Archive for February, 2009
Posted by isaacviel on February 26, 2009
Title: Interview
Publication Information: Phone interview 24/Feb/2009
Summary: Telephone interview with the Editor in Chief of the South Lincoln County News Larry Coonrod. Coonrod has used the Freedom of Information Act to pull numerous Public Records Requests. He described the significance of transparency in government and free access to public records and their importance to democracy.
Topic: Should the Obama administration implement a strong policy of openness and transparency?
Category: Citizen 5, Interview 1
What is it? Interview
Date of interview: 24/Feb/2009
Author: Isaac Viel, interviewer. Larry Coonrod, interviewee from the South Lincoln County News. Before that, Coonrod was the education reporter for the Lebanon Express.
Q/A*
Q: How do government transparency and the Freedom of Information Act affect your job?
A: “The general public doesn’t have the time or usually the expertise to go find that stuff. They rely on the press to tell them what their elected officials are doing and when that information is hard to get, they’re uninformed. When they’re uninformed, they can’t make decisions such as voting.”
Q: Should the Obama administration implement a policy of transparency for journalists and the public?
A: Yes. “There shouldn’t be an be a difference between transparency for journalists and the public; it’s just transparency.”
“In this day in age with the technology available, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to get on website and see where did that money go,” he said, referring to the latest stimulus bill.
Q: Why do you think that is important?
A: “People have a right to know. We can’t judge how efficiently our money is being used without that information.”
“As the great Izzy Stone said, ‘All governments lie …’”
Q: What’s the true importance of transparency and open documents and does it create a more efficient federal government?
A: “Certainly. Look at that first $350 billion that went out,” Coonrod said, referring to the first federal bailout. “You know, we were told this is going to help these banks … and then we find out that they’re having corporate retreats on Maui. Without access to how that money was being spent, the press could not have reported it … there wouldn’t have been a public outcry … access to public documents provided that.”
“Public documents are the foundation for democracy,” he said.
Q: In what way?
A: If we don’t have transparency then we can’t direct our elected officials how we want things done. If we’re just taking their word for what they’re doing and we don’t have a way to verify it, then it’s not really a democracy.
Support:
I.F. Stone, Journalist
Posted in Citizen, Gateway 2, Source Analyses | Tagged: agenda for change, foia, Gateway 2, government, isaac viel, Larry Coonrod, lebanon express, obama, oregon, public records, south lincoln county news, transparency, university of oregon | 1 Comment »
Posted by isaacviel on February 25, 2009
Title: Wiki White House Can Obama Use Technology to Transform Government?
Publication Information: New America Foundation event that was recorded and disseminated, Jan. 9, 2009
Summary: A panel of “technology evangelists” came together in Washington D.C. for a panel discussion co-sponsored by the New America Foundation, Wired Magazine, and Google that covered transparency its importance for a more participatory government and also the technological and regulatory barriers for creating a government that parallels today’s technology with the use of social media, wikis and open forum discussions.
Topic: Should the Obama administration implement a strong policy of openness and transparency?
Category: Institutional 8, Multimedia 3
What is it? Recorded like Panel Discussion
Date: Jan. 9, 2009
Author / Participants:
Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist
Mindy Finn, director of E-Strategy for Mitt Romney for President
Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation
Sascha Meinrath, research director for Wireless Future Program of New America Foundation
Nicholas Thompson, Moderator and fellow for New America Foundation and senior editor for Wired Magazine.
Location: http://www.newamerica.net/events/2008/wiki_white_house
Accessed: 24/Feb/2009
Support:
Tom Steinberg, head of MySociety
Mark Drapeau, Media Shift
Techpresident.com
Federal Web Managers
Change.gov: Now Whitehouse.gov
Commenters on Obama first YouTube Address
Sunlight Foundation
Deval Pattrick, governor of Massachusetts
Peer to Patten Project
David Almacy, former White House Internet Director
Let Our Congree Tweet
Press Release from the Federal Web Masters Council: Social Media and the Federal Government: Perceived and Real Barriers and Potential Solutions
Rebuild the Party
Project Vote Smart
John Culberson
The support is a mixed list of links, studies, press releases and people leading the way in transparency movement and / barriers to transparency that was mentioned throughout the discussion by the panel members. The Panel members are experts in their fields, but they do not hesitate to use other’s information to help make their case.
