Something lovely at the recent #FOIFest was the Scottish Information Commissioner not only discussing how more gov depts should proactively share data
But how his very own department have that as a top priority
Their current caseload:
www.foi.scot/current-inve...
#FOI #ScotICO #ICO
Very interesting.
At the recent #FOIFest #ICO staff spoke of how AI has led to (1) many more complaints and (2) much more detailed/lengthy complaint documents.
Both of which is challenging the ICO’s capacity to process complaints
3 things you need to know:
Videos from #FOIFest are now online and can be seen at youtube.com/playlist?lis...
...or...
Something for the weekend: Catch up on #FOIFest!
@mysociety.org have just published slides and recordings from our brilliant conference last week
Agenda www.mysociety.org/transparency...
YouTube playlist www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Rz...
Another very useful summary thread of yesterday's #FOIFest
This thread from @mysociety.org summarises the points I made in my talk at #FOIFest yesterday - and all the other talks too, with lots of very useful & interesting insights
Excellent day yesterday at #FOIFest - more to follow, but for now, @mysociety.org have a live thread from the day bsky.app/profile/myso... (as does @charlierad.bsky.social, bsky.app/profile/char...)
I learnt today at #FOIFest that making full use of the Freedom of Information #FOI act requires perseverance
And using all the tools available, inc. escalating matters to the Information Commissioner’s Office (#ICO)
Two complaints now submitted to ICO about MoD not undertaking Internal Reviews
Cost of transparency all falls in one place but the benefits are for everyone
#FOIFest
In Sweden, there’s is 200 years old!
Quote of someone: “There’s a difference between a culture of compliance and a culture of openness”
#FOIFest
Now winding up the conference.
My Society CEO, Louise Crow, on stage.
What’s next for the FOI Network?
For the UK, FOIA is only 21 years old
#FOIFest
Louise Crow
The first ever #FOIFest is now coming to an end, with wrapping up remarks from @itscrowbot.bsky.social. So good to have had so many different takes on #FOI today from so many different types of users and advocates. Thanks to all who came, whether in person or online.
Some FOI responses have a copyright statement at the end of the response, which puts some requesters off sharing their findings
Point about alternative mechanisms for people with impairments to submit
requests, eg via social media or video
#FOIFest
Some NGOs ask the campaign to submit FOI requests on the NGOs behalf because the NGO doesn’t want to annoy the public body that funds them
[my thought: don’t bite the hand that feeds you]
#FOIFest
Their organisation enjoys helping insides and organisations who haven’t used FOI requests to do so because they thought it would be much more complicated than it is.
FOI practitioners may feel that requests are poorly worded
, but many requesters have had no training on best doing so.
#FOIFest
Carole Ewart of Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland now speaking
Talking of using FOI requests to campaign about governmental policies
No upper tier tribunal in Scotland for FOI. FOI cases on point of law go to superior court.
#FOIFest
Strange things happened, no confirm no denial responses and central instructions
took him down a completely different rabbit hole.
Maybe including Alex himself being looked into as an individual
#FOIFest
The responses and their timelines then had strange things happen, indicating many looking for advice from a central police unit (CRU)
#FOIFest
Alex Homer of BBC talking about his experience as a journalist involving a police-related matter
Started looking into a batch/round robin request on a specific drug to multiple police forces
#FOIFest
Tier 1 requests are easy to be processed
And the tier 1 reply will improve your tier 2 and 3 requests
#FOIFest
When researching AI.
Ask for standard documents:
Impact assessments on human rights, data protection, environment, etc
2. More details documents: policies,etc
3. Most sensitive: source code, training data, machine learning model, etc
#FOIFest
Video by Gabriel Geiger, an investigative journalist at Lighthouse Reports
Suggests starting with v.broad request that won’t rock any boats and will be easy to answer
#FOIFest
Gareth, Julia, Martin Rosenbaum, Maurice Frankel and Gavin Freeguard at FOI Fest
Now discussing disclosure logs - they are “good practice” but some disagreement on stage about to what degree they notably reduce request quantities #FOIFest
A discussion on disclosure logs and how they could benefit people finding published information
FOI officers think disclosure logs involve a lot of work and they hoped that FOI requesters would actually search disclosure logs first, which in practice people don’t do
#FOIFest
The What do they know team think that FOI requests made via the WDTK platform have a higher success rate due to the more public nature of the FOI request and FOI response
#FOIFest
Some campaigners use What do they know platform to put in FOI requests as a way to publish not only their request but also to detail their complaint and the background of the case for a wider audience (which sometimes journalists appreciate when researching a story)
#FOIFest
An #FOI request made on social media is a valid request, but it’s not a sensible way to do it, says @mrosenbaum.bsky.social! Character limits make it tricky and it might get missed #FOIFest
Q&A session:
FOI requests submitted privately cannot be later added to the What Do They Know platform because the platform won’t be able to guarantee the accuracy of the submitted data
While FOI requests made through the platform can be guaranteed as accurate
#FOIFest
Gareth just mentioned this research www.mysociety.org/2016/05/10/d... which indicates that making #FOI requests in public brings a higher success rate #FOIFest
An audience member says it’s also good for seeing what has already been requested, then asks if he can submit requests he’s made outside the platform. That’s not possible at the moment, mainly for reasons around confirming veracity. #FOIFest
