October 1st marks the beginning of the fiscal year. This week, many government agencies hustled to finalize the requests, budgets, and tasks of FY 2014. As we close out one year and begin fresh, it is an excellent opportunity to take a closer look at the data we have
“[It] is ultimately up to you to keep your government accountable. Activists and watchdogs can help, but ultimately the best and only thing to keep governments in line, at least in democracies, is popular will.” -Centre for Law and Democracy That is the take away from the International Right to Know
Next week marks the start of Right to Know Week in many countries across the globe. The very first Right to Know Day was held in 2002 after a FOI coalition meeting in Bulgaria. Since then, Right to Know Day has served as a reminder of the importance
Like most businesses, many government agencies and organizations do a lot of their communication through email correspondence. As agencies are steering away from stacks of paper and toward digital file systems there is still some work to be done on the policies that affect these documents. That brings
This year AINS had the honor of hosting Ms. Traci Hughes as keynote speaker for the FOIAXpress Users Group Conference. Ms. Hughes is the inaugural director of D.C’s Office of Open Government. In her role as the Director of the OOG, Hughes acts as FOIA compliance office for the District’s
The world is becoming ever more tech-savvy, and FOIA requestors have come to expect more from their government. We rely on computers for everything from checking job postings to ordering take out. The public has come to expect data at their fingertips thanks to services like Netflix, online
Government agencies deal with tons of FOIA requests every day. There are a lot of steps to processing these requests from receipt to delivery. On top of that, FOIA amendments from 2007 require that agencies release information electronically upon request. Are more requirements on the horizon? Recently, one UK judge took
Government transparency is an important part of running a successful and ethical city. Citizens are more tech-savvy than ever and they are eager to know all they can about their local government. That means they are submitting more Freedom of Information/Privacy Act and other Information Requests than ever. Keeping up with these
Let’s face it. Most times the people making the big decisions are not the ones down in the trenches. The day-to-day maintenance and expertise falls to the power-users; to the experts. Managers and department heads are experts in their own way. They are the people who must ultimately decide how
Merriam-Webster defines transparent as having the property of transmitting light without appreciable scattering so that bodies lying beyond are seen clearly. Does government transparency follow suit? Taking in consideration the definition given, or using clear as a synonym to transparent, it can be argued that it does not.
