The Librarian Kate

Borrowing from O’Reilly Radar’s “Four Short Links” daily blog post (example), here’s four somewhat short links on the open data movement that came across my reader this morning:

Open Health Data:  Spurring Better Decisions and New Businesses (O’Reilly Radar, November 12, 2010)

Nowhere is freedom to data access more important than in healthcare, especially as citizen choice becomes a larger component of healthcare. (I did it for the first time this year – I had to choose my own health plan; I was not presented with an employer-selected provider and plan.)  The Community Health Data Initiative is part of this; now that initiative takes the form of friendly, easy to download and use apps for smartphones.  In particular, I like iTriage, the app that takes the best features of any health insurance provider website (find a doctor) with WebMD/Google Health (symptom search) and puts them in one easy to use site and app.   Anything that will “help Americans understand health and health care performance in their communities — and to help spark and facilitate action to improve performance” gets a gold star in my book.

Boston’s Real-Time Transit Data: “Better than Winning the World Series” (O’Reilly Radar, November 11, 2010)

Boston is far from the first city to use real-time transit data in useful ways – regular readers know I am a fan of the OneBusAway app, developed by University of Washington students to help navigate the King County Metro bus system better. (I recommend using it / over the myTransit app when you visit the city.) In addition, the Washington, DC Metro has had real-time info on their train platforms for years, and you can find it on select subway lines in New York City (though I understand that project has been stupidly discontinued). Their work is by no means groundbreaking, but the more cities that sign on to these kinds of projects, the happier commuters will be. (Now if we in the New York/New Jersey area can just get our ARC train tunnel….)

Why Open Data? (DotGov, November 11, 2010)

If anyone ever asked you “why open data?” or needs a primary treatise on open data (and by “primary treatise” I mean, “basic open data 101 crash course”) this would be it.  It can read like an advertisement for their YouTown smartphone app, but the post presents the ideas of open data in a convenient executive summary way.

San Francisco Passes Open Data Law (Free Government Information, November 11, 2010)

Now this is groundbreaking – we have anither American city that has, on record, laws providing for open data from municipal agencies.  What makes SF’s law different from other cities (Portland, Vancouver) that have similar laws is that open licensing is included in this new law:

COIT shall evaluate the merits and feasibility of making City data sets available pursuant to a generic license, such as those offered by “Creative Commons.”  Such a license could grant any user the right to copy, distribute, display and create derivative works at no cost and with a minimum level of conditions placed on the use. If appropriate, COIT shall specify the terms and conditions of such a generic license in the standards it develops to implement the open data policy. (Source, Section 3.2)

While I want to say, “you have exactly what you need in Creative Commons,” I also want to see what the city develops, if it is a new copyright license that goes beyond CC to provide for specific government data protection needs.

Gov 2.0 Goes Local – O’Reilly Radar (October 15, 2010)

The timing of this could not have been more on the mark, as this week was Microsoft’s 3rd Annual Local Government Summit.  While I give the federal government kudos for what they have done with merging government services and technology, this article and the summit opened my eyes to the good work being done on the municipal level.  A petri dish of sorts, if you will – experimenting on small scales with what can be done to connect government with its citizens. However, the article misses one point and one place that can help Gov 2.0 grow and go farther than it is now – the local library.

In a paper I wrote for my Professional Writing class earlier this year (download here), I argued that library education was lacking in government information instruction.  The public library was, and still is, the place to get government information.  As the IRS will not be sending paper tax forms this year (source), the chances are high that more will be coming to the library to use their computers to print their forms.  A recent discussion on the ALA’s LITA listserv about laptop rental revealed that one of the top reasons for such a program was for filling out unemployment forms (again, a government agency) without having to worry about imposed time limits.  Until governments get their hands around the concept of Gov 2.0, and they are getting there (as this article shows), they might just need a little help from what one of my bus drivers in Seattle called the “ziggurat of knowledge” – the library.

It’s nothing new, this goverment/library partnership.  Here lies Exhibit A:

That’s a photo of parental resources, some from Washington State, King County, and City of Seattle government agencies in the children’s room of the Seattle Public Library’s Central Branch, a fine supplement to their web resources.  Strategically placed, and not taking up too much space, but what a wealth of information was in that space!  See how easy it is?

