Resource.org's suggestions for Change.gov
Rogue archivist Carl Malmud sez,
The transition has asked that all documents submitted to the review process be available to the public. Public.Resource.Org has submitted 5 1-page policy proposals:5 Suggestions For Change (Thanks, Carl!)Needless to say, all ideas and instantiations of those ideas are in the public domain. No patents, no trademarks, no service marks, no copyright. Just some ideas for change.
- Rebooting .Gov. How the Government Printing Office can spearhead a revolution in governmental affairs.
- FedFlix. Government videos are an essential national resource for vocational and safety training and can also help form a public domain stock footage library, a common resource for the YouTube and remix era.
- The Library of the U.S.A. A book series and public works job program to create an archival series of curated documents drawn from our cultural institutions, with full-quality masters of the books and research materials made available for other publishers to draw on. The program would employ the GPO master printers and would recruit writers, archivists, artists, and other creative workers through a national call for participation.
- The United States Publishing Academy. GPO should expand current training programs such as the Institute for Federal Printing and combine them with current workforce development efforts to create a national academy similar to the National Mine Academy and the National Fire Academy, training its own workforce, the government, and the local schools in the art, craft, and science of publishing.
- The Rural Internetification Administration. Repurposing the Amateur Radio League, modifying spectrum policy, and injecting capital into rural coops can bring high-speed broadband to 98% of rural Americans just as the Rural Electrification Administration did in the last century.
the latest
latest episodes
Wow. Never seen spambots on here before. BREACH!
Anyways, regarding "The Rural Internetification Administration", it's a great idea, but
a)You could come up with a better name. Internetification? That's complicatolicious!
b) I think the best thing would be to ensure that rural communities are connected to two networks: an "intranet" filled with content produced by the community itself, and the internet outside it.
This would serve to ensure that, should connection be lost with the external internet, the network would still have value for the community as a way to coordinate and communicate.
One of my many concerns about the effects of peak oil is that, should energy become scarce, resulting in frequent power failures, the internet will become frequently inaccessible. Any useful purpose these rural networks can have rely on the network being self-reliant.
"re-purpose the amateur radio league"? Huh?
If the "league" is American Radio Relay League, the largest organization of radio amateurs in the USA, then I say no way. ARRL is a non-profit corporation, not part of the federal government. The feds cannot touch it.
Also, (and this is the kicker) Amateur Radio operators are prohibited from transmitting "Communications, on a regular basis, which could reasonably be furnished alternatively through other radio services." (see CFR Title 47 Part 97.113 (a) (5)).
IMHO, wireless internet is on the cusp of a great explosion. New technologies and access to the so-called white space (unused TV channels) has the potential to deliver internet to places it has never been before. I am all for rural (and urban) co-ops bringing internet to the masses, but I think it can be done with out "repurposing amateur radio". Perhaps a similar license for building publicly accessible wireless networks might work.
Dear President Obama,
RE: The Rural Internetification Administration. Team it with Energy and dECentralize. All of our homes, each one of them, need to be able to inexpensively provide our own power supplies locally and feed the grid back down their thieving throats. Higher tax credits for no-cost, no BAILOUT, loans which would be paid off by the value of the energy they provide. At break-even I own my power AND am secure on the 'net.
Anybody interested Sign Here:
________________________________________________________
Repurposing the Amateur Radio League, modifying spectrum policy, and injecting capital into rural coops can bring high-speed broadband to 98% of rural Americans just as the Rural Electrification Administration did in the last century. (+POWER)
Before you nationalize ARRL and confiscate...oh, I'm sorry--"repurpose" our bandwidth, it'd be nice if y'all learned the actual name of the organization.
So wonderful to see that the same super-networked post-apocalyptic Peace Corps "Outquisition" loons who were going to come boiling out of the cities to teach their poor stupid rural brethren the advantages of technology haven't forgotten us now that the election is over.
Maybe the election *was* the apocalypse...:-)
Can Congress at least automatically publish all Congressional Research Service documents online? Instead of us having to continue to rely on the efforts of http://opencrs.com/
@ MAGGIE LEBER:
That's now how I understood the "Outquisition" concept at all, at least as I read it on Worldchanging.
I understood them more as Transition Town advocates with a tech edge.
And the concept wasn't even focussed on rural communities exlusively, but on communities that a) had been abandoned by capital and b) that would be hit especially hard during the coming climate and energy crises.
I can understand the fear of urban, middle-class elitism, but as long as a collaborative approach is adopted that prioritises the experiences, knowledge and needs of people living in said communities, I don't see what there is in the idea to object to.
There have been many valid elements discussed since Change.gov inspired policy discussions. Sadly there also have been a few ones not so well thought over before posting. Educating those in error is the answer. Ignorantia Nhil Excusat may apply in criminal matters. We should be a bit more forgiving in social matters. Which behooves us to seek raising the education level. As Education tends to displace Ignorance. The instrumentality of change relies on us reinforcing tools like Change.gov. By gently but firmly educating those in error.
(Unrelated) But I would like to see a revitalization of the manufacturing base by requiring all government entities to purchase (where available) only US made products.
The government, as I understand it, consumes more products/services than any one entity in this country. If the government had to buy EVERYTHING US made (from pens to push to red tape) then there would be an instant jump in US manufacturing.
Or at the very least, can we mandate that US flags must be made in the USA???
Give up people. You've been had. You've been conned. You've been bamboozled.
Obama is just another corporate shill. Every promise he made that might upset those with money he forgot on Nov. 5.
Look at his cabinet picks..."Change" is: the warmakers who brought us iraq, and the financial guys who brought us the meltdown. Congratulations.
New boss, same as the old boss.
Bend over.
Bleargh, you mean "first editions"? Those first editions safely ensconced in libraries throughout the republic? The ones reprinted as cheap paperbacks?
Did the Library of America close down or something?