O'Neill,Digital Radio in Europe: Technologies,Industries, and Cultures

The U.S. Government's role as overseer of the World War II airwaves was significant, given the government's task of establishing a supervisory mechanism for the radio industry that would serve the need of national security and, at the same time, minimize the need for bureaucratic intrusion into program decision making. A mechanism also was needed to police the domestic airwaves for unlicensed intruders and to monitor the international airwaves for enemy propaganda. To accomplish these tasks, the government enlisted the services of three agencies: the Federal Communications Commission, the Defense Communications Board, and the Office of Censorship. This paper examines the structure, operation, and contribution of each.     

Partners on the net: FDLP partnering to coordinate remote access to internet-based government information

In June 1996, the Government Printing Office (GPO) published a plan for its transition to a more electronic Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). This plan assumes that federal information policy requires that the FDLP provide permanent public access to remotely-accessible electronic government information products and indicates that such access will be provided through a network of partnerships comprised of the GPO, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), federal agencies, and FDLP libraries. GPO has established its first library partnership in this FDLP network with the University of Chicago at Illinois' Richard J. Daley Library and the Department of State (DOS) to ensure that DOS materials will be available for permanent public access through the FDLP. To extend the partnership network to publishing agencies, a partnership has been arranged with the Department of Energy (DOE) to ensure direct FDLP access to technical reports maintained on a DOE World Wide Web site.     

A new look at the constitution's copyright clause: Copyright by government contractors is unconstitutional

Through a new interpretation of the Copyright Clause of the Constitution and the Application of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, the author concludes that it is unconstitutional for (1) the Congress to authorize Federal agencies to permit copyright by Federal contractors on works they were commissioned by Federal contract to produce for compensation, and (2) the Copyright Office to register a copyright application from such a Federal contractor.There are two provisions in the Copyright Clause, the commonly cited one on promoting science and the arts, and the generally ignored permissible-means provision limiting copyright to providing incentive to authors to create works. The latter one is a threshold requirement for copyrightability.Since there is no constitutional authority to motivate an author by the Federal Government's permitting him to copyright a work he was commissioned under Federal contracts to produce for compensation, Schnapper v. Foley was wrongly decided.     

Information management in federal agencies: The neglected piece of the IRM puzzle

In an attempt to highlight the importance of managing information as a corporate resource, this article presents several examples of recent attempts by Federal agencies to cope with information management issues. These examples include the Department of Defense's Corporate Information Management (CIM) program, the Federal Aviation Administration's Operational Data Management System (ODMS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Aspects of these information management activities are highlighted that demonstrate differential agency responses to system development needs and requirements.     

The use of cookies in Federal agency web sites: Privacy and recordkeeping issues

On July 27, 2009 the United States Government Office of Management and Budget (OMB) publicized its intent to review the nine-year-old prohibition of web tracking technologies such as cookies on Federal agency web sites. OMB cited its need to continue to protect the public's privacy while visiting Federal Government web sites, while at the same time “making these web sites more user friendly, providing better customer service, and allowing for enhanced web analytics” (Federal Register, 2009, p. 37062). In this paper, we review the history of the Federal government's position on cookies, and describe exactly how the technology works and why this shift in policy toward the use of cookies is logical and necessary for the evolution of electronic-government and government 2.0 services in terms of accessibility and capability. We review two major issues with which Federal agencies must contend related to the use of cookies – privacy, and records management. It is interesting to note that, despite earlier research on the implications of privacy and records management concerning other adopted technologies such as e-mail, these issues continue to be complex and misunderstood. We discuss the implications of cookies as records for future e-Government services and for long-term records management.     

U.S. government printing office,no more

Changes in electronic technology and publishing and distribution patterns are affecting how government agencies are making information available. These factors, as well as the Government Printing Office's (GPO) monopoly-like status, its inability to transform its operations as described in GPO/2001: Vision for a New Millennium, its historical inefficiency, and its potential violation of the separation of powers doctrine require new institutional arrangements for the distribution of government information to the public. This author recommends that GPO be abolished and its printing authority be transferred to the General Services Administration (GSA). In addition, the author recommends that the Superintendent of Documents be transferred to the Library of Congress, an Office of Congressional Printing Management be established, and the GPO work force be reduced and then relocated to other agencies. In addition, a statutory policy should be articulated by Congress to disseminate government information to the public and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) should be directed to implement this policy.     

