Category Archives: freedom of information

Sunshine Week March 15-21: Celebrate open government and freedom of information

Posted on by
Reply

I know there are a lot of open gov, open data, freedom of information folks out there so I wanted to share this info early. Pass it onto your friends and colleagues or maybe even plan your own local Sunshine Week events!

A little bit like virtue never tested – our information policies (open data, freedom of information) are only good when we test them.

The sun has shone and the sun has hidden behind many a bureaucratic and political cloud since the launch of Sunshine Week a decade ago. The decade has experienced cosmic change ranging from Wikileaks and Snowden to the emergence of open government groups such as Code for America to the President’s National Action Plan for Open Government to a last minute failure of the 113rd Congress to pass the FOIA Improvement Act.

Constant vigilance inspires Sunshine Week sponsors to join forces to plan for Sunshine Week 2015, March 15-21.

A bit of background: Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Prime movers are freedom of information proponents including journalists, civic society groups, libraries and archives, schools and universities, and an expanding cohort of advocates for transparency and accountability at every level of government. Key players at the federal level are the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the American Society of News Editors, organizations that welcome inclusion of the broadest possible circle of interest and activity.

By tradition, Sunshine Week is scheduled to coincide with the birthday of James Madison who was born March 16, 1751. Sunshine Week 2015 is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation along with The Gridiron Club and Foundation.

Sponsors and past participants in Sunshine Week offer a host of ideas and support materials, including an Idea Bank of “bright ideas” from a decade of Sunshine Week experience and a “Toolkit” rich with op ed pieces, editorial cartoons, logos, icons, sample proclamations and more. There is also a virtual catalog of Freedom of Information in action – samples of how federal and state freedom of information laws have been put to work to expose and resolve real life problems.

Most recently, the good people at FreedomInfo.org have gathered a treasure trove of freedom of information quotations, arranged chronologically from the 18th Century to the present. (http://www.freedominfo.org/resources/freedominfo-org-list-quotes-freedom-information/) “Light on ponderous material from the preambles of laws” the listing of quotes is lively, inclusive, and open-ended, inviting those who care about such things to add their own.

The other indispensable resource for Sunshine Week planners is the abundant assistance provided by Debra Gersh Hernandez who has been the illuminating presence since the pre-dawn of the national Sunshine Week initiative. Deb is responsible for the Sunshine Week website (http://rcfp.org) and for the steady flow of tweets that keep the ideas and energy flowing from Sunshine Week planners around the nation.

Harking back to the time and philosophy of James Madison, it is worth considering what our forefather might offer to this year’s Sunshine Week planners. On the one hand, Madison would hold the nation’s leaders’ feet to the fire, demanding that they move on passage of the bipartisan Freedom of Information Improvement Act sponsored by Senators Leahy and Cornyn. He would also stoke up the heat under the President’s commitment to transparency as stated in the National Action Plan for Open Government.

Madison would definitely applaud the unstinting work of state coalitions and national civic society efforts to keep the heat on – and to work with global freedom of information initiatives. And he would welcome the energy and commitment of the nation’s newest open government enthusiasts who are raising issues and developing new tools to make government information more accessible to more people. Most of all, he would work with leaders to make sure that all the players and stakeholders are at the table, talking with, not past, each other.

With specific reference to Sunshine Week 2015 Madison, the global thinker, would concur with his contemporary, British philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who wrote that “without publicity, no good is permanent; under the auspices of publicity, no evil can continue.” (1768)

Minnesota Senator Al Franken big voice for Net Neutrality

Posted on by
Reply

Ara Technica recently interviewed Senator Franken, one of the more vocal proponents of Net Neutrality in DC. The interview is brief, but I thought I’d pull out just one question…

Ars: You have called network neutrality the “First Amendment issue of our time.” We had a lot of push back on that from readers who are upset about other issues in the last decade such as warrantless wiretaps, Patriot Act misuse, the new COICA censorship legislation… why is net neutrality really that fundamental?

