The Obama Administration continues the technology revolution. From a press release from one of my favorite “now media” companies, Newsgator:
The Federal government today announced the availability of breaking news and information RSS feeds on the award winning USA.gov website managed by U.S. General Service Administration’s Office of Citizen Services. With a long history of providing electronic access to government information through the Web, the USA.gov site is delivering on a commitment to streamline and simplify access so that the public no longer has to scour a vast array of government sponsored websites to learn what is new in their areas of interest.
The new service (http://news.usa.gov/), powered by NewsGator, lets anyone subscribe to “really simple syndication” (RSS) feeds on USA.gov, the U.S. government’s official portal, and receive news and information in industry standard feed readers, many available for free, just as it is posted by editorial staff. Alternatively, web visitors can bookmark the Web site in their browser.
Users can subscribe to RSS feeds from any or all of the following categories:
– Agriculture
– Environment and Energy
– Business and Economics
– Family, Home and Community
– Consumer News and Recalls
– Health and Nutrition
– Defense and International
– Public Safety and Law
– Education and Employment
– Science and Technology
– General Gov and Reference
– All Categories
Read the whole press release here or check out Newsgator technology powering USA.gov information dissemination here.
A government of the people, by the people, and for the people should be transparent. Increasing transparency in domestic programs is important. Why not do the same in foreign affairs? State.gov, DipNote, and America.gov should adopt similar technologies. In fact, I’d wager that the cost to do so would be minimal based on how I expect the USA.gov contract is worded based on my experience of connecting “R” with a USG-available service paid for by another Department.
Disclosure of sorts: I’ve been a Newsgator customer for several years using their RSS reader apps to managing MountainRunner’s blog roll.
