Free Government Information

NextGov reports on the challenges of turning raw government data into commercial products:

• Turning government data into private sector products is complicated business, By Joseph Marks, NextGov (02/09/2012).

  "The theory behind Data.gov was, let's move forward when it comes to sharing data," says Josh Green, chief executive officer of Panjiva, a company that crunches customs data for U.S. businesses that import some of their raw materials. "I think that's right in terms of what would be good for entrepreneurship, but realistically I don't think that has filtered down to the agency level." While Panjiva relies on some Census data, which it downloads directly from the Census Bureau, the company uses mostly Customs and Border Protection data on CD-ROMs that it pays to have delivered every day by FedEx.

  ...Data.gov is laudable, Rossmeissl says, but developers' biggest hurdle with government data isn't finding it, but getting it quickly and in a form they can use. "That wasn't the focus of Data.gov and, in general, it isn't the focus of agencies producing data," he says. "That's not because their intentions aren't great, but they have a history of producing data in a very specific way that goes back to the Federal Register and quarterly releases."

  ...The Data.gov team also meets regularly with about 400 agency "data stewards" to change the way government data is initially created so that it requires less translation and reformatting on the back end.

See also:

• The Federal Government Must Reimagine Its Role As An Information Provider.
• Private Sector Supports Public Data.

The Western Farm Press has a nice write-up about the historical Census of Agriculture web site, a collaboration between the Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University and the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

• USDA releases historic census of agriculture reports, by Amanda Pomicter, NASS Archivist, Western Farm Press (Feb. 10, 2012).

  "The Census of Agriculture reports contain aggregate data, on the county-, state- and national-level, for almost every facet of American agriculture, including number of farms, acres of farmland, totals for agricultural production, value of farm production, demographics and much more. The census reports are popular resources used by researchers, historians, genealogists, law professionals and others who want to know more about American agriculture and how the industry has expanded and changed over time."

• USDA Census of Agriculture Historical Archive, Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University.

  "The site serves as a public archive of Census publications published prior to 1987. These publications are primarily scanned print material now available in PDF format.

  "This site is an ongoing work in progress as we digitize and structure the Census of Agriculture from 1987 back to 1840. We have met our goal of past census back to 1925 online by the end of 2011. Our next target is to complete the censuses back to 1840 and to refine our search results to include sorting by regions, states, and years."

Also see: Census of Agriculture, USDA - National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Daniel Schuman went to the hearing today on budgets for GPO, LoC, GAO, and CBO. On the Sunlight Foundation blog, he reports on the tiny room, the lack of space for the public, and he posts documents that were handed out:

• An almost live look at today's H. Leg Branch Approps hearing, by Daniel Schuman, Sunlight Foundation, (Feb. 7, 2012).

The new acting Public Printer, Davita Vance-Cooks, gives her opening remarks.

GPO Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 7, 2012 No. 12-10

ACTING PUBLIC PRINTER PRESENTS APPROPRIATIONS REQUEST FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013

WASHINGTON-Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks presented the FY 2013 appropriations request for the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) today before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations. GPO is requesting no increase over the level of funding the agency is receiving for FY 2012 due to savings garnered from cost-cutting activities last year as well as projected workload changes for FY 2013. GPO's budget request also includes a significant shift in funding away from conventional printing and distribution toward digital systems. The current level of $126.2 million is a 6.6% reduction from FY 2011 and about a 15% reduction from FY 2010. GPO's funding level for FY 2013 is provided through three separate accounts in the annual Legislative Branch Appropriations bill:

. The Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation covers the cost of information products in digital and print formats that GPO produces for Congress. About 70% of this cost is for preparing the electronic files used for both digital access and printing. For FY 2013, GPO is requesting $83.6 million, a decrease of about $7 million.

. The Salaries and Expenses Appropriation of the Superintendent of Documents primarily covers the cost of the Federal Depository Library Program, which works in partnership with 1,220 libraries nationwide to provide public access to Federal Government information. For FY 2013, GPO is requesting $34.7 million, a decrease of about $300,000.

. The GPO Revolving Fund receives appropriated funds for specific technology investment and facility improvements. For FY 2013, GPO is requesting $7.8 million. The request includes funding for the continued development of GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) to support increased online access to congressional and Federal agency information as well as other digital information technology improvements.

GPO achieved significant savings in FY 2011 by reducing unnecessary overhead expenses and conducting a buyout that helped reduce staffing by about 15%. As a result, GPO achieved positive net income of $5.6 million for the year. The agency, whose information production and dissemination operations have transitioned to digital technologies, is currently operating with its smallest workforce in more than a century.

