Making All Voices Count: A of future plans by Making All Voices Count includes, “We will not run another global open call for proposals, but we will retain the Global Innovation Competition. In place of the open call we will be adopting a locally led, bottom up approach, led by a Country Programmes unit.”
Open Data/FOI: Rebecca Williams writes in the Sunshine Foundation blog under the title: “Freedom of information tools, it’s time for an open data upgrade.” She suggests that all jurisdictions should:
- Collect and open FOI request data.
- Use FOI request data to inform open data release prioritization.
- Invest in tools that organize, streamline and publicly share FOI requests and responses online.
- Connect open data initiatives and FOI responses through policy and technology.
Nepal: The media “has not been able to make much use” of the access to information law, writes Pranav Bhattarai in Gorkhapatraonline.com. Bhattarai says:
One of the reasons why the media could not perform an effective role in using RTI as a tool for investigative journalism is due to lack of understanding about its real strength. Barring a few cases, there have been no such practices and use of RTI law as an anti-corruption instrument by the media.
The other reason behind the media’s indifference toward RTI is because of its excessive obsession with the political affairs and issues.
Nigeria: Chukwudi Nweje reports in the Independent about a seminar on the need for civil society organizations and the media to make use of the FOI law as a tool for bringing about transparency and accountability in Nigeria oil sector.
Right to Be Forgotten: Martine Reicherts, EU Justice Commissioner addressed EU data protection reform and the right to be forgotten ruling issued by the European Court of Justice in May,according to an article in the whir.rom
OGP: Alberto Abella, head of the Spanish Chapter of Open Knowledge, summarizes, in gobernamos.com, his numbers crunching on the first 24 national action plans by Open Government Partnership countries. Tope three ranked countries on the list are Slovakia, Moldova and Croatia. Abella identifies Estonia, Romania and Greece as “pretenders,” countries “who provide very ambitious plans but fail in implementation.”
United States. Muckrock reviews FOIA in Massachusetts.
Open Contracting: A column in The Guardian by Jonathan Gray of the Open Knowledge Foundation mainly about the UK contracting situation.
China: An interim regulation on disclosure of corporate information, to take effect on Oct. 1, 2014, has been approved by the State Council, China’s cabinet, and endorsed by Premier Li Keqiang, according to article in Ecns.com.
Governance: In a commentary published in Governance last year, Francis Fukuyamawarned against using outputs as measures of government quality. Read the commentary. In the current issue of Governance, Robert Rotberg disagrees, arguing against the proposition that we can gauge the quality of governance without looking at actual effectiveness in service delivery. Read the research note. And Craig Boardmanconcurs with Rotberg, showing how it is possible to assess policy outcomes in “national mission areas.” Read the research note. But Nick Manning and Jordan Holt side with Fukuyama, in a research note just published on Governance Early View. “Fukuyama is right about measuring state quality,” Manning and Holt say. “State capacity is best measured by focusing on internal measures rather than what government achieves.” They offer concrete suggestions on next steps. Read the research note.
United States: Commentary on the need for more transparency by Danielle Brian is executive director of the Project On Government Oversight and Gary D. Bass is executive director of the Bauman Foundation.
United States: An article by John Moore in Techtarget says, “With the FOIA market seeing new life, open records software companies are partnering up with e-discovery companies to help meet the demands.”
Satire: “In an unprecedented move that comes as a setback to Bollywood actors and artistes and brings cheer to their fans, stalkers and film journalists, the entire Indian film fraternity has been brought under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.” So begins a humorous “Mocktale” in the Times of India.
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