This hearing should be of professional interest to government information specialists!
- Hearing, U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. E-Government 2.0: Improving Innovation, Collaboration, and Access [1] 12/11/07 10:00 AM (EST). [The hearing was broadcast live and will be available for viewing later here [2].]
In pre-hearing news coverage (Web Leaders Seek More Searchable Government [3], by Kim Hart, Washington Post, December 11, 2007; page D08), Hart quotes the witnesses as saying that, even though four out of five Web surfers use search engines to find information and bypass the agency's home page, basic government information often does not show up in results provided by search engines run by Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask.com.
Witnesses Testimony is already available online as PDF documents:
- Karen S. Evans [4], Administrator, Office of Electronic Government and Information Technology , Office of Management and Budget
- John Lewis Needham [5], Manager, Public Sector Content Partnerships , Google, Inc.
- Ari Schwartz [6], Deputy Director , Center for Democracy and Technology
- Jimmy Wales [7], Founder , Wikipedia
The purpose of the hearing is to examine what progress the government has made in getting services and information online and available to the public; what new technologies can be used to enhance the government's ability to collaborate and share information; and what challenges remain five years since the passage of the E-Government Act.
In addition, Senator Lieberman will be announcing at the hearing that he'll be introducing legislation to make CRS reports available to the public, and an initiative to enhance the availability and format of legislative information through THOMAS.