ERIC ED352995: Creative Ways of Using and Disseminating Federal Information. Hearings before the Government Information, Justice, and Agriculture Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, One Hundred and Second Cong

457 Pages·1992·8.4 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
IR 054 350
ED 352 995
Creative Ways of Using and Disseminating Federal
TITLE
Information. Hearings before the Government
Information, Justice, and Agriculture Subcommittee of
the Committee on Government Operations, House of
Representatives, One Hundred and Second Congress,
First and Second Sessions, June 19, 1991, February 19
and June 4, 1992.
Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House
INSTITUTION
Subcommittee on Government Information, Justice, and
Agriculture.
REPORT NO
ISBN-0-16-039242-X
PUB DATE
92
NOTE
501p.
U.S. Government Printing Office, Superintendent of
AVAILABLE FROM
Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC
20402.
PUB TYPE
Legal/Legislative/Regulatory Materials (090)
Descriptive (141)
Reports
MF02/PC21 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
*Access to Information; Costs; *Democracy; Economic
DESCRIPTORS
Development; Electronic Publishing; Government
Publications; Hearings; *Information Dissemination;
*Information Technology; Information Utilization;
*Policy Formation; Research Libraries; User Needs
(Information)
Congress 102nd; *Government Information; *Public
IDENTIFIERS
Information; Vendors
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the hearings presented in this
Congressional document was to highlight the enterprising, inventive,
and imaginative ways that peop e use public information and ways that
agencies disseminate it. Witnesses were called who could provide
(1) how federal data is used by people who make
information about:
genuine contributions to the nation's economy and democratic
(2) the importance of making information available in
processes;
(3) innovative and inexpensive ways of making
electronic formats;
(4) the needs of users of federal information;
information available;
(5) the techniques and technologies of information access; and (6)
the impact of the high cost of public information. This report
includes statements from 17 witnesses representing a variety of
agencies, such as federal agencies, including the General Accounting
Office; the Association of Research Libraries; the information
industry, including USA Today and DIALOG; nonprofit organizations,
such as the Regional Contracting and Assistance Center, which
disseminates public information to assist in economic development;
and public interest organizations, including OMB Watch, a research,
educational, and advocacy organization that monitors Executive Branch
activities. Also included are prepared statements submitted for the
record by the witnesses and four appendices, which include three
additional statements, an article from the Wall Street Journal,
working notes, and a letter. (KRN)
U $ DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Orrice of Educational Research and improvement
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
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DISS
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TIME WAYS OF USING
TION
INFO
FED
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, JUSTICE,
AND AGRICULTURE SUBCOMMITTEE
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SECOND CONGRESS
FlitsT AND SECOND SESSIONS
JUNE 19, 1991, FEBRUARY 19 AND JUNE 4, 1992
Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Operations
U.S. GOVERNMENT !EDITING OA=
WASHINGTON : 1992
58-584 as
For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office
DC 20402
Superintendent of Documents. Congressional Sales Office, Washington.
ISBN 0-16-039242X
COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan, Chairman
CARDISS COLLINS, Illinois
FRANK HORTON, New York
GLENN ENGLISH, Oklahoma
WILLIAM F. CLINGER, JR., Pennsylvania
HENRY A. WAXMAN, California
AL McCANDINAS, California
TED WEISS, New York
J. DENNIS HASTERT, Illinois
MIKE SYNAR, Oklahoma
JON L. KYL, Arizona
STEPHEN L NEAL, North Carolina
CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut
DOUG BARNARD, Ja., Georgia
STEVEN SCHIFF, New Mexico
TOM LANTOS, California
C. CHRISTOPHER COX, California
ROBERT E. WISE, Jit., West Virginia
CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming
BARBARA BOXER, California
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
MAJOR R. OWENS, New York
RONALD K MACHTLEY, Rhode Island
EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York
DICK ZIMMER, New Jersey
BEN ERDREICH, Alabama
WILLIAM H. ZELIFF, Ja., New Hampshire
GERALD D. KLECZKA, Wisconsin
DAVID L. HOBSON, Ohio
ALBERT G. BUSTAMANTE, Texas
SCOTT L KLUG, Wisconsin
MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont
GARY A. CONDIT, California
(Independent)
PATSY T. MINK, Hawaii
RAY THORNTON, Arkansas
COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota
ROSA L DELAURO, Connecticut
CHARLES J. LUKEN, Ohio
JOHN W. COX, JR., Illinois
JULIAN EPSTEIN, Staff Director
DONALD W. UPSON, Minority Staff Director
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, JUSTICE, AND AGRICULTURE SUBCOMMITTEE
Ja., West Virginia, Chairman
ROBERT E. WISE,
GARY A. CONDIT, California
AL McCANDLESS, California
EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York
STEVEN SCHIFF, New Mexico
PATSY T. MINK, Hawaii
RONALD K. MACHTLEY, Rhode Island
COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota
JOHN W. COX, Ja., Illinois
BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont. (Ind.)
