The U.S. national Sunshine Week ends today, and what a week it has been. Here are but a few of the new government websites, newspaper and non-profit events, and other things that just happened to occur at about the same time:
The American Society of Newspaper Editors, which leads the Sunshine Week effort, describes it as "a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information." Newspapers around the country discuss stories that would not have come to light were it not for open government policies or Freedom of Information laws. Look below the fold on the Sunshine Week homepage for a roundup of the week's FOI news.
SLA joined OpenTheGovernment.org and other organizations in convening today's event, The Road Forward on Open Government. The site will carry the archived webcast of the program.
The Justice Department launched a free-standing site called FOIA.gov with FOIA data and educational information. You can use the Report section to generate statistical reports for specific agencies. Justice's Office of Information Policy pages still carry FOIA information as well.
The White House website added the section WhiteHouse.gov/GoodGovernment, designed to be "your central portal to tools and data that connect citizens to their government and improve their everyday lives, as well as Presidential Actions that promote open, transparent and accountable government." It includes relevant presidential documents, data such as White House salaries and visitor lists, and links to sites like Data.gov and and PaymentAccuracy.gov.
The National Archives Public Interest Declassification Board launched their blog, Transforming Classification.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on "The Freedom of Information Act: Ensuring Transparency and Accountability in the Digital Age." You can watch the archived webcast.
The Los Angeles Times invited readers to contribute copies of public records they have obtained. In turn, the LA Times will add them to a central California public records page, along with records their reporters have dug up.
The South by Southwest Interactive presentation-fest put the spotlight on approaches to opening government and enhancing citizen participation. SXSWi Accelerator finalists, a prestigious position to be in, included such public records and good government sites as DocumentCloud.org, ParticipatoryPolitics.org, PopVox.com, and Votizen.com. Congrats to PopVox.com, a site that works to improve constituent-to-Congress communications. PopVox was the winner in the Social Media category. (Related: See the Atlantic's article, SXSWi: Year of the Librarian.)
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