Friends,

Thanks to Rob Wheeler, I have just come across the Open Government Dialogue website - http://opengov.ideascale.com/ - that is hosting an Open Government Brainstorm - the first part of a three part process to solicit broad-based ideas to enhance the adoption of practices of open government by the U.S. Government.

I have posted a proposal for Detailed bookmarks in all Government pdf documents and would welcome your endorsement of this proposal.

Detailed bookmarks should be incorporated in all Government reports & documents distributed as pdf files, and the files should be configured for an Initial View of 'Bookmarks Panel and Page' so that the bookmarks are immediately visible when the document is opened. In addition, accurate bibliographic information should be included in the Description section of the Document properties. At present it is rare to find a Government pdf file that includes bookmarks, and most do not include accurate/meaningful bibliographic information in a file's Document properties.

Why Is This Idea Important?

The bookmarking of pdf documents:

• greatly enhances a reader's ability to gain an overview of a document's scope and contents;
• makes it much easier to find one's way around a document;
• reduces / eliminates the need for printing and the associated cost to the reader - especially when a document makes extensive use of colored illustrations and figures - and the carbon footprint of the document.

The inclusion of bookmarks to pdf files is a very simple process and takes a minimal amount of time - of the order of an hour or so for a fifty page document - that is negligible compared to the cost of writing, editing and formatting the document.

The inclusion of accurate document properties provides valuable information to search engines in addition to being useful information for the reader and enhancing the integrity of documents.

If you support this idea, please visit http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3883-4049 and cast a vote in its favor.

Please note, the Brainstorm section of the Open Government Dialogue ends at midnight today (time zone not specified), so please cast your vote today.

I would also encourage a visit to the Open Government Dialogue site to explore other recommendations and/or to submit your ideas for enhanced openness of government as well as to support Rob's proposal to Develop and Implement a National Strategy for Sustainability - http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3299-4049

Robert

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Robert Pollard
Information Habitat: Where Information Lives
http://habitat.igc.org/
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1.212.864.3156
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