Social media adoption and resulting tactics in the U.S. federal government

In 2009, the departments in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government received the presidential marching order to “harness new technologies” in order to become more transparent, collaborative and participatory. Given this mandate, this article sets out to provide insights from qualitative interviews with social media directors to understand the factors that influence internal adoption decisions to use social media applications, such as Facebook, Twitter, or blogs. Three distinct factors influence the adoption decisions of social media directors: information about best practices in their informal network of peers, passive observations of perceived best practices in the public and private sector, and “market-driven” citizen behavior. The resulting adoption tactics include: (1) representation, (2) engagement, and (3) networking. The findings point to the need for higher degrees of formalized knowledge sharing when it comes to disruptive technology innovations such as social media use in highly bureaucratic communication environments. Recommendations based on the lessons learned are provided for practitioners and social media researchers to develop social media tactics for different organizational purposes in government.     

U.S. state government websites demonstrate better in terms of accessibility compared to federal government and commercial websites

State government websites are a main information portal for people. The primary objective of this study is to examine 50 U.S. state government websites to evaluate the status of their accessibility in comparison with federal government and randomly selected commercial websites. The results show a significant difference among the three groups (F(2, 101) = 11.81, p < 0.001) with respect to accessibility. In particular, the state and federal government websites provide more accessible service to their users than the commercial websites (p < 0.01). The most frequent barriers to accessibility found on state government websites are also listed here for web designers and developers to enable them to improve their quality of service in the future.     

Accessibility of U.S. federal government home pages: Section 508 compliance and site accessibility statements

U.S. federal websites are required to be accessible for people with impairments. However, despite the existing regulations and guidelines, many federal websites continue to be inaccessible, and accessibility policy statements available on federal websites often do not provide any useful information. This paper provides three contributions to the research literature: (1) an accessibility evaluation of 100 federal home pages using both human and automated methods, (2) a content analysis of existing website accessibility policy statements, and (3) a discussion of the relationship between actual Section 508 compliance and the existing accessibility policy statements on a website. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving policy related to Section 508 compliance for websites.     

A framework for Internet of Things-enabled smart government: A case of IoT cybersecurity policies and use cases in U.S. federal government

Internet of Things (IoT) is ubiquitous in society. IoT-enabled dynamic capabilities in real-time sensing and responding can spur digital transformation in unlocking the potential of digital government into data-driven smart government capable of delivering policies and services of public interest and public value. However, the literature indicates challenges in IoT cybersecurity and systemic use across the government. There is the urgent need for IoT research on policy and use. This paper developed a framework for IoT-enabled smart government performance. We applied this framework to conduct case study analyses of digital technology policy, IoT cybersecurity policy, and IoT use in major application domains at the U.S. federal government level. The results show that some agencies were strategic and forward-thinking in funding and partnering with sub-national governments in promoting the IoT use. However, there remains a critical need for national IoT policies to promote systemic IoT use across the application domains.     

The U.S. monthly catalog and the publications reference file as collection development tools

The 1991 Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications was examined using a random sample of 668 publications in order to determine what percentage of materials produced at the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) were available through the depository library system, and how many of those were offered through the Sales Division via the Publications Reference File (PRF). It was found that 98 percent of publications (655 titles) in the Monthly Catalog were depository items. The remaining two percent (13 titles) are discussed as an indicator of what was not available through the depository system. It was also found that only nine percent of the publications (62 titles) in the Monthly Catalog were listed as available through the Sales Division. Of that nine percent, only 60 percent (37 titles), were listed in the PRF after one year. The nature of these publications and their average prices are examined. Also discussed are the publications dropped from the PRF. A total of 293 publications were identified as available through either GPO or agency distribution, representing 44 percent of the original sample.     

The role of situational factors in managing U.S. federal recordkeeping

This paper reports on a study funded by the National Archives and Records Administration and conducted by the authors to collect information on Federal employees’ views and perceptions on twenty information collection topics pertaining to records creation, maintenance, use, and disposition. Multiple data collection techniques were employed. Findings suggest that in developing records management policy and guidelines, one size will not fit all agencies. A range of situational factors appear to affect the success with which records management is accomplished in the various agencies. Additional research is needed to continue to test and refine these situational factors. Future records management policies and guidelines, however, may wish to consider such situational factors to increase the overall effectiveness of records management.     

Information life cycle: Its place in the management of U.S. government information resources

This article, which provides the first in-depth analysis of the information life cycle, traces that concept in policy instruments and the primary and secondary literature. Although these contain a number of references to the information life cycle, that concept is never fully developed. Furthermore, there are different explanations of the concept. The information life cycle, however, could contribute to the management of information resources as well as to the study of government information policy. The article outlines the stages of the information life cycle and encourages further discussion, analysis, and standardization of a concept that should be evolving, not static.     