Audience and Agenda:
The New America Foundation is a nonprofit think tank located in Washington D.C. that was founded in 1999 and is a self-described nonpartisan public policy institute that seeks to find new ideas for solve the problems that face America in the future. Its audience for the this video is the Obama administration, policy makers to whom they seek to encourage a more open government and seemingly anyone who is interested in participating in local and federal policymaking. It’s lead by the current President and CEO Steve Coll. The foundation’s entire roughly $10 million 2007 budget was funded by donations from other foundations and individual donors. 2008 saw donations from groups and individuals such as the James Irvine Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Wendy and Eric Schmidt and Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz who all donated over $1 million. According to Statbrain, the New America site receives 6,859 visits per day and has rank 111,785 per Alexa.
Usefulness:
This video is useful for the amount of ideas and suggestions for more transparency in the federal government. It also offers new ideas for how to implement new policy and also because the panel member talk about the difficulties that the Obama administration and federal agencies face. The panel was a great mix of center, left and right thinkers who have direct experiences in government policymaking and technology innovations.
Posted in Gateway 2, Institutional, Source Analyses | Tagged: agenda for change, craigslist, freedom of information act, Gateway 2, google, government, isaac viel, new america foundation, obama, panel discussion, policy making, sunshine, university of oregon, wired | 1 Comment »
Posted by isaacviel on February 24, 2009
The slide show was difficult to do in sections because the story changed focus halfway through. The more I talked to the subject, the more I realized that I wanted to focus more on here returning to school than on her overall life story since I did not have time to gather information and visuals for the rest. I think the best thing was just spending a lot of time with my subject over multiple days and planning out times to shoot and times for interviews in well in advance in order to get the right level of comfort between myself and her. Next time, I would love to have more time to plan and pre-interview and pre-shoot so that when the day comes to do all the shooting and interviewing I know what to get and what not to get. I really wished I had more time to get ambient sounds. The best advice I can think of for someone wanting to make an audio slide show would be to spend time getting ambient and photos together but not spend a lot of time on each. Also, I really wish I had rerecorded some of the interview to get a more natural feel to the sound.
Posted in Gateway 1 | Tagged: agenda for change, isaac viel, slide show, university of oregon | Leave a Comment »
Posted by isaacviel on February 24, 2009
Title: Clinton WH vets doubt Obama openness vow
Publication Information: Politico, Oct. 28, 2008
Summary: Former Clinton White House aides and others talk about Obama’s aspirations of a more transparent federal government and compare and contrast the promises that Bill Clinton made during his campaign.
Topic: Should the Obama administration implement a strong policy of openness and transparency?
Category: Journalistic 6
What is it? News article published on the Politico website
Date: Oct. 28, 2009
Author: Carrie Budoff Brown
Location: http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=38D88581-18FE-70B2-A84E7936B202231F
Accessed: 20/Feb/2009
Support:
Veterans of the Clinton administration
William A. Galston, a former policy adviser in the Clinton administration
Jen Psaki, Obama spokeswoman
Barack Obama
Experts
Matt Bennett, co-founder of Third Way and former Clinton administration aide
Tucker Bounds, McCain spokesman
Norm Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute
The author uses these source to convey the message that some people are skeptical about Obama’s pledge for more transparency by using people who have worked in the past with presidents who make campaign promises for more openness. Other sources were from political rivals who were trying to discredit Obama’s seriousness.
Audience and Agenda:
Owned by Capitol News Company, a division of Allbritton Communications Company, and based in Arlington Va., Politico estimates a reach of 50,000 readers per issue, most of which are hand-delivered to “congressional offices, the White House, the Supreme Court, the Pentagon, federal departments, media outlets, lobbying firms, PR firms, think tanks and associations.” Launched in 2007, the website is aimed at political news consumers and received over 2.2 million unique visitors per month in 2007 and 6 million unique visitors per month in 2008. The president and CEO of Politico is Frederick J. Ryan, Jr. who was Reagan’s Chief of Staff and is now also chairman of the board of trustees for the Reagan Presidential library.
Posted in Gateway 2, Journalistic, Source Analyses | Tagged: agenda for change, allbritton, clinton aides, Gateway 2, isaac viel, obama, politico, transparency, university of oregon, UO | 1 Comment »
Posted by isaacviel on February 20, 2009
Title: Shouldn’t Government Transparency Be Included In The Legislative Process… Not Just The Aftermath?
