The tension between the Government Printing Office's traditional role as a printing operation and its future as a publisher of digital government information was apparent at a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee's Legislative Branch Subcommittee last week. In her testimony, acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks stressed the GPO's efforts to transition to the digital age and acknowledged that the agency's role has evolved to that of a publishing operation. Unfortunately, the GPO has often failed to take steps that would allow it to fully embrace that role and ensure its future as an essential source of information.
Continue readingRep. Honda Speaks on Bulk Access on the House Floor
This morning the House is debating passage of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill. Rep. Honda, the ranking member of the... View Article
Continue readingBulk Access Developments after the H. Approps Hearing
In the last 24 hours there have been three significant developments on providing the public with better access to legislative... View Article
Continue readingAppropriators May Undercut Legislative Transparency
by Daniel Schuman and Eric Mill House Appropriators may deal a tremendous blow to prospects for improving public access to... View Article
Continue readingImprove Public Access to Legislative Information
Today 30 organizations from across the political spectrum joined together to ask Congress to improve public access to legislative information.... View Article
Continue readingGovernment: Do You Really Need An API?
As the term "API" has become more widely recognized through its ubiquity in social media and other web services, its coolness factor has grown considerably, and has become something frequently called for from government.
But does government really need to rush around and make APIs for all of their stuff? Peter Krantz argues that offering direct downloads to bulk data is a much more scalable, simple, and sane solution in most cases.
You should go read his article, rather than just our summary. But specifically...
Continue readingTell Congress to open up
Making sure that people can get information about what our government is doing is the heart of what we do... View Article
Continue readingVideo Blackout of Hearing on Budgets for Legislative Support Agencies
This Tuesday, there will be hearing on budgets for the Library of Congress, the Government Printing Office, the Government Accountability... View Article
Continue readingHouse Holding Wonk-a-thon on Public Access to Congressional Info This Wednesday
This Wednesday, the House of Representatives will host an unprecedented public meeting from 3:30-7:30 to discuss how the public can... View Article
Continue readingSunlight Testimony: Bulk Access to THOMAS and Access to CRS Products
Earlier today I testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch on lifting a publishing restriction on CRS... View Article
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