Sen. Franken: Well, because if you have a few ISPs essentially running the whole show and they’re charging for a fast lane, then really the information that people are going to get is going to be corporate information. People are getting more and more of their information on the Internet and this will mean that the speech will be controlled by big corporate interests. They’ll be the only ones able to pay for the faster access, and that essentially will be what people get. That’s why I call it the First Amendment issue of our time.

Although he has addressed the topic often, some readers may remember that Senator Franken spoke passionately about Net Neutrality at the FCC Public Hearing in Minneapolis last August

Government Standards for Information

Posted on by
1

Today I met with Kathleen Lonergan to talk about Government and Technology. Kathleen works for the Minnesota Legislature. She’s been very involved with the State Government Budget Division and has a great interest in access to information, transparency and government use of technology. She recently started a blog where she talks about Government Technology and Efficiency. Today Kathleen spoke to me today about how statewide policies can help local governments improve their services and how broadband fits in with the process.

Happy Sunshine Week

Posted on by
Reply

It’s going to be a busy week. The National Broadband Plan is expected to be released on Wednesday. (Did they not know that March 17 was St Patrick’s Day?!) The Minnesota broadband bill may make it to the legislative floor this week – although that’s not set in stone and next week may be more likely. And it’s Sunshine Week!

According to the Sunshine Week web site…

Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know.

Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of News Editors and is funded primarily by a challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami.

Though spearheaded by journalists, Sunshine Week is about the public’s right to know what its government is doing, and why. Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.

I know that’s kind of long but I wanted to fit in the part about enlightening and empowering people to play an active role in government at all levels – because I think that ties in so closely with one of the basic reasons that the government is and should be interested in broadband. Because as more and more government information is being made available online (sometimes avialble online only), it is important that every citizen have equal access to that information – brodband is the medium. Also broadband can give voice to the citizenry that was previously hard to hear – but only those with broadband have that advantage.

Locally, Sunshine Week will be celebrated on March 16 when the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information awards Reed Anfinson, recipient of the 2010 John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award. (Get details on event.)

Anfinson is publisher and owner of the Swift County Monitor-News, based in Benton, MN. According to the MN COGI web site…

In this role he has published frequent editorials and articles on open government, including articles on the state’s Data Practices Act, open meeting regulations and discussions of the impact of video and digital technology on public access.

The keynote speaker is Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson. He will be speaking on the open approach used in the contentious Senate recount and the impact on the public perception of the outcome. He will also address the Court’s decision to initiative a new test of cameras in the court in Minnesota. I think of the impact The Uptake had on the recount – filming and posting the recount online. It’s just one aspect of the importance of broadband.

FCC blogs & tweets

Posted on by
Reply

The FCC just started their own blog on the National Broadband Initiative. They are also on Twitter. Both are very new but so far they are prolific.

On the blog
I thought their synopsis of a recent workshop was good – though I didn’t attend so I just have to assume it’s accurate. I enjoy the comments as much as the blog itself.

On Twitter
So far it’s more of a broadcast agenda – but I don’t mind that.

We’ll see what becomes of both. The claim is that they’re a step towards transparency. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll learn more than we would otherwise – but I would think we’d learn things more quickly.

No broadband wreaks havoc on the day

Posted on by
Reply

I look at a lot of broadband reports. I hear stories of broadband success and failure. But mostly I have decent (not great) access. So I forget what it’s like not to have decent access.

Ann Higgins sent this kind of quirky comment from a Current listener about how sad she is that the Current Morning Show has moveed online. If you’re not an MN Public Radio listener (or maybe not a morning listener), here’s the scoop. Dale Connelly and Jim Ed Poole have been doing the Morning Show forever. I think they picked up when Garrison Keillor quit mornings. Actually I think Jim Ed (if not both) worked with Keillor. They play a different kind of alternative music. They played the kind of alternative music that your dad likes.