Ex OFFICIO
JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan
FRANK HORTON, New York
Les GODOWN, Staff Director
Roscrr Gazatatt, Chief Counsel
JOSEPH SHOEMAKER, Professional Staff Member
AURORA OGG, Clerk
Moarry T1UPP, Minority Professional Staff
(n)
4
--a
CONTENTS
Page
Hearing held on:
1
June 19, 1991
121
February 19, lr'w
273
June 4, 1992...
Statement of:
100
Bass, Gary, exek..-aive director, OMB Watch, Washington, DC
Brock, Jack L., Jr., Director, Government Information and Financial
Management, Information Management and Technology Division, Gen-
eral Accounting Office, accompanied by Alicia Wright, evaluator in
122
charge
Burnham, David, codirector, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse,
Washington, DC, accompanied by Susan Long, codirector, Syracuse
40
University, Syracuse, NY
92
Chelen, John C., executive director, the Unison Institute, Washington, DC
143
Cline, Nancy M., dean, University Libraries, Penn State University
Dykstra, Gail, senior director, policy and programs, Canadian Legal Infor-
242
mation Centre, Toronto, Canada
370
Golodner, Linda, president, National Consumers League, Washington, DC
22
Jackson, Randy, JEdI spokesman, Westwood, CA
Lapinsky, Walter, chairman of the board, Regional Contracting Assist-
C&P Telephone Co. of
ance Center, manager, business development,
276
West Virginia, Charleston, WV
223
Massa, Paul, president, Congressional Information Service, Bethesda, MD
3
McFaul, Jerry, computer scientist, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA
Simons, Robert A., general counsel, DIALOG Information Services, Inc ,
172
Palo Alto, CA
Sproull, James, Jr., JEdI teacher coordinator, U.S. Geological Survey,
10
Reston, VA
Regional Contracting Assistance
Walker, Mick, executive
director,
294
Center, Charleston, WV
Wallace, Julia, managing editor, special projects, USA Today, Rosalyn,
305
VA
Walters, Linda R., Director, Information Management Division, Federal
156
Energy Regulatory Commission
315
Westin, Alan, chairman, Reference Point Foundation, Teaneck, NJ
Wise, Hon. Robert E., Jr., a Representative in Congress from -he State of
West Virginia, and chairman, Government Information, Justice, and
1
Agriculture Subcommittee: Opening statement
Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by:
Prepared
Bass, Gary, executive director, OMB Watch, Washington, DC:
104
statement
Brock, Jack L., Jr., Director, Government Information and Financial
Management, Information Management and Technology Division, Gen-
125
eral Accounting Office: Prepared statement
Burnham, David, codirector, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse,
46
Washington, DC: Prepared statement
Chelen, John C., executive director, the Unison Institute, Washington,
96
DC: Prepared statement
Cline, Nancy M., dean, University Libraries, Penn State University: Pre-
147
pared statement
Dykstra, Gail, senior director, policy and programs, Canadian Legal infor-
245
mation Centre, Toronto, Canada: Prepared statement
Golodner, Linda, president, National Consumers League, Washington,
376
DC: Prepared statement
25
Jackson, Randy, JEdI spokesman, Westwood, CA: Prepared statement
(in)
cJ
IV
Page
Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record byContinued
Lapinsky, Walter, chairman of the board, Regional Contracting Assist-
ance Center, manager, business development, C&P Telephone Co. of
West Virginia, Charleston, WV: Prepared statement
278
Long, Susan, codirector, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse,
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY: Prepared statement
46
Massa, Paul, president, Congressional Information Service, Bethesda,
MD: Prepared statement
227
McFaul, Jerry, computer scientist, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA:
Prepared statement
6
Simons, Robert A., general counsel, DIALOG Information Services, Inc
,
Palo Alto, CA: Prepared statement
177
Sproull, James, Jr., JEdI teacher coordinator, U.S. Geological Survey,
Reston, VA: Prepared statement
15
Wallace, Julia, managing editor, special projects, USA Today, Rosslyn,
VA: Prepared statement
309
Walters, Linda R., Director, Information Management Division, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission: Prepared statement
158
Westin, Alan, chairman, Reference Point Foundation, Teaneck, NJ: Pre-
pared statement
318
APPENDIXES
Appendix 1.Statements submitted for the record
389
A. Nancy A. Becker, director, government information division, United
Communications Group
389
B. Ronald L. Plesser, Esq., Piper & Marbury
392
C. Peter Tracy, president, Micro Patent
421
Appendix 2. Article from the Wall Street Journal, January 2, 1991, entitled
"A U.S. Report Spurs Community Action by Revealing Polluters"
423
Appendix 3.Working Notes (July-August and September-October 1991 edi-
tions)
425
Appendix 4.Letter dated February 18, 1992, from Bruce M. Furino, grants
development manager, University of Central Florida
445
re
CREATIVE WAYS OF USING AND
DISSEMINATING FEDERAL INFORMATION
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 1991
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION, JUSTICE,
AND AGRICULTURE SUBCOMMITTEE
OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in room
2203, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Robert E. Wise, Jr.
