L, we recorded a three minute promo for the FGI podcast. I explain how we create the podcast and what we hope to do with it. Show Notes: I mentioned the following in our podcast:
Music- Our theme music came from Set Me Free by DJ Topshelf and downloaded from Podsafe Audio.
- The background music was "Hobbit & Lord of the Rings" by the Brobdingnagian Bards
UNT Creates 400K Library Users with Wikipedia
In a new discussion over at the Library 2.0 Government Documents group, librarian Dreanna Belden comments on how the University of North Texas libraries have ramped up usage of their locally housed digital document and photograph collections by adding relevant links to Wikipedia. For example, they added a link to Congressional Research Reports about Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to her Wikipedia entry. What has been the result of adding article-appropriate library links to over 600 Wikipedia articles? Dreanna says (emphasis mine):
Since adding links back to our collections into over 600 Wikipedia articles, we have experience dramatically increased usage of our online collections. In the past year over 400,000 unique users have clicked through Wikipedia into our digital collections.Way to go UNT! If there other libraries doing this sort of thing, let Dreanna know what kind of response you're getting. Or leave a comment here and we'll send it her way. If you're not up for adding your collection links to Wikipedia, or if you don't have a local digital collection to link to, consider blogging your reference questions and watch what you found on average tarrif levels rise to the top of Google. Continue reading
Government in your hand
Government in your hand, By David Stephenson, FCW.com, May 21, 2007. "Governing in the YouTube era will change relations between government and citizens." The combination of powerful, networked personal communications devices and groups working together in social networks linked by the net and by cell phones can transform the public's relationship with government from a passive recipient of services into an invaluable collaborator. "Some call it 'sousveillance,' which happens when people turn the tables and monitor government." Yet another reason for us to fight for open formats and freely-accessible, freely re-usable, free government information. Continue reading
Local Broadband and Wireless initiatives
As citizens increasingly need access to broadband and wireless Internet connections to fully participate in democracy, it become increasingly important for government information specialists to be aware of changes in local policies and initiatives in this area. Two sites that help are the Municipal broadband map from News.com and the MuniWireless site. Municipal broadband nationwide. News.com. "Government-sponsored projects to provide fiber-optic or wireless networks are taking off across the United States, as are efforts to legislate the issue in state capitols." Notice that the above site says "Last updated: April 25, 2005." I don't know if they are keeping this up to date or not, but another site, MuniWireless, tracks similar information and seems to be updating its information daily. See, the Initiatives page for some of the same information tracked on the News.com map. MuniWireless describes itself this way:
"This site is devoted to municipal broadband projects worldwide that are funded or supported by cities and towns, especially those projects that incorporate wireless technologies. These range from downtown hot-zones & city- and county-wide wireless broadband networks, to country-wide deployments. Although we often use the word “city," rural municipalities receive equal coverage, because they are leading the fight for affordable, fast, universal access to the Internet. We also cover the products, technologies, and standards that comprise public broadband networks, and the organizations that design, install, and maintain them.Continue reading