Improving FCC filing metadata

On 10 May 2010 I filed a comment on two FCC proceedings (10-43 and 10-44, if you must know) concerning ways to improve the way it does business. I argued that transparency and rule-making efficiency could be improved by improving the metadata on documents submitted to the Electronic Comments Filing System (ECFS).

I recommended that the FCC:

• Associate a unique identifier with each filer
• Require that the names of all petitioners are provided when submitting ECFS metadata
• Improve RSS feed and search functionality
• Require the posting of digital audio recordings of ex parte meetings
• Provide a machine interface for both ECFS search and submission