I would love to see partnerships between local governments and libraries to teach these kinds of services.  The municipality gets free nonpartisan (one hopes with the latter) marketing of services, the library can teach information literacy and information evaluation right at the point of need – and citizens leave better informed and better educated as a result.  The Gov 2.0 movement will flourish locally before experiencing its renaissance gl0bally, why not let the library be a part of it?  It’s a win-win for everyone.

It’s been a while since I covered anything related to government information in this blog, but here are a few stories and links that caught my attention:

Is the Hype Behind E-Government Justified? (Free Government Information, 9/4/10)

For the first time in any of the literature I have seen, we have the question of e-government and corruption – namely, does one reduce the other?  Does the initiative to make data more open reduce government waste?  It’s a compelling argument, and one that seems rather logical and obvious.  But, as a friend who is a government documents librarian at Grand Valley State University pointed out to me, reducing corruption and waste should not be the goal of e-government – it should be to provide open information dialogue between government and citizens, bringing the ruling body closer to the ideal of “government by the people and for the people.”

I fear that in the rush to provide open data, agencies and entities will throw anything and everything out there, the baby with the bathwater to prevent cries of “this agency is utterly corrupt, they’re not sharing all their data.”  Some information needs to remain confidential, for national security reasons or otherwise.  It’s cherrypicking, yes – but cherrypicking that benefits both end users and the organization.

Bringing Open Government to Courts (O’Reilly Radar, 9/9/10)

In my previous life in Lawyer Land, I worked with PACER, the electronic court records system. It’s good but not great – especially with sharing documents.  You would have to save a document to your hard drive/network and then send it on to other interested parties via email, Dropbox, etc. I might have the time to do that, but a busy partner might not.  And don’t forget about network crashes, etc.   If we can share news stories, videos through parent websites (sometimes not so easily, as I discovered last night), why not do the same with court documents?  This is the focus of Harlan Yu’s work, and I am behind it wholeheartedly.  In addition to ease, his system saves costs for law firms – outside of opinions, documents are $.08 per page.  Why have two users pay twice for the same document, especially when charges are not always billed to clients?

The next step is bringing the same PACER system (hopefully improved) to state courts.  In New Jersey, getting copies of documents from the Superior Court is not easy.  The records are not online; one has to make the request in writing.  I wish PACER-NJ would come to fruition, if it hasn’t already.

CityLife iPhone App Update (Dotgov.com blog, 9/9/10)

I was wondering not too long ago what happened with this project from the good people at DotGov.com – and a check of their blog revealed that the app will be launching in beta with a few test cities later this month.  I’m a mobile lover and I am rather eager to see how things play out.  No word on other app platforms (Droid, Blackberry) yet.

Edit (9/10/10, 1:47 PM EST): I forgot to mention one of my new favorite government information blogs, In Custodia Legis, from the Law Library of Congress. Useful and interesting information, and I like the way they harness and use social media thus far – updating regularly with relevant content, and using the social media that works for them (in addition to the blog, you can find the library on Twitter and on Facebook).

It’s a few weeks old by now, but the new Federal Register website deserves a look-see. (Info on makeover.)

The first thing one notices on the site is how seriously clean the site is. White background with black Arial text, with limited color usage – obviously red and blue. The blue highlights the sidebar menu – my eyes seized that immediately. The search box allows one to search the most recent volume easily, and instructions, including simple and advanced searching for the current and back volumess follow. As I like advanced search options to help get what I want (or my patron wants) easily, putting this right on the front page and not making me hunt for it – big plus.

Now, what looks good on paper (electronic or otherwise) may fail in practice. Thus, I used one of their suggested terms (“environmental protection agency”) to search the current Register volume (Volume 75). (Note that all thumbnails open up to larger images.)

Here are the search results, with file size, relevancy and handy links for HTML and PDF format, including a summary of the Register document. The summary is handy because sometimes you can’t tell the scope of the document from the title.

I’m not too impressed with the HTML text (summary and full text) – it’s plain text, easy to read and print, but I felt so much more could have been done. (The PDF file is a scanned copy of the print Register pages.) In THOMAS, the Congressional online search tool, there are hyperlinks to sponsors, related bills, etc. (A screenshot of sample search result from THOMAS is below.) It’s simple HTML coding, and is already available when you browse the Register. (Sample.) For all I know, extension of hyperlinking to full text of Register items could be in the next iteration of the Federal Register online.

