Navigating FOIA for Freedom

Published on Friday, June 01, 2007
ARTICLES

By Leslie Graves

Sara Key, a project creator with the Lucy Burns Institute, is committed to helping citizens promote government accountability at the state and local level through state "sunshine" or open records laws. Also referred to as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), state think tanks should employ such tools more frequently to keep government open and accountable.

Engaged citizens must grapple with complex laws, obstinate or ignorant public officials and unique records-retention procedures in order to obtain information about their local and state governments. Part of LBI's mission is to help cut through the clutter and make getting the desired information easier.

Sara notes that the most unusual records-retention procedure she has encountered is one from a city clerk who wrote in response to a records request, "We delete our emails everyday so we don't have them in case someone wants them... ." This and similar examples are enshrined on the "Wall of Shame" in the converted dance space that serves as the headquarters for the Lucy Burns Institute in Madison, Wisconsin.

Charles Davis of the National Freedom of Information Coalition refers to the feeling that came over Sara when she read that city clerk's response as "the FOI moment."

As Davis told the Seattle Times recently, "An institution will have a piece of information that is crucial to something you need to do. You'll go to the county courthouse, city hall or a school district, ask for a record and be denied."

Davis continues, the typical reaction for most people is "...to give up. But some people who experience that moment take up the fight for freedom of information."

Sara skates with the rollerderby league, the Mad City Rollin' Dolls. Not likely to give up.

While creating an online space for her team, Sara became proficient at using the wiki format. Wikis - the most famous example is Wikipedia - allow anyone who happens by to add their own content, fix mistakes and get to know other users of that wiki-community.

In March 2007, it struck her that a wiki format would be perfect for conveying accessible information about open records, as well as providing a forum where citizen FOIAers could encourage and support each other.

The next day, she created the WikiFoia.

A month later, Amy Gahran at the top national media site Poynter Online wrote a short feature about WikiFoia. Gahran says, "FOIA is valuable and powerful, but in practice it's often arcane and not much fun. ... I think WikiFoia is a great idea, and it'll be interesting to watch this project."

That in turn led to favorable notice of the project from the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government and the Society of Professional Journalists.

"This was very gratifying," Sara notes, "but the most meaningful part of the process is when citizens who are trying to make sense of their state FOIA law find us and get the information they need."

State Policy Network members are encouraged to visit WikiFoia.org. We would particularly appreciate it if you included the WikiFoia sidebar widget on your websites and blogs (you will find the code at that site). This is a small way you can help the residents of your state learn about and creatively use open records laws.

The Lucy Burns Institute is also working with other organizations to launch a collaborative wiki that will allow citizen researchers and journalists from around the country to create a growing database of information and anecdotes about taxpayer-funded lobbying.

I encourage readers who want to be part of the online conversation to contact me at l.graves@lucyburns.org or the Lucy Burns office: (608) 255-0688. Ask to be connected with a network, subscribe to the LBI e-newsletter on these subjects or schedule me for presentation to your state think tank staff about getting smart on the web.

Leslie Graves is president of the Lucy Burns Institute and Sara Keys' mother. Contact her at l.graves@lucyburns.org.

The Institute's Namesake

Lucy Burns was an American suffragette. During World War I she and her allies in the National Woman's Party began an eight-hour-a-day picket in front of the White House.

For their presumption, they were attacked mercilessly by the White House, by male and female onlookers and by the press - especially the New York Times.

When Lucy Burns appeared on the picket line in July 1917 with a banner saying that Russian women had more freedom - they could vote - than American women, she was arrested and jailed. Altogether, she was arrested and jailed seven times.

The Lucy Burns Institute hopes to honor and continue her efforts for a freer, more democratic, society.

Why Wikis?

When busy organizational leaders hear phrases like Web 2.0 and user-generated content, their internal reaction might be something like, "I just figured out blogs. Do not try to tell me about wikis and those...other things."

The Lucy Burns Institute is working with market-oriented think tanks to help ease the pain as they enter the online conversation.

People are talking with each other every minute of the day on the internet. This dialogue changes hearts and minds.

Those who want to make a difference are using many different formats to engage in lively conversations about exactly the same ideas and policy proposals that think tanks mull over.

Think tanks can further enrich the conversation, and can also be enriched by it.

We're building an informal network of people from SPN-affiliated organizations who want to dip their toe into this world, or who have already plunged in and want to share their wealth of ideas and experiences with others. Join us.

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