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Monthly Archives: October 2005

Groups Seek Halt to Database of Personal Info on Students for Military Recruiting

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On June 23, 2005 I posted Privacy and Consumer Groups Oppose Collection of Student Info For DoD Database. As a follow-up, today news that a coalition of 100 groups sent a letter to Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld requesting that he discontinue the Joint Advertising and Market Research Studies (JAMRS) Recruiting Database, which they state was… Continue Reading

Declassified Gov’t Documents and Reports on 30 Years of Human Rights Abuses in Iraq

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From the National Security Archives press release today: “The National Security Archive today posted a series of declassified U.S. intelligence documents and other U.S. agency reports on Saddam Hussein’s human rights abuses, one of which is the subject of the first trial of Saddam which begins tomorrow in Iraq.” The documents span the period from… Continue Reading

FEMA’s Flood Maps Are Outdated and the Program Lacks Adequate Funding

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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… Continue Reading

Goals of Google Scholar Search Outlined in Recent Presentation

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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… Continue Reading

Updated CRS Reports on Katrina Related Issues

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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… Continue Reading

Blog Usability Review

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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… Continue Reading

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

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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… Continue Reading

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

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“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… Continue Reading