Reminder: Still time to Register for Afloat on the Wireless Pond - Saturday, March 1

Minnesota’s Hidden Heroes in the News

• There are many things about MinnPost that are worthy of note - the first rate team of investigative journalists, the style, the tone, the format. From my perspective as an information junky, MinnPost adds a subtle but significant spin by focusing not just on the news but on the behind-the-scenes work. Yesterday’s blog was about hidden heroes of Minnesota history; today’s MinnPost offers some timely examples:
• There’s a great piece from the Minnesota Historical Society, a MinnPost partner, about how to locate death certificate information collected over the decades by meticulous government employees, now organized and made accessible through the Minnesota Historical Society. This incredible resource, representing countless hours of work by skilled and committed public servants, is now accessible on the web.
• A second article describes the ways in which the Poetry Foundation is opening up its extensive, and carefully maintained, poetry collection by engaging comic strip illustrators to add their creative interpretation to sometimes inscrutable literary works. Somebody logged and indexed and catalogs those hundreds of thousands of poems now enhanced and shared online.
• The third story spotlights a different “hidden heroine,” in this case a Spanish-English translator, a woman who connected the dots to solve the puzzle of the mysterious illness that struck packing house workers in Austin. If you ever want to observe the mind of a “hidden heroine” at work, here is a superb example
• And finally, MinnPost itself plays an essential role by sharing this latent information with a readership that will use that information to achieve its potential. Today is just one example of an ongoing emphasis of the journal.

All of which raises digital age questions: How will MinnPost and other digital resources be preserved, organized, made accessible for future Minnesotans who want to know about what’s going on today? What is the public good of that preserved and organized information? What is the responsibility of public institutions to take the long view? How are we addressing the preparation of Minnesotans to understand the power of information or their information rights?

Announcing: Hidden Heroes of Minnesota History Wiki *

Minnesota Sesquicentennial Question: Who is a “hidden hero” of Minnesota history? How do we know what we know about our state? Who gathered all those files, that data, the maps, the diaries, the photos that tell the story, that give us a glimpse into our past? And who is doing that now in our digital age? What were the skills of the archivist? The selector? The curator? The indexer? The librarian? The genealogist? The publisher?

Most of all, who are these people. For the most part, they didn’t make history - and they surely didn’t make it into the history books -- but they are essential links to understanding Minnesota at 150 years or at our Bicentennial in 2058.

These are the questions that keep coming to me as we’ve prepared for the March 2008 Afloat on the wireless pond conference. Compulsive surfer that I am I’ve sifted through the digital record to spot and shine a flicker of light on those hidden heroes and heroines. Knowing that I’m barely touching the surface, I’ve made no attempt to go beyond the digital record.

The Afloat conference is upon us now so I’m taking a break in the surfing expedition to post the little nuggets I’ve dug up so far. Just as the Minnesota History Center encourages the public to add to their Sesquicentennial wiki of famous folks I’m asking you to contribute to this mini-wiki by putting a name, maybe a face, on some of those self-effacing public servants, scholars, collectors, archivists, genealogists or much-maligned packrats who’ve seen to it that we know the stories. Be sure to include those who are exploring with gusto the ways in which information age technology is expanding and enhancing access.

That’s what the Afloat conference is all about - the jumpstart to a hidden hero wiki! Thanks for your help!

* My definition of “hero” is inclusive, particularly since an extraordinary number of these heroes are very female

Mary Treacy

Traditional Press & Bloggers Met Monday...

3-2-1 Dive into the wireless pond! It’s not too late to sign up for the “Afloat on the wireless pond” conference set for Saturday, March 1. Curious about the theme? Remember that the genesis of the idea emerged from the 2007 conference focused on Henry Thoreau’s little-known travels in Minnesota. The idea was, and is, Thoreau-inspired -- a time, place and stimulus for Minnesotans to reflect on the reality of living in an information world. We spend far more time mastering the tools than giving a passing thought to the social, economic, political and aesthetic upheaval in which we float. The setting on the beautiful Luther Seminary campus sets the stage; the diverse presenters play unique roles - a geographer, data manager, philosopher, educator, city planner, poet, journalist and other thoughtful colleagues willing to share their expertise and their insights. How do you plan to spend the extra day this week? There’s still time to sign up.

The “traditional” press and the bloggers met Monday night in the opulent splendor of the new Minnesota Public Radio to share insights on standards and ethics in journalism. Bob Collins played the ringleader/MPR blogger role while guest Dan Gillmor focused on content. Gillmor has clearly given much thought to what is and what is possible to support an informed society -- and a readership that wants to learn. Just about everybody had something to say - several men and at least four women (one a “panelist”) got to speak. Maybe it was the cold outside, but no one seemed in any hurry to leave, even after pretty much everything had been said. Many thanks to the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists which set the stage for this diverse audience. It’s the jumpstart of an essential and more substantive conversation, virtual or mano a mano. The questions raised, sometimes answered, testify to the need for more.

Molnau Sold Farm Near Road She Pushed.
Read this from the information access - investigative journalism - perspective.

For Political Candidates, Saying Can Become Believing. I’ve often thought about this because I sometimes tell a story with such enthusiasm and regularity that I believe it myself. In fact, it often gets better with the telling. Ask any storyteller or Irishman.

GAO Finds Data Protection Lagging The balance between openness and privacy is being played out in Congress. Minnesota’s very own Senator Norm Coleman, along with Susan Collins (R-ME), chairs the committee that called for a study of data protection after the 2006 theft of a data-laden computer from a VA employee. Collins notes that “the findings released in this report are very troubling -- indicating that agency after agency has failed to make securing citizens' personal information a high priority."

