Posts Tagged ‘FOI Notes’
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17 December 2012
FOI Notes: Webinar on Redress Mechanisms, Jobs
Webinar: A webinar on “Grievance Redress Mechanisms” will be held on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 at 8:00 – 9:00 AM EST (13:00 – 14:00 GMT / 18:30-19:30 IST). The webinar is co-sponsored by Global Integrity and the World Bank Institute. Register here. Jobs: The Web Foundation has several open positions for jobs that can be […]
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14 December 2012
FOI Notes: Personnel Moves, FOI Tips, Job, Saga, Gift Idea
World Bank: Chris Vein, the Obama Administration’s deputy chief technology officer, is moving to the World Bank as its chief innovation officer for global information and communications technology development. United Kingdom: The Cabinet Office Dec. 13 announced the appointment of Paul Maltby as the new Director for Transparency and Open Data. “Paul will take up […]
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10 December 2012
FOI Notes: Viewpoints, Job, Canada, Open Data, Survey
Viewpoints: Stanford University professor Jeremy Weinstein and Princeton University professor Joshua Goldstein, write an article, “The Benefits of a Big Tent: Opening Up Government in Developing Countries,” as a reply to Harlan Yu and David Robinson’s The New Ambiguity of “Open Government.” The abstract says Bringing open data and open government under a single banner, Yu […]
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6 December 2012
FOI Notes: New Fund, EITI, South Africa, Open Data
Making All Voices Count: Video and transcript of a Dec. 5 Washington event to launch a “Grand Challenge for Development,” a $45 million fund to support innovation, scaling-up, and research that will deepen existing innovations and help harness new technologies to enable citizen engagement and government responsiveness. It is sponsored by Sweden, the UK Department […]
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3 December 2012
FOI Notes: Indigo Trust Funding, Canada, Nepal
Funding: The British-based Indigo Trust describes its support for tech driven transparency projects in African countries and ponders future directions in a blog post by William Perrin. Canada: Canadian Journalists for Free Expression launch a survey on desired reforms improve the Access to Information Act. Nepal: “A newly published report has busted the myth that […]
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30 November 2012
FOI Notes: Ibero-American Agreement, Call for Papers
Ibero-American Agreement for Transparency and ATI: Drafted recently in Cadiz, Spain, by representatives from 19 Latin America countries and three from Europe (Spain, Portugal and Andorra), this document contains many other agreements along with the Transparency and ATI. The statements on transparency and access are on page 80. (pdf in Spanish) Drafted under the auspices […]
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26 November 2012
FOI Notes: Requester Privacy, Aid Transparency, Open Data, Jobs, More
Privacy for Requesters?: “Protecting the Freedom of Information Act Requestor: Privacy for Information Seekers,” an article by Sarah Shik Lamdan in the Kansas Journal of Law & Pubic Policy, Vol. 21, p. 221, 2012. The abstract says: FOIA requests are one of the foremost tools of American democracy, a primary means for assuring government transparency. […]
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21 November 2012
FOI Notes: Latin America, Austerity and RTI, WikiLeaks
Research: A new study ranks the openness of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. To build the ranking 4 main factors were considered: 1) regulations (normatividad); 2) parliamentary labour (labor parlamentaria); 3) budget and administrative management (presupuesto y gestión administrativa) and 4) citizen participation and attention (participación y atención ciudadana). Factors have different weights (see […]
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16 November 2012
FOI Notes: United States, World Bank, Funding, More
United States: A Congressional Research Service report addresses government transparency. The report “assesses the meaning of transparency and discusses its scholarly and practical definitions. It also provides an analysis of the concept of transparency, with a focus on federal government transparency in the executive branch.”It is described by Steven Aftergood in a Secrecy News blog […]
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12 November 2012
FOI Notes: Conference, New Group, Anti-Corruption, Latin American Research, More
Conference: The Nov. 13 London Open Up! conference is being live streamed. Topics include “Open Development: Improving Service Delivery,” “Open societies, Open Economies,” and “Participation: empowering citizens to demand change.” Open Government: The new organization “Opening Government “ held an event in London Nov. 9-10 that began with a dinner at 10 Downing Street. A large […]
