Registration is now open for OGIS’s Annual Open Meeting on Monday, July 20, 2020, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting will be virtual. Please register by Thursday, July 16, 2020, to virtually attend the meeting. We will send instructions by email to all registrants for accessing the … Continue reading Register now to virtually attend the July 20, 2020 OGIS Annual Open Meeting
March means more than warmer temperatures for those of us in the transparency community—it also means Sunshine Week, the annual nationwide celebration of access to public information. Since the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) launched the initiative 15 years ago, journalists, librarians, concerned citizens, civil society organizations, elected officials, and government employees alike have … Continue reading Sunshine Week 2020
Eagle Release During Migratory Bird Day 2005 (National Archives ID: 166690378) Looking for ways to bolster the use of technology within the FOIA process? Check out a report from the Technology Committee (Committee) of the Chief FOIA Officers Council (Council) to the Council Co-Chairs that discusses FOIA Information Technology (IT) best practices and recommendations. In … Continue reading Chief FOIA Officers Council’s Technology Committee Releases Best Practices and Recommendations
OGIS is excited to report that it was recently welcomed as one of the first accredited official members of the International Conference of Information Commissioners (ICIC). The ICIC connects Information Commissioners, Ombudsmen and other bodies charged with overseeing the implementation of Access to Public Information legislation around the world. The ICIC’s values of Respect and … Continue reading OGIS Officially Joins the International Access Community
Recent changes to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) landscape and an update on FOIA and technology will be discussed at the August 5, 2019 public meeting of the Chief FOIA Officers Council, beginning at 10:00 a.m. EDT. You may join us online via the National Archives YouTube channel. The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Food … Continue reading Join us Online for Today’s Chief FOIA Officers Council Meeting
The Department of Justice Office of Information Policy (OIP) recently issued updated guidance for agency FOIA webpages. The guidance provides helpful recommendations for agencies to ensure that requesters can find useful resources and information. OIP’s guidance suggests that agencies ensure that members of the public can easily locate agency FOIA webpages by including a clear … Continue reading DOJ Releases FOIA Website Guidance 2.0
Almost five and a half years ago we at OGIS recommended to Congress that the development of a governmentwide FOIA web portal could improve public access to government information. Now, thanks to ongoing collaboration between the Office of Management and Budget (OMB and the Office of Information Policy at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and … Continue reading Cheers for a National FOIA Portal
As pictures of adorable kids returning from summer vacation and starting their first day of school begin to flood our social media feeds, we thought this might be a good moment to remind you all about the National Archives’ fantastic educational resource, DocsTeach, and to note that teachers can use this tool to help students of … Continue reading Teach the Children Well
A few weeks ago, we gave you an update on the number of agencies that have taken steps towards identifying records or categories of records that should be proactively disclosed to the public. This week, we are sharing a call from members of the 2016-2018 FOIA Advisory Committee for your ideas on what records agencies … Continue reading Help the FOIA Advisory Committee Improve Proactive Disclosure!
On June 30th we passed the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. Over the past year we have published blog posts suggesting ways agencies can implement some of the amendments, including the requirement to update FOIA regulations and notify requesters about our dispute resolution services. Today, we want to … Continue reading FOIA Improvement: Proactive Disclosure
You must be logged in to post a comment.