Lunchtime listen: Crisis of the Commons
Last week, Shinjoung and I were invited to participate at the Crisis of the California Commons Conference. Our panel discussion was with Megan Shaw Prelinger, Annalee Newitz and Bodo Balazs entitled, "Information Commons: Rebirth or Siren Song?" I think there was a lot of discussion about different commmons (environmental, cultural, information etc) that resonate for librarians in general and documents librarians (keepers of the public domain!). You can access the audio here. One of the best talks (well besides ours!) was Rick Prelinger's plenary on the cultural commons was especially interesting (at 44:20 of the audio file with Jeff Lustig, Jonathan Rowe, Ruth Rosen, and Iain Boal). Rick talked eloquently about interoperability, sampling, and openness, issues near and dear to our collective heart. Enjoy!
Commons requires interoperability so it can be open to all; you don't need a special key to enter the commons... Here's some examples of openness taken from the cultural domain: Openness means not just seeing the image of a bookpage but seeing the text too and being able to grab it, mix it, manipulate it. It means not just watching a movie but being able to download the shots and the edit list and make your own cut. It means not just the music but the MIDI. It means not just the freedom to read, listen, watch, feel, smell, taste, but the freedom to remix in all of these sensory domains. So in the world that we're entering, the digital world, it means that we have to be able to touch the digital object itself and touch the code that makes it play, display, or manifest itself. In other words, not just see things but be able to transform them.Continue reading
Open House YouTube Video
The Open House Project has posted a clever YouTube video about their efforts: If you're a YouTube member, please rate or comment the video. If not, please consider linking to it in your blog or web site. FGI participated in the Open House Project and contributed to the report. Continue reading
Two Op-Eds about the Open House Project Report
Two more op-eds about the Open House Project and report are now available:
- No light in basement, by Tim La Pira, The Hill, May 08, 2007.
- New report describes practical steps to open the House, by Gabriela Schneider and John Wonderlich. Commentary, The Examiner, May 8, 2007.
To its credit, the House already requires lobbyists to file disclosure reports electronically. But, remarkably, the House has not authorized the clerk to make those electronic reports available to the public electronically. Even the Senate, which has never been known for being on the cutting edge of technology, makes lobbying disclosure reports available on the Internet -- but only as digital images, not for easy downloading. Both chambers' travel and financial disclosure reports can still be found only in paper or digital-image format.For more about the report, see Open House Project Report Released and for a link to the first Op-Ed, see The OpenHouse Project Op-Eds at The Hill Continue reading
Open House Project Report Released
The Open House Project released its report today for a series of technological reforms that would increase transparency and public access to the work and members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
- Congressional Information & the Internet The OpenHouse Project May 8, 2007
Congress can expand the impact and functioning of the full range of its work by recognizing the transformative power of simple technological reforms that can create an open, public and fully transparent institution. This in turn can create a civically empowered and meaningfully aware public and enable a connection between constituents and legislators that can deepen the national discourse. To address the coming opportunities and challenges of an increasingly connected political environment, Congress should engage in an ongoing discourse with the public and commit to creating a truly transparent legislature. The Open House Project—a collaborative online project of the Sunlight Foundation—has identified the following as providing opportunities for reform:FGI participated in this project and contributed to the report. Continue reading
- Legislation Database—publish legislative data in structured formats
- Preserving Congressional Information—protect congressional information through archiving and distribution
- Congressional Committees—recognize committees as a public resource by making committee information available online
- Congressional Research Service—share non-partisan research beyond Congress
- Member Web-Use Restrictions—permit members to take full advantage of internet resources
- Citizen Journalism Access—grant House access to non-traditional journalists
- The Office of the Clerk of the House—serve as a source for digital disclosure information
- The Congressional Record—maintain the veracity of a historical document
- Congressional Video—create open video access to House proceedings
- Coordinating Web Standards—commit to technology reform as an administrative priority
The Wrath of the Library of Congress
When WashingtonWatch.com issued a press release that said "WashingtonWatch.com provides a more user-friendly and interactive way for the public to learn about legislation than the Library of Congress' THOMAS site. It's all about government transparency" he got an email from the Library of Congress asking him to stop using the Library's name in his marketing materials.
- Washington Watch goes wiki, incurs wrath of Library of Congress, by Nate Anderson, ars technica, May 07, 2007.