Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Ten Great Government Web Sites. GCN's list of "great" .gov web sites this year includes GPO's FDsys. Great .Gov Web Sites SPECIAL REPORT: "10 sites that take online government to the next level" by Joab Jackson, Government Computer News (Jul 27, 2009) Other sites GCN lists include: data.gov, The California Metropolitan Transportation Commission's Transit.511.org, the U.S. State Department, the State of Utah, and Science.gov. While the description of FDsys in the GCN article has no new information for those who have been following its development for years, its presence in the list is notable and important for at least two reasons. First, it is the only one of the ten that emphasizes permanence and long term access. Second, it is revealing to see the technologies that GCN lists for each site. Every site on the list is noted for use of technologies that provide good access and rich content. These include the current batch of usual suspects, from Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight, to RSS and Cascading Style sheets; from Wikipedia and Twitter, to Google keyhole Markup Language and ArcGIS. But only FDsys also includes technologies that are specifically designed for long-term preservation and for authenticating content: The Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System, and "Digital signatures." Now if we could just combine that with digital deposit into FDLP libraries, we'd be able to multiply the technical guarantees of long-term free public access to government information by the number of participating FDLP libraries. [Free Government Information (FGI) blogs] 1:12:57 PM     Book Reviews from Master The Art of Reading participants Fatal Remains by Eleanor Taylor Bland: Fantastic! Windy City Dying by Eleanor Taylor Bland: Ms. Bland writes good, good mysteries. But within the crime solving is family caring, humor, and not just about those living in one house! Enjoyable! Gypsy by Steven Brust: I would recommend this book to a fiction reader. Five hundred years after by Steven Brust: This book is a real edge of your seat read and a great book for any true sci-fi reader. She Shoots to Conquer by Dorothy Cannell: Lost in foggy England to find themselves in the middle of a bizarre realtiy tv shoot. Africana Woman by Cynthia Jacob Carter: This is a book about the accomplishment of African-African American women. It gives strength and builds confidence of women. Temptation Ridge by Robyn Carr: Great book-romance Thunder of Heaven by Ted Dekker: A very exciting book with a surprising ending. It's about 2 young people adjusting to the death of their parents in the Amazon jungle. Black by Ted Dekker: First book of a trilogy. It does not have much of a conclusion, so be prepared to read all three. White by Ted Dekker: Part of trilogy, but 4th book is being released soon. Plan to read all 3, since there is not much of a conclusion to each separate one. 1:02:58 PM

© Copyright 2009 Jocelyn Shaw. Last update: 8/3/2009; 10:36:08 AM. Photo curtesy of Marjorie O'Brien