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Robert E. Wise, Jr., Patsy T. Mink,
Collin C. Peterson, John W. Cox, Jr., Al McCandless, Steven Schiff,
and Bernard Sanders.
Also present: Lee Godown, staff director; Robert Gellman, chief
counsel; Aurora Ogg, clerk; and Monty Tripp, minority professional
staff, Committee on Government Operations.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN WISE
Mr. WISE. This hearing of the Government Information, Justice,
and
and Agriculture Subcommittee on the creative ways of using
disseminating Federal information will come to order.
If knowledge is powerand this is truly the information econo-
is a very, very timely hearing.
my that we read aboutthen this
Today's hearing is on creative ways of using and disseminating
Federal information.
This will be the first in a series of hearings to highlight enter-
prising, inventive, and imaginative ways that people useand
agencies disseminatepublic information. There are several broad
purposes to these hearings.
First, I hope to illustrate how real Federal information is used by
welfare,
real people who make real contributions to the Nation's
Federal data available to
economy, and democratic process. Making
differ-
the public is not simply an academic exercise. It makes a
ence.
Second, I expect to demonstrate the importance of making infor-
mation available in electronic formats. The value of information is
it
enhanced when it is released in a way that permits others to use
effectively.
Third, the hearings will identify innovative and inexpensive
disseminate Federal information.
ways used by agencies used to
electron-
Since the Federal budget will not support all of the fancy
(1)
2
is dissemination methods that some might like,
we have to learn to
do things at a low cost.
In the last Congress, some of these issues
arose in the context of
the Paperwork Reduction Act reauthorization. The information
part of that legislation became bogged down in
an unrelated dis-
pute, and the effort to reform dissemination laws remains in limbo
at this time.
OMB has announced plans to revise Circular A-130
on manage-
ment of Federal information resources. That could be
a potentially
positive development, but I will reserve judgment until
more de-
tails become available.
While the broader dissemination policy questions
are never very
far in the background, our focus here today is
narrower. We need
to be reminded from time to time why the battle to
preserve effec-
tive public access to Federal data is important. We need to keep in
touch with the users of Federal information.
I have one other point that I would like to raise, and it relates
to
the price of information. I recently received
a pamphlet from the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It adver-
tises the availability of all types of economic statistics in wonder-
fully convenient computer formats.
I was very impressed with this pamphlet until I looked at the
price. A single computer disk cost $265. Another series of monthly
disks cost $1,300 per year. That's a lot of
money to a lot of people.
The OECD is an international organization and does not operate
under the same rules as the Federal Government. But it is
appar-
ent that selling Government information at a high price
or with re-
strictions can effectively deny some people the ability to acquire
or
use the data.
Selling Government information for profit is inconsistent with
existing law and is bad public policy. When planning for informa-
tion dissemination, we need to remember: that price
can be just as
important as availability. Conversely, there's not going to be much
availability if you price it right out of the market.
So these hearingsthis is the first of severalwill look
to ad-
dress these issues. We have a distinguished witness list. We're look-
ing forward to a very, very fruitful hearing.
I would like to advise members and members of the audience
that at the point we have a quorum, if that point arrives, then
what we will do is immediately recess the hearing for, hopefully,
all of about 1 minute to do some committee business to
approve
two committee reports, and then we'll go right back into the hear-
ings. So don't stray far in that event. Mr. McCandless,
any open
statement?
Mr. MCCANDLESS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do not have
a
formal statement. I think it's important that this Government Op-
erations Committee, as well as other committees in the Federal
Government, look to innovative ways of generating interest in
our
younger generation in the process of learning, and I congratulate
you for bringing this program forward so that more people can see
it..
Unfortunately, this morning we have the full committee banking
markup, which started about 5 minutes ago. I
was in hopes we
3
legisla-
that we might pass our two
would have a quorum here so
have to depart, unfortunately.
tive reports, however I'm going to
disk with a lot of the banking
Mr. SPROULL. I have a CD-ROM
[Laughter.]
information that can be reformatted.
scien-
be Jerry McFaul, computer
Mr. WISE. Our first panel will
Jack-
Survey from Reston, VA; Randy
tist with the U.S. Geological
James D. Sproull,
from Westwood, CA; and
son, JEdI spokesman
Survey in
of the U.S. Geological
Jr., the JEdI teacher coordinator
Reston, VA.
