THOMAS

{{Short description|U.S. legislative database}}

{{About|the U.S. legislative database||Thomas (disambiguation){{!}}Thomas}}

{{more citations needed|date=June 2009}}

THOMAS was the first online database of United States Congress legislative information. A project of the Library of Congress, it was launched in January 1995 at the inception of the 104th Congress and retired on July 5, 2016; it has been superseded by Congress.gov.{{cite web | url=https://www.congress.gov/help/faq#thomasretirement | title=Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): THOMAS Retirement | publisher=Library of Congress | access-date=October 18, 2014 }}

Contents

The resource was a comprehensive, Internet-accessible source of information on the activities of Congress, including:

The database was named after Thomas Jefferson, who was the third President of the United States.{{cite news |title=THOMAS.gov to Retire July 5 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-16-004/ |access-date=August 30, 2018 |work=News from the Library of Congress |publisher=The Library of Congress |date=April 28, 2016 |language=en}} "THOMAS" was an acronym for "The House [of Representatives] Open Multimedia Access System".{{cite book |last1=Vlietstra |first1=J. |title=Dictionary of Acronyms and Technical Abbreviations: For Information and Communication Technologies and Related Areas |date=2001 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=9781852333973 |page=624 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1A0Ek7Lh4x8C&pg=PT632 |language=en}}

The website allowed users to share legislative information via several social networking sites,{{cite web | url=http://thomas.loc.gov/help/share.html | title=Sharing THOMAS Content with the Share Tool | website=THOMAS | publisher=Library of Congress | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101210174053/http://thomas.loc.gov/help/share.html| archive-date=2010-12-10| url-status=dead}} and there were proposals for an application programming interface.{{cite magazine | title=the database of United States Congress legislative information | first=Kim | last=Zetter | author-link=Kim Zetter | date=March 5, 2009 | magazine=Wired | url=https://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/03/federal-bill-wo/}}

Library of Congress Legislative Data Challenge

The Library of Congress created the Markup of US Legislation in Akoma Ntoso challenge{{Cite web |url=http://akoma-ntoso-markup.challenge.gov/ |title=Markup of US Legislation in Akoma Ntoso |access-date=2013-09-23 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130825093949/http://akoma-ntoso-markup.challenge.gov/ |archive-date=2013-08-25 |url-status=dead }} in July 2013 to create representations of selected US bills using the most recent Akoma Ntoso standard within a couple months for a $5,000 prize,{{cite web | title=Library of Congress Announces First Legislative Data Challenge | first=Tina | last=Gheen | date=July 16, 2013 | publisher=Library of Congress | url=http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2013/07/library-of-congress-announces-first-legislative-data-challenge/}} and the Legislative XML Data Mapping challenge in September 2013{{cite web |title=Legislative XML Data Mapping |url=http://legislative-data-mapping.challengepost.com/ |website=Legislative XML Data Mapping |language=en}} to produce a data map for US bill XML and UK bill XML to the most recent Akoma Ntoso schema within a couple months for a $10,000 prize.{{cite web | title=Second Library of Congress Legislative Data Challenge Launched | first=Tina | last=Gheen | date=September 10, 2013 | publisher=Library of Congress | url=http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2013/09/second-library-of-congress-legislative-data-challenge-launched/}}

  • In December 2013, the Library of Congress announced "Jim Mangiafico as the winner of our first legislative data challenge, Markup of US Legislation in Akoma Ntoso and the $5,000 prize".{{cite web | url=http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2013/12/first-legislative-data-challenge-winner-announced/ | title=First Legislative Data Challenge Winner Announced | publisher=Library of Congress | date=December 19, 2013 | access-date=December 20, 2013 | first=Tina | last=Gheen}}
  • In February 2014, Jim Mangiafico and Garrett Schure as the winners of the Library of Congress Second Legislative Data Challenge.{{cite web | url=http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2014/02/winners-of-the-second-library-of-congress-legislative-data-challenge/ | title=Jim Mangiafico and Garrett Schure Announced as Winners of the Second Library of Congress Legislative Data Challenge | publisher=Library of Congress | date=February 25, 2014 | access-date=February 25, 2014 | first=Tina | last=Gheen}}

References

{{reflist}}