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 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.
The irrational rationality behind technology as a solution to technological problems, when talking about Freedom of Information request, cannot go unnoticed. In the past, there were two ways to communicate information: handwritten or verbal, either in person or a phone call. Today, there are many more ways of
In 2009, the Obama administration entered the White House and called for a more open and transparent government. They sought sweeping initiatives that planned to make information more easily accessible and set goals for streamlining the FOIA process. However, in the quest for a more open and transparent
The Virginia Press Association reported that the Virginia’s House of Delegates passed a bill that would order the Information Advisory Council to review all of Virginia’s Freedom of Information exemptions. Government Transparency is prevented in agencies that are exempted; currently Virginia has 172 exemptions from FOIA laws. Virginia’s FOIA
The future of the FOIA and FOIA processing will continually change as the government and society adopt the latest advancements in technology. In the coming decade, great strides in transparency and open government will be made to alleviate the burden placed on agencies. It is no secret that the
There was a time not too long ago when FOIA was done without the assistance of the modern technologies that currently drive many agencies and offices’ FOIA operations. With every new technology, a FOIA professional’s job may ultimately get easier or at least more efficient, but along with