Text from Federal Register

Text from THOMAS

As you can see, advanced search options are quite thorough, and hyperlinked options with thorough explanations. The search tips page is also well-written and includes sample searches.

You can even pull up a particular page of the Federal Register, though I am not sure if the average government information seeker would use this. It would be extremely useful for scholars/academics for citation purposes.

Overall, it’s a nice makeover, well in line with opening up government information into easier to access and use formats. Some work can be done with the full text, particularly with hyperlinking to make cross-searching easier, but for now, this is a fine start. It is a good template for states to use if they put their equivalent of the FR online.

In an article for the July 8, 2010 issue of Federal Computer Week (note: there’s plenty of ads), Steve Lunceford, founder of GovTwit (and as earlier posts on this blog will attest, a consummate professional and nice guy) puts forth that Twitter distinguishes itself from other communication channels government agencies and officials can use. Moreso than Facebook or other means, Twitter is helping government move from isolated communication means (the old Government 1.0), to where the rest of the world is heading (or there already), the Web 2.0 interface (or Government 2.0).

Twitter nears the gov 2.0 tipping point (Federal Computer Week, July 8, 2010

Excerpts:

Twitter is different from other social networks largely because much of the conversations on its network happen in a more public manner. Anyone can follow anyone — no friend requests are required. I believe that approach provides a more collaborative and immediate experience than other networks, and the 140-character limit for messages also weeds out all but the most critical details to pass along, making it a more efficient way to share information for many tasks.

Although it is just one of many helpful Web 2.0 tools and channels that agencies can use, Twitter has already proven to be an important part of the communications mix for many. By adding a liaison in Washington, the service is preparing to expand its government user base even more.

I won’t refute Steve’s points at all, for I saw government communication with Twitter in action. My last post achieved a life of its own after O’Reilly Media saw it and shared it on their Twitter feed. (In case I have not yet said it formally, thanks guys!) One of the re-tweeters (sharers for those not up on the Twitter lingo) was the Press Secretary for the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Scott Wolfson. Without Twitter (and one can argue, without blogs) this kind of communication would not be possible. Twitter can, and does, open up worlds.

What I worry about with this penetration of Twitter is what I like to call the “ooh shiny syndrome.” Companies/government agences/elected officials/etc. get sucked in to Twitter and think “hey, we have a Twitter account, we’re cool! we’re hip! we’re awesome!” (Note that you can substitute “blog” or “Facebook” or any other social media in that sentence and get the same effect.) But if you’re not using it right, not communicating effectively, and/or using social media at the expense of other communication channels, your agency is nothing more than the 40-something mom who decides to connect with her wayward 20-something daughter by going with her to clubs, thinking this will make her the ultimate BFF. (In other words, Dina Lohan.)

Meredith Farkas was (unfortunately) on the consumer side of this phenomenon not too long ago when she had issues with Adobe Captivate (excerpts below):

So, as Adobe suggests, I posted to their forums. That was on June 11th. To date, I have not received a response from anyone regarding my issue. I also submitted a bug report, since I couldn’t find any other way to email my issue to anyone. Never received a response to that either.

I’d vented on Twitter about my experiences with Adobe and someone suggested that I contact @Adobe_Care on Twitter. My husband’s response to that was that “Adobe only cares about turning you upside down and shaking the money out of your pockets.” That person apparently let @Adobe_Care know that I was having issues and the next day I got a tweet from them asking if I still needed help. I let them know that I was told I couldn’t get support without purchasing a support plan. They told me they’d get someone to contact me the next day. Huh?

After telling them that I was available until 3:30 pm ET, someone from support called me at 4:00 pm (right as I was about to leave to pick my son up from daycare). They co-browsed with me and saw the issue I was having with Captivate. They had me send them the file and told me they’d work on it and get back to me. The support person was still rather unfriendly and impatient with me, but at least she listened.

Meredith ends her pretty sad story with this conclusion (emphasis mine):

Do I think they’re going to find a solution? Doubtful. But what really bothers me is the idea that I got special treatment because I complained about the company on Twitter.

Herein lies the lesson for government: Twitter is awesome. GovTwit is awesome. Using Twitter to reach out to the populace is awesome. But it has to be done right. Shore up the basics of information sharing first (look at where your customers/citizens have complained – are you not answering messages in a timely manner? Are you giving form/stock responses that don’t address the issue?), then go for Twitter, or whatever social media you want to use.