"GPO is doing more with less in meeting the digital information needs of Congress, Federal agencies, and the public," said Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks. "GPO's plan of reducing costs while continuing to expand services to our customers is working and showing real and measurable benefits."

The hearing on Tuesday (Feb 7, 2012) on budgets for the Library of Congress, the Government Printing Office, the Government Accountability Office, and the Congressional Budget Office is not expected to be webcast by the committee.

• Video Blackout of Hearing on Budgets for Legislative Support Agencies, Daniel Schuman, Sunglight Foundation
  (Feb. 5, 2012).

  Only the House and Senate Legislative Appropriations Committees regularly hold annual public hearings on the workings of these agencies; the oversight committees (Committee on House Administration and Senate Rules) generally do not, and the Joint Committee on the Library and Joint Committee on Printing no longer holds substantive meetings in public.

  The new House rules require that all committees provide "audio and video coverage of each hearing or meeting" that "allows the public to easily listen ... and view the proceedings" "to the maximum extent practicable." All of the House committees have at least one hearing room that is equipped with a camera, and the House Recording Studio will provide a camera upon a committee's request. Unfortunately, this hearing is being held in a room without a camera, and I've been informed that the Committee has not requested one.

Schuman notes that things could still change for Tuesday's hearing -- it could change rooms and could be webcast. He plans to attend it, and says he will post an update on the Sunlight Foundation blog if he can make it into the tiny room where the meeting is currently scheduled.

The State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States project at http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases is pleased to announce two new volunteeers:

• Michael Tatonetti, who is taking the New York page
• Jenn Zuccaro, who is taking the West Virginia page

Thanks to Michael and Jenn, we are down to these four orphan states with no one to care for them:

• Maryland
• Minnesota
• Rhode Island
• Utah

If one of these states interests you, check out our Volunteer Guide. If you can meet the basic responsibilities, send me an e-mail at dnlcornwall AT Alaska DOT net.

WIKI ACTIVITY

For a full list of our last week's activity, visit http://tinyurl.com/statedbs. Below are highlights of the work we've done together:

DATABASES ADDED

DELAWARE (John Stevenson)

The Flora of Delaware Online Database - As of January 29, 2012, the database contains 2,274 species, subspecies, and varieties (taxa), of native (1,577) and non-native (697) vascular plants known to occur in the state of Delaware.

OHIO (Audrey Hall)

County Soil Surveys and Supplements - Click the desired county on the map for a soil survey, interim soil survey or soil survey supplement. It is recommended to use only the text included in the soil surveys. Official up-to-date tables and soil maps should be viewed or downloaded at the Soil Data Mart or via the Web Soil Survey. At the Soil Data Mart select the "generate reports" button to then select the desired tables.

NEW YORK (Michael Tatonetti)

Laws of New York - Database listing of the Laws of New York State. Searchable by title or phrase.

House to live-stream committee proceedings, By Debbie Siegelbaum, The Hill (02/02/12).

The House is now offering live video streaming of committee proceedings online through the Library of Congress.

The Committee on House Administration announced on Thursday that the live webcasts would be available at http://thomas.loc.gov/video/house-committee.

The Library of Congress also will archive previous committee proceedings, which the panel said would create the first "one-stop shop for House committee video content."

There will be an all day conference on on public access to legislative information on Thursday, February 2, 2012, 9AM to 6PM EST, in Cannon Caucus Room, 345 Cannon HOB, Washington, D.C. It is hosted by the House Committee on House Administration.

• agenda and live webcast

Press Release from GPO:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 30, 2012
No. 12-07

GPO SUPPORTS NATIONAL ARCHIVES ON PUBLIC ACCESS TO PRESIDENT KENNEDY ASSASSINATION TAPE RECORDING

First Audio Content on FDsys

WASHINGTON-The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is providing public access to the newly discovered audio tape recording of conversations between various individuals in Washington and Air Force One pilots and officials on board during the flight from Dallas to Andrews Air Force Base following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The tape recording is available on the U.S. Government Printing Office's (GPO) Federal Digital System (FDsys). This is the first time audio content is available on the system, which is a one-stop site for authentic, published Government information. GPO and NARA have a long-standing collaborative relationship in publishing the Federal Register and recently worked together to provide the public with electronic access to the Nixon grand jury testimony.

