Blow against open govt in Cheney case
NYTimes: Appeals Court Backs Cheney in Secrecy Case By David Stout. (if it asks for a user name/password, go to BugMeNot to get one!) The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday affirmed that the Vice President's Energy Task Force was within its rights to meet behind closed doors with industry participation since the industry participants were not, strictly speaking, members of the Task Force. The ruling is a victory for the Bush White House and a new constraint on open government. See "D.C. Circuit Narrows Advisory Committee Openness," for more analysis from the National Security Archive. See Findlaw.com for other documents relating to the case. [Thanks Steven Aftergood and Secrecy Continue reading
FCW: fugitive docs in the news
"Fugitive Documents Elude Preservationists" by Aliya Sternstein, Federal Computer Week, May 9, 2005. In the latest from FCW, fugitive documents, as well as some of the difficulties with web harvesting, are discussed. One of the most interesting things about this article is that this is the first time that I've seen in print that GPO plans to deposit e-documents in libraries. We here at FGI believe that libraries will continue to be integral partners in the preservation of govt information (like they have been for 150+ years), and see this as a positive sign that perhaps the GPO is starting to come around to that perspective as well.
Web harvesting is one of three activities that will contribute to what GPO officials say will be the Future Digital System. In addition, GPO officials plan to convert paper-based government information to digital formats and deposit electronic documents in libraries that are part of GPO's Federal Depository Library Program. (my emphasis. JRJ) Continue reading
Mr. James underestimates Congress’ willingness to spend
During his speech for the Plenary session of the Spring 2005 DLC Meeting, Mr. James acknowledged that GPO needed more funding to carry out its responsibilities, but expressed his belief that Congress was uninterested in expanding appropriations. As a new Cato Institute report explains, the reality is that the President and Congress are expanding appropriations like there is no tomorrow. According to the report, "Even after excluding spending on defense and homeland security, Bush is still the biggest-spending president in 30 years." Surely the President and Congress could be persuaded to provide a penny a month for all Americans in order for us to have full access to the information we've already paid for with our tax dollars. If you look at the Citizen's Against Government Waste's Pig book for 2005, you'll find these projects that exceed $36 Million that meet one or more of these criteria: Continue reading
Who should disseminate gov’t PR?
It bears reminding that government information comes to us in many forms. In addition to journals, reports, studies, etc; many government agencies have "public information officers" and/or contract for education campaigns. Recently the Forest Service announced a plan to outsource about a 100 FS jobs to private PR firms. The PR, tech-oriented podcast For Immediate Release has a discussion of this initiative on FIR #30 - fast forward to 36min 43sec for the Forest Service discussion. Continue reading
Public Printer Bruce James speech now available on audio
The plenary session for the spring DLC is now available in audio. The audio includes speeches by Public Printer Bruce James, co-director of the Office of Innovation and New Technology Mike Wash and a question-and-answer period with the Depository Library Council, Superintendent of Documents Judy Russell and DLC attendees. The audio is not of the best quality, so please use headphones for best results. As always, we'd like to hear your comments. Continue reading