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U.S. to Digitize All Tangible Gov't. Publications

CETS writes "The U.S. Government Printing Office is working with the library community on a national digitization plan, with the goal of digitizing a complete legacy collection of tangible U.S. Government publications. The objective is to ensure that the digital collection is available, in the public domain, for no-fee permanent public access through the FDLP. See specific article for more detail."

19 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. LoC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When will they completely digitize the Library of Congress?

    1. Re:LoC by PornMaster · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The government doesn't hold copyright on all of the documents in the Library of Congress. I don't think it's a feasible thing to do.

  2. Digitalisation by FidelCatsro · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Having a collective base of all government documents online is indeed a noble goal , perhaps consideration could be made to include digitalisation of all Literary works which have fallen into the public domain.
    Marilyn vos Savant (I believe it was Von Savant)wrote about the entire collection of the worlds literature being contained on just 2 discs , it would be nice to think that we are one step closer to having something of that ilk easily accessible even if it is just for government records at the moments.
    Hopefully within the next 50 years we shall see actually see paper go the way of the Dodo and which would certainly be rather grand from an ecological stand point considering how expensive printed publishing can be (storage space , ecological impact , and ink)

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    1. Re:Digitalisation by FidelCatsro · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Look at monitors from 20 years ago and compare them to what we have today , i don't think it will be a problem

      --
      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    2. Re:Digitalisation by October_30th · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Hopefully within the next 50 years we shall see actually see paper go the way of the Dodo and which would certainly be rather grand from an ecological stand point

      You mean it would be more ecological to replace paper, which is relatively clean to produce and which also decomposeses naturally, with products of the semiconductor industry (hideously poisonous processes and materials which are not biodegradeable) ?

      Then there's also the problem of reading large amounts of text on a screen. At least I have to do all my proofreading using a hardcopy and reading a large volume of text on the screen is real pain.

      --
      The owls are not what they seem
  3. Great Expectations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
    "...tangible U.S. Government publications"

    When can we expect to see the intangible publications?

  4. too bad by Zork+the+Almighty · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Too bad many of them have been reclassified in order to keep people ignorant, er, I mean, protect us from terrorists.

    --

    In Soviet America the banks rob you!
  5. If they succeed in putting all gov pubs online... by PornMaster · · Score: 2, Funny

    Will the post office bother continuing to service Pueblo, Colorado?

  6. Re:Rewrite history by AhBeeDoi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Unlikely. The written text still exists so the process of erasing history would have to include destroying them and all existing copies as well.

  7. Re:library of congress by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Look that joke only works if you genuinely have something brilliant. And generally that means, no don't do it. I know *you* think it's brilliant with a thought process something along the lines of:

    1. didn't get first post, but have to make comment
    2. how about dragging out a tired old cliche
    3. can't think of a good soviet russia one, and I've already cut and pasted from bash.org twice today... wait.... I know which one to do!!!!11
    4. ????
    5. Then... as you click "submit" .....a mod CUTS YOUR LEGS OFF WITH A LIGHTSABRE AND YOU FALL TO THE GROUND, then you BURST INTO FLAMES AND SCREAM IN AGONY "I teh hate you!!!1" and the mod is like "I always loved that cliche, in soviet russia". Then the flames spread and you are BURNED on the FACE.

    Then you are all like saved by the GNAA and they fix you up in this pimp ass black dude gimp suit. And you go to them: "where is my post? .... is it... ok?... is it, alright?"

    then you refresh your firefox tab, and see your post is at -1

    and you are like:

    Noooooooo!

  8. Open Format? by Winckle · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Will the US government choose an open standard to allow everyone access to the documents? Or will we have to put up with bloated .docs?

    1. Re:Open Format? by cranos · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Doc's too easy to modify, would probably be PDF or something like it.

  9. Electric code? Building code? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Like to see the electrical code, fire code, building codes digitized and made available to the public instead of forcing citizens to purchase the law or take a ride to the library or county clerk to find out what the law is.

    Note to any county/state workers out there. Stop adopting the above codes by reference. Print the codes into your public documents so they can't be copyrighted and withheld/sold to the public.

    Being forced to spend $70+ per code may work for electricians making $100+ per hour, but it doesn't work for the rest of the citizens. Ignorance of the law is no excuse? How about lack of listing the law on your county/state websites in a printable format is no excuse either?