Video on the Net: The Content Question, by Jeffrey A. Hart. On one level this isn’t specifically about access to government information, but it’s certainly grist for the mill of anyone who cares about an informed public. Hart offers a straightforward analysis of the topic, in layman’s terms.
On Tuesday, February 26, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on Electronic Records Preservation at the White House. The Committee, led by Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA-30), has been investigating what happened to millions of missing White House emails and what the White House is now doing to make sure it is preserving its records in compliance with the Presidential Records Act.

New from Sunshine Week -- a new partnership with Helium that creates a special page where anyone can write about open government issues or this year’s election theme. The Sunshine Week promos on the SW website deserve an affirmative vote. Check them out.

They Also Serve Who Only Stand

The cadence doesn’t quite work, but it’s still a good idea. For a long time now I’ve been compiling what’s heretofore been known as “Hidden Heroes of Minnesota History”. It’s a Sesquicentennial diversion about which I’m getting more serious. Thus, I’m shedding the allegedly sexist “heroes” title for the more ubiquitous “They.” The point is the same:

We wouldn’t know about the Big Heroes if we didn’t have a legacy of countless unnamed heroes - individuals, organizations, funders, visionaries - who have pack ratted, collected, preserved, organized, tabulated, digitized, mapped, cataloged, indexed, reprinted, reformatted or otherwise opened the doors to the recorded history of our state -- or the cosmos, for that matter.

The process of making history available demands vision, collaboration, and a commitment to the past and to the future. Headline seekers need not apply. If egomania is not your thing, you too can join the ranks of the “also servers” by adding to this fledgling compilation of hidden heroes, heroines, and heroic organizations.

I’m about to post my totally random compilation, leaving it to others to amend and/or organize the list. Most important, please add your suggestions by emailing me with a jot or a treatise describing the “also servers” who have opened the door for you.

Preserving Minnesota’s digital resources: Along similar lines, the Minnesota office of Enterprise Technology recently submitted a mandated report to the Minnesota Legislature. Preserving the Present: Creating, Accessing and Maintaining Minnesota’s Electronic Documents, now available online, reflects the collective work of the agency and a survey of stakeholders. Citing the dynamic nature of technology innovation, the report specifically declines to recommend the adoption of a particular format standard. The study concludes that “the choice or use of a standard must not be to adopt a standard for the sake of adopting a standard. Any choice must be in the context of what value such a decision adds to government.”

The report goes on to identify several concrete, practical steps that the state can take to address electronic records policy issues.

Our Cells, Ourselves. Joel Garreau of the Washington Post poses a whole lot of tough questions for a Sunday morning. Taking a global look at the impact of the cell phone, Garreau ponders the question of whether the cell phone, now a global factor, frees or tethers us. He doesn’t answer that question, either, but he does leave me turning it over in my mind. Turn your cell off for the few minutes it will take to read this thoughtful piece.

Quote: "When information which properly belongs to the public is systematically withheld by those in power, the people soon become ignorant of their own affairs, distrustful of those who manage them, and - eventually - incapable of determining their own destinies." Pres. Richard Nixon, 1972

Scientists Call on next President to End Political Interference in Science; Guarantee Scientists' Freedoms. A panel of leading scientists recently issued a significant call for openness at the annual conference of the AAAS (February 15). Speaking at the announcement event Francesca Grifo, director of the Scientific Integrity Program at UCS, observed that “good federal policy depends upon reliable and robust scientific work… When science is falsified, fabricated or censored, Americans' health and safety suffer.”

Mary Treacy

COGI Quote - Feb 22

Stephen Aftergood provides these transsparency quotes from the Big Three in a recent issue of Nieman Watchdog (2-7-08). Keep these in mind during pre and post-election days.

“Excessive administration secrecy... feeds conspiracy theories and reduces the public's confidence in government,” Sen. John McCain

"I'll turn the page on a growing empire of classified information,” Sen. Barack Obama.

“We'll protect sources and methods, but we won't use sources and methods as pretexts to hide the truth.” “We need a return to transparency and a system of checks and balances, to a president who respects Congress's role of oversight and accountability,” Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Can anyone provide parallel quotes from Minnesota senatorial wannabe's?

Is the spectrum just too complex for reporters?

Is the spectrum just too complex for reporters? Article in the Nieman Watchdog and flagged in Media Reform.The title is provocative and it’s a good question. I would argue that the spectrum itself isn’t all that complicated - it’s the USE of the spectrum that baffles reporters and advocacy groups. Roger Sween spoke of the “implicitless” of information - and of the radio waves that deliver it. We feel compelled, somehow, to separate the discussion of means from the discussion of content. The techies vs. the nerds…In government, it’s IT in one silo, the public record, data, useful government information in a separate silo. Meanwhile, the radio waves are perceived as one-directional. Only now, the keepers of the word, especially the print press, are straddling what, in my mind, is the most pernicious of the several digital divides.

Self-proclaimed professional agitator Sheldon Mains started a digital deluge today by announcing he’s cancelled his Strib subscription. His rationale struck a chord with E-Democracy readers, virtually all of them recovering Strib readers. As a longtime cancelled Strib subscriber I must admit an occasional pang of regret that I can’t recancel - unless, of course, I resubscribe, in which case I would have to endure that barrage of dunning phone calls when I recancel…..

Mary Treacy

Net Neutrality Is a Civil Rights Issue

Net Neutrality Is a Civil Rights Issue. There’s tons written about network neutrality, currently being fiercely debated at the federal - especially FCC - level. This article by Mark Lloyd and Joseph Torres deals specifically and insightfully with the digital divide, stressing the inherent link (sometimes overlooked) between information and telecom access.