Author archives

FEMA’s Flood Maps Are Outdated and the Program Lacks Adequate Funding

Links from the Committee on Government Reform Minority Office: “A new report from the Department of Homeland Security IG finds significant deficiencies in FEMA’s program to upgrade flood maps, including insufficient funding, poor management, and contractor failures.” Released on October 18, 2005: Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General report, Challenges in FEMA’s Flood …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents

Goals of Google Scholar Search Outlined in Recent Presentation

A recent ppt presentation, Searching Scholarly Literature: A Google Scholar Perspective, by Google Scholar principal engineer Anurag Acharya, states that the goal of the service is to “find all scholarly work…journals, conferences, reprints, reports…[from] all countries, all languages, all sources…” The presentation briefly highlights coverage by publisher, by category (with medical at 22%), and lists …

Subjects: Legal Research, Search Engines

Updated CRS Reports on Katrina Related Issues

U.S. Agriculture After Hurricane Katrina: Status and Issues (23 pages, PDF) The Role of HUD Housing Programs in Response to Disasters (21 pages, PDF) Hurricane Katrina: Medicaid Issues (34 pages, PDF) Tax Policy Options After Hurricane Katrina (17 pages, PDF) Hurricane Katrina: DOD Disaster Response (21 pages, PDF) 2005 Gulf Coast Hurricanes: The Pubic Health …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents, Legal Research

Blog Usability Review

Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, October 17, 2005: “Weblogs are often too internally focused and ignore key usability issues, making it hard for new readers to understand the site and trust the author…The more focused your content, the more focused your readers. That, again, makes you more influential within your niche. Specialized sites rule the Web, so …

Subjects: Blogs

Assurance Sought for Public Report on Special Prosecutor’s Investigation into Plame Leak

October 11, 2005 – Text of Letter from Reps. Conyers, Harman, Lantos and Holt to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald Concerning a Final Report on the CIA Leak Investigation (PDF) “We write to seek your assurance that, upon completion of your long running investigation into the leak of a CIA operative’s name, you will submit a …

Subjects: Congress, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

New Non-Profit Organization Will Champion Government Use of Open Source Software

“Welcome to the National Center for Open Source Policy and Research (NCOSPR), a non-profit organization established to promote the use of open source software solutions within government IT enterprise environments for the benefit of government agencies, and public sector entities. NCOSPR accomplishes this by serving as a facilitator and administrator of development and implementation services …

Subjects: E-Government

Guidance Issued on E-Banking Authentication

Press release, October 12, 2005: “The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) today released updated guidance (14 pages, PDF) on the risks and risk management controls necessary to authenticate the identity of customers accessing Internet-based financial services. The guidance, Authentication in an Internet Banking Environment, was issued to reflect the many significant legal and technological …

Subjects: Cybercrime, E-Government, Government Documents, ID Theft

Google.org – the philanthropic arm of Google

“Google.org will include the work of the Google Foundation, some of Google’s own projects using Google talent, technology and other resources, as well as partnerships and contributions to for-profit and non-profit entities. While we continue to define the goals, priorities and approach for Google.org, we will focus on several areas including global poverty alleviation, energy …

Subjects: Blogs, Search Engines