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The Week Ahead
With the elections over, legislative leadership chosen, and the
holiday season around the corner, things are becoming rather quiet
on the political front. And that’s as it should be. We all need
a break from the flood of politics we’ve experienced over the last
several months. There will always be interesting things going on,
however, and Policy Daily will refer you to all the political news
no matter where it’s published. There were lots of interesting political
stories, columns and editorials published over the weekend. Check
out the headlines at the right.
RSS Will Revolutionize Distribution
of Government Information
Some exciting things are happening in Utah government that will
make it much easier for government information to be distributed
to interested citizens and businesses. A group of Utah government
and private technology leaders met last Friday to discuss the possibilities
and ramifications of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) in government.
RSS is an XML format designed for instantly sharing Web content
with anyone who has “subscribed” to the content. Anything new posted
on a site equipped with RSS will automatically show up in the subscribers’
e-mail in-box. Sites such as the BBC, CNET, CNN, Disney, Forbes,
Motley Fool, Wired, Red Herring, Salon, Slashdot, ZDNet, and many
others use RSS to syndicate content to readers. Many bloggers use
RSS to instantly share new posts. With RSS, readers don’t have to
go from site to site to read the latest news or obtain the latest
information because new content appears automatically in their in-boxes.
Ray Matthews, who works for the state library division,
organized the Utah meeting. Here are some of his post-meeting comments
from an e-mail message. He outlines below some of the exciting applications
for RSS in government:
”Those (at the meeting) included representatives from DAS, ITS,
DCED, the Utah Bar, the Governor's transition team, Legislative
Research and General Counsel, Health, State Library, Commerce, Travel
Council, BYU, Exoro, and independent web design/consultancy firms.
Toby Brown, IT Director for the Bar, dubbed it a ‘Salt Lake City
Syndication Summit.’
”Rather than rehearse what was presented, I refer you to the detailed
blog entries posted only minutes afterward by Phil
Windley and Dave
Fletcher. Gilbert Lee posted
comments addressed to the members of the Salt Lake City Weblogger
Meetup as well.
”Dave Fletcher mentioned to me afterward that the State Newsroom,
a joint effort of ITS and Utah Interactive, is nearing completion.
They will be streaming XSLT RSS feeds about Utah government and
business in a non-linear fashion similar to the way that Bill French
described in the meeting. Kudos to them!
”As I meet with others in government, they tell me how impressed
and pleased they are with the direction we're going. Just imagine.
Lobbyists, stake holders and concerned citizens can now use the
Legislature's RSS feeds to track bills and follow committee hearings
almost instantly as it happens by computer or even a hand-held device.
Not long ago one had to physically travel to the Capitol to monitor
postings on bulletin boards. Vendors and those that do business
with the state can now subscribe to Purchasing's RSS feed of state
bids. Alert feeds for such things as weather conditions, earthquake
hazards, avalanche warnings, Amber alerts, snow pack conditions,
new job announcements, new book arrivals at libraries, and festival
and entertainment events, are or soon will be available to a world
interested in what is happening in Utah. Press releases that used
to hit the fax machines of a few dozen news outlets, can now reach
a thousand fold more eyes. The day will soon be here when those
who work with government, when those who do business here, and when
those who plan visits here will no longer have to monitor a bevy
of websites; they'll be able to do it all using a single convenient
RSS news dashboard. The possibilities of using RSS to make processes
more convenient, to increase collaboration and sharing among groups,
and to save the state money in the process, just seem endless.”
SBC Launches Weblog Portal
Here’s more evidence that blogging is going mainstream. The Wall
Street Journal reports that SBC, the staid and dowdy telecommunications
giant, has launched a Web site at www.projectdu.com
that links to about 30 popular weblogs. SBC developed the blog portal
mostly as a marketing device to deliver messages to younger consumers.
Prediction: It won’t be long until most major companies,
including media firms like newspapers and TV stations, along with
politicians and government agencies, will all be using blogs or
linking to blogs in one form or another.
Founder Quote
"It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate,
tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the
minds of men." – Samuel Adams (Source: the Federalist Patriot)
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