Remember that Twitter limits you to 140 characters, only what Lunceford “the most critical details to pass along.” That’s a smaller number than you think.

If you don’t, you’re the bridge and tunnel miniskirted cougar trolling the Meatpacking District with your daughter on a Saturday night. And if there’s one thing we can agree on, that’s a pretty scary image.

Getting back on the Gov 2.0 train, since it’s been a while….

In going through my delicious account, I came across this article from Mashable I bookmarked back in May:

5 Ways Government Works Better With Social Media

It makes a compelling case for the government/social media marriage in simple language. Some articles I have read on this partnership bog themselves down in the jargon – crowdsourcing, emerging technologies, etc. Using the jargon doesn’t help make the case to non-tech folk – and in most cases, those are the people making the decisions. You bring out the jargon in a presentation or meeting, see everyone roll their eyes, check their watches and start playing solitaire on their iPhones. I’m a techie and even my eyes glaze over when I see those words. (It’s something I remember as a librarian when talking to my non-librarian friends – stay away from the acronyms!)

That being said, let’s look at the examples Mashable uses.

Three of the case studies are information gathering and sharing (Gulf of Mexico oil spill, weather reports, Open 311 in San Francisco and Washington, DC). Here is where I feel open government is most successful – using social media tools to connect and share. This is what the public is used to already, and doing already. Example: raise your hand if you found out about yesterday’s Southern California earthquake from friends on Twitter or Facebook. (I did, and Mashable noticed this too.)

I’m interested to see how FedSpace (social networking for federal employees) develops – similar networks have come up for librarians (ALA Connect) and academics (Academia.edu). The app development contest (#3 – “Helping Kids Get Up and Move”) is what the government champions as true open government, and I hope the contest works out well for all involved – because the newest round of apps available on USA.gov are all created by government agencies. (I’m basing this on the FAQ on USA.gov’s website, which encourages users to contact USA.gov if there are problems with the apps. Such questions could be forwarded on to app developers, but that is unknown at this time.)

This is a good “state of open government” report, and should be repeated in a few months with any new information.

As an aside since it was mentioned in the previous paragraph, I am very happy with the new design of USA.gov. It’s a clean design, not too much color or graphics cluttering the front page. It offers easy to read directions on changing text size (ADA compliance full of win!), and puts the the top reasons people use government websites (contacting government agencies and elected officials, finding out about government services, getting government services) right in an easy to read menu bar. Again, tacit, open recognition of what open government can do best – information gathering and sharing. Other agencies and offices would be wise to seize on the success of this service goal.

If there is one thing I have learned this week, it’s that open government people are just that – open. They love to talk. And that’s a very good thing, as you can learn so much.

After I blogged Steve’s comments and my request to hear from Gov2Social last night, Kristin Bockius, Ms. Gov2Social, reached out to me via Twitter. We shared a wonderful email conversation this morning; here are some of her talking points.

• Like GovTwit, Gov2Social is a one woman show. Again, I am impressed. Kristin reviews all submissions and works with Microsoft’s State and Local Government Division to keep the site fresh and troubleshoot technical issues. (Things I didn’t know: Microsoft has a State and Local Government Division. Things I would like to know: Are they hiring? )
• Since she is the one-woman show, errors do take time to fix. The inaccuracies in listings for Twitter accounts for the City of Las Vegas and City of Milwaukee (see this and this for context) remained as such for so long because she was out of the office on business. It’s important for users like us to be patient when dealing with errors on such sites.
• Future plans for the site include further standardization of data and additions to the taxonomy listings. Kristin has noticed that community colleges (probably those run by counties, like my local CC, Mercer County Community College) are adding themselves to the directory.
• Overseas Microsoft teams are looking at Gov2Social for insight and guidance into models for their own countries. Assuming funding is in place come next fiscal year, we may see Gov2Social-UK, Gov2Social-Canada, or other similar initiatives.

What I really appreciated reading was Kristin’s history on Gov2Social:

“[B]asically, we created it to help highlight the adoption of social media in State & Local Government b/c the focus seemed to be on the Federal government and their Gov 2.0 work more than SLG.”

This is totally in line with danah boyd’s comments about two weeks ago about engaging young people at the local level first (context), since that is where the tradition of personal interaction lies.

