Welcome Duane McCollum, BOTM for December, 2006
Welcome Duane McCollum, FGI's blogger of the month for December, 2006. And many thanks to Lori Smith, our BOTM for November, 2006. here's a wrapup of Lori's postings for the month:
Great work Lori. Please feel free to post whenever the mood hits you!! Take it away Duane :-) Continue readingDuane McCollum, Blogger of the month for December, 2006
Duane McCollum has had his own blog, the Information Auditor, for about two years now. He started it just as he was finishing his program in Master of Science of Information Management from the University of Washington's i-School (2004). He recently became a Gov Docs geek after going back to school (part time) and taking a grad course in Gov Docs at the Univ of Wash earlier this year.
It was an important course to me as it really opened up a whole new world of government info --and changed the way I think about myself as a citizen.Duane works full-time at a large, US based defense contracting company as a "Systems Engineer" on a defense program; but, what he actually does is policy analysis of DoD Info Technology policies, directives, and architectures and how they effect the program he's working on. He's very interested in information auditing, knowledge management, and IT governance. Continue reading
Gingrich: free speech needs to be “reexamined”
In a supreme twist of irony, Newt Gingrich, speaking at the annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment award dinner which honors free speech, said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism. So in order to save the Constitution, Gingrich is proposing that it be "reexamined," a poor euphemism for completely gutting it. Here's the story about the speech, and here's a link Keith Olbermann discussing Gingrich's comments with George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley. George Orwell is truly rolling in his grave! [Thanks Crooks & Liars!] Continue reading
Gov Docs on OMB Watch
Here is a quick source of links to agencies and some key government documents dealing with government information policy.
OMB Watch is a nonprofit government watchdog organization whose mission is to promote open government, accountability and citizen participation. One of its major issue areas is Information Access. On its website, it lists several specific categories of information access issues that it tracks: Homeland Security, Environmental Right to Know, Data Quality Act, Peer Review, Politics & Science, Freedom of Information, Whistleblowers, and State Policies. In most of these policy areas, they have a useful page devoted to "Gov Docs" where they link to agencies and official and unofficial sources of laws, regulations, and reports dealing with government information policy.
- Homeland Security Gov Docs
- Environmental Right to Know Gov Docs
- Data Quality Act Gov Docs
- Peer Review Gov Docs
- Freedom of Information Gov Docs
- Whistleblowers Gov Docs
Please donate to the Pacifica Radio Archives
I was listening to KPFA, my local pacifica station this morning, and they were having a fund drive for the Pacifica Radio Archives. The archives contain the voices of 20th century history: Studs Terkel, Mahalia Jackson, James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, Alice Walker, Martin Luther King, jr., Rosa Parks, bell hooks, and *many* more voices of peace and justice! The fund drive is needed to support their preservation project (and other projects) which seeks to digitize many of the old tapes in the archive in order to make them more accessible and longer-living. Or think about a donation in someone else's name for the holidays -- really, how many ties does your dad really need?! Please, please, PLEASE donate to the pacifica archives if you can! [Please note: I am not on the Pacifica board and FGI has no affiliation whatsoever with Pacifica. I just think that librarians and those interested in preserving history should support valuable preservation projects like this one.] Continue reading