[NLA] but wait, there's more--USDE web site

[George E. Demetrion]

On Mon, 25 Nov 2002 07:55:08 -0500 mev at litwomen.org <mev at litwomen.org>
writes:
> From the Chronicle of Higher education
>
>*  EDUCATION RESEARCHERS, social scientists, and library
>    representatives have charged that the Education Department is
>    preparing to delete information from its Web site, in part,
>    because the material does not reflect the philosophies of the
>    Bush administration. More than a dozen groups expressed their
>    concerns in a letter sent to the secretary of education last
>    week.
>    --> SEE http://chronicle.com/daily/2002/11/2002112501n.htm
>
Thanks for posting this Mev.

Yesterday I went to the AERA (American Educational Research Association
web site and found two interesting things.  The first is the latest
edition of the AERA journal which has devoted its entire edition to
scientific based educational research.  The articles can be downloaded at
 (http://www.aera.net/pubs/er/eronline.htm)  Currently (today) access to
these articles or the entire AERA website is unavailable.  

More importantly at least in regard to your posting, Mev, is the
following Action Alert about the USDE internal memo that refers to the
Department's web site policy.  Also included in what follows is the
letter to Secretary Paige.  Rather than comment at this time, I'll simply
post the information which then may evoke commentary from others. Because
I had to format this data to my juno address, some of the original
formatting of the message has been lost.  

George Demetrion
Sophocles5 at juno.com
_________________________________________________________________

ACTION ALERT
ED Web Information Disappearing 
 
Background Information

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued an internal memo, Criteria
and Process for Removing Old Content from www.ed.gov" on May 31, 2002.
The memo established Criteria for Keeping Information on the Web dated
prior to February 2001. One concern cited as reason for removal was that
some content runs counter to current Administration priorities.  Later in
the memo this reason was reiterated in the section under "Current
Challenges," which states "Content is either outdated or does not reflect
the priorities, philosophies, or goals of the present administration."

Items would be removed unless they meet the following criteria: needed
for legal reasons; supports Administration priorities and initiatives;
important for historical perspectives; important for policy reasons
identified by an Assistant Secretary; or useful or valuable to parents,
students, or educators and is consistent with the Administration's
philosophy. There have been estimates that as many as 13,000 documents of
the more than 50,000 total on the Web site would be in jeopardy due to
their content. In addition, others deemed outdated  would also have no
links under the plan. 

It appears the web information removal activities are occurring
throughout the federal system. On October 21, a group of 12 House Members
sent a letter to Secretary Tommy Thompson, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, identifying a pattern of events at the Department of
Health and Human Services suggesting that scientific decision-making is
being subverted by ideology and that scientific information that does not
fit the Administration's political agenda is being suppressed &
Scientific information that does not serve the Administration's
ideological agenda is being removed from HHS websites. Health issues
involved include abortion, programs addressing risky behavior in youth,
and contraception. Other federal government Web sites are reported to be
facing similar problems.

Action Taken
AERA has joined with the American Library Association to lead an effort
to retain documents on the ED Web site. A letter, signed by 14 national
organizations, has been sent to Education Secretary Rod Paige requesting
all ED materials retain the level of accessibility now available and
advocating the inclusion of stakeholders in the web revamping process.
Following is the letter sent to Secretary Paige:

The Honorable Rod Paige
Secretary of Education
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202

Dear Secretary Paige:

We are writing to express the concerns of our organizations about the
recently reported initiative within the U. S. Department of Education
(ED) to remove from public access information that "does not reflect the
priorities, philosophies, or goals of the present administration." While
the Department is aware of the problems such a move would create, the
steps it has recently suggested to address these problems still fall
short because archived material would clearly not be as accessible.

We recognize that the Department may reorganize its Web site, and we
applaud your attempts to improve the transparency of this site so that
the public can find information more easily. However, the Department's
announced initiative to remove documents has raised significant concerns
and questions among the library, educational research, and related social
science communities, and we would value and appreciate a response. 

One of our primary concerns centers on the fate of information scheduled
to be removed from your publicly accessible Web site. As you are aware,
information created or collected by the government, whether in tangible
or electronic form, is a federal record. Therefore, we would like to know
what steps the Department is taking to preserve information and provide
the easiest possible permanent public access to any materials that are
removed? Because the Internet has become by far the method of choice for
disseminating information and research data widely and efficiently, we
are concerned about efforts that would diminish access and use of these
records.
.
Secondly, we are equally concerned with any actions that would remove
from access research, data, and other digests of information that
otherwise have been publicly available, irrespective of administrations,
by the Department of Education. Such materials are essential to advancing
scientifically-based research and need to remain accessible to the
library, educational research, and related scholarly communities. For
example, we are uncertain about ongoing access to materials in the
Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) on the Department of
Education Web site. Will a link to the ERIC site be established and
maintained on the Department's site? Will it be visible to experienced
and new researchers who can add knowledge and insights analyzing such
information? 

Finally, we are concerned about the role of educational researchers,
related social and behavioral scientists, librarians, those with
expertise in data dissemination and preservation, and other public
stakeholders in the development of any plan to access materials on the
Department Web site. Information available through the U. S. Department
of Education Web site is used by a wide variety of professionals,
including educators, scholars, public decision makers, and the public
more broadly, and they should be consulted throughout this process. We
urge you to hold meetings with them and listen to their concerns and
ideas.

Members of our associations appreciate your attention to this important
matter. We, as well as the general public, need Internet access to the
research, data, reports, and other digests and information that may be
removed from the Department's Web site. We would appreciate hearing what
steps the Department intends to take to ensure ongoing access to
documents scheduled to be removed.

Action Requested
If you wish to support AERA in its effort to retain ED Web site documents
in the most accessible form, please write to Secretary Rod Paige and send
copies of your letter to members of Congress in your state and AERA.

Letters may be addressed to:
The Honorable Rod Paige
Secretary of Education
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave., SW, Room 7W301
Washington DC 20202

If you have questions or would like additional information, please feel
free to contact Felice J. Levine, AERA Executive Director, (202)
223-9485, ext. 122, flevine at aera.net or Sandi Wurtz, Government Relations
Associate at AERA, (202) 223-9485, ext. 103, swurtz at aera.net . 
To read the related news release, go to http://www.aera.net/communication
s/news/021121.htm 


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