News war
Lowell Bergman and PBS Frontline has put up the first two parts of a great 4-part series titled News War, which examines the battle between the White House & the national media and how they both fight to set the national agenda. Part I, which aired last week, investigates the Plame affair and breaks down how the Bush administration manipulated the media, which, in turn, manipulated and exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. Part III and IV will be up on the site soon. It's well worth it, trust me. Check here for local listings. Continue reading
Matsui Legacy Project
An interesting new project that includes government information is the Honorable Robert T. Matsui Legacy Project: Road to Redress and Reparations. Developed at California State University, Sacramento, the digital archive focuses on the late Congressman Robert T. Matsui’s leadership in gaining redress and reparations for Japanese Americans interned during World War II. It contains digital reproductions of select photographs, documents, video and audio clips from public sources and the Matsui family. The focal point of the website is on Robert T. Matsui and his leadership in Congress working to secure redress and reparations for Japanese Americans following the incarceration and exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast of the United States during World War II.
See: Digital archive highlights Matsui’s efforts for WW II internees California State University, Sacramento • Public Affairs February 18, 2007
Continue readingWhat are your three reasons?
This isn't about government information, but it is about libraries, which is where a lot of government information can be found:
NJ librarians are trying to get the most commented video on YouTube. Watch the video, then make your comment giving your three reasons for loving the library. Must be a registered YouTube user to comment, but registration is free.
Librarians and friends, unite in an affirmation of library love!
What are MY three reasons? You'll have to go to the video and look up my comment under AlaskanLibrarian!
Anyone out there want to make a "Why I love my Depository Library" video?
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Oliver North, The Smithsonian, Abe Lincoln, Presidential Timeline, and more!
The current edition of the National Coalition For History newsletter (NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 13, #6; February 16, 2007)) has several interesting items including:
- OLIVER NORTH vs. THE SMITHSONIAN
The Smithsonian/Showtime deal leads to political controversy and a editorial (Selling America's heritage By Oliver North, February 11, 2007 ) in the Washington Times. - NATIONAL ARCHIVES ANNOUNCES PRESIDENTIAL TIMELINE WEBSITE
A new website, www.presidentialtimeline.org with digitized artifacts and historical archives from all of the U.S. presidential libraries. - HONEST, IT WASN'T ABE'S COMMENT
Thousands of supporters of the Iraq war including a member of Congress in the Congressional Record are quoting words that Abraham Lincoln never said and attributing the words to Lincoln. See: Honest, It Wasn't Abe's Comment by Mary Ann Akers, Washington Post, February 16, 2007; Page A21.
Transparency and the President’s Management Agenda
Peggy Garvin reported on the SLA Government Information Division blog that the Office of Management and Budget launched FedSpending.gov this past week.
"The website is intended to provide a searchable database of federal grants, contracts, loans, and other spending. This initial version fulfills a requirement in the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (PL 109-282), known as FFATA."The site is sparse right now, but it does have a PDF copy of the FFATA and its implementation schedule. The OMB has been using e-government websites as a method of providing transparency, as seen with ExpectMore.gov and Results.gov. The latter site is geared towards federal employees and aims to show how well government agencies are performing in relation to the President's Management Agenda. It's kind of a strange site, though. One of the boxes on the front page is entitled, "Don't You Agree? Apply to You?" This reminds me of a subject heading from a Nigerian scam email for some reason. I find the rating system for the Executive Branch Management Scorecard a bit silly:
The ratings are given for each agency at its highest level. This is understandable, but a classmate of mine pointed out that you're not seeing how divisions of the agencies are performing. If you work for the IRS, you're only seeing how the Treasury Department is doing on the whole. If you work for the USCIS, you're only seeing how Homeland Security is performing. (Or not performing, if you look at the PDF of the December 2006 scorecard.) I don't know how much guidance each division receives on how to improve or maintain their scores, though. If you have any insights on this, please feel free to comment. Continue reading
- Green for success,
- Yellow for mixed results, and
- Red for unsatisfactory.