Publication Information: TechDirt, Feb. 18, 2009
Summary: Blog post from TechDirt founder Mike Masnick about the Obama administration’s opening of recovery.gov and how it is not the kind of transparency that America needs. He warrants that it’s more an afterthought because it does not include Americans in the decision-making process.
Topic: Should the Obama administration implement a strong policy of openness and transparency?
Category: Citizen 4
What is it? Blog Post / Editorial
Date: Feb. 18, 2009
Author: Mike Masnick
Location: http://techdirt.com/articles/20090217/1817513806.shtml
Accessed: 19/Feb/2009
Support:
President Obama
http://www.recovery.gov/
http://techliberation.com/2009/02/17/recoverygov-is-up-but-questions-remain/
Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090209/0148263694.shtml
“we the people”
The author uses these links and people as the basis of his statement that Obama should be providing transparency before decisions are made and not just after the fact with a website such as recovery.org.
Audience and Agenda:
Mike Masnick founded TechDirt in 1997 as part of his company Floor 64. The blog’s goal is “to analyze and offer insight into news stories about changes in government policy, technology and legal issues that affect companies ability to innovate and grow.” It’s funded by Floor64 and advertising and touts “850,000+ RSS subscribers, 35,000+ posts, 250,000+ comments and a consistent Technorati 100 rating.
Posted in Citizen, Gateway 2, Source Analyses | Tagged: agenda for change, Gateway 2, government, isaac viel, mike masnick, obama, policy making, techdirt, transparency, university of oregon | 1 Comment »
Posted by isaacviel on February 20, 2009
Title: Secrecy Report Card 2008
Publication Information: Openthegovernment.org Sept. 9, 2008
Summary: 2007 saw increases in quantifiable secrecy throughout the federal government as reported by openthegovenment.org’s annual Secrecy Report Card.
Topic: Should the Obama administration implement a strong policy of openness and transparency?
Category: Institutional 7, Image 4
What is it? Research study published online
Published: Sept. 9, 2008
Authors: Patrice McDermott and Amy Fuller
Location: http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/SecrecyReportCard08.pdf
Accessed: 18/Feb/2009
Support:
March 2008 Sunshine Week poll
Information Security Oversight Office. 2007 Report to the President. http://www.archives.gov/isoo/reports/2007-annual-report.pdf
E.O. 12958.
Twenty-Fourth Report on Inadvertent Releases of Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data under Executive Order 12958 (U): Report to: The Committee on Armed Services of the Senate,
The Committee on Armed
Services of the House of Representatives, The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
A Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Use of National Security Letters: Assessment of Corrective Actions and NSL Usage in 2006 (Unclassified),
March 2008 http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/s0803b/final.pdf.
An Opportunity Lost: an in-depth analysis of FOIA performance from 1998 to 2007
http://epic.org/privacy/terrorism/2007fisa-ltr.pdf
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB224/ten_oldest_report.pdf|
Department of Justice, Supplemental Guide for Preparation and Submission of Section XII of Agency Fiscal Year 2007 Annual FOIA Reports, FOIA Post, October 16, 2007 http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foiapost/2007foiapost17.htm
Halstead, TJ “Presidential Signing Statements: Constitutional and Institutional Implications” Congressional Research Service.
http://www.coherentbabble.com/index.html
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/RL30319.pdf
http://www.c-span.org/guide/congress/glossary/exprivilege.htm
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20020206.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/mar/21/execprivilege
http://www.fido.gov/facadatabase/
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06385.pdf
Public Law 110-053, the “Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, “signed by President Bush on August 3, 2007
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06385.pdf
http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20071030_release.pdf
http://www.csbaonline.org/4Publications/PubLibrary/U.20070725.Classified_Funding/U.20070725.Classified_Funding.pdf
http://www.quitamonline.com/whatis.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/01/AR2008070103071.html
http://www.FedSpending.org/
http://cryptome.org/dni082708.htm
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/96xx/doc9688/08-12-IraqContractors.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/washington/12contractors.html
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?tab=main&bill=s110-2488
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-6576
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-6193
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ175.110.pdf
http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/index.htm
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6575
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-4806
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-985
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-274
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-3077
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-2533
https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2008cv0409-49
The sources represent the massive amount of studies accessed to compile this study and the data represented in it, making the research process in and of itself as transparent as possible.