Well Jim Ed retired. Thursday was their last show. So now the show has moved to Heartland Pubic Radio – available online and via HD radio. Here’s a comment from one say rural listener who can’t access the show the way she used to…

Well, I woke up to what I’ve termed “Black Friday” – December 12. I live in rural MN, where HD radio has yet to deliver Radio Heartland and most home-based internet connections are dial-up, so live-streaming music is pretty patchy. I couldn’t help thinking about how much laughter and darn good music I have enjoyed on my 30 mile commute to work. Luckily at work we have high-speed access – I’ve never been so over-joyed to arrive at work! Right away, I tuned in to Dale’s voice and his high quality musical choices. All was set right in my world again – my spirits were lifted, my mind at ease. I could greet my students with a bounce in my step! I’ll do everything I can to support Radio Heartland – thanks for still being there Dale and Mike.

This led to another email from Ann that helped me find Eldo Telecom, a blog in California that covers ‘the shameful travesty of America’s incomplete “last mile” telecommunications infrastructure that leaves millions without broadband access, stranded on the dark side of the digital divide and still connecting to the Internet the same way they did when Bill Clinton was beginning his first term as president and more than a decade after Clinton signed the 1996.” The blogger is a journalist – so it’s well written from a guy in the trenches of broadband neverland.

Medtronic pulls YouTube “ad”

Posted on by
Reply

I always kind of enjoy watching policy catch up with technology.

Fridley-based medical device maker Medtronic Inc. pulled a video Wednesday from YouTube after a Boston-based consumer group charged the video was an advertisement that lacked warnings required by the Food and Drug Administration. You can get the whole story on the Pioneer Press.

The consumer group is The Prescription Project. They are petitioning some medical device folks too. Ironically, you can access the offending videos from their online petition.

Citizen Journalists – media or not?

Posted on by
Reply
My kids getting interviewed at RNC by Annie Baxter at MPR

My kids getting interviewed at RNC Demonstration by Annie Baxter at MPR

At the beginning of the month I was completely drawn in by the RNC. I live in St Paul. I’m not super political – but I’m a sucker for taking my kids to big, historical events. I wrote about it in our personal blog, but even that entry is as apolitical as I could be. I made a conscious decision to not mention it other places, such as this blog, but an article in TwinCities.com/Pioneer Press opened the door for me to talk about it and really to frame my own experience based on their comments. (Protester or press? During RNC, it often didn’t matter.)

The article outlines the number of journalists that were arrested at the RNC, most famously Amy Goodwin from Democracy Now. It also describes the difficulty that the police had in determining who was Press. Heck, even I was holding a video camera most of the time I was there. Luckily I was also holding my daughters’ hands, which I think gave me higher credentials most of the time.

I can’t talk too much about the event without getting off track. I will say that my own experience and others I’ve talked to – we noted that there seemed to be 2, to 3 to 4 times as many police officers as protesters, more than half the police in riot gear. So maybe they should have been in a position to ask questions first but I wasn’t in their shoes, maybe they had different orders. Also from what I saw people weren’t disguising themselves. What I said to my kids on the way there was – don’t stand too close to anyone wearing a bandana on their face; don’t bother the cops if you get lost, find a mama with a cell phone and have her call me. And those were the two extremes to avoid.

Back to the issue that relates to broadband (kinda) – citizen journalism. I think that a silver lining from the RNC is that this will boost the conversation about citizen journalism. Clearly it’s here to stay.
I’ve talked about the role of citizen journalists, placebloggers, whatever you want to call them before. Especially in rural areas, when traditional local media has disappeared or cut back, local folks have been pick up the slack. Becky LaPlant wrote about her experience at The New Pamphleteers/New Reporters: A Passion for Place, where while many were making distinctions between “big J” and “little j” journalists, John Nichols issued an invitation to think of anyone who gathers information and conveys it to others as a journalist.

The technology and availability of broadband have supported this effort. Digital video cameras are cheap. It’s free to post the video to YouTube. It’s free to start a blog to promote and frame your video with commentary. And others can comment on your videos and blog for free.