Risk-based data analytics in the government sector: A case study for a U.S. county

This study explores the use of data analytics for improving the quality of government audits through the lens of processing fluency theory as the driver behind the need for data analytics. Little is known about the benefits of data analytics to government expenditure audits in a data-rich environment. Accordingly, this study proposes a risk-based prioritization framework and applies it to the real procurement dataset of a US county. The results indicate that the framework increases the efficiency and effectiveness of identifying true duplicate payments compared to either the scanning or sampling benchmarks. Specifically, it significantly reduces the number of potential duplicate candidates that require auditor review to approximately 12% of the duplicate records. As such, it enables the capture of true duplicates in a shorter period. These results suggest that the framework offers one way to mitigate the low processing fluency effect of information overload on auditor judgment.     

Rhetoric versus reality: a reexamination of access to U.S. government information during the presidency of Ronald Reagan

This article examines information policies implemented during the administration of President Ronald Reagan. Of special interest is an analysis of OMB Circular A-130 and the assumptions that underlay its mandates. In addition, a rhetorical analysis of articles from the period is undertaken to examine the assumptions authors used in their defense of or arguments against U.S. federal information policy of the time. Finally, an analysis of the budget of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), the number of items distributed to depository libraries, and the sales of the Government Printing Office (GPO) is made to determine changes as a result of the implemented policies.     

A post-September 11th balancing act: Public access to U.S. government information versus protection of sensitive data

The purpose of this paper is to suggest realistic guidelines that balance public access to government information and the need to protect sensitive data. Emphasis is on lessons learned from a 1979 case where the government attempted to prohibit the Progressive Magazine from publishing an article about making a hydrogen bomb and government reactions to the September 11th attacks. Executive Orders 12958 and 13292 and the new U.S. Geological Survey policy towards sensitive data can become the foundation for reasonable guidelines. The author concludes that the U.S. tradition of democracy and open government remains strong and will survive the attempts to limit information access since September 11, 2001.     

Use made of U.S. government supported technical reports by researchers in water resources

This study attempts to determine how and from whom authors of journal articles citing technical reports learned of those reports and how and from whom they obtained copies. There also was an attempt to find out how reports were used in the research reported and what kind and level of use was made of them. A questionnaire was sent to 100 authors of recent research articles appearing in four research journals in the area of water resources in the 10 months ending in April 1992. There was an 82 percent return rate of the research instrument. Colleagues were, as expected, the primary sources of reports and information about reports. Indexing services were used by only two reserachers to identify the cited reports, which consisted of U.S. Geological Survey open-file reports, technical research reports, and reports of water investigations. Libraries and librarians played only minor roles in researchers' awareness of technical reports or their availability. If librarians are to serve the needs of researchers, greater efforts need to be made to ensure the availability and use of this relatively obscure publication type.     

U.S. Depository librarians in reality and myth: A framework for a future government information program

How do the librarians in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) plan to perform a role in the electronic environment? Depository librarians must meet the challenge of changing how they think about government information libraries and their mission in order to provide citizen access services in an electronic environment. The new mission is to connect the user with information at the time of need, to instruct citizens in gaining access to government information, and to develop networking applications and programs that will help to put valuable content in the information infrastructure. If the FDLP and depository libraries are to prepare to perform that role, librarians need to take stock of their technological environment, deal with the political realities, and be critical of FDLP ideals that have taken on mythological proportions. A framework for the future of the FDLP can be built if depository librarians take advantage of the new communication technology. Depository librarians can use this technology to develop partnerships and networks of depository libraries, government agencies, commercial publishers, organizations of information professionals, and citizens. In turn, depository librarians could form the virtual associations needed to develop new dissemination programs; create user interface software; consolidate lobbying efforts to develop a nationwide electronic information policy; and provide community information networks with national links. Finally, communications technology could enable depository librarians to form a consortium of depository libraries to manage a government information dissemination library program.     

Documents librarianship II: Current and future direction of automation activities for U.S. government depository collections

This article reviews the current status of government documents automation and identifies major problems associated with documents automation. These serve as background for a proposed research agenda concerned with the development and implementation of a broad-based documents control system. The proposed agenda, if implemented, would result in the design of full-function, automated documents systems, suitable for depository library collections.     

Congress as Publisher: The magic of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set

A major part of Congressional publishing, though not the whole conspectus of it, is the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. After a quick review of the history of the Serial Set, the formal categories of publications are discussed with their statistical breakdown followed by salient examples from some of the various genres of Serial Set publications.