COGI-tations: A program of the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information

James Nobles
Legislative Auditor, State of Minnesota
“Bringing Light to How Government Works”

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
5:00 p.m.

TIES Administrative Building
1667 Larpenteur (SW corner of Snelling & Larpenteur)
St. Paul

Since 1983, Jim Nobles has diligently served the State of Minnesota as Legislative Auditor. The nonpartisan Legislative Auditor provides a critical link between the inner workings of state government and the taxpayers.

The work of the Legislative Auditor includes financial audits, program evaluations, and special reviews in cases of alleged misuse of state funds or resources, or alleged violations of the state code of conduct for employees in the Executive Branch. The Legislative Auditor’s authority extends to virtually all state funded programs and studies that affect state government. As we have recently seen in the news, audits in progress include the state’s JOBZ program, Green Acres and agricultural land preservation programs, charter schools, PERA and financial management of healthcare programs. We can also expect a legislative audit of our state’s highways and bridges to be released soon.

Though reports of the Legislative Auditor may at times escape the headlines, they capture the attention of elected officials, bureaucrats and advocacy groups because of the critical watchdog function played by Nobles’ office.

Come meet Jim Nobles and learn more about the mission of this unique agent of openness, who is responsible to a great extent for transparency in government, for public disclosure of problems, and for investigative reports essential to an informed citizenry.

Co-sponsored by
Common Cause Minnesota &
Minnesota Coalition on Government Information

Free and open to the public

MN FOI Celebration Updated!

I know this looks familar - but there are some updates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 5, 2008

Freedom of Information Award Recognizes
Bridge Collapse Coverage, Pro se Legal Services

Silha Center’s Jane Kirtley Envisions “The Light at the End of the Tunnel”

The people’s right to know assumes a vast network of agencies and individuals is committed to affirmation of that right. Recipients of the 2008 John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award employ that right to the benefit of readers. The Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MnCOGI) will present this year’s awards to highlight the public’s right to know and to kickoff Sunshine Week 2008.

By any measure, the collapse of the 35W Bridge is the story of 2007 - covered by every news medium from every journalistic angle. With this award the MnCOGI specifically notes the ways in which these journalists have enhanced public understanding of the tragedy through their explicit use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Minnesota Data Practices Act to gain access to public information.

Recipients of the John R. Finnegan FOI Award include several investigative journalists including Associated Press staffers Martiga Lohn and Brian Bakst and Star Tribune reporters Dan Browning, Kevin Diaz, Patrick Doyle, Mike Kaszuba, Tony Kennedy and Paul McEnroe.

The Coalition will also confer two Honorable Mention Awards. An Honorable Mention Award will be given to Susan Albright, former Editorial Page Editor at the Star Tribune. Albright, now with MinnPost, is recognized for her articulate appreciation of the dependence of a free press on access to government information and for her consistent editorial support of the principles of open government.

Recipients of the second Honorable Mention Award are Susan Ledray and Katrina Zabinski, coordinators of the innovative “Self Help Center” (SHC) in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District. As designers of the SHC Ledray and Zabinski explicitly used government information to both define and meet the needs of a targeted population. The nomination document notes that the SHC serves “thousands of pro se litigants in Minnesota to move through court more efficiently, more effectively and more informed.” In the words of Judge Edward Lynch, the SHC “provides information, resources and assistance to thousands of litigants representing themselves in court proceedings.” The Self Help Center is now available in all Minnesota counties.
Awards will be presented at Freedom of Information Day ceremonies on Friday, March 14, Noon-1:00 at the Minneapolis Central Library.
Keynote speaker for the event is Jane Kirtley, Director of the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota. Kirtley is an internationally-known expert and lecturer on issues of media law and freedom of information. Prior to joining the U of M School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 1999, Kirtley was the Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a columnist for American Journalism Review. Her presentation is entitled “The Light at the End of the Tunnel: The Outlook for FOI.”
John R. Finnegan, Sr., for whom the award is named, is a Minnesota journalist and renowned defender of the First Amendment and the role of informed citizens in a democracy.

The Minnesota Coalition on Government Information is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation representing individuals and organizations committed to open access to public information in print, electronic and digital formats. The Coalition involves media representatives, attorneys, librarians, computer professionals, state and local government officials, educators and others who care about transparency in government, information access and the role of an informed citizenry in a democracy.

# # #


Contact: Mary Treacy
Minnesota Coalition on Government Information
mncogi@gmail.com
http://www.mncogi.org

Freedom of Information Award Recognizes Bridge Collapse Coverage, Pro se Legal Services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 5, 2008

Freedom of Information Award Recognizes Bridge Collapse Coverage, Pro se Legal Services

Silha Center’s Jane Kirtley Envisions “The Light at the End of the Tunnel”

The people’s right to know assumes a vast network of agencies and individuals committed to affirmation of that right. Recipients of the 2008 John R. Finnegan Freedom of Information Award reflect the many facets of information access. The Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MnCOGI) will present this year’s awards as a highlight of Freedom of Information and the kickoff of Sunshine Week 2008.

By any measure, the collapse of the 35W Bridge is the story of 2007 - covered by every news medium from every journalistic angle. Recipients of the FOI Award include several investigative journalists including Associated Press staffers Martiga Lohn and Brian Bakst and Star Tribune reporters Dan Browning, Kevin Diaz, Patrick Doyle, Mike Kaszuba and Paul McEnroe. All of these journalists have enhanced public understanding of the tragedy through their explicit use of the Freedom of Information Act and the Minnesota Data Practices Act to gain access to public information.

