Updated Earmarks database
The OMB has added more detail to its Earmarks Database. See the press release, Earmarks Database Establishes Benchmark for Cutting Earmarks in Half, (pdf) Office of Management and Budget, April 4, 2007.
When the earmarks database was first launched on March 12, 2007, it provided aggregate data on the number and cost of earmarks for FY2005 appropriations, and was able to show this information by agency, office and account. Today's update includes details on individual earmarks, the ability to view earmarks by State and a downloadable file so that the public can sort information in ways they find useful. However, the database is not designed, and cannot accurately be used, to identify the individual sponsors of congressional earmarks. Additionally, the recipient of an earmark identified in the database may not in all cases represent the ultimate beneficiary of the earmark.Continue reading
Need Some Planning Calendars
First, thanks to the FGI team (especially James) for allowing me to "guest blog" last month and for the invite to continue posting I'm going to take him up on the offer. Second, planning calendars are all over the web. On ResourceShelf, we are constantly updating this post with all sorts of calendars, From election dates (around the globe) to diplomatic events to scientific meetings to space events and a lot more. We hope you find it useful. Continue reading
Who decides what is available and what is withdrawn?
Do you ever wonder why or how something gets on a federal government web site -- or why something suddenly disappears? Like much of the web, the federal government web sites have a history of a "grassroots legacy of letting a thousand flowers bloom" followed by attempts to keep tight control over what is on the web. According to a story in GCN (A tangled web we weaved by Trudy Walsh, GCN, 04/02/07), at the General Services Administration the chief information officer has every page reviewed every six months. The CIO gives the office responsible for the page's content multiple "warnings" before the expiration date.
"We give them a warning so they can review the page," said Susie Kampans, team leader of GSA's infrastructure applications team. If they don't, the content will go offline and won't be available to the public.The article describes different models of managing hundreds of millions of federal government web pages.
[Candi] Harrison [Web manager for the Housing and Urban Development Department] said she believes strongly in the need for a move toward centralized governance of federal Web sites. "But I think it's going to take an act of Congress." Harrison estimates the number of federal Web sites at more than 24,000, "which is ridiculous. And let's just say that unnamed sources at Commerce don't know how many Web sites they have." Federal Web sites are funded by taxpayers, and that's who they need to serve, Harrison said. "Some heads of agencies use the Web site as their own personal page, with a big photo of the secretary," she said. "Now we have 400 million government Web pages," Harrison said. "We can't keep that current or manage that. It's all sitting out there unattended." The overwhelming amount of data on federal Web sites doesn't even help most people. "The public can't use all this content," she said. "People make better decisions if they have fewer options."Continue reading
Two additions to Remix page
I've added two new items to our Remixes page.
- OpenCongress, which was covered before by Peggy Garvin (Congress Remix: OpenCongress.org Launched)
- An article about mashups and remixes, etc.: Mashups, Blogs, Wikis Go Federal, by Laura Gordon-Murnane, Searcher (March 2007) Vol. 15 Issue 3, p33-39. [subscription required] and its free list of links [no subscription required]. "The article focuses on the creation of mashups, blogs and wikis that deal with issues concerning the U.S. government. FedSpending.org is a resource maintained and operated by OMB Watch that enables anyone to see what fundings the U.S. Congress has appropriated in the form of contracts and grants. The Sunlight Foundation has established Sunlight Labs as a pilot project to develop technological ideas to improve government transparency and political influence discourse. The library at the North Carolina State University in Raleigh has put together a U.S. Congressional Committees Meeting Index."
Thanks to Peggy and her article! GovTrack and OpenCongress Go Beyond THOMAS, By Peggy Garvin, "The Government Domain," LLRX.com March 18, 2007.
Continue readingOMB Earmark database
The Office of Management and Budget is putting data on earmarks online, but not as quickly as originally announced.
- Earmarks data now set to go online in phases, by Aliya Sternstein, GlovExec.com, March 12, 2007
The White House Office of Management and Budget published some information on spending earmarks to the Internet late Monday -- a departure from the detailed disclosure that OMB outlined earlier this year.
The OMB website, Earmarks, says "This database is not designed, and cannot accurately be used, to identify the individual sponsors of congressional earmarks.... The information currently available is a work in progress and will be updated in the coming weeks (most recent update: March 25, 2007)."
Continue reading