Library Stuff

New(ish) CRS Report

The New York Observer – “The New York State Senate’s chief information officer team just launched an early version of their Open Legislation Portal today.”

Direct to the new site

BBC – “An ambitious new website that will open up government data to the public will launch in beta, or pilot, form in December.
Reams of anonymous data about schools, crime and health could all be included.”

The Hill – “Congress should re-evaluate the franking rules to further accommodate Twitter and other social-media tools, according to several critics. They say rules regulating content are too rigid and outdated, preventing lawmakers from taking full advantage of Twitter to share candid observations and communicate better with constituents.”

On Flu.gov

More here.

Justice Blog – “The Department of Justice launches Justice.gov today in an effort to increase openness and transparency in government. Utilizing a variety of online tools, we will be able to share news and information, not just on our own web site, but through popular social networks Twitter, YouTube and MySpace and Facebook. The Justice presence on these social networks will allow Americans to interact with the Department in entirely new ways.”

Direct to new site

AP – “After insisting no one was receiving unsolicited e-mails from the White House, officials reversed their story Monday night and blamed outside political groups for the unwanted messages from the tech-savvy operation. White House online director Macon Phillips said in a blog posting that independent groups — he didn’t name them — had signed-up their members to receive regular updates about Obama’s projects, priorities and speeches.”

POLITICO – “The White House said Sunday night that it will change its e-mail sign-up procedures after some recipients of a health-care e-mail complained that they had not asked to receive updates. “We are implementing measures to make subscribing to e-mails clearer, including preventing advocacy organizations from signing people up to our lists without their permission when they deliver petition signatures and other messages on individual’s behalf,” spokesman Nick Shapiro said in a statement Sunday night.”

AP – “People are flooding members of Congress with so many e-mails that they are overloading the House’s primary Web site”

Yahoo! News – “Grassley is one of an estimated 30 senators and more than 100 members of the House of Representatives who use Twitter — quite a development in an institution where messengers still bow when they enter the Senate chamber and votes are taken by members often putting their thumbs up or down. The irony, said Senate associate historian Don Ritchie , is that “members still use 19th century language in the chamber,” referring to one another in floor debate as the “distinguished gentlelady from Missouri ” and so forth.”