Our recommendations for increasing citizens' access to government information
Monday, June 22, 2009
Given the tremendous volume of information online -- more than 1 trillion unique URLs and counting -- the ability for users to search for and find relevant content is critical. This couldn't be more true for the tens of millions of pages of content stored on government websites. Unfortunately, many agencies make it difficult or impossible for search engines to index their sites and make information available to citizens who are searching for it.
In response to President Obama's call for ideas on how to open up the government to its citizens, Google put forward recommendations last Friday in which we point to two simple steps government webmasters can take to make sure that search engine queries lead users to the right websites and hopefully, the right answers.
First, agencies can adopt the Sitemaps protocol, which allow search engines to crawl websites more intelligently. Most search engines offer free Sitemap generator tools -- check out Google Sitemap Generator.
Second, agencies can review their robots.txt files. Many agencies currently block large portions of their websites from search engines with robots.txt files, sometimes unknowingly. By reviewing and selectively using these files, webmasters can easily open up large amounts of content to citizens. Free analysis tools like Google's robots.txt test can help webmasters identify which pages are accidentally being blocked.
The next stage in the campaign for open government will come when the Administration encourages agencies to publish their most popular, timely, and relevant data on their websites and data.gov. Static, obscure, and dated information is not useful to citizens who want data relevant to their everyday lives, nor is it helpful to third parties who want to build tools that citizens can use to understand that data.
As it works towards its goal to bring greater transparency to government, we hope that the Administration continues to take the steps necessary to make government information more easily accessible to citizens on the web.
We have a web site at Grand Valley State University that allows anyone to read arbitration awards and learn how to prepare for arbitration. The site may be found at http://www.gvsu.edu/arbitrations/
ReplyDeleteCurrently we have employment arbitration awards for free. As arbitration becomes more popular it will be necessary to offer these types of sites. If you are going to make people use arbitration instead of litigation you have to offer them free ways to understand the process. It's a good alternative to litigation but equal justice requires equal access.
Thanks to Google for giving us free advertising.
I am really sorry, but wouldn't this mean someone in the government actually do work for the citizens and not for themselves?
ReplyDeleteGood luck getting them to do anything, or if it does happen, at least my great grandchildren might see it.. :)
Regarding Digital Data created by US Government, a report from the Interagency Working Group on Digital Data (IWGDD) has been released.
ReplyDelete"Harnessing the Power of Digital Data for Science and Society". http://www.nitrd.gov/About/Harnessing_Power.aspx