http://www.open.gov.uk/
This prototype offers relatively sketchy information but invites feedback
about UK Government operations. There are also links to the DTI and the
National Rivers Authority.
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http://194.128.46.164/tsnet/
Trading Standards Net aims to provide up-to-date information and advice
about consumer protection in the UK - a worthy aim indeed. One of the most
useful sections is the UK Product Recall page, which lists items which have
been withdrawn by their manufacturers for one reason or another, and there
is a link to a similar site in the US. There is also a rather puzzling link
to the Scottish Golf Championship, or rather, as you discover when you click
on it, the Institute of Trading Standards (Scottish Branch) Annual Golf
Championship. This page seems rather out of place on an otherwise serious
and professional site, but at least we now know what trading standards officers
get up to when they're not confiscating soft toys or closing down restaurants.
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http://www.townpages.org
This is a strange cross between the yellow pages, and those strange
town guides you find in hotel rooms. There's information about markets,
museums, churches, sports centres, entertainment and places to eat. The
page gives advertisers the opportunity to promote themselves more fully
than an ad in a directory. Its currently Hampshire- and Surrey-based, and
is frustratingly difficult to find out whether it intends to cover other
areas of the country. Having said that, it's very simply designed and doesn't
suffer from the 'style over content' problem that other sites have fallen
down on.
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http://www.open.gov.uk/dfee/skills/skills.htm
The Skills Audit was set up by the Government to assess the UK's comparative
performance qualifications for employment and training. This site holds
the full report, much of it in Acrobat format, and the results show that,
fundamentally, the UK lags behind the rest of Europe in most areas. Surprise,
surprise, eh?
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http://www.britcoun.org
The British Council aims to promote worldwide partnerships between Britain
and other countries, encouraging educational, cultural and technical co-operation.
A sniff around this site revealed details on such diverse things as the
Beijing Book Fair and a seminar on Training For Competitiveness in Cairo.
However, it all seems a bit higgledy-piggledy and unless you know what you're
looking for you could wander round here for ages without achieving much.
For instance, searching under a particular country reveals a list of forthcoming
events, such as literature tours, international seminars and science and
technology programmes, but, it seems to be the same information for every
country. It needs to be better organised.
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http://www.army.mod.uk
The British Army is the first of the UK's armed forces to put itself
on the Internet.The site features unclassified material on equipment, training
and the structure of the army, and you can click on an interactive world
map to find out about its global activities. There's also a set of screen
savers based on the series of radio and TV recruitment ads. At the heart
of the site is an online ""game"" that takes players
through a number of military scenarios, but overall Army World Challenge
comes across as more of an enrolment tool than an information service. Which
is the intention, of course. In the words of the army's director of recruitment,
Brigadier John Milne, We are hoping that The Army Challenge will encourage
young people to find out more about the opportunities offered by a career
in the Army.
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http://www.leeds.gov.uk
Model meet and greet pages for local constituents incorporating superb
functionality with assured design. Councillors are listed alphabetically
and by ward, and are accessible by a clickable map, with a full list of
council services, contacts and numbers which are similarly easy to get to.
Additional information on the Leeds economy, business initiatives and education
is included, along with tourist travel, attractions, shopping and events.
Enhancing an already established reputation as an enlightened council, the
24-hour city goes from boomin' strength to strength.
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http://www.open.gov.uk/cre/crehome.htm
Once again, with these government sites the information flow only goes
one way. Details of a few campaigns, such as Kick Racism out of Football,
All Different All Equal and Uniting Britain for a Just Society, are listed
along with a page on 'what you can do against racism' and then visitors
are referred to paper publications. Obviously it takes a while to get this
online thing right and the vast majority of people are still not in a position
to access information in this way, but no attempt has been made to solicit
opinion or ask for comments. Everyone must be too overworked.
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http://www.jailnet.com/
Can you believe this is for real? Your guide to Californian jails is
aimed at, well, would-be gaolers, actually, and carries details of training
courses from transitioning to a new jail to inmate con games: what jail
staff need to know. Sadly the link to jail slang didn't work but, nonetheless,
it's a strangely mesmerising site.
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http://www.afsa.org/
Representing those who ply their trade in the American Foreign Service,
this site's a surprisingly interesting resource for anyone interested in
US foreign policy and is soon to be the home of Diplomats Online, a joint
venture with Ted Tuner's CNN to put teachers and students in touch with
American Diplomatic officials.
