A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier:
Open Data Handbook 1.0 introduces open data
To help guide organisations that wish to open their data, the Open Knowledge Foundation has released version 1.0 of the "Open Data Handbook" which "discusses the legal, social and technical aspects of open data". The handbook is targeted at a broad audience, according to the announcement, but has a particular focus on open government data. It began development in October 2010 as the "Open Data Manual" at a book sprint in Berlin, organised by members of the Open Government Data and Open Data in the EU working groups at the Open Knowledge Foundation. It was then added to and refined by a wider group of editors to produce the current handbook.
Visit The H Open Source for the rest.
NASA to open source web operations
NASA, like any other major enterprise, is a heavy user of open source and Linux. Now the agency is planning to open source its main portal NASA.gov and internal Intranet insidenasa.nasa.gov. The space agency recently (Feb 6) posted a draft Statement of Work (SOW) seeking vendors to submit their response to the request for information.
Visit Muktware.com for the rest.
Homeland analysts told to monitor policy debates in social media
WASHINGTON — Analysts for a Department of Homeland Security program that monitors social networks like Twitter and Facebook have been instructed to produce reports on policy debates related to the department, a newly disclosed manual shows.
Visit New York Times for the rest.
NYC makes internal ratings of 18,000 public school teachers available
For the first time ever, New York City has made public its internal ratings of how effective teachers are at boosting their students’ performance on reading and math exams. The release of the data on roughly 18,000 teachers — who are identified by name — came in response to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by The Post and other media outlets in August 2010.
Visit New York Post for the rest.
Official accused of using work email for fantasy football
MANCHESTER, N.H. — A former Hillsborough deputy county attorney has decided to fight allegations that he was using his work email inappropriately to talk about fantasy football. After a conservative activist filed for the emails under the Freedom of Information Act, the question of gambling arose, and now, the attorney general's office is involved.
Visit WMUR 9 for the rest.
Open-government champion retiring from New Mexico Senate
State Sen. Dede Feldman, a longtime champion of government transparency, announced today that she won’t seek a fifth term this year.
Visit nmpolitics.net for the rest.
Bill adding teeth to Iowa’s open-records law has new life
DES MOINES – A six-year battle in the Legislature to create an Iowa Public Information Board has renewed life, thanks to a new floor manager for the bill with a “strong desire” to move it forward. “I think the time’s come for this bill to move forward. Six years is long enough,” state Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, said Wednesday. “Iowans that I’ve talked to, talk about transparency in their government; I think the common, everyday Iowan needs one place to go to find out some of their answers.”
Visit SouthwestIowaNews.com for the rest.