FirstGov Adds RSS Feeds and E-Mail Updates

American government site FirstGov.gov has announced that RSS feeds and e-mail updates are now available. And while they themselves do not have podcasts, they have a lovely list of pointers to government podcasts.

The RSS feeds -- unfortunately there are only TWO -- are available at http://firstgov.gov/rss/index.shtml. Ones for news and features about the site, and one's for popular government questions. I would have loved to see other ones, such as for upcoming federal holidays, major fee changes (like the postal rate increases from last month, etc.) and other issues. But maybe these are better provided on more specific government sites.

The e-mail updates page is at http://firstgov.gov/Contact/E-mail_subscriptions.html. Here you can sign up for e-mail updates on a few dozen different pages, from citizen-oriented, to business-oriented, to employer- and employee-related. (You can preview a page before you sign up for changes, a nice touch.) Once you've signed up for a page you'll be asked to confirm your address, pick a mailing frequency (as-it-happens, daily, weekly, or monthly), and optionally choose a password.

As long as you're here take a look at the page o' government podcasts, available at http://firstgov.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Libraries/Podcasts.shtml. Betcha didn't know the President's dog had a vidcast. Podcasts are divided by topic; there's also a section for podcasts in Spanish.

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