www.opengovernmentrecords.net

Freedom of information is so novel in our cultural history and so far reaching that the ideas that we inherited and are racing ahead of us are likely misleading us. 

 

For example, people interested in fire safety might be guided by ideas that cause them to overlook requesting fire incident reports from their local fire departments (which are governed by freedom of information).

 

To illustrate this in a more novel way, let's contrast a routine day's meal with a menu offered at a Freedom of Information event. The idea is that contrasting the Freedom of Information menu with a normal day's menu will yank me back into a critical awareness  about what ideas are racing ahead of me and therefore help me pivot towards a new way of thinking.

 

The following menu was served at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Access to Information Act held at the Centurion Center in Nepean Ontario on May 5, 2009. In attendance were the over 200 Access to Information and Privacy Coordinators who presently work in the Canadian government. The menu was acquired through the Access to Information Act

 

Routine Menu	"Freedom of Information" Menu
Breakfast
Coffee Bran flakes, sunflower seeds, & sliced banana	Chilled Florida Orange Juice Breakfast Pastries - Danishes, Muffins, Croissants Fresh Sliced Fruit Yogurt (assorted flavours)
Lunch
Homemade Thai beef (with onions and spinach) on rice Fresca	Centurion Salad (Mixture of greens with tomatoes and cucumbers; assorted dressings) or Spinach and Mandarin Salad (with toasted almonds, red onions, and mushrooms)   Boneless Breast of Chicken - covered with roasted red peppers and thyme maderia sauce or Vegetarian Pasta - rotini pasta with vegetables and rose sauce   Seasoned fresh vegetables & Basmati rice Rolls and butter

The ideas racing ahead of me to organize my "breakfast & lunch" are brought into relief by contrasting my menu with the freedom of information celebration menu.  "Unsophisticated", "Economic", "Healthy" come to mind. It might do me some good to complement my meals with a side.

 

To turn this novel exercise into something more worthwhile, there are also ideas racing ahead of us that organize our thinking, speaking, and actions about what "freedom of information" can mean to us.

 

But our culture hasn't come up with a public set of ideas with which we can contrast ours.  While we have lots of examples of real freedom of information requests, we don't have a lot of public discussion about freedom of information by users of freedom of information. There is some progress on this front. Groups in Bulgaria and Armenia host awards ceremonies that recognizes how people use freedom of information. And there are of course guidebooks written by people who make use of freedom of information to great effect (e.g. Heather Brooke).  However, discussions between users of foi, whether they  win awards, are highly accalimed, or just normal folks, is still waiting to happen.

 

So for the time being, we can't be sure what ideas are racing ahead of us and misleading us and what ideas are on the right path. The only way is to talk with a broad range of people who actually use freedom of information about how they use it and what it has meant to them.

 

The freedom of information menu can be used in another way too. A menu gives us new way of organzing part of the day. And we're definitely going to need to re-organize our days because of the extent to which freedom of information curtails unlawful secrecy in public institutions. Maybe we can use this menu?