Audience and Agenda:
Openthegovernment.org is a Sunshine Week participant that is composed of journalists, consumer and government groups, environmentalists, library groups, labor and others whose mission is to strengthen democratic principles public trust in government and make the citizens in the U.S. safer. According to their Statement of Values they seek, “to advance the public’s right to know and to reduce secrecy in government.” Statbrain quantifies the number of hits on the OTG website as 306 per day and Alexa gives the site a traffic rank of 1,886,301. Funding for OTG comes from grants from numerous sources most notably Carnegie Corporation of New York, Educational Foundation of America and the National Security Archive.
Patrice McDermott is an author and the director of openthegovernment.org. Before that she spent time as the deputy director of the Office of Government Relations at the American Library Association and before that she was the senior information policy analyst for OMB Watch. She was awarded a doctorate in political science from the University of Arizona and a M.Ln. in library and information management from Emory University.
Amy Fuller is the program associate at openthegovernment.org. She holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Georgetown Public Policy Institute and a BA from Tufts University in Political Science. Before OTG, she worked as a Legislative Aide at Washington Strategic Consulting and then transitioned from government relations to the non-profit world to work as a program manager for the Alliance for Plasma Therapies.
Posted in Gateway 2, Institutional, Source Analyses | Tagged: agenda for change, Gateway 2, isaac viel, obama, open the government, openthegovernment.org, screcy report card 2008, study, university of oregon | 1 Comment »
Posted by isaacviel on February 18, 2009
Title: New executive order means more secrecy
Publication Information: Alan B. Morrison, bushsecrecy.org, May 2, 2003
Summary: Alan B. Morrison talks about George Bush’s Executive Order 13,292, which amends Bill Clinton’s EO 12958 and “backtracks on the government’s willingness to declassify or even consider declassifying records” and what it’s impact on transparency will be.
Topic: Should the Obama administration implement a strong policy of openness and transparency?
Category: Institutional 6
What is it? Electronic article published on bushsecrecy.org May 2, 2003. Originally published by Knight Ridder/Tribune wire service April 30, 2003.
Author: Alan B. Morrison
Location: http://www.bushsecrecy.org/page.cfm?PagesID=51&ParentID=2&CategoryID=51
Accessed: 17/Feb/2009
Support:
Bush Administration
Executive Order 12,958
Archivist of the United States
Public Citizen
The sources are used in this article to being into public view President Bush’s Executive Order 13,292 and how it amends EO 12,958 by changes the policy on for declassification of records held by the Archivist of the United States. He mentions that the move to more secrecy is to thwart efforts of groups such as Public Citizen finding out about trade agreements and negotiations before it’s too late to prevent them.
Audience and Agenda:
Bushsecrecy.org is part of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group formed in 1971 by Ralph Nader and Alan B. Morrison to lobby for consumer interests in the federal government. Bushsecrecy was formed to help shine light into one of the most secretive presidential administrations in recent times and bring about public awareness to help further the idea of an open, honest democracy upon which the United States was founded. The group receives funding for its $12 million annual budget from notable foundation such as the Jenifer Altman Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Ford Foundation.
Posted in Gateway 2, Institutional, Source Analyses | Tagged: agenda for change, alan b. morrison, bush, eo 12958, eo 13292, Gateway 2, government, isaac viel, McClatchy-Tribune, obama, public citizen, ralph nader, transparency, university of oregon | 2 Comments »
Posted by isaacviel on February 17, 2009
Name: John Spring
Question: Should the federal government spend money to increase the amount of money given to Pell grant recipients?
Answer: “I think that education, especially college, and making it more affordable will give kids the drive toward a college education and hope that they can achieve the goal of graduation from college and become a successful member of society.”
Why this topic: What rove you me there was having two of my best friend dropped out of high school in their junior year. I felt that the high school really did not care about them succeeding and going to college. Look back on it now, I think that they regret that decision. They would dream about going back to school but for both of them they’ve exhausted their parent’s good will. So they would have to pay for college on their own.