It is the practice of this
Gentlemen, we're delighted to have you.
prejudice any witness who may ever
subcommittee, so as not to
objec-
in all witnesses. Do you have any
appear before it, to swear
tion to that?
[Chorus of no.]
and raise your right hand?
Mr. WISE. If you would stand
[Witnesses sworn.]
in the order in which I read your
Mr. WISE. Why don't we start
statements in
to all the witnesses that your
names. Let me just say
record. So
made a part of the committee
their entirety are already
it any way you wish.
please feel free to summarize
COMPUTER SCIENTIST, U.S.
STATEMENT OF JERRY McFAUL
VA
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, RESTON,
Jerry
Mr. Chairman. My name is
Mr. McFAUL. Good morning,
Survey,
at the U.S. Geological
McFaul. I'm a computer scientist
optical storage for the USGS.
and a principal investigator of
standing
organization called SIGCAT,
I'm also chairman of an
CD-ROM applications and tech-
for the special interest group on
governmentwideactually worldwideuser group
nology. This is a
the informa-
with the aim of spreading
with over 4,600 members
wide and diverse audience.
tion about CD-ROM to a
USGS collects and interprets many,
As you probably know, the
is used for, basi-
of data, and this information
many different types
CD-
Nation. We began investigating
cally, the well-being of our
technology to
the intent of using this
ROM over 5 years ago with
form
economical and very usable
allow us to disseminate in a very
had collected over the years.
the information that we
been
data bases has traditionally
The dissemination of large
to CD-ROM; that is,
hampered by the only available means up
situation
dramatically improved the
magnetic tape. CD-ROM has
agencies to disseminate information
and has allowed us and other
called CD-
inexpensive, small plastic platters
on these convenient,
and quite
actually can be mainframe size
ROM. These data bases
data bases
to these mainframe-size
often are, and thus allow access
stations.
on PCs and work
of
objectives of the President and
Education is one of the priority
support-
The Secretary has been very
the Secretary of the Interior.
USGS has his-
efforts in this area, and the
ive of the USGS in the
outreach, particularly in pro-
torically been active in education
developing Earth science materials.
grams geared toward
the USGS initiated a project to
In this vein, about 1% years ago,
for the edu-
CD-ROM and to do something
take this technology of
onto
been placing large data bases
cational system. We had already
4
CD-ROM, as have many of the other science
agencies, but we
thought if we had a concerted effort between
the science agencies
to take this information and take
our products on CD-ROM and
factor in a large component of teacher expertise,
we could perhaps
produce something meaningful and worthwhile
for the educational
environment.
This is basically what happened. We, early
on, had the advan-
tage of having many teachers in the
area work with us to shake
down the project, to test the idea, and it made
sense. The teachers
agree that having this information available to them would be
very
useful in our classroom environments.
The JEdI project, standing for the joint education
initiative, was
born about 1 year or 11 /2 years
ago and evolved into what we think
a very meaningful exercise in the use of CD-ROM technology,
to
take existing information from Government
agencies and make it
available to the educational public.
In the past, these types of data bases have virtually
been inacces-
sible to the teacher and educational community because
they were
so big and they were typically resident in large mainframe
comput-
ers. CD-ROM has changed all that, again, by giving
access to these
real world data bases to desk top computers and
to the classrooms.
CD-ROM technology, as I said, is the key to this
whole project,
because it allcws a very inexpensive medium
to be used to dissemi-
nate information. After about 6 months into the project,
we actual-
ly had a workshop of 20 teachers at the U. S.
Geological Survey,
working to put together teachers' activities books
around these
disks.
We had made a pair of disks by that time,
and the 20 teachers
that worked with us for 3 weeks really got into the
information on
the disks and produced an activity book at that
point which accom-
panies the disks and makes a very useful and
worthwhile set of
educational materials.
We've since produced the third disk, which basically
is the index
of the other two disks and contains
a means to access and explore
the entire set of materials interactively, and Mr.
Sproull will be
demonstrating that in a minute.
The future of JEdI is very promising. The University
of Mary-
land has now taken the leadership role in this
project, and we look
very favorably on this situation because we intend to continue
to
be involved as an advisor on the project, and
to provide additional
data bases from the Federal Government.
The University of Maryland, of
course, is the ideal institution to
continue to provide updates to the technology,
to provide teacher
training classes, to really make the next generation of
JEdI materi-
als happen.
We'd like to see and suggest that additional
CD-ROM applica-
tions come from other agencies, not just the science
agencies, but
many of the other ones, such as the Patent and Trademark Office
and the Census Bureau, NTIS, and GPO. All of
their disks should
be considered for inclusion in the educational project
called JEdI to
allow additional data from all of these diverse
agencies to become
material for use in additional and future JEdI
teaching applica-
tions.