Posts Tagged ‘FOI Notes’
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20 November 2014
FOI Notes: Advocacy, Open Contracting, Whistleblowers, Opinion, Open Data, More
FOI Advocacy: Rappler in the Philippines published an example-filled article, ‘How access to information laws can help you.” Rappler is “a social news network where stories inspire community engagement and digitally fuelled actions for social change.” Rappler comes from the root words “rap” (to discuss) + “ripple” (to make waves). Separately, the FOI Youth Initiative […]
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13 November 2014
FOI Notes: Latin America, FOI 100, Research, OGP, Privacy, EU
Latin America: Read the minutes (English and Spanish) of the VIII International Meeting of the Red de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información Pública (RTA) in Brasilia Nov. 4-5. “The RTA is a collective space that brings together public institutions responsible for overseeing implementation of Transparency and Access to Information Laws in Latin America. This […]
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6 November 2014
FOI Notes: Corporate Transparency, Tshwane, India, UK, US, Open Data, More
Corporate Transparency: Transparency International issues a report on Transparency in Corporate Reporting about the websites of the world’s 124 largest publicly traded companies. Also see Guardian article. Tshwane Principles: Open Society Foundations issues “a new and final version of the Global Principles on National Security and the Right to Information (the Tshwane Principles) in Spanish. […]
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30 October 2014
FOI Notes: UK, India, UK, OGP, Open Budgets, Pakistan, More
United Kingdom: Joe Reddington in a blog post writes about a paper by Alexander J Fowler, and others: “The UK Freedom of Information Act (2000) in healthcare research: a systematic review.“ In an interview, Fowler says among other things: I think the FOI Act is a hugely powerful tool for medical research – especially policy type […]
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23 October 2014
FOI Notes: Personnel Moves, Pakistan Video, US Schools, UK Court Ruling
Personnel: The Ford Foundation announced the appointment of Rakesh Rajani as director of Democratic Participation and Governance. Rajani currently serves as the head of Twaweza in Tanzania and was the lead civil society chair for the Open Government Partnership. He will begin his new position in New York on Jan. 5. Personnel: Transparency International has […]
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16 October 2014
FOI Notes: Nordics, World Bank Webcasts, Open Data
Nordic Transparency: Access to Information in the Nordic Countries, a comparison of the laws of Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland and international rules by Oluf Jørgensen (Nordicom, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg 2014, 40 pages.) “This publication explains and compares the legal rules determining public access to documents and data in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, […]
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9 October 2014
FOI Notes: OGP Research Call, Resource Transparency, Open Data, UK, US, Brazil
Open Government Partnership: The Transparency and Accountability Initiative is seeking research proposals on: when and how are pro-reform actors able to leverage OGP – its processes, spaces and resources – to pursue improved government responsiveness and accountability? Due date is Oct. 27. Resource Transparency: The Resource Governance Index finds that only 11 of the countries—less than […]
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1 October 2014
FOI Notes: Commentary, UN Agenda, E-Access, Kenya, Wood Carving
Commentary: The Centre for Law and Democracy addresses the passage of the 100th RTI law. Among other observations: One hundred RTI laws is a momentous achievement but, amidst the celebrations, we must bear in mind that this represents only about half of the world’s countries. In other words, the average RTI law still lacks nearly […]
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25 September 2014
FOI Notes: RTK Day, Environmental and Legislative Transparency, Much More
International Right to Know Day, Sunday, Sept. 28: See FOIA Advocates Events map. (Spanish) Find more resources for International Right to Know Day here. (Spanish) Environmental Transparency: A survey on open data and climate change is being conducted by the Belmont Forum E-Infrastructure & Data Management Collaborative. United Kingdom: BBC’s Martin Rosenbaum reports on the […]
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11 September 2014
FOI Notes: Drafting Advice, Gaps, Peru, US, UK, New Zealand, UNCITRAL
Legislation: Generic advice for drafters of transparency legislation by Daniel Shuman, policy director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a non-profit organization in Washington. He makes eight main points: Understand the context Use flexible implementation authority Create external checks on implementation Make information public by default Build in feedback loops Keep close […]
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4 September 2014
FOI Notes: Open Contracting, World Bank Report, FOI Fees, Research, Odd Documents, Reports
Open Contracting: The Open Contracting Partnership announces the Beta Release of the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS). World Bank Study: The World Bank will hold an e-webinar on Sept. 10 at 10 a.m. EST on a forthcoming report concerning RTI requests and appeals. Register here. Fees: An Irish government report on FOI fees includes research on […]
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28 August 2014
FOI Notes: Commentary, Reports, Media Use of FOI, OGP, China, US, Satire
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 […]
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21 August 2014
FOI Notes: Reports, Commentary, Employment, UN, Mexico, More
OGP: Alberto Abella creates a countries’ ranking based on their ambition in their OGP plans and their accomplishments. Latin America: As part of its series of occasional e-books, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas just launched “Transparency and Accountability: Journalism and access to public information in Latin America and the Caribbean.” This e-book […]
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14 August 2014
FOI Notes: Research, Facebook, Environmental Transparency, More
Environmental Transparency: The July issue of the European Environmental Law Observatory covers information about the application of the Aarhus Convention on access to information, participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters; provides updates on judgments of the Court of Justice and the General Court; and highlights questions raised in recent doctrinal contributions, […]
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7 August 2014
FOI Notes: Russia, Africa, Open Data, OGP, US, Germany, India, More
Russia: Russia’s Federal Migration Service is seeking to deport the American wife of Ivan Y. Pavlov, the founder of the Institute for Freedom of Information Development, the New York Times reported. His wife, Jennifer Gaspar, has lived in Russia for a decade, working for a variety of nongovernmental organizations, including groups focused on human rights […]
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31 July 2014
FOI Notes: Africa, India, Open Data, RTBF, More
FOI in Africa: An overview on Africa Check by Karen Mohan, a specialist in media law policy and advocacy at the Media Institute of Southern Africa. India: A long Reuters overview of RTI in India. Open Data: A lengthy article in TechPresident by Miranda Neubauer on the publication of more datasets in New York city. “But what […]
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24 July 2014
FOI Notes: Arabic ATI Guide, OGP in LA, OKFest, Contest, Open Data, Job Posting
ATI Guide in Arabic: An Arabic version of the Guide on ATI, published by UNESCO in April, is available. Latin America: Winds of Change: The Progress of Open Government Policymaking in Latin America and the Caribbean, a book in English and Spanish, reviews activities in 15 countries under theOpen Government Partnership. 2014 OK Festival: A […]
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18 July 2014
FOI Notes: FOI Posters, Arabic Website, Development, US, Canada, More
FOI Posters: “Veteran and award-winning photojournalists who have taken up the challenge of grounding the FOI issue on something more basic – corruption, poverty, and the lack of basic services,” according to a blog post at the Philippines Center for Investigative Journalism.FOI advocates created a special Facebook album where any photographer, amateur or professional, can […]
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8 July 2014
FOI Notes: Australia, Pakistan, UK, US, Open Data
Australia: The government has made FOI statistics available in a machine-readable format, according to a report in Computer World. Pakistan: “The State of Right to Information in Pakistan” by the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) recommends steps to implement the new RTI laws in the states of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. In a nationwide […]
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2 July 2014
FOI Notes: Pakistan, United States, India, Australia
Pakistan: A research report, “The State of Proactive Disclosure of Information in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Public Bodies” says that public bodies in both provinces “are not complying with the respective right to information laws of their provinces.” United States: The FOIA Advisory Committee holds its first meeting, as summarized in a blog post by […]