The next mySociety meet-up, on 3rd September, will focus on Freedom of Information (FOI). We really care about FOI at mySociety, which is why we created the FOI request filer WhatDoTheyKnow for UK citizens back in 2008, and Alaveteli thereafter for international use.
So, we thought, why not host a meet-up to discuss FOI technologies, research and legislation in the UK and beyond?
We’re delighted to be joined at this meet-up by the following guest speakers:-
Maurice Frankel: Maurice is director of the UK Campaign for Freedom of Information. He has worked with them since it was set up in 1984, and has been its director since 1987.
Maurice will talk about the possible government restrictions on the right of access to information in the UK; the problems caused by the Freedom of Information Act’s poor approach to public service contracts and the surprising limitations which the courts have imposed on the ministerial veto.
Marietta Le: Marietta is from the Hungarian investigative journalism NGO Atlatszo.
Atlatzso is a watchdog NGO and online news site for investigative journalism to promote transparency and freedom of information (FOI) in Hungary. They run various websites including KiMitTud, a freedom of information request generator for the general public, which runs using the Alaveteli platform.
They also run the Tor-based anonymous whistleblowing platform Magyarleaks and a crowdsourced platform to anonymously report everyday corruption called Fizettem.
Marietta will join us to speak about setting up an FOI site in Hungary using Alaveteli and the current threats to freedom of information in Hungary, following recent amendments to the FOI law.
Savita Bailur and Tom Longley: Earlier this year mySociety instigated a research project to look at the place that Alaveteli and other FOI online technologies might have in creating cultures of transparency and accountability.
We want to address this top level question: “In what circumstances, if any, can tools like Alaveteli be shown to have measurable impacts on the ability of citizens to exert power over underperforming institutions?”
To address this, researchers Savita and Tom have focused on three areas: a literature review to see what research is already out there, in-depth interviews with people who have installed FOI technologies in many different countries, and the compilation of a list of critical success factors. Read more about their research here: www.mysociety.org
Savita and Tom are more than halfway through their research, and we’re delighted that they’ll present their preliminary findings at this meet-up.
We’ll also discuss the latest developments on WhatDoTheyKnow, and Alaveteli developers (as well as other mySociety team members) will be around to answer any questions.
There’ll be plenty of pizza and beer to go around too, so what could be better?
Hope to see you there!
When: Wednesday 3rd September, 6pm – 9pm
Where: Mozilla Space London
How: Add your name to the Lanyrd page (lanyrd.com), so we know you’re coming.
Who: Anyone who fancies it.
About mySociety
mySociety’s mission is to help people become more powerful in the civic and democratic parts of their lives, through digital means.
We invent and popularise digital tools that enable citizens to exert power over institutions and decision makers.
We believe that strong democratic accountability and a thriving civil society are vital to our common welfare, and that these cannot survive where people do not engage with government and communities.
We work online because we believe that the internet can meaningfully lower the barriers to taking the first civic or democratic steps in a citizen’s life, and that it can do so at scale.
