Government Printing

While this one is a bit off the beaten track, I had to post about Carl Malamud and his efforts to become the new US printing chief. His efforts (like a lot of things) made it on my radar screen thanks to Techdirt.com and Mike Masnicks post, "Time To Make Carl Malamud Head Of The Government Printing Office".

The domain name used by Malamuds campaign, yeswescan.com, was enough to get my attention, and the one-pager readers will find after clicking there offers some interesting insight into the history of the US Governments printing office, including for me the whole idea how synonymous the terms "printing" and "information dissemination" are. As we debate the future of printing, in our much narrower terms, its very useful to think more broadly as well.

One direct quote at the yeswescan.com site deserves a call-out. Its in reference to the future of print shop jobs and the need for workers to be trained in other skills:

As commodity printing goes the way of the PDF file and the copy machine, GPO must retrain and refocus its workforce, working with the unions and the employees so we may face the challenges of the future.

No doubt very true, but it also brings to mind opportunities closer to home -- I bet the GPO needs a heavy dose of MPS!