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http://www.heritage.gov.uk/
One of the more racy sites in the open.gov domain name. Not much on
National Heritage but it has a smashing picture of that lovely Mrs Bottomley,
everyone's favourite Tory headgirl. The cash breakdown of services is in
the form of a nice little pie chart Ü did you know museums and galleries
get £218 million a year? Ü but as with all these Net government
services there's plenty of room for improvement. One lovely touch is an
Othello quote on the opening home page: Tis true; there's magic in the web
of it. Lovely indeed.
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http://www.ccta.gov.uk/dssca/cahome.htm
Most of us see our National Insurance deducted each month without a
thought as to where it goes. This site attempts to explain what happens
to our National Insurance contributions and provides the kind of information
small business users need to know. It files all the agency's press releases
and incorporates the twice yearly National Insurance News. Yippee! Most
useful, perhaps, is help and advice for those going to work or live abroad.
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http://info.ic.gc.ca/opengov/
Take a bi-lingual browse around the civilised status quo of Canada's
governing bodies. This site features keyword searches on all the contents,
for example the Senate, House of Commons, the Supreme Court, Government
documents and treaties, the Federal Budget and links to the independently
maintained political party home pages. Quebec agrees Ü well kind of!
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http://www.nics.gov.uk/centgov/nio/nio.htm
Straight-talking text on what the NIO does, the current state of play
in the Joint Framework Document and contacts and rights information from
the RUC.
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http://www.open.gov.uk/bc/bcchom01.html
Appropriately dull front-end for an organisation representing Britain
abroad. Although it contains all kinds of information on the Council's services
in 108 countries, it could be so much more useful than it is.
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http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/dclass/dclass.html
This is what you've been expecting to stumble across on the Net Ü
the first spy pictures taken from satellites and then dropped to earth by
parachute. They've just been declassified and there are plenty more to follow.
Look closely and see the Soviets knitting socks in preparation for a cold
winter.
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http://apollo.osti.gov/html/eia/eiahome.html
Somewhere among the hoards of waffle on this US government energy administrator,
you might find some indication of the future of fuel resources.
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http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/dosfan.html
Take a photographic tour, browse the organisational chart or go straight
to the Department of State Foreign Affairs Gopher for information on US
treaties, global affairs and general foreign policies.
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http://www.fie.com/www/us_gov.htm
Extensive listing and contents of US federal government servers.
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http://www.census.gov/
There are more statistics here about the US and it's citizens than you'll
ever want to know. You can search the main census database, read press releases,
view the poster gallery, check the projected population clock, listen to
clips from their radio broadcasts or link to other serious info-head sites
from their hotlist.
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http://www.odci.gov/
There is lots and lots of information on the CIA here. You can find
out about its role in international affairs, the intelligence cycle, its
history and real estate. But that's not what you're after is it? You've
seen it on TV and in the movies and you want to know about political assassinations,
arms deals, Latin American drug trades, spy satellites, conspiracy theories,
phone tapping, covert operations, government-sponspored alien sex cults
and the X files. You must have the wrong CIA.
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http://www.echo.lu/
This home page, an initiative from the Director-General XIII of the
EC, provides the WWW with information about Europe and the European electronic
information market. There is some riveting reading here, including the much
sought after unexpurgated version of the Maastricht Treaty.
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http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
Press releases, ministerial speeches, minutes and economic forecasts
Ü you can subscribe to a mailing list to receive news and even read
the budget. It has to be said that this is rather dull, but at least it
shows the goverment is waking up to the existence of the 'information superhighway'.
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http://www.whitehouse.gov
Have you ever used Bill Clinton as an extreme example of the type of
person who uses the Internet? Well, here's proof. It's easy to be cynical
about this PR exercise, particularly the moribund guided tour of the Whitehouse
and Hillary's page, but it does show the doors of democracy to be at least
ajar. Most government departments can be accessed from a simple menu. Larrikins
may even download Bill's welcome message for their windows start-up sound
file. Best though, is the invitation to email the President and 'speak out',
perhaps about his wife's page.
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http://www.kantei.go.jp
This server is located in the Prime Minister's official residence in
Tokyo, but the service itself is experimental rather than official. About
all you get from this inscrutable site is some general information about
Japan. Unlikely to become one of Today's Cool Places.
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http://www.fedworld.gov
The US government set up this Test Web server - a graphics-intensive
home page that can take a long time to load. It can take a while to get
access, but when you do, you'll find yourself linked to a growing database
of information from one of the world's largest bureaucracies.
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http://www.os.dhhs.gov/
The US Department of Health server contains useful information on finding
your way through the US health service, plus public access information on
topics such as cancer and Aids.
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