Toward best practices for strategic information technology management

Federal agencies are under pressure to do more with less—to improve the services they provide to the public, with greater accountability for achieving results, more quickly and at lower cost. In a 1994 study of leading organizations, the General Accounting Office (GAO) identified 11 strategic information management (SIM) practices, which became the foundation of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996. In 1997, the Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council and the Industry Advisory Council prepared 20 case studies demonstrating the use of information technology to achieve a positive return on investment within the federal government. Focusing on these 20 case studies, this research first looked for evidence that supported or refuted each of GAO’s SIM practices. Second, the research looked for best practices that may be unique to a federal environment. Third, the study identified other best practices.     

Policy implications of a model public information service: the DOSFAN experience

The unique three-way partnership formed by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s federal depository library, the U.S. State Department, and the Government Printing Office (GPO) to deliver and preserve foreign policy information through servers housed at the University’s library offers some critical insights into the assumptions and policies of the GPO’s Federal Depository Library Program. Ultimately, the Internet’s explosive growth, combined with powerful graphical interfaces of the major Web browsers, undermines several recently enacted laws that attempt to standardize (or centralize) effective information resource management within the federal government. Not only has GPO steadily lost political and economic support over the last decade from both legislative and executive leaders for its production and distribution programs, many agencies now consider their “.gov Webspaces” the natural successors to the GPO and its depository library program. As a result, a new model of government information distribution is being forged within the highly decentralized and interactive environment of the World Wide Web.     

Ways to think about user fees for federal information products

With budget cuts looming, Federal agencies are revisiting user fees for information products. The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 provides for user fees no higher than the cost of information dissemination. Federal agencies are enjoined from making a profit on their information products and permitted only to recover costs. The real question is how much value agencies should add to their information strictly for the public's use. Practical considerations such as the administrative costs of fees and legal authority to receive revenues condition an agency's decision to begin user fees. Various factors such as allowable costs and differential pricing must be considered in computing users' fees. The author suggests an action strategy for agencies contemplating information user fees and concludes that coming budget cuts will lead to increased employment of user fees by Federal agencies.     

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure – Building capacities for the use of big data algorithm systems (BDAS) in early crisis detection

Public sector organizations at all levels of government increasingly rely on Big Data Algorithmic Systems (BDAS) to support decision-making along the entire policy cycle. But while our knowledge on the use of big data continues to grow for government agencies implementing and delivering public services, empirical research on applications for anticipatory policy design is still in its infancy. Based on the concept of policy analytical capacity (PAC), this case study examines the application of BDAS for early crisis detection within the German Federal Government—that is, the German Federal Foreign Office (FFO) and the Federal Ministry of Defence (FMoD). It uses the nested model of PAC to reflect on systemic, organizational, and individual capacity-building from a neoinstitutional perspective and allow for the consideration of embedded institutional contexts. Results from semi-structured interviews indicate that governments seeking to exploit BDAS in policymaking depend on their institutional environment (e.g., through research and data governance infrastructure). However, specific capacity-building strategies may differ according to the departments' institutional framework, with the FMoD relying heavily on subordinate agencies and the FFO creating network-like structures with external researchers. Government capacity-building at the individual and organizational level is similarly affected by long-established institutional structures, roles, and practices within the organization and beyond, making it important to analyze these three levels simultaneously instead of separately.     

Traversing the “Twittersphere”

This article examines the workflows, editorial guidelines, and managerial oversight of social media, particularly Twitter, at seven international news agencies. Through a series of in-depth interviews with news managers, social media producers, and public relations officials at Al Jazeera, CNN, Globo, Telecinco, RTVE, the US government's Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and Voice of America, the authors examined how these policies may affect the framing of news stories. Results indicated that social media resources are currently being used more for promotional and audience tracking purposes than for newsgathering, although the Office of Cuba Broadcasting departed somewhat from that model.     

A new order of things: The political future of documents librarians and a national system of federal depository libraries

This article places the efforts of documents librarians to reform the Federal Depository Library Program (DLP) in an historical and political perspective. As with many other earlier efforts of reform, the recent “Reinventing Access to Federal Government Information,” held in October 1993, would raise doubts, once again, about the public institutions and national information policy arrangements that support the Government Printing Office and its DLP. The specific reforms calling for centralized information should be abandoned. The depository library system's political power and public convictions were never fully expressed through the program's various national administrative incarnations. Its true community purpose flows from the local conditions and information needs of each depository library community. Democratic distribution of public information must begin and end within these local areas and regions.     

