Algorithmic Transparency: Nick Diakopoulos, of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University Journalism School, has written a report in which he says, “Algorithms, driven by vast troves of data, are the new power brokers in society.” In his conclusion, he advises:
Next time you hear about software or an algorithm being used to help make a decision, you might get critical and start asking questions about how that software could be affecting outcomes. Try to FOIA it, try to understand whether you can reverse engineer it, and when you’re finished, write up your method for how you got there. By method-sharing we’ll expand our ability to replicate these types of stories, and, over time, perhaps even develop enough expertise to suggest standards for algorithmic transparency that acknowledge business concerns while still surfacing useful information for the public.
Public-Private Partnerships: Sarah Lamdan, an associate law professor and librarian at CUNY School of Law, Long Island City, N.Y., has published an article saying that “FOIA is being hollowed out as the government outsourcing and public-private partnerships increase and contractors take over more and more traditionally regulatory roles. This paper explores the effects of outsourcing environmentally focused tasks and suggests using government contract clauses as a mechanism for assuring transparency in situations where the government allows private entities to do its environmental work.”
Open Data Day: Events for Feb. 22 planned. Also see Code for America activities.
Privacy: Privacy is the subject of a new chapter under development for the Open Government Guide. The document is open for public comment.
Funder Transparency: An article in Non-Profit Quarterly about a new book on transparency by funders: Opening Up: Demystifying Funder Transparency, “designed to help foundations understand the benefits of transparency and offer some suggestions and tools to make it easier.”
Case Studies: The US Sunlight Foundation has been conducting a series of case studies centered on examining the impacts of technology enabled transparency policy around the world: The first series focused on transparency in public procurement: Philippines, Slovak Republic and, just released, Sydney, Australia.
Open Government: Stephen Clift of e-democracy.org — “as part of an experiment to see if Facebook can be effectively used to connect an emerging generation of “wired” elected officials with the open government and civic technology movement” — launches a new online group.
Indonesia: Civil society organizations say that web-based publication of information on national OGP commitments and developments does not guarantee real participation.
United Kingdom: The UK national civil society network working on OGP describes its experiences.
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