Thanks a lot, David, for the useful info. I suspected Bush's politics of
"cultural wars" behind the move but I was not sure. What can we do to help
AERA and ERIC?
Eugene
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David H Kirshner [mailto:dkirsh@lsu.edu]
> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2003 5:28 PM
> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: Re: FW: ERIC
>
> Eugene asks,
> "Does anybody know what the story behind this move [dismantling ERIC] is?"
>
> ...see below--utterly disturbing political attack on our means of
> continuity as a scholarly community.
> David Kirshner
>
> ________________________
>
>
> ************************
> >From the American Educational Research Association [AERA] website. See
> http://www.aera.net/communications/news/federal.htm
> ************************
> 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 which states "Content is either outdated or does not reflect the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 In addition, others deemed "outdated" would also have no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 suppressedİScientific
> 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's 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@aera.net or Sandi Wurtz, Government Relations Associate
> at AERA, (202) 223-9485, ext. 103, swurtz@aera.net .
> To read the related news release, go to
> http://www.aera.net/communications/news/021121.htm
> -----------------------------
> American Educational Research Association
> 1230 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036
> Phone: (202) 223-9485 Fax: (202) 775-1824
> webmaster@aera.net
> **************************************************
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Allison Kaplan [mailto:akaplan@UDel.Edu]
> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 12:21 PM
> To: ed-faculty@UDel.Edu; ed-professionals@UDel.Edu; ed-graduates@UDel.Edu
> Cc: Patricia D Arnott
> Subject: ERIC
>
> To all UD education faculty and students,
>
> Please be advised that the ERIC clearinghouse, including AskERIC, has
> been given a deadline of December 19, 2003, to close all web sites and
> disconnect all email addresses that make use of ERIC and all toll-free
> phone numbers.
>
> If you would like more information about the future (or lack thereof) of
> ERIC, see these web sites:
> http://www.lib.msu.edu/corby/ebss/accesseric.htm
> http://www.lib.msu.edu/corby/education/eric/clearinghouseplans.htm
> --
> "This will be our response to violence:
> to make music more beautifully, more intensely,
> more devotedly than ever before."
> --Leonard Bernstein (Findings)
>
> Allison G. Kaplan
> Assistant Director, Education Resource Center
> Coordinator, School Library Media Specialist Program
> University of Delaware
> Newark DE 19716
> Office: 302-831-1584
> Fax: 302-831-8404
> E-Mail: akaplan@udel.edu
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Dec 01 2003 - 01:00:11 PST