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Monthly Archives: March 2015

Linked Data in Libraries: A Case Study of Harvesting and Sharing Bibliographic Metadata with BIBFRAM

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Linked Data in Libraries: A Case Study of Harvesting and Sharing  Bibliographic Metadata with BIBFRAME, Karim Tharani. INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGY  AND  LIBRARIES  |  MARCH  2015

“By  way of a case study, this paper illustrates and evaluates the Bibliographic Framework (or BIBFRAME) as means for harvesting and sharing bibliographic metadata over the web for libraries.  BIBFRAME  is an emerging framework developed by  the Library of Congress for  bibliographic description based on Linked Data. Much like Semantic Web,  the goal of  Linked  Data is to make the web  “data aware” and transform the existing web of documents into a  web of data. Linked Data leverages the existing web infrastructure and allows linking and sharing  of  structured data for human and machine consumption. The BIBFRAME model attempts to contextualize the Linked Data technology for libraries.  Library applications and systems contain  high-quality structured metadata, but this data is generally static in its presentation and seldom integrated with other internal metadata sources or linked to external web  resources.  With BIBFRAME existing disparate library metadata sources such as catalogs and digital collections can be harvested and integrated over the web.  In  addition, bibliographic data enriched with Linked Data could offer richer navigational control and access points for users.  With Linked Data principles, metadata from libraries could also become harvestable by search engines, transforming dormant catalogs and digital collections into  active knowledge repositories.  Thus experimenting  with  Linked  Data  using  existing  bibliographic metadata holds  the  potential to empower  libraries  to  harness  the  reach  of  commercial search engines to continuously discover, navigate,  and  obtain  new  domain  specific  knowledge  resources  on  the  basis  of  their  verified  metadata. The initial part of the paper introduces BIBFRAME and discusses Linked  Data in the context of libraries.  The final part of this paper outlines and  illustrates a  step-­by-­step process for implementing BIBFRAME with  existing  library metadata.”

Five years after Deepwater Horizon, wildlife still struggling

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ScienceDaily via National Wildlife Federation – Five years after Deepwater Horizon, wildlife still struggling dolphins dying in high numbers; sea turtles failing to nest, March 31, 2015. “As the five-year anniversary of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig approaches, a new National Wildlife Federation report looks at how twenty species of wildlife are… Continue Reading

Homeland Security Appropriations: FY2015 Action in the 114th Congress

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CRS – Homeland Security Appropriations: FY2015 Action in the 114th Congress, William L. Painter, Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland Security Policy. March 16, 2015. “This report provides a brief outline of the FY2015 annual appropriations measure for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its enactment by the 114th Congress. It serves as a… Continue Reading

WaPo – Reporters say federal officials, data increasingly off limit

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Access Denied – Paul Farhi: “Tensions between reporters and public information officers — “hacks and flacks” in the vernacular — aren’t new, of course. Reporters have always wanted more information than government officials have been willing or able to give. But journalists say the lid has grown tighter under the Obama administration, whose chief executive… Continue Reading

Library of Congress: Strong Leadership Needed to Address Serious Information Technology Management Weaknesses

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Library of Congress: Strong Leadership Needed to Address Serious Information Technology Management Weaknesses, GAO-15-315: Published: Mar 31, 2015. Publicly Released: Mar 31, 2015. “The Library of Congress has established policies and procedures for managing its information technology (IT) resources, but significant weaknesses across several areas have hindered their effectiveness: Strategic planning: The Library does not… Continue Reading

New GAO Reports – Federal Protective Service, Info Technology and Copyright Office, Children’s Health Insurance

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Federal Protective Service: More Effective Management Needed in Delegating Security Authority to Agencies, GAO-15-271: Published: Mar 31, 2015. Publicly Released: Mar 31, 2015: “FPS lacks reliable data, as called for by federal Standards for Internal Control, to accurately identify all the delegations FPS is responsible for managing and overseeing to ensure the protection of federal… Continue Reading

Consumer Watchdog Welcomes Senate Probe of FTC’s Google Antitrust Investigation

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News release: “Consumer Watchdog today welcomed plans by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to examine the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust investigation of Google that was closed in 2013 without a lawsuit. After the Wall Street Journal earlier this month published portions of a 2012 FTC report recommending the Commission prosecute Google, Consumer Watchdog urged Chairman Lee… Continue Reading

Open Government Guide

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Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: “The Open Government Guide is a complete compendium of information on every state’s open records and open meetings laws. Each state’s section is arranged according to a standard outline, making it easy to compare laws in various states. If you’re a new user of this guide, be sure… Continue Reading

Facebook tracks all users in breach of EU law

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theguardian, Samuel Gibbs: “Facebook tracks the web browsing of everyone who visits a page on its site even if the user does not have an account or has explicitly opted out of tracking in the EU, extensive research commissioned by the Belgian data protection agency has revealed. The report, from researchers at the Centre of… Continue Reading

The Importance of Data Occupations in the U.S. Economy

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 Economics & Statistics Administration, Department of Commerce. By William Hawk, Regina Powers, Economists, and Robert Rubinovitz Deputy Chief Economist Economics and Statistics Administration Office of the Chief Economist. ESA Issue Brief #01 -15. March 12, 2015. “The growing importance of data in the economy is hard to dispute. But what does this mean for workers… Continue Reading

The Liquidation of Government Debt

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The Liquidation of Government Debt, Carmen M. Reinhart and M. Belen Sbrancia. IMF Working Paper. January 21, 2015. “High public debt often produces the drama of default and restructuring. But debt is also reduced through financial repression, a tax on bondholders and savers via negative or belowmarket real interest rates. After WWII, capital controls and… Continue Reading