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9 November 2012
FOI Notes: Open Contracting, UK Data Strategy, Much More
Open Contracting: The first global meeting on open contracting is held in South Africa. See website here. The description says: Within the context of improved governance and service delivery, Open Contracting refers to norms, practices and methodologies for increased transparency and monitoring in public contracting, including contracts implemented by multilateral donors. Open Contracting begins with […]
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2 November 2012
FOI Notes: MENA Newsletter, Funding, Conference Videos
MENA Newsletter: Newsletter #5 of the Regional Dialogue on Access to Information in the Middle East and North Africa contains a summary of the activities that stakeholders in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia on access to information. It also includes three guest columns on the history of the International Right to Know Day, how other […]
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29 October 2012
FOI Notes: RTI Ratings, Videos, Reports, Interviews
RTI Ratings: Access Info Europe (AIE) and the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) have launched an improved version of the RTI Rating website. The new website contains updated results on all 93 countries with national right to information laws, searchable on various parameters, including total score and score in each category of the RTI […]
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19 October 2012
FOI Notes: Access for Foreigners, Bangladesh, Data
International FOI: “Rights of Foreigners in Access to Information Laws – a Comparative Picture” has been issued by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. The detailed spread sheet (click “download” under graphic on right side) describes access rights in 56 countries. It was compiled by Venkatesh Nayak with input from members of FOIANet. Bangladesh: Research Initiatives, […]
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15 October 2012
FOI Notes: Proactive Disclosure, OGP, RTI Video, Argentina, Open Data
Proactive Disclosure: An article based on a recent lecture given in China by Mitchell W. Pearlman, former executive director of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission and is now a lecturer in media law at the University of Connecticut. Posted on the website of the U.S. National Freedom of Information Coalition. It concludes in part: […]
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11 October 2012
FOI Notes: Video, Research, UK Guides, Books
Video: See a presentation by Associated Press investigative journalist Martha Mendoza on the importance of government transparency. “Drawing on her own experience employing the U.S.’s FOIA, and similar international laws, Mendoza demonstrated how latent information, made available publicly and contextualized, can affect change from the smallest municipal government to the highest levels of international institutions,” according […]
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5 October 2012
FOI Notes: Photos, Hubs, Jobs, Cases, Reports
Photo Contest: Winners were announced for the photo contest organised by FOIAnet (the Freedom of Information Advocates Network). There were over 120 entries. A total of 1,000 euros will be awarded to the winners.You can see the photos online here: http://bit.ly/2012FOIAPhotos The winners are: 1st place. Photo: “The other access” by Ranaivosoa Tolojanahary from Madagascar. […]
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20 September 2012
FOI Notes: RTK Day Tweets, Parliaments, Maps and More
Right to Know Day: For Right to Know Day tweet the hashtag #10RTKD for English (for 10th Right to Know Day), and #10DDDS for Spanish (10 Día de Derecho a Saber). On Facebook, view www.facebook.com/foianet SARTIAN: There’s a new website for the South Asia Right to Information Advocates Network (SARTIAN). Parliamentary Openness: A Declaration on Parliamentary Openness, […]
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7 September 2012
FOI Notes: Latin America, Chile, Parliaments, Photo Contest
Latin America: Alianza Regional por la Libre Expresión e Información has created a new website: http://www.alianzaregional.net/, in Spanish. Alianza Regional is a coalition of 22 organizations of 19 countries of the Americas that promote access to public information and freedom of expression through the continent. Latin America: The Department for Effective Public Management (DGPE) of […]
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30 August 2012
FOI Notes: Middle East, EU, Mini-Grants, Contest
Middle East: The August issue of the ATI newsletter on the regional dialogue on access to information in MENA region contains a country-by-country update on recent regional developments by Toby Mendel of the Centre for Democracy and Law, a summary of a June regional workshop, an article on the media and ATI laws by Rosario […]