Link to FDsys: www.fdsys.gov

This digitized version of the two hour and twenty-two minute recording was donated to the National Archives by the Raab Collection. The tapes were found among other papers and memorabilia of Army Gen. Chester "Ted" Clifton, Jr., who served as senior military aide to President Kennedy. The White House Communications Agency (WHCA) provided the tapes to Gen. Clifton. The conversations were captured by WHCA, which routed all phone calls and radio traffic. The recording includes references to new code names and incidents, among them are a private conversation by head of the Secret Service Jerry Behn about the disposition of the President's body; an expanded conversation about how to remove the body from the plane and where to take it; an urgent effort by an aide to Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay to reach General Clifton; and attempts to locate various Congressmen from Texas. For more information go to: http://www.archives.gov/

"GPO is pleased to provide our digital services in partnering with NARA to make this important historical find available to the public," said Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks. "This collection marks the first time GPO is providing audio content on the site. We look forward to continuing our long-standing relationship with NARA and other Federal agencies in providing digital access to authentic Government information through FDsys."

Readers of Slashdot asked Carl Malamud about his experiences and hopes in his project to prod the U.S. government into scanning archived documents. They asked questions about metadata, digitizing rare books, what he thinks about corporate partnerships in the process to get public data released, other projects like Ancestry.com and PACER, and even "Which government agency is the worst to get information from?"

Malamud's answers are posted at the link below "with a mix of heartening and disheartening information about how the vast project is progressing."

• Carl Malamud Answers: Goading the Government To Make Public Data Public, Slashdot, Your Rights Online section, Posted by timothy on Monday January 23, 2012.

Earlier this month, we posted about the "Open letter and petition to President Obama to create a federal scanning commission and digitize all .gov publications". The petition closed on 1/20 and now David Ferriero, the Archivist of the US at the National Archives, has given the official NARA response. I'd say this is a positive first step, but much discussion is still needed. Please join the conversation over at the NARA Blog. I think documents librarians will be invaluable to this effort going forward!

Digitizing Federal Public Records
By David Ferriero

David Ferriero is the Archivist of the United States

Time once again for a selection of news and new resources that we hope will be an interest to the FGI community. The following posts are from INFOdocket.com (@infofodocket) where we compile and post new items daily.

1. New iOS App From SEC: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission News

2. Just Released: Library of Congress Offers Congressional Record As iPad App

3. National Library of Medicine Announces Latest Release of Its “History of Medicine Finding Aids Consortium”

4. Asked and Answered Questions: U.S. Department of Education Releases Mobile Version of Answers.Ed.gov

5. Smithsonian Gets Dedicated Funds for Digitization and New Media, Will Spend $8.7 Million In FY 2012

6. The Library of Congress Names Gayle Osterberg Director of Communications

7. EPA Releases Comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Online Database and Dataset Available

8. White Paper: “Authentication of Primary Legal Materials and Pricing Options”

9. Federal Elections Commission (FEC) Launches Mobile Web Site

10. Full Text Reference Resource: Trade & Development: UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics 2011
From the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

11. NARA Launches “Citizen Archivist Dashboard”

12. U.S. Bankruptcy Courts Begin Offering Online Chat Services

13. USDA Launches New Online Nutrition SuperTracker

14. New Database: Time-Series Plots of Phrases in U.S. Supreme Court Opinions (Legal Language Explorer)

15. Statistics: NLM Updates MEDLINE Indicators With FY2011 Numbers

Many of us in the government documents world woke up to 2012 with the following message posted on the Web site of the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and distributed around to various library listservs:

In the 2012 President's Budget Request, the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is terminated. As a result, all resources, databases, tools, and applications within this web site will be removed on January 15, 2012.

NBII has been a critical program since 1994 (See Bill Clinton's Executive Order 12906 which created the "National Spatial Data Infrastructure" ("NSDI")). NBII was set up to coordinate a broad array of information at the federal level about biodiversity and ecosystems.

Todd Carpenter, director of National Information Standards Organization NISO, put it nicely and succinctly when he tweeted:

What is particularly sad about NBII shutting down is it's precisely the thing we need MORE of not less=>trusted data repositories #opendata

Well have no fear, the Library of Congress, Internet Archive and Stanford Libraries have all harvested (separately) the NBII Website -- Stanford harvested twice between January 5 and January 13, 2012for its Fugitive US Agencies collection.

Daniel Schuman describes a House commitment to openness that resulted in action!

• House Launches Transparency Portal, by Daniel Schuman, Sunlight Foundation (Jan. 13, 2012).

  Making good on part of the House of Representative's commitment to increase congressional transparency, today the House Clerk's office launched http://docs.house.gov/, a one stop website where the public can access all House bills, amendments, resolutions for floor consideration, and conference reports in XML, as well as information on floor proceedings and more. Information will ultimately be published online in real time and archived for perpetuity.

  ...the ongoing process of releasing documents online, in real-time, and in machine-readable manner is a tremendous sea change from the slow and ponderous paper publications that are often late, fairly difficult to use, and unfriendly to computers.