John Nichols (from the conference Becky attended) noted that journalism ethics are a lie; that has been replaced (or maybe always came from) personal ethics. And that’s what I saw a lot last week – people using personal ethics and people documenting events that supported or thwarted their personal ethics. I think it’s a great thing and one upshot I love – the debate that will arise about what do you do with citizen journalists (say at a Convention) because I think the answer is – assume the need to be transparent – and how can the existing infrastructure make room for citizen journalists.

I’m hoping this fall to highlight some of the Minnesota citizen journalists and place bloggers.

Journalism, democracy, place and blogs

Posted on by
2

In her Blandin on Broadband post Broadband or Internet news from towns around Minnesota, Ann included a link to a commentary by Jon Tatting, editor of the Isanti County News. In it, Tatting ponders the state of news media in age of blogs.

I’ve just returned from The New Pamphleteers/New Reporters: A Passion for Place, hosted by the folks at Journalism That Matters, where over one hundred entrepreneurs who combine journalism, democracy, place and blogs spent two days probing the relationship between traditional media and the new media made possible by technology.

My big takeaway from the conference was crystallized in a presentation by John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation. While others were making distinctions between “big J” and “little j” journalists (professionally trained vs citizen bloggers), Nichols issued an invitation to think of anyone who gathers information and conveys it to others as a journalist. He dispelled the notion of “journalism ethics” as a lie (which was amplified in speeches given this weekend by Dan Rather and Bill Moyers at the National Conference for Media Reform held in Minneapolis), instead he stated that anyone engaged in journalism must be guided by personal ethics. Nichols also offered the measure of success for online journalism not in the number of hits a site receives but by its influence over the course of time. As many question mainstream media (print newspapers was the primary focus), it’s reassuring to know that new media entrepreneurs are defining themselves and their role in civil society – made possible by broadband technology.

I want to quickly tell you about the “Open Space” conference format used, which brings people together for shared learning, guided by the “Law of Two Feet” – if you’re neither contributing nor getting value where you are, use your two feet (or available form of mobility) and go somewhere where you can.

From the law flow four principles:
• Whoever comes are the right people
• Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
• Whenever it starts is the right time
• When it’s over, it’s over

I’ve attended countless traditionally structured conferences, and this format was refreshing and invigorating. The benefits were quickly revealed as we self-organized to have rich discussions. When I felt I’d learned what I could from a session and had nothing else to contribute, it was liberating to use the “Law of Two Feet” to join a new group and continue learning. Another key component of open space conferences is the online networking both before and after the conference to keep the networking going. Click this link to learn more about open space technology. The Blandin Foundation will be learning more about this process as we prepare for a “Rural Voices – Online Citizen Engagement and Media” conference early in 2009.

Libraries Don’t Love Google Rules

Posted on by
Reply

Thanks for Ann Higgins for sending me the recent article on Google and Libraries (Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web).

It seems that Google is trying to create a database of everything, which is nice from a user’s perspective. But apparently the rules for the libraries to participate are kind of crazy. Libraries that agree to work with Google must agree to a set of terms, which include making the material unavailable to other commercial search services.

So many libraries are going a different route. They are working with the Open Content Alliance, a nonprofit effort aimed at making their materials broadly available.

Google will scan for free. The Open Content Alliance charges through their alliance. But Google has the restrictions. But it doesn’t make sense to invent 2 wheels. But libraries don’t have much money. But equal access to info is so important and providing it through Google is so easy. But equal access to info is so important and singing away your rights to Google may tie your hands later.

So you see some of the issues.

Effort to Improve Broadband Measurements Thwarted

Posted on by
3

Last week the folks at Speed Matters published an interesting article about the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denying Center for Public Integrity access to zip-code-by-zip-code data from the FCC on high speed connections.

