Posts Tagged: freedom

New Pew survey emphasizes the Internet’s importance in civil society

The role of the Internet as a platform for collective action grows. A survey released this week by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and Life Project shed light on the social side of the Internet. The results offered insight into the differences between the connected and the disconnected, revealing that Internet users are more likelyRead… Read more »

Who Dumped All That Free Speech on My Lawn?

A lively conversation blew through the Ypsilanti, Michigan message boards this week, like discarded coupons churning in the wind. Residents are tired of finding local news site AnnArbor.com’s weekly add papers strewn about their property. Rather than just complain, they’ve taken to SeeClickFix to exchange information and find a solution. It’s proven surprisingly difficult forRead… Read more »

A Must-Read for Gov 2.0 & Digital Democracy Gurus

I stumbled across a fantastic article in this weekend’s Wall Street Journal that should be a must-read for those in the Gov 2.0 movement as well as anyone that has ever used the “Iranian Election” example when promoting the growing influence and importance of Twitter and other social networks. The Digital Dictatorship, written by GeorgetownRead… Read more »

FOIA Meets Electronic Mail

Freedom of Information Act requests are swamping government. Governments have growing incentive to open-up, be transparent and publish their records (such as lots of email) directly on the web. If records are published, government doesn’t have to waste so much effort replying to FOIA demands. A case study is the municipality of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Freedom Of Information Act – does the current FOIA Law benefit your office?

Hafa Adai Fellow GovLoopers! It’s been a while since I last blogged (more like vented) here in GovLoop, so here goes nothing! On Guam, a bill – Bill No. B215-30 (LS) – FOIA update.pdf – was introduced by one of our local senators – Senator Ray Tenorio (R) – regarding updates to the local versionRead… Read more »

John Stuart Mill: Rolling in his Grave

As cries of “socialist!” and “terrorist!” fly, I am once again amazed at how low we have sunk in our national dialogue. I mean really: our economy’s a mess, we’re stuck in a war we can’t win, people don’t have adequate health care, and our schools suck. But all we can do is name call?Read… Read more »