Kristin is also forward-looking:

“And while there are great sites out there like GovTwit and TweetCongress, we wanted to create a site that can grow with social media. So if Twitter goes the way of MySpace then we can remove the Twitter entries and we can keep adding in the new social media sites as they become more popular…”

Based on all this, I am hoping Gov2Social will grow and join the ranks of GovTwit, and that these sites (along with others) will continue to work together to provide directories and clearinghouses for social media government information.

My dialogues with Steve and Kristin reaffirm my commitment to all aspects of government information – government 2.0, free government information, digital government – whatever you want to call it. It is uplifting to be around such passionate, intelligent, open people.

If this is the future of government information, I think Gov 2.0 will become part of the zeitgeist quicker than Facebook.

The GovTwit/Gov2Social dialogue continues…

Shortly after the initial post today, I received a response from Gov2Social to my question about who can add to the directory. The answer? It’s anyone – from the government officials themselves to Joe and Jane Q. Citizen:

“@librarian_kate Yes – anyone and everyone can add to #gov2social’s directory. We rely on you to help populate it ”

A few hours later, Mr. GovTwit himself, Steve Lunceford, provided a very thoughtful response to my original post. You can read the full text of his comments there, but he clarified a few things about GovTwit:

• It’s a one-man show, literally. (The word “impressed” is an understatement.)
• All submissions and user-generated tags are reviewed and assigned to a set taxonomy. The tagging is similar to delicious tagging.
• Potential for submission error in these user-built directories deserves high priority. It can happen whether you’re a one-man operation or have the resources and genius of a great computer company at your fingertips.

Although the initial review of these sites did not profess to put one over the other (it’s comparing apples to oranges, really – rather irrelevant), knowing more about GovTwit and how their taxonomy works makes me appreciate the site a bit more. I’m hoping Gov2Social offers a response about how their submission procedures work once the data is in the directory, especially as other users discover errors in the directory that remain inaccurate.

Nevertheless, both sites are vital to connect government with citizens through social networking, keeping the Gov 2.0 machine humming. As Steve said, “In absence of official government resources, I’m glad you netted out that both directories can be helpful sites and guides to the broader communities interested in government’s participation in social media.”

That they are. That they are, indeed.

Let’s look at two fairly popular search engines for government in social media, Gov2Social and GovTwit.

GovTwit is just what it says – a search engine for government agencies and elected officials on Twitter. It claims to be the “world’s largest list of government agencies on Twitter, tracking state/local, federal, contractors, media, academics, non-profits and government outside of the U.S.” And they’re not kidding. In two years they collected, by my own estimates, around 3,000 – 4,000 twitter accounts, with the assistance of GovTwit users – elected officials, their aides, agencies, the media, and Joe and Jane Citizen. Users can link their Twitter account to the site to follow users directly from the portal.

While convenient to have such a directory in a central location, the taxonomy concerns me. It relies on user tags (I figured this out from the “recommend someone” option, in which I was assign three to categorize Twitter accounts), and some of them may not be clear to Joe or Jane Citizen (example: “1105” – took some digging the directory to find out that this was for 1105 Media, a business and government information media company). There’s too much room for error, whether it’s a tag that may be unfamiliar or a tag that is incorrect.

Gov2Social is the newer portal whose mission is more ambitious than GovTwit – to index all social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) for state and local governments. Although much smaller and only focused on US government, the taxonomy is manageable and prepared by Bright Side of Government, which is part of Microsoft State and Local Government. Even if you’re a Steve Jobs lover, you have to admit that when placed next to the user-controlled metadata of GovTwit, Microsoft did it right.

However, it appears anyone can add information to the directory, like GovTwit. The tighter control over the taxonomy ensures a near universal catalog and little to no error, but opening the platform opens the door for unauthorized accounts to be part of the directory. Practical example: I have no official affiliation with Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker, just a supporter of his work – but I can go in and add his Twitter and Facebook accounts to the directory. Potential for error? Yes. Potential for highly partisan and vicious social media to be a part of the directory (i.e an “I Hate Cory Booker” Twitter account)? Yes. (Just made that up, by the bye). I have reached out to Gov2Social via Twitter for some comment on this issue, and will update with any response.

For their faults in authentication and ensuring accurate classifications, these are still useful sites for government and citizens to connect.