Charting a FAIR Direction for the US Government Information Ecosystem

FAIR Principles are most often associated with research data, but they have applications in other ecosystems. With the FAIR Principles as common ground, we explore the current system of government information dissemination within the United States to see how FAIR Principles can be applicable to the complex ecosystem of federal government information.

Following the guidance of the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), federal agencies increasingly take into consideration FAIR Principles as part of practices to improve public access to federally-supported research data. However, information that has been produced by the government for public access also includes publications, websites, databases, and other forms of content, nearly all of which are now born-digital. Dissemination is subject to the guidelines of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), but once it is published online, stewardship falls to a myriad of responsible agencies, depending on the specifics of the content. This leaves gaps in what is collected, described, made available, and preserved for future discovery and reuse.

This talk will chart some of the boundaries and potential for future collaboration and partnership among practitioners and stakeholders.