Daniel rightly emphasizes the availability of XML, but the site does make PDFs available as well. It also has as RSS feed:

• docs.house.gov
• RSS feed.

The HathiTrust announced that it will be adding a new field to its inventory files that will indicate volumes that have been identified as U.S. federal government documents.

• Update on December 2011 Activities, HathiTrust (January 13, 2012).

  Changes to Tab-delimited Files

  On February 1, HathiTrust will be adding three additional columns to the tab-delimited inventory files (“hathifiles”) available at http://www.hathitrust.org/hathifiles. The files are frequently used by partners and non-partners as a means to obtain full bibliographic records for HathiTrust items to load into local catalogs (see HathiTrust Data Availability and APIs). The additional columns will identify the publication date and publication location of volumes in HathiTrust, as well as volumes that have been identified as U.S. federal government documents.

The Federal Reserve has released transcripts of meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee from 2006, after a standard five-year delay.

• FOMC: Transcripts and Other Historical Materials, 2006.

As the New York Times notes, the transcripts...

... clearly show some of the nation's pre-eminent economic minds did not fully understand the basic mechanics of the economy that they were charged with shepherding. The problem was not a lack of information; it was a lack of comprehension, born in part of their deep confidence in economic forecasting models that turned out to be broken.

• Inside the Fed in 2006: A Coming Crisis, and Banter, By Binyamin Appelbaum, New York Times (January 12, 2012).

  For a famously private institution known for its cryptic, formulaic statements, the meeting transcripts offer a rare glimpse of senior officials in relatively unguarded conversation, somewhat akin to the tapes that some presidents have made in the Oval Office. The Fed officials exchange jokes, gossip about people who are not present, and speak much more frankly about the economy and policy than they did in the public remarks that they made contemporaneously.

  The results are unlikely to burnish any of their reputations, inasmuch as they could not see the widening cracks beneath their feet.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is responsible for "open market operations" -- purchases and sales of U.S. Treasury and federal agency securities. These are the Federal Reserve's principal tools for implementing monetary policy. "Monetary policy" refers to actions undertaken by the Federal Reserve to influence the availability and cost of money and credit to help promote national economic goals. The FOMC consists of twelve members: seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and four of the remaining eleven Reserve Bank presidents, who serve one-year terms on a rotating basis.

The most detailed record of FOMC meeting proceedings is the transcript. Beginning with the 1994 meetings, the FOMC Secretariat has produced the transcripts shortly after each meeting from an audio recording of the proceedings, lightly editing the speakers' original words, where necessary, to facilitate the reader's understanding. Meeting participants are given an opportunity within the subsequent several weeks to review the transcript for accuracy.

Transcripts of FOMC meetings are made available to the public with about a five-year lag.

EconomyWatch.com has a beta version of "Econ Stats," an economic statistics database service. They say that coverage is worldwide, by country, economic region and geographical region from 1980 to 2016 forecasts. It currently includes over 50 indicators. Its sources are IMF, World Bank, UN, OECD, CIA World Factbook, Internet World Statistics, The Heritage Foundation and Transparency International.

• Econ Stats: The Economic Statistics and Indicators Database

  "You use this data by finding country, economic indicator or year that you are interested in, and then browse through the data from there. We have raw numerical data as well as some basic textual analysis and supporting notes."

Hat tip to beSpacific!

The UK National Archives is preserving government information published on the web by archiving UK Central Government Websites.

• UK Government Web Archive.
• Information on web archiving.

hat tip to BeSpacific!

The Minnesota Historical Society has several papers on authenticating digital legal information. Here you will find white papers that address authentication issues as well as information on the Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act. Links to additional resources are also provided.

• Preserving state government digital information

  Project partners have identified authentication of digital material -- the process by which information is assured to be what it appears or claims to be -- as a common interest. The trustworthiness of online state statutes and session laws is of particular interest.

The newest paper discusses five methods of authentication and their associated costs pertaining to authenticating primary legal materials in electronic format:

• Authentication of Primary Legal Materials and Pricing Options (pdf)

Hat tip to INFOdocket!

This is from last year, in case you missed it. (I did.):

• Documerica Returns!, EPA blog (May 2nd, 2011).

  Almost 40 years ago, EPA’s Documerica project captured thousands of images of environmental problems and everyday life. Now it’s your turn!

  On Earth Day 2011, EPA put out a global call for current photos of life and our environment, PLUS a challenge to photograph the ‘now’ of places in Documerica. Your photo could be exhibited around the U.S. in 2012!

  Join In!
  Sign up and submit photos through Flickr!

See also:

EPA wants your environment pictures, issues public photo challenge, by Michael Cooney, Network WorldBy (01/06/12).