    ASME or whatever the mechanic's organization was doing this also. Thankfully the company hired to put together the standards GPL'd them. The ruckus this created when the mechanic's organization found out (court case) they couldn't force their own mechanics to buy standards instead of copying them, someone should find this and post the link here. Its a very enlightening read. The mechanics organization forcing their own membership to buy standards. They represent the mechanics. They speak for them. And the organization turns around and hits them in the head so they can generate a slush fund for their headquarters.

    Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  10. about 20 years ago by pair-a-noyd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I saw a movie on cable about the future, ALL knowledge was stored on a single computer in Belgium. There were no more printed materials, it was evil to kill trees and the computer made knowledge available, at will.

    The guy had to look up something about some shady government plot and as he began to dig into the computer banks, he began to notice big holes in history, big holes in time. The computer was deleting records to cover up crimes committed by big shots at the top.

    The more he dug in, the more things vaporized.
    And being it was the sole repository of knowledge in the universe, well, that was that..

    The name of the computer? Yep. You guessed it.
    The Beast.

    I can not for the life of me remember what that movie was named and I've never seen it again since the early 80's.. Did it self-terminate also??

    IMO, I would much rather have printed books in my hand, I can pick up a book and find something in seconds, I can spend endless hours trying to find something on the computer. Besides, reading from a screen is just not a very pleasant experience, compared to a book in hand.

    1. Re:about 20 years ago by pair-a-noyd · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You must be the only person on /. who doesn't use google.
      But seriously, any large scale document search, particularly done over a large geographical area, has to be electronic.
      Electronic documents are more accessible, which can only be good for people who want information about their Government.


      Actually, I do use google, among several search engines.

      Yeah, it's out there, if you want to know what Brad Pitt eats for breakfast or Paris Hilton's panties color and size, or the lyrics to the hottest rap song. But, try to find obscure, OLD, non-mainstream information. Good luck to ya..

      First off you have to wade through hundreds of bullshit commercial links. I often try to locate service information, articles, reviews, schematics, photos, etc. for antiquated things, electronics and mechanical. Things 10, 20, 30, 50 years old.. Eh eh..
      90% of the information that I seek is NOT online. It USED to be in books but it's now too old and we all now that OLD is BAD and NEW is GOOD.
      Out with the old and in with the new!

      No, really, for example, I have an antique classic Mercedes. I have SOME of the factory service manuals for it. When I got the car some years back I went to the dealship and ordered a set of printed manuals. They cost me a pretty penny. Well, the kid at the service window informed me that there were about 12 manuals in all and that I didn't really need them all.
      Already reeling from the shock of the first batch I ordered I trimmed the order down, so that I ended up with only the most critical manuals, engine, chassis, and wiring. Stupid me. At the time, it got me by. Now, I want the HVAC, body and drivetrain/transmission manuals plus some others on the power accessories. Eh eh....
      Mercedes no longer prints manuals on paper.
      Yeah, I prowl ebay trying to

      I can order the manuals on CDROM but I do not want them on CDROM. I can't take a laptop out into my driveway when I'm all greasy, trying to find stuff and can't read it in the sun, worrying about dropping and breaking it, spilling something in it, etc.. That's stupid.
      With the book I can drop it, get it dirty, etc. Big deal. And I can hold that book in my hand and flip the pages and find something in a fraction of the time I would spend trying to find it on a computer.

      I'm sorry but I don't embrace this new digital revolution with all the enthusiasm as everyone else.

      And one last thing. When those books are mine, in my house, on my shelf, no one is going to virus them up and knock them offline. I can read them anytime I like, under MY terms and conditions, not some draconian bullshit DRM communist copyright shit.

  11. Re:Future Historians by TrentL · · Score: 2, Informative

    The National Archives is building the "Electronic Record Archives" to solve this exact problem. The ERA is going to be much more sophisticated than this LOC thing mentioned in the article above.

  12. Does the government really have time by dysk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    to digitize their documents, when they are so busy removing, reclassifying, and denying access to current government information.

  13. Re:Unless of course... by hey! · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Unless providing information to the public could be construed.as competing with the private sector, since private sector entities sell information. How soon will we see a bill like this, that turns the government into a subsidized wholesaler of information for well connected companies?

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  14. Yeah, that's fucking great. by Caspian · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now how about they open up all of those government databases that you now need Lexis/Nexis to search? How about they finally create a site that lets me search what my tax dollars pay for in the first place?

    --
    With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?