One of the issues regarding information on the web is ensuring authenticity, especially in regards to government information. The
GPO recently announced they will be soon begin using public-key infrastructure and digital signatures to ensure authenticity of documents released online.
The Electronic Records Policy Working Group is inviting interested persons to provide their written views on issues relating to implementing section 207(e)(1)(A) of the E-Government Act of 2002. That section calls for ``the adoption by agencies of policies and procedures to ensure that chapters 21, 25, 27, 29, and 31 of title 44, United States Code, are applied effectively and comprehensively to Government information on the Internet and to other electronic records.''
The Working Group is seeking feedback on the following topics in their meetings and this notice.
1. The definition of "Government information on the Internet and other electronic records.'' The operating definitions currently used by the Working Group are as follows:
A. Government information on the Internet includes:
** Information posted on Government web sites,
** Information exchanged between Federal agencies,
** Information exchanged between Federal agencies and the public,
** Information exchanged between Federal agencies and other governments,
** Government-enabled web services,
** Standard government forms,
** E-government business transactions.
B. Other electronic records--electronic information meeting the definition of a Federal record per 44 U.S.C. 3301. Records include:
** All books, papers, maps, photographs, machine readable materials, or other documentary materials,
** regardless of physical form or characteristics
** made or received by an agency of the United States Government,
** under Federal law or
** in connection with the transaction of public business,
** and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor,
** as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or other activities of the Government or,
** because of the informational value of the data in them (44 U.S.C. 3301).
2. Perceived barriers to effective management of ``Government information on the Internet and other electronic records.'' The operating definition of effective management currently used by the Working Group includes:
** managing through the life cycle,
** providing for accessibility and retrieval,
** providing sufficient security,
** ensuring consistency (ability to reproduce record),
** providing for the integrity of records over time,
** ensuring no loss of records,
** ensuring compatibility with standard formats,
** managing format changes over time,
** providing for long-term record storage and migration of formats,
** managing the location of records over time,
** appropriate long-term custodianship.
3. Guidance tools for Federal agencies that would assist in overcoming the identified barriers.
In order to solicit the opinions of those stakeholders who could not attend the focus group or public meetings, this message is being sent to relevant lists. Any comments concerning this topic should be sent to ERPWG@nara.gov no later than April 5.
I took an Electronic Records Management course last semester, and part of my personal research was to take a look at the RM policies of government agencies. My research was in no way comprehensive, but one of the best resources I found was the Georia Secretary of State's Records Management Services website.
They've posted complete RM retention schedules, information on legislation that guides RM policies, and standards and guides for microforms and imaging systems, among other things. The information on the websites covers both state and local level RM and is worth a look, if you are into that kind of thing.
Check out the Digital Government Document's Clearinghouse, a project of the American Library Association's Government Documents Round Table.
The goal of the project is to collect information to facilitate cooperation and partnerships between libraries for digitization projects. They hope to do so by providing a centralized database of digital resources for local, state, federal, and international government documents that are currently planned, in progress, or already completed.
You can add a project (not necessarily your project) to the database, or search it by keyword (though I'm certain they'll have more sophisticated retreival of the information once the project is completed). From what I can tell, there are already in excess of 150 digitization initiatives already entered into the database.
The Center for Democracy and Technology's 10 Most Wanted Government Documents. It is no wonder the number of judicial documents on list considering the stranglehold Lexis and Westlaw have on the legal information database market. One of the biggest issues in the next several years (though I hope it is raised sooner, rather than later), is the use of free government information by private services, that then turn around and provide those services to consumers at exhorbitant rates.
Currently, the policy is that if the vendor attaches enough added value to the information, such use is allowed. Lexis certainly provides value to the government information contained in its database. But, there should be a time, and soon, when more judicial information is available online, through better interfaces, and directly from the government, and it'd be a shame if Lexis' juice prevented that information from being made available for free (which it seems is currently the case).
A couple articles (both via beSpacific) on the move to e-filing of documents by the U.S. government. The first article deals with e-filing of documents within in the judicial system. No specifics, but does track progression of these initiatives from its current nascent state (merely scanning paper documents by the courts), to the full realization of document submittal in XML.
I tried to play around with several of the courts they mention, but they all required an official login.
The second link has to do with the e-filing at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. They've begun filing electronic versions of documents on June 30 using a system they call Image File Wrapper (IFW), which seems to boil down to merely scanning existing applications. The eventual goal is to create an "end-to-end" patent application process by October, 2004. The initial iniative will require 100 terabytes of data storage.