Slides from a presentation on "Transparency" to William and Mary in DC - Institute on American Politics

1. Emily Shaw, Senior Analyst
@emilydshaw
Transparency: How do I do it?

2. • What is transparency?
• What aspects of government
can be made transparent?
• How can you get information
about your governments?
Opening Questions:

3. Transparency Laws
See it as it happens:
• Open Meetings Laws
• Open Data Laws
• Regularly disclosed public records
Ask for it later:
• Freedom of Information Act (and state FOIAs)

4. Freedom of Information Act

5. We’re celebrating 50 years of FOIA this year!
How can you participate?
• Make a request through FOIA.gov
• Find out about what’s available (and not) in your state or city by
checking the Open Government Guide at RCFP.org
• Keep an eye on attacks on your right to know at NFOIC.org!
• Make a request and find your community of muckrackers &
busybodies through MuckRock or FOIA Machine
• Follow #50DaysofFOIA on Twitter to hear great stories made possible
by FOIA

6. Open Meetings Laws
• “Government In the Sunshine” law creates a right to access executive
agency meetings
• This is under attack right now – some FCC commissioners want more private
meetings. There is a hearing on 5/24. Follow along and weigh in here!
• Congress has created its own rules for generally providing access to
sessions and committee meetings.
• States each have their own open meetings law – you can also find
those in RCFP’s Open Government Guide.

7. Local FOIA and accountability
• Journalists have FOIAed for—and found—prejudiced emails
sent by local officials, leading to the firing of problematic
public employees and other reforms.
• Recent examples of this occurring include prison guards in
Camden, NJ, a top official with the Los Angeles Sherriff’s
department, and a police officer in Baton Rouge, LA.

8. Local FOIA and accountability
• FOIA for police automatic license plate readers (ALPR) showed
patterns of police surveillance of neighborhoods

9. Local FOIA and Accountability
• Check this out yourself! Go to Oakland’s RecordTrac to see public
records requests in action.

10. Regularly disclosed public records
• Court records: PACER for Federal cases, state court records sites at
NCSC
• Congressional Record
• Statistical data from the US Census and other agencies

11. Open Data laws
• Laws which require the proactive publication of certain kinds of data
online, in machine readable format

12. What can you do with open data?

13. What information about government do you
feel like you’re missing?
Open Data/FOIA need you. Advocate for the release of information!
Ask yourself:
• What are the possibilities for political change if you had it?
• What are the potential downsides to making that information
available?
• What are the things that would need to happen in order for this
information to have a positive effect on the government & its
community?