Authorizing EDGAR: Information policy in theory and practice

The Securities and Exchange Commission's new EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) database of prospectuses, securities registration statements, and other SEC filings was recently authorized by the Congress. EDGAR is the first large Federal elctronic informtion system authorized at a time when both the legislative and executive branches have been actively considering policies for electronic information systems. The legislative conditions established for EDGAR provide insight into the future direction for Federal information policy.     

Improving access to Japanese scientific and technical literature in the United States: The role of the Federal government

Currently, the United States lacks a clear and consistent information policy defining and regulating the Federal role in collection and dissemination of Japanese scientific and technical information (STI) to users in the public and private sectors. One long-term consequence of this situation involves negative impacts on American scientific and technological innovation and on competitiveness in the global economy.After a discussion of the existing legislative and regulatory environment shaping the Federal government's approach to Japanese STI activities, the article presents five policy options, each of which describes a different role for the Federal government. Finally, the article recommends a combination of two options that will create the basis for a Federal information policy designed to support a self-sustaining STI infrastructure in the United States. That infrastructure will efficiently access and disseminate Japanese STI to public and private sector users.     

Data integrity boards: Institutional innovation and congressional oversight

This article is a preliminary analysis of the first few years of the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (CMPPA). The act requires Federal agencies to establish Data Integrity Boards (DIBs) with responsibility to approve written agreements for computer matches in which their agencies are involved. Information for this analysis was collected from the annual reports on computer matching submitted by agencies to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 1990 and 1991 and from 108 matching agreements. The secretaries of several DIBs were also interviewed. The effectiveness of DIBs and matching agreements are analyzed using McCubbins and Schwartz's distinction between “police-patrol” and “fire- alarm” oversight. The article concludes that more active and direct oversight, which would occur through an independent data protection or privacy board, is necessary.     

Providing census tabulations to government security agencies in the United States: The case of Arab Americans

In the summer of 2004, it was revealed that the U.S. Census Bureau had provided tabulations in 2002 and 2003 on Arab Americans to the Department of Homeland Security that included detailed information on the number of people of Arab backgrounds living in selected ZIP codes. Although not a violation of law, the Census Bureau realized that this perceived breach of confidentiality would have a negative impact on public trust, and within a few months following the news of the Arab American tabulations it announced that it would no longer assist law enforcement and intelligence agencies with tabulations on ethnic groups and other sensitive populations. In spite of this damage control, we believe that the Bureau's tabulation of Arab Americans provides momentum to a process that adversely affects data quality by increasing both non-response and the cost of obtaining survey and census data. We argue that there are no “methodological fixes” that can repair the damage, and further that public relations campaigns and internal administrative changes are not optimal solutions because of the governing structure within which the Bureau currently operates. Ultimately, the best way to limit the damage already done is to effect a political solution. Toward this end we describe short- and long-term actions. In the long run, we recommend removing the Census Bureau from the Executive branch of government and re-structuring it under a permanent and non-political oversight panel similar to either the Federal Reserve Board or the Congressional Budget Office. Such a move would make a strong statement that the Bureau is non-partisan federal statistical agency.     

The administration and operation of the freedom of information act: A retrospective

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has been administered by Federal departments and agencies for almost 30 years. Aspects of that administrative experience are discussed here. Never held in high regard or enthusiastically implemented by the Executive Branch, the FOIA and its effective operation owe much to Congress, which, after creating the statute, nurtured it through diligent oversight and legislative amendment. However, the FOIA has not received comprehensive congressional examination and evaluation for a decade. Not only might its existing procedures benefit from reassessment and upgrading, but also its capacity to contend with electronic formats is in question. Furthermore, the prospect of the statute being extended to cover Congress or possibly the entire Legislative Branch grows stronger, suggesting a need to begin discussions concerning the scope of the FOIA's application to congressional or Legislative Branch records and such new arrangements as may be necessary to facilitate effective operation of the law should this application be approved.     

Making history: The sitting modern president and the national archives

Tradition, law, and the model of the modern Presidential library cement the close institutional ties which bind the nation's chief executive and the chief recordkeeper, a relationship which comes into flourish in the post-presidency. Although existing statute addresses limited formal interaction between an incumbent administration and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), in fact, the day-to-day relationship has evolved to incorporate diverse and expanding activities, particularly under President Bill Clinton. These functions anticipate the eventual transfer of records management responsibility from the Executive Office of the President to NARA upon the conclusion of each administration, and the agency's future role in administering a president's library. In this essay, the current administration's liaison to the National Archives surveys the contemporaneous relationship between NARA and sitting modern Presidents, with emphasis on the Clinton White House.