A Peek behind the scenes of e-government
FCW reports that "Sixteen agencies complied with the Office of Management and Budget's request to post their information technology business cases online."
- Agencies post business cases online by Jason Miller FCW (Feb. 23, 2007)
Unfortunately, there will, according to the OMB, be no central Web portal where the public can find links to the business cases. The articles says that "OMB and agencies have been reluctant to share business cases in the past and would issue them only when someone filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request." And an executive vice president at a market research firm is quoted as saying that this was a problem because "...every agency interprets FOIA laws differently."
Fortunately, Sabrina Pacifici has provided links to the buisiness plans for each agency!
- Redacted Versions of Agency Business Cases Posted Online by Sabrina I. Pacifici, beSpacific (February 23, 2007)
There is fascinating information in these plans on how agencies view their own e-government initiatives.
Continue readingConstitution Superseded and Web Sites Scrubbed of Public Documents to Hide It
An article about the Navy's brig in Hanahan, South Carolina reveals details about "one of the most secretive installations in the government's anti-terrorism effort." Among other revelations is that the brig believes that "higher guidance" and "accepted prison practice" can supersede the Constitution:
"In detaining American citizens, full constitutional rights are afforded except where curtailed by higher guidance or accepted prison practice," the report said. [emphasis added]
- Navy' s secret brig by Tony Bartelme, Charleston Post and Courier (February 23, 2007)
The Navy developed elaborate plans to dodge public scrutiny of its operations to detain enemy combatants, plans that include destroying "critical info," and scrubbing public Web sites.
Continue readingDocuments Roundtable Meeting from AkLA 2007
Being the chair of the Alaska Library Association's Government Documents Roundtable is a little like being the Maytag Repairman. There are about 20 registered members, but only about four or five of those folks are active in association activities. Our usual business meetings vary from two to four and last year I didn't get anybody.
Today I was pleasantly surprised. I got a special visit from Cam McIntosh, Seattle-based Information Specialist for the Census Bureau's Seattle field office. Cam is wonderful to work with and a great trainer. If you work anywhere in Cam's region, you should call her office and arrange a training. If you don't work in her five state area, find your nearest Census field office and see what training resources they can offer your organization.
In addition to Cam, three other RT members showed up. Lacking a formal agenda, I put Cam on the spot and she gave us a brief overview of the American Community Survey, which included these helpful tips:
By 2010, All communities in the United States will have THREE population estimates - one based on a one-year sample of population, one based on a three year rolling sample and one based on a five year rolling sample. This combined with the reporting of "margin of error" in populations may make for some interesting educational opportunities for library patrons who "just want to know what the exact population of ___ is."
It is best to report percentages or proportions in the American Community Survey rather than raw numbers. But be sure to say + or - x percent. Cam compared this to political polling as a way to get folks comfortable with the concept of sampling.
Nationwide, the American Community Survey surveys 1 in 464 addresses every month. This proportion is much higher in smaller areas, reaching at least as high as 35% in really small towns.
Data for the 2005 American Community Survey data DID NOT include any numbers for people housed in "group quarters." Group quarters are places like military bases, boarding schools, homeless shelters, prisons, etc.
State Ranking Tables are available for American Community Survey Data and they can be filtered by the criteria of "with statistical significance." This can be a real eye opener and halt some of the jockeying for position some people have for state ranking tables. If I'm right, the phrase "with statistical significance" should link you to a table of 2005 data ranking proportion of people 85 and over. Looks like Alaska is last by any measure.
Aside from Cam's courteous impromptu ACS presentation, I also got to meet a new librarian from Ketchikan and introduce my new federal documents librarian. All in all, it was a fun hour. If you've got a documents roundtable report to share, send it to me and I'll post it LISNews, Alaskan Librarian, and Free Government Information. If you've already posted your report to the web, feel free to send me a link.
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Federal Spending Databases from OMBWatch and the government
The Office of Management and Budget continues to work toward putting all federal contract and grant spending in a database and online and this week announced a 10 month timeline.
- OMB sets timeline to launch federal spending database, By Jason Miller, GCN (02/19/07)
With about 10 months until the congressionally mandated deadline to put all federal contract and grant spending in a database and online, the Office of Management and Budget is asking for public comment on how best to implement the law." ...OMB launched a Web site, www.federalspending.gov, to collect these comments and set out an implementation timeline and the first set of frequently asked questions.
The new database will eventually include data from the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) and the Federal Assistance Awards Data System (FAADS).
Meanwhile, the nonprofit organization OMBWatch has upgraded its own database of government spending, FedSpending.org, based on these same data.
- OMB Watch Launches Upgraded FedSpending.org Website, OMBWatch Press Release (February 22, 2007)
The updated version of OMBWatch's FedSpending.org has updated data and new summary views designed to provide a better overview of contractors, recipients, congressional districts, states, and agencies, as well as other data categories. In addition, it is more searchable and more easily discoverable through Google and Yahoo and MSN. Finally, it now has an Application Programming Interface (API) allowing programmers direct access to the data in XML format. This means more mashups and remixes.
Earlier coverage of this topic on FGI here: OMBWatch releases database of govt spending 2006-10-23 Continue reading
New video explains net-neutrality
Humanity Lobotomy Net Neutrality Open Source Documentary
Excellent video features Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Bill Moyers, Lawrence Lessig, Congressman Ed Markey, and more. It explains why net-neutrality is important for democracy.
Save the Internet | Rock the Vote
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