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
Global Change Master Directory of data sets
There are some amazing data sets at this web site. These could be useful for patrons seeking data or faculty looking for free data sets for students to use on class projects. NASA Global Change Master Directory, Discover Earth Science data and services The mission of the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) is to enable the scientific community to discover and access Earth science data and services through distributed, integrated information technology systems. The GCMD offers authoring tools to achieve this mission, which conform to international standards. Tools are available to write, directly submit, and directly update metadata records. Continue reading
Federal Geographic Data Committee
The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is an interagency committee that promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis. This nationwide data publishing effort is known as the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The NSDI is a physical, organizational, and virtual network designed to enable the development and sharing of this nation's digital geographic information resources. FGDC activities are administered through the FGDC Secretariat, hosted by the National Geospatial Programs Office (NGPO) of the U.S. Geological Survey. The NGPO oversees other geospatial programs of national importance including The National Map and the Geospatial One-Stop activity. The FGDC hosts a FGDC Clearinghouse Registry. This registry is a database of all clearinghouse nodes participating in the clearinghouse activity. This site provides access to registry functions including: adding a new node to the clearinghouse, browsing through the existing node information, modifying of existing information in the database (password required by node administrator), and some administration functions (clearinghouse administrator only). You may search the database and see what agency is your local clearinghouse. Continue reading
Map Scanning Registry and online map collections
Scanning Registries Map libraries across the country have been scanning maps for many years. Scanned maps are distributed to patrons, printed out for patrons and in recent years, are being posted online as digital collections (all depending on copyright restrictions). Many libraries are working with state agencies to scan large topographic map collections while other libraries scan their rare and unique maps as a measure for preservation as well as access. Map librarians struggle to keep track of who's scanning what and so two professional organizations have created map scanning registries to track major scanning efforts. ALA Map and Geography Round Table (MAGERT) Map Scanning Registry goals are to:
- Find out what scanning is being planned, in process, or complete for a particular geographic area
- Head off any duplication of effort
- Provide a resource to use for finding a particular digital image
- Provide a resource for reviewing the various technical parameters used in different projects
- American Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee
- Another AGSL, UWM Collection of Wall Maps
- Map Collection at Gettysburg College
- University of Chicago Map Collection
- University of Illinois Library & the University of Illinois Press Historical Maps Online
- University of Utah, J.Willard Marriot Library Sanborn Fire Insurance maps
- University of Tennessee online historic topographic maps
- New York Public Library American Shores: Maps of the Middle Atlantic Region to 1850