Posts Tagged ‘FOI Notes’
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26 April 2013
FOI Notes: Open Data, Open Contracting, Commentary
Commentary: Martin Tisne writes in his blog about why open government groups are not working better together? Much abbreviated answers: different languages, etc.; competition for limited resources; and “coordination, partnership is hard work!” He asks what can be done. Open Contracting: A blog post from Open Contracting on developing standards. Germany: The FOIA law is […]
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19 April 2013
FI Notes: India, Aid Transparency, Open Data
India: “The Right to Information Act in India: The Turbid World of Transparency Reforms,” a doctoral thesis by Prashant Sharma, of the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “My thesis investigates the enactment of the Indian RTI Act in 2005 through a political economy lens, locating it within […]
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11 April 2013
FOI Notes: Grant Competition, Jobs, Commentary, More
Grant Competition: The 40 finalists are announced in the Knight Foundation competition for projects to accelerate media innovation with “breakthrough ideas in news and information.” The competition now enters a further evaluation phase, where public input is welcome, with winners to be announced June 23. The finalists include: – ¿InfAction! is intended as a web/mobile […]
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5 April 2013
FOI Notes: ICIC Meeting, Open Data, Requester Confidentiality, Corporate Secrecy, Technology
Information Commissioners: The International Conference of Information Commissioners will take place Sept. 18-20 2013 in Berlin. It will jointly be hosted by the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information and by the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information. More information will be made available on the ICIC website. Open […]
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29 March 2013
FOI Notes: IFI Transparency, U.S., Open Gov, Video
IFTI Watch: A new book, “The World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Human Rights,” by Sanae Fujita, University of Essex, UK, has been published by Elgar. A description says: The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are two of the world’s major institutions conducting development projects. Both Banks recognize the importance of transparency, participation […]
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25 March 2013
FOI Notes: Fiscal Transparency, U.S. Employment, Legislative Transparency, Nepal
Fiscal Transparency: The multi-stakeholder Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency – GIFT is seeking to commission three to five country case studies (including Brazil, the Philippines, and South Korea) and a synthesis document on various aspects of public participation in government budget processes. To implement this research plan, GIFT seeks a lead researcher and researchers for […]
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20 March 2013
FOI Notes: Southeast Asia, Info Commissioners, Latin America, Job
Southeast Asia: The extensive minutes of the Transparency Advisory Group meeting in January provide an excellent overview of RTI activities in the region. Many topics are covered in the presentations and discussions, including: the value of examples of RTI use, proactive disclosure, indicators of success. TAG’s workplan and other information are available on its website. […]
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14 March 2013
FOI Notes: Rhetoric, Research, Reports, More
Shamparency: A new (?) term used in an article about a new advocacy group formed by President Obama to advocate for his agenda (and about which there are some transparency concerns. The article is focused on the controversial organization of the new group, but the Slate author, David Weigel, begins: Coin a neologism to describe fake […]
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8 March 2013
FOI Notes: U.S. Sunshine Week, Trade Transparency, Defining Open Government
United States: A rundown of Sunshine Week (March 10-16) events by Gavin Baker of the Center for Effective Government, on a new blog, The Fine Print. Also see Sunshine Week website. United States: The Project On Government Oversight and partner organizations have released Highlighted Best Practices for Openness and Accountability, a report providing examples of […]
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7 March 2013
FOI Notes: OGP, Measuring Governance, Italy, Spain
OGP: The latest OGP civil society newsletter begins: There seems to be a mini epidemic going on in Europe and spreading to Africa of civil society forming coalitions that seek to work together and persuade governments to join OGP. I mentioned Ireland before, where a group called Active Citizen took the lead and might be […]
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7 March 2013
FOI Notes: Profiles of Indian RTI Activists, Job Openings, Articles, Resources
