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UK Academics consider legal action to force Foreign Office to release public records
The Guardian reports that historians describe “a scandalous act of concealment” underlines the need for a major overhaul of the system for declassification of government papers as public records. Academics consider legal action to force Foreign Office to release public records, by Ian Cobain, The Guardian (Jan 13, 2014) Leading historians are calling on the […]
Redaction Classics
Propublica maintains examples of redacted documents with short descriptions. These include state and local documents as well as federal documents. As Zamora and Shaw note, despite the Obama administration’s promise of greater openness, its “take on transparency can be rather opaque. And as local reporters know, state governments are often even worse.” One example, a […]
Pinterest and Libraries
The value of social media to libraries probably depends on the library, who its users are, and how they use the library. One would guess that a strong library presence in social media can, at the very least, aid in the visibility of the library. With that in mind, here is an interesting story about […]
Open Government Prospects in 2014
The current issue of Government Matters, the newsletter of the Center for Effective Government, has an article that discusses the six big open government issues of 2014: Freedom of Information Act, Surveillance/NSA, Preventing Chemical Disasters, Reining in Controlled Unclassified Information, Fracking Bans and Legal Challenges, and Agency Open Government Plans. In addition the article give […]
Basic statistical literacy
If you want a quick and easy understanding of some basic concepts about data collection and use of statistics, check out this brief excerpt of Charles Wheelan’s book, Naked Statistics. Garbage In, Garbage Out Or, How to Lie with Bad Data. Charles Wheelan. “From batting averages and political polls to Schlitz ads and medical research, […]
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