Support:
http://cradle186.wordpress.com/2009/02/14/increase-in-pell-grant-award/ From Associated Press via Fox News online. They talk about how the newly-approved stimulus bill and how it will help increase the maximum award for Pell grants. That increase is the biggest increase in U.S. History. It’s important because if shows the reader how much the stimulus plan gives to Pell grants and how Obama fulfilled his campaign promise.
http://cradle186.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/college-affordability/
Found in an academic journal called Change. It takes a look at how students are paying for college and the effect it has on them later in life. Some are forced to take jobs in college, which takes their focus away from school; some take multiple. It also talks about the debt they are accumulating. This article is import because it shows that we need more grants for low-income students.
http://cradle186.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/pell-grant-information/
From the the government website on financial aid. It gives students information on applying for Pell Grants. It’s important because it shows student how to apply for Pell grants, which students have to go through their university to get.
Posted in Gateway 2 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by isaacviel on February 17, 2009
Title: Who’s Against Transparency in Government? A Guest Post
Publication Information: New York Times Opinion section blog Freakonomics Feb. 7, 2009
Summary: In a guest post on the New York Times Freakonimics blog, Yale Professor Ian Ayers talks about non-transparency and how it could benefit the public if used at the right times. Ayers argues that campaign contributions should be a non-transparent act so those voted into public office will not know who contributed to their campaign and give preference to them.
Topic: Should the Obama administration implement a strong policy of openness and transparency?
Category: Citizen 3
What is it? Guest Op-Ed piece published in the New York Times Opinion section blog Freakonomics.
Author: Ian Ayers
Location: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/whos-against-transparency-in-government-a-guest-post/
Accessed: 16/Feb/2009
Support:
Article: Brown rejects Tory claims of dithering over Hain
Article: Where money is no object
Louis Brandeis, US Supreme Court Justice
Article: Looking Anew at Campaign Cash and Elected Judges
Jeremy Bulow and article: The Donation Booth: Mandating Donor Anonymity To Disrupt the Market for Political Influence
The author uses articles and people as support for his opinion. He cites studies and researchers who illustrate why a less transparent judicial election campaign contribution process should be preferred to an open records rule.
Audience and Agenda:
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper that began in 1851 and has one 98 Pulitzer Prizes. It is a publically-traded company; although, the majority of the shares are owned by the Ochs-Sulzberger family who owned the paper from 1898 – 1960.
Posted in Citizen, Gateway 2, Source Analyses | Tagged: agenda for change, campaign contribution, freakonimics, Gateway 2, government, isaac viel, judicial, non-transparency, nytimes, obama, transparency, university of oregon | 1 Comment »
Posted by isaacviel on February 16, 2009
Title: Transparency via GAO, Academia
Publication Information: The Open House Project blog, Dec. 5, 2007
Summary: John Wonderlich, policy director for the Sunlight Foundation, expresses his views and adds insight to recently released documents on the effectiveness of transparency and open government.
Topic: Should the Obama administration implement a strong policy of openness and transparency?
Category: Citizen 2
What is it? Blog post on the Open House Project blog.
Author: John Wonderlich
Location: http://www.theopenhouseproject.com/2007/12/05/transparency-via-gao-academia/
Accessed: 14/Feb/2009
Support:
Paul Blumenthal
GAO-07-1068CG: Transparent Government and Access to Information: A Role for
Supreme Audit Institutions
David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO
“academics at Harvard”
The author cites this people, studies and papers as a way of pointing out what’s out there in support of transparency. He uses two of the studies and selected quoted to further his own ideas of the importance of open government and how it affects the publc and private sectors.
Audience and Agenda:
The Open House Project is a subsidy of the Sunlight Foundation and collaborates with governmental and legislative experts, congressional staff, non-profits, and bloggers to study the how the U.S. House of Representatives uses the Internet and other technologies. They use this information to inform the public as to the activities of the HR and to make policy suggestions that might create a more transparent political landscape. The Sunlight Foundation is funded by individual donations from private citizens and other foundations and was started with a $3.5m grant from Michael Klein. According to Statbrain, the website receives 429 visits per day and Alexa gives it a traffic rank of 2,377,705. John Wonderlich is the Sunlight Foundation’s Policy Director and has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Penn State University.
Posted in Citizen, Gateway 2, Source Analyses | Tagged: agenda for change, gao, Gateway 2, government, isaac viel, john wonderlich, obama, open house project, sunlight foundation, university of oregon | 1 Comment »
