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Next generation FoI between information management and web 2.0

Published: 18 May 2008 Publication History

Abstract

In Western democracies citizens' access to public information is considered a basic civil right and has been regulated in Freedom of Information (FoI) legislation. Some countries, e.g. the US, have revised or amended their legislation with regard to new electronic means of ICT in order to improve accessibility and effectiveness. While e-government research does not yet pay sufficient attention to particular FoI-requirements when dealing with information systems, there is a great potential for improvement by applying professional concepts and tools of information management. This paper does not present specific research results. It rather contains some observations and considerations from which future research questions can be derived. The basic argument is that FoI could gain much if systems developed for internal purposes with some adaptation would be partially opened to the public. This will be illustrated by practical examples, in particular how to improve accessibility of documents by professional document or records management systems and how to increase the timeliness of responding to requests by ticketing systems as they are used in IT-support. But so far despite obvious advantages except for a small town in Sweden most agencies in North America and Europe seem to be reluctant to open their internal systems. This might change in the future as in some countries Non Government Organizations (NGOs), following the web 2.0 approach of user generated content, are offering new facilities for access to government information and for monitoring FoI requests. Thus a crucial question is whether these third party offerings initiate a productive competition and create the necessary pressure to make public FoI websites more citizens centered and user friendly.

References

[1]
Attorney General's Report to the President Persuant to Executive Order 13, 392, Entitles "Improving Agency Disclosure of Information. Washinton D.C., June 1, 2007 (www.usdoj.gov/oip/ag-report-to-president06012007.html)
[2]
Banisar, D 2006. Freedom of Information Around the World 2006. A Global Survey of Access to Government Information Laws. Privacy International 2006 (www.privacyinternational.org/FoI/survey)
[3]
Kubicek, H. and Hagen, M. 2001 Integrating E-Commerce and E-Government. The Case of Bremen Online, in. (ed.) Designing E-Government, J. E. J,.Prins, Ed. The Hague et al.: Kluwer, 177--96
[4]
Kubicek, H. 2004 Third Generation Freedom of Information in the Context of E-Government. The Case of Bremen, Germany. In Public Sector Information in the Digital Age, G. Aichholzer, and H. Burkert, Eds Cheltenham: Edgar Elgar 2004, 275--286
[5]
Ministry of Justice 2007 Freedom of Information Act 2000. Second Annual Report on the operation of the FoI Act in Central Government 2006. London, June 2007 (www.FoI.gov.uk)
[6]
Pfaffenberger 1989 B., Democratizing Information. Online Databases and the Rise of End-User Searching. Boston, Mass. G. K. Hall 1989.
[7]
The National Security Archive 2007 40 Years of FOIA, 20 Years of Delay. The Knight Open Government Survey. George Washington University, Washington, July 2007 (www.nsarchive.org)
[8]
The White House 2005 Executive Order: Improving Agency Disclosure of Information. Press Release December 14, 2005 (to be found at www.usdoj.gov/oip/oip.html)
[9]
US Department of Justice 2002 Freedom of Information Act Guide, May 2002: FOIA Reading Rooms (www.usdoj.gov/oip/readingroom.htm)
[10]
US General Accounting Office (GAO) 2004 Information Management Update on Freedom of Information Act Implementation Status. GAO 04-257, Washington 2004

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  • (2015)Assessing Public Preferences and the Level of Transparency in Government Using an Exploratory ApproachSocial Science Computer Review10.1177/089443931456084933:5(571-586)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2015

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              cover image ACM Other conferences
              dg.o '08: Proceedings of the 2008 international conference on Digital government research
              May 2008
              488 pages
              ISBN:9781605580999

              Sponsors

              • Routledge
              • Springer
              • Elsevier
              • Cefrio
              • NCDG: National Center for Digital Government

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              Digital Government Society of North America

              Publication History

              Published: 18 May 2008

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              Author Tags

              1. access to information
              2. document management systems
              3. freedom of information
              4. information retrieval
              5. non governmental organizations
              6. tracking and tracing
              7. transparency
              8. user-centered design
              9. web 2.0

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              dg.o '08
              Sponsor:
              • NCDG
              dg.o '08: Digital government research
              May 18 - 21, 2008
              Montreal, Canada

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              • (2015)Assessing Public Preferences and the Level of Transparency in Government Using an Exploratory ApproachSocial Science Computer Review10.1177/089443931456084933:5(571-586)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2015

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