We have found that a petition that does not mandate a legal or regulatory
response is easily conducted by electronic means.
A voice is what this response is asking for. I have seen a dozen such
petitions make their way to such representatives as Senator Dianne
Feinstein and Senator Barbara Boxer, and get included in the official
record in their discourses in the senate.
Gathering data is a tool that helps in communicating issues as well as
finding out what people believe. I believe we all accept that polls are a
tool used by governments and polling is primarily conducted by telephone,
but there is no guarantee that the individual on the other end of the line
is who they claim to be. Polls are conducted by systematic processes of
data collection and used by everyone to determine the interest of
populations. I don't see the electronic means in collecting information
through a petition to be much different than this methodology of polling.
I use a survey system that allows me to generate information about the
individual, however even in the case of writing a signature on a official
petition for a governmental purpose, the identity of the individual is not
verified by the recipient.
We are trying to get more interest in creating a campus initiative to
support reinstating sufficient funding for the NHPRC's efforts. I consider
it an important cause and worth the effort, to write a letter as well as
sign an online petition.
We accept all kinds of forms in relation to petitions to the campus, and
take each seriously, even though there is no perfect mechanism to ensure
the signatures are valid.
Paula Johnson
University of California, San Diego
At 08:13 AM 5/24/2005 -0700, you wrote:
>I never add my name to an electronic petition because it is my opinion it is
>useless. I have heard that they are ignored and only original written
>communication with a signature is effective. I have also heard that form
>postcards are ignored in preference for an original letter (environmental
>and human rights organizations use these). Anyone could fill in any name on
>an electronic petition. The ones I have seen have a name and
>city/state/country. There are many causes dear to my heart but I would
>never use an electronic petition to voice my opinion. Comments, please?
>
>Anne Angelou
>Records Analyst
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Vicki Walch [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 6:16 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: NHPRC -- sign the electronic petition to restore funding
>
>
>Posted on behalf of the NHPRC Joint Advocacy Task Force:
>
>The President's budget recommendations for Fiscal Year 2006 slash or
>eliminate more than 150 federal programs. In that budget, the National
>Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) has been targeted to
>receive NO funding. This includes no funds for the grants program and no
>funds for staffing to support the NHPRC programs. It effectively eliminates
>NHPRC.
>
>The Council of State Historical Records Coordinators, the Society of
>American Archivists, and the National Association for Government Archivists
>and Records Administrators are working collaboratively to address this
>threat to NHPRC and NARA. Archivists across the U.S. are rallying to save
>NHPRC while also ensuring that NARA has sufficient funding to sustain its
>current programs and continue to advance in areas that benefit all archival
>repositories and every citizen of the United States
>
>As part of our efforts to continue to express to Congress interest in
>restoration of funding for NHPRC, we have created an online petition. Please
>consider signing this petition, and please forward it to any listservs,
>email groups, or organizations and people you feel would be interested in
>helping with this effort. It is a quick and easy way for many people to
>assist. The petition will be forwarded to the House Appropriations
>Committee and Subcommittee on Treasury, Transportation, HUD and the
>Judiciary in late May. The petition can be access at:
>
>www.savearchives.org
>
>and click on the "petition" button.
>
>If you have not received a previous action alert on this issue, we encourage
>you to also write a letter to your members of Congress. For information on
>writing letters of support, see any of the following websites:
>
>www.savearchives.org
>www.coshrc.org
>www.archivists.org
>
>Thanks for your efforts to save this important program for archives!
>
>========================================================
>
>Members of the NHPRC Joint Advocacy Task Force
>
>Council of State Historical Records Coordinators:
>David Carmicheal, Sandra Clark, Kathleen Roe
>
>Society of American Archivists:
>Nancy Beaumont, Peter Gottlieb, Rand Jimerson, Joan Krizack, Richard
>Pearce-Moses
>
>ARMA International:
>Stacey Moye
>
>National Association of Government Archivists and Records Administrators:
>Timothy Slavin
>
>========================================================
>
>List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
>Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
>
>List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
>Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
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