Service providers submit this info to the FCC. In the Senate Session I watched last week (and in other instances – such as a bill submitted by Senator Daniel Inouye) the FCC has pretty much said that the numbers they have aren’t great. But apparently the court denied access to this data because it would be “likely to cause substantial competitive harm” to the telecom companies.

Ironically this happened exactly one week before the International Right to Know Day (Sept 28). I’m kind of an advocate for making information public – especially information like this that can be useful in the aggregate – that is to say info that doesn’t necessarily help anyone profile us as individuals but that does help paint a clearer picture for legislators so that they can make better informed decisions.

Community Broadband Conference – Ways to Participate

Posted on by
Reply

Communiy BroadbandBlandin’s fall broadband conference (Community Broadband: Making the Right Choices) is about 6 weeks away. It’s designed to help community leaders learn more about getting your community the broadband it needs for the future. There are a couple of ways to particpate:

Pre-Conference Seminar

If you’re planning to come to the conference, we hope you’ll also join us for the Pre-Conference Sesquicentennial Session: Oil lamps to Lasers…Creating Minnesota’s Broadband Future. It’s happening November 7 at 1-4:00 PM, directly before the conference. You can sign up for the pre-conference session when you register for the conference.

Free Webinars

Every is also welcome to join us for our free webinars leading up to the conference. The dates are October 3, 17, and 31. You can join via your computer. You can get the details online. If you’re interested please RSVP to Denise Pfeifer dpfeifer@minnesotaruralpartners.org or 507.828.5559.

Free Exhibitor Space for Nonprofits

And our final bit of conference news … we are looking for exhibitors and we have a great offer for nonprofit exhibitors. They can exhibit for free and each nonprofit registration includes a free attendee registration. The exhibition tables will be in the general conference room so you can watch your table and enjoy the conference. (For-profit exhibition space is $250 and includes 2 attendee registrations. So, that’s a great deal too.)

Public Information You Thought Was Private at CSC on March 26

Posted on by
Reply

College of St CatherineThe Graduate Library Science Department at the College of St Catherine has free, interesting programs on Monday nights. I thought the program on March 26 would be of interest to some blog readers:

Public Information You Thought Was Private. Panelists include: Robbie LaFleur (Legislative Reference Library); Karla Gedell and Anita Anderson (Minnesota Attorney General’s Library); Robert Horton (Minnesota Historical Society) and Randi Madisen (Minnesota State Law Library)

Time: 7:00 – 8:30
Date: March 26
Place: College of St Catherine 2004 Randolph Ave St Paul MN 55105
Coeur de Catherine Building 355 (directions & campus maps)

These are some super sharp people – after all they’re librarians! I am a graduate of the program and occassional adjunct faculty but even if I weren’t I’d love this topic. I am hoping to go – if you are a regular Blandin on Broadband reader and would be interested in notes from the meeting – please let me know and that might help me get motivated on Monday to get over to the campus to take notes for you. (It’s easy to say on a sunny Friday that I’ll want to go – tougher to actually get going when the time comes on Monday.)

Sunshine Week: March 11-17, 2007

Posted on by
Reply

MN Coalition on Government InformationI am a librarian who has been involved with Internet access for more than 10 years. So, the connection between access to technology and access to information has always been intertwined for me. Towards that end I wanted to mention the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MN COGI), a group that is committed to open access to public information in print, electronic and digital forms.

MN COGI is hosting a series of events for Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week (March 11-17) is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Events include:

CPI suing FCC to get at real state of broadband

Posted on by
Reply

Ars Technica just published an article (CPI suing FCC to get at real state of broadband competition in the US) about the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) and their struggles to gain access to raw data collected by the FCC.

The FCC collects information from every telecom company in the US; they give the agency data on each company’s line deployments, broken down by ZIP code. The FCC reports on this data but the results have been questioned by several, including last year by the General Accounting Office.

It is an interesting case that brings to the fore two issues that go hand in hand: Freedom of Information and equal access to broadband technology.

Blandin on Broadband
http://www.blandinonbroadband.org