India: Profiles in Mumbai Boss of three RTI filers, including one who has made 10,000 requests. Short, but good reading. A snippet: For Kothari, filing RTI applications seems to be an obsessive hobby. But if it wasn’t for him, perhaps we wouldn’t know that 168 policemen committed suicide between 2002 and 2012, that only four […]
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1 March 2013
FOI Notes: Human Rights, Research Announcement, Budget Transparency, Russia
Article: “The Right to Information in International Human Rights Law,” by Maeve McDonagh, Professor of Law, University College Cork, Ireland, in Human Rights Law Review. Abstract: This article explores the conceptual basis for the recognition of a right to information. It commences by reviewing developments in the recognition of a right to information in international […]
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15 February 2013
FOI Notes: UK, US, OGP, Open Data, Sunlight Foundation
United Kingdom: “Your right to know? The future for transparency in England,” a report by The Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS), “the leading national organisation for ideas, thinking and the application and development of policy and practice to promote transparent, inclusive and accountable public services.” United States: An overview of the Obama record on transparency […]
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8 February 2013
FOI Notes: Reports, Contests, Blog Posts
Municipal Governance/Philippines: Global Integrity has published a new data set assessing governance and anti-corruption measures at the local level in the Philippines, the Philippines Local Governance Transparency and Accountability Indicators. The indicators include a total of 205 specific questions that were scored by local researchers through a combination of intensive desk research and hundreds of […]
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4 February 2013
FOI Notes: Open Data, Tisne Blog, Governance, EU
New Blog: “open up” — a new “personal’ blog for “freedom of information activists, open data geeks, fiscal transparency zealots and more, by Martin Tisne, who leads policy, advocacy strategy, and related investments for the global Government Transparency initiative of Omidyar Network. Governance: “Uncomfortable thought about governance for the day: The idea of good governance […]
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31 January 2013
FOI Notes: Proactive Disclosure, OGP, U.S. Sunshine Week, Open Data Day, China, Fellowships, Presidential Health, Taxes
Proactive Transparency: A webinar on proactive transparency will be held at Feb. 19 at 10 a.m. EST (| 4:00 – 5:00 PM Spain, 3:00 – 4:00 PM UK (15:00 GMT), featuring HelenDarbishire, (Executive Director, Access Info Europe) and Kevin Dunion (Executive Director, Center for Freedom of Information, University of Dundee). It is sponsored by the […]
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25 January 2013
FOI Notes: Studies, Ratings, Mentorship, Open Data, Reports, Surveys, Video
Open Government Guide Revision: The Transparency & Accountability Initiative (T/AI) is updating the 2011 Opening Government Guide which has multiple chapters describing good practices in transparency, accountability and citizen participation across a wide range of open government areas. Feedback on the original guide is being sought via a very short survey here goo.gl/SxcAX . To give […]
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10 January 2013
FOI Notes: Chile, Social Media, FOI Journalism, Open Data, Social Media, China, Aid Transparency
Chile: Chilean journalists think there´s more transparency in Chile now, but there still are institutions that are very slow to provide the answers. Almost 500 Chilean journalists participated in a survey (in Spanish) by the National Press Association (Asociación Nacional de la Prensa “ANP”) about the state of the access to public information, according to a […]
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4 January 2013
FOI Notes: Call for Articles, U.K., Open Data
Call for Articles on Transparency in Government: PA Times [A U.S. journal on public administration] is planning a March issue on “Transparency in Government: Openness, Collaboration and Accountability.” A request for articles says: “Submit an article that discusses transparency in government and its role in promoting collaboration and accountability. We want to know how local, […]
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21 December 2012
FOI Notes: Measuring Transparency, Calls for Papers, Reports, More
Measuring Transparency: “What is Government Transparency?: New Measures and Relevance for Quality of Government,” by Monika Bauhr and Marcia Grimes of The Quality of Government Institute, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg. The abstract says: As policymakers and researchers focus increasing attention on the importance of government transparency for accountability and good governance more […]