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U.S. House of Representatives Makes Resolutions in XML

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the about-time dept.

RennieScum writes: "The House of Representatives is turning to technology with their test of XML for use with resolutions according to this article. It reports that the HR has made 100 DTDs and uses Microsoft Word and a special converter to do the job. Testing has begun and their goal is to start using it in January of next year. See also http://xml.house.gov/ And it looks like the DTDs will be free to use and distribute!"

4 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. Uhhh.... by Verizon+Guy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Going to http://xml.house.gov/Members/mbr107.xml renders a perfectly viewable directory of representatives in Internet Explorer, but Mozilla dumps it all as raw text in one giant paragraph. What gives?!?

    --

    Aw, fuck it. Let's go bowling. - The Big Lebowski

  2. Lawmakers who don't understand the law by kuroth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    From the cited page...

    Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, these DTDs are not subject to copyright protection and are in the public domain.
    ...
    These DTDs can be redistributed and/or modified freely provided that any derivative works bear some notice that they are derived from it, and any modified versions bear some notice that they have been modified.

    Sorry, cupcakes, that's not how the public domain works. If you release it into the public domain, you no longer have *any* control whatsoever upon the modification, reuse, or redistribution of the work. The required notice clause listed above in invalid.

    Cite, cite (#3), cite.

    Kuroth

  3. don't even validate by Steve+X · · Score: 2, Interesting

    heh, their XML documents don't even come close to validating. they say it's all beta, but wow, that's impressive. good to know my taxes are being put to good use - high-quality design. i think nsgmls says it best about their design:

    value of attribute "regeneration" cannot be "yes"; must be one of "yes-regeneration", "no-regeneration"

  4. Re:Example of the new markup by danro · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Neat idea...
    Just write a http proxy that applies an XSLT to the document. Generate the tag-values from the opensecrets.org database (if they have one).
    Could probably be done by one person in a week or two, if opensecrets keep a reasonable usable database, and are willing to cooperate.

    If I were an american I would be tempted to write the thing myself...
    It would be great to just go to a website and see all bills with a header that indicated which elected officials was involved, and their voting record and ties to special interests.

    Hell, if anyone wants to do this, I am willing to contribute just because it's cool...

    --

    "First lesson," Jon said. "Stick them with the pointy end."