SXSW 2012 - Yes We Scan: Making Government Information More Accessible

Yes We Scan: Making Government Information More Accessible
Event	Interactive 2011
Format	Panel
Organizer	Timothy Vollmer – Creative Commons
Description	As the Gov 2.0 movement sweeps across the nation, there’s an increasing focus on meaningful access to data and rich content funded with taxpayer dollars. Powerful digital tools and a renewed sense of civic engagement have ignited new partnerships between citizens and government agencies. This panel will show examples of new ways that technology, volunteerism, crowd sourcing, and collaboration can increase access to public information and media. In this session, panelists will provide a brief overview of various citizen-to-government partnerships. One example is the collaboration between the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the International Amateur Scanning League (IASL). IASL is the brainchild of public information advocate Carl Malamud, and its volunteers are working to copy and upload to the Internet 5,000 public domain videos held at the NARA facility outside of Washington, D.C. Many of these interesting (and often pleasantly obscure) videos are being made publicly available for the first time. The panel will invite participation from groups and individuals working to increase public access to government information, such as initiatives like Data.gov, Law.gov, FedFlix, Flickr Commons, Smithsonian Commons, and others. Panelists will explain the benefits that these and other initiatives are providing to the public, and explore some of the legal, technical, and institutional challenges to making government information more accessible and useful.
Questions Answered	What are some interesting uses of technology that aid in supporting public access to government information and multimedia resources online? What is the public domain and why is it important? What are the legal, technical, and cultural hurdles to getting government information online? What are individual, community, and institutional incentives to participate in collaborating in projects supporting public access to information? What are the best practices in organizing and executing projects that make government information and resources more accessible?
Level	Beginner
Category	Government and Technology
Tags	access, content, Gov2.0

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Yes We Scan: Making Government Information More Accessible