I had not seen this before, but it looks like a model for open government. The District of Columbia provides free access to "city operational data" (e.g., Demographics, Health Care, Environment, Human Services, Education, Economic Development, Public Safety) in a variety of formats including RSS (Atom) feeds, XML, CSV, and ESRI Shapefiles. The feeds are drawn from more than 150 data sets, ranging from the all- important crime reports to pothole complaints.

DC Data Catalog and Data Feeds

Many of us who are drawn to U.S. federal publications end up traveling to our Nation's capitol fairly regularly, if we don't live there already.  Over time, we develop constellations of memories about "the first time I did" this or that in Washington DC.  We attend GPO-sponsored events like the formative Interagency Depository Seminar (alumna, class of 1993) or the Depository Library Conference & Council meetings; we tour famous sites and museums; we recall our first time on the Mall, seeing cherry blossoms, and riding the Metro.  Special people in our lives are willing to show us "their" Washington DC, and their perspectives further enrich our understanding of all the secrets within the Beltway.
 
There are also special Washington DC people we visit -- our family or friends -- who are completely outside the govdocs realm.  For fifteen years, I've had a standing date (always dinner and a walk) with a reference librarian from the Library of Congress, Art Emerson.  Art served as the Library of Congress subject expert for Australia and New Zealand.  He was a contemporary of mine from the University of Michigan School of Information and Library  Studies (its old name).  Art and I would look forward to our annual time together:  what new memorial would we see?  What museum just opened?  What ethnic restaurant was fabulous and as yet undiscovered by the hordes?  I'll never forget the night he took this small town girl on a no-holds-barred tour of the Metro's steepest escalators, because he knew what fear and excitement these inspired in me.  He took special pride in my teary-eyed first glimpse of the LC Main Reading Room and the restored Jefferson Building.  When he visited the Northwest this past year, we took him to see Seattle's favorite Australian import, Lauren Jackson, play a mean game of basketball.
 
My friends and I were shocked to learn that Art Emerson died last week.  A health problem had been building, stealthily, for some time, until it finally manifested itself and ended his life.  He was 51.  He had spent a glorious year at the State Library of New South Wales.  He helped people all over the world discover treasures of one of the greatest libraries on Earth, and a federal library at that.  He was still planning his next trip to Australia, perhaps planning his next book project after his Historical Dictionary of Sydney.  He had a wicked sense of humor and a mind that would be the envy of any scholar.  With the serendipity that always seems to happen around a death, I turned over a scrap of paper on my guest room floor last night to find that it was a card for Tony Cheng's Seafood Restaurant and Mongolian Barbeque, the last restaurant I visited with Art.  I'm too sad to eulogize him further right now, and FGI is not the place to do so.  But I thought in Art's memory, I would ask the FGI readership:  what are some of your favorite secret spots in  Washington DC?  What special person introduced you to these?  How has Washington DC changed who you are as an information lover?

Those of you who reside like I do in the DC area can probably skip this post. Those of you outside of the area might like to learn about a few over-the-air radio stations we have.All of them stream. Lots of government info.

1) Washington Post Radio (1500 AM, 107.5 FM)
Lots of interviews. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/wtwpradio/index.html
Streaming info:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/wtwpradio/listen.html

2) WTOP 103.5 FM
http://www.wtopnews.com
The all-news, all the time station.
Streaming Info:
http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=599366&nid=162

3) Federal News Radio (WFED)
http://federalnewsradio.com/
Steaming of WFED
http://federalnewsradio.com/?nid=249

4) C-SPAN Radio
http://digbig.com/4rspj
Schedule: http://www.c-span.org/Radio/web/schedule.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CSR
One thing C-SPAN Radio offers, replays of the Sunday AM talk shows.

Also, mobile access to information is something I'm personally very interested.

This site: http://tuned.mobi
makes streaming audio very easy to stream to both mobile devices and regular tools with just one click. All of the stations listed are located in:
Sites in:
+ U.S.
+ Canada
+ UK
+ Ireland
+ Australia

Again, a great tool to stream radio, saving time, avoiding pop-ups and other registration.