Can we rely on the private sector to give us open content?
Google's Complete Plays Of Shakespeare Less Than Compleat by Phil Bradley, Search Engine Watch, Jun. 14, 2006.
The Google blog 'Inside Google Book Search' announced ... that it is now possible to explore Shakespeare with Google - The complete plays of Shakespeare now at your fingertips. Well no, not exactly.... I could read 13 of the plays Google listed, but was unable to do so for another 24.Continue reading
Please participate in our new FGI poll
Please take a moment and participate in our new FGI poll. This time around, we'd like to know what you think of our blog, on the topics we cover, and the issues we raise. We'd really appreciate your input! Our older polls are also available to look through, although they are now closed. Continue reading
Happy 40th anniversary FOIA!!
40 years ago (July 4th, 1966), the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was enacted despite the opposition of President Johnson to the legislation. Documents from the LBJ Library show that Johnson refused to hold a formal ceremony for FOIA. The National Security Archive created a site called Freedom of Information at 40 and lists copies of the key legislative history documents for the FOIA. Also National Sercurity Archive site has a complete FOIA legislative History.
In a related story, according to a report published by OpenGovernment.org., many federal agencies are still lagging behind in their efforts to comply with FOIA.
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Why the World is ready for the Semantic Web
Back in May of 2006 there were several messages on the govdoc-l mailing list under the topic "Anti-HTML bias in cataloguing and harvesting" that discussed the semantic web and its possible implications for government information on the web. A new article from O'Reilly posits that some of the biggest and best projects on the web today are based on Semantic Web principles.
- Why the World is ready for the Semantic Web by Dan Zambonini, O'Reilly XML.com, June 28, 2006
Political Controversy Over Alteration of the Congressional Record
We all know that the Congressional Record is not an exact transcript of what occurs in Congress. Members of Congress are allowed to change, alter, add, and delete information before the Record is published. But I've never heard before of members inserting into the Record such a lengthy "scripted colloquy that never actually took place" after legislation passed with the apparent attempt to construct a legislative history in retrospect. Senators Graham and Kyl filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in which they repeatedly cite this colloquy and claim it as "legislative history."
- Invisible Men: Did Lindsey Graham and Jon Kyl mislead the Supreme Court? By Emily Bazelon, Slate, March 27, 2006
- Senators Kyl and Graham's Hamdan v. Rumsfeld Scam: The Deceptive Amicus Brief They Filed in the Guantanamo Detainee Case, By John W. Dean, FindLaw, Jul. 05, 2006.