The Coalition will also confer two Honorable Mention Awards. An Honorable Mention Award will be given to Susan Albright, former Editorial Page Editor at the Star Tribune. Albright, now with MinnPost, is recognized for her articulate appreciation of the dependence of a free press on access to government information and for her consistent editorial support of the principles of open government.

Recipients of the second Honorable Mention Award are Susan Ledray and Katrina Zabinski, coordinators of the innovative “Self Help Center” (SHC) in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District. As designers of the SHC Ledray and Zabinski explicitly used government information to both define and meet the needs of a targeted population. The nomination document notes that the SHC serves “thousands of pro se litigants in Minnesota to move through court more efficiently, more effectively and more informed.” In the words of Judge Edward Lynch, the SHC “provides information, resources and assistance to thousands of litigants representing themselves in court proceedings.” The Self Help Center is now available in all Minnesota counties.

Awards will be presented at Freedom of Information Day ceremonies on Friday, March 14, Noon-1:00 at the Minneapolis Central Library.
Keynote speaker for the event is Jane Kirtley, Director of the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota. Kirtley is an internationally-known expert and lecturer on issues of media law and freedom of information. Prior to joining the U of M School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 1999, Kirtley was the Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a columnist for American Journalism Review. Her presentation is entitled “The Light at the End of the Tunnel: The Outlook for FOI.”
John R. Finnegan, Sr., for whom the award is named, is a Minnesota journalist and renowned defender of the First Amendment and the role of informed citizens in a democracy.

The Minnesota Coalition on Government Information is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation representing individuals and organizations committed to open access to public information in print, electronic and digital formats. The Coalition involves media representatives, attorneys, librarians, computer professionals, state and local government officials, educators and others who care about transparency in government, information access and the role of an informed citizenry in a democracy.

# # #


Contact: Mary Treacy
Minnesota Coalition on Government Information
mncogi@gmail.com
http://www.mncogi.org

Reminder: Still time to Register for Afloat on the Wireless Pond - Saturday, March 1

Minnesota’s Hidden Heroes in the News

• There are many things about MinnPost that are worthy of note - the first rate team of investigative journalists, the style, the tone, the format. From my perspective as an information junky, MinnPost adds a subtle but significant spin by focusing not just on the news but on the behind-the-scenes work. Yesterday’s blog was about hidden heroes of Minnesota history; today’s MinnPost offers some timely examples:
• There’s a great piece from the Minnesota Historical Society, a MinnPost partner, about how to locate death certificate information collected over the decades by meticulous government employees, now organized and made accessible through the Minnesota Historical Society. This incredible resource, representing countless hours of work by skilled and committed public servants, is now accessible on the web.
• A second article describes the ways in which the Poetry Foundation is opening up its extensive, and carefully maintained, poetry collection by engaging comic strip illustrators to add their creative interpretation to sometimes inscrutable literary works. Somebody logged and indexed and catalogs those hundreds of thousands of poems now enhanced and shared online.
• The third story spotlights a different “hidden heroine,” in this case a Spanish-English translator, a woman who connected the dots to solve the puzzle of the mysterious illness that struck packing house workers in Austin. If you ever want to observe the mind of a “hidden heroine” at work, here is a superb example
• And finally, MinnPost itself plays an essential role by sharing this latent information with a readership that will use that information to achieve its potential. Today is just one example of an ongoing emphasis of the journal.

All of which raises digital age questions: How will MinnPost and other digital resources be preserved, organized, made accessible for future Minnesotans who want to know about what’s going on today? What is the public good of that preserved and organized information? What is the responsibility of public institutions to take the long view? How are we addressing the preparation of Minnesotans to understand the power of information or their information rights?

Announcing: Hidden Heroes of Minnesota History Wiki *

Minnesota Sesquicentennial Question: Who is a “hidden hero” of Minnesota history? How do we know what we know about our state? Who gathered all those files, that data, the maps, the diaries, the photos that tell the story, that give us a glimpse into our past? And who is doing that now in our digital age? What were the skills of the archivist? The selector? The curator? The indexer? The librarian? The genealogist? The publisher?

Most of all, who are these people. For the most part, they didn’t make history - and they surely didn’t make it into the history books -- but they are essential links to understanding Minnesota at 150 years or at our Bicentennial in 2058.

These are the questions that keep coming to me as we’ve prepared for the March 2008 Afloat on the wireless pond conference. Compulsive surfer that I am I’ve sifted through the digital record to spot and shine a flicker of light on those hidden heroes and heroines. Knowing that I’m barely touching the surface, I’ve made no attempt to go beyond the digital record.

The Afloat conference is upon us now so I’m taking a break in the surfing expedition to post the little nuggets I’ve dug up so far. Just as the Minnesota History Center encourages the public to add to their Sesquicentennial wiki of famous folks I’m asking you to contribute to this mini-wiki by putting a name, maybe a face, on some of those self-effacing public servants, scholars, collectors, archivists, genealogists or much-maligned packrats who’ve seen to it that we know the stories. Be sure to include those who are exploring with gusto the ways in which information age technology is expanding and enhancing access.

That’s what the Afloat conference is all about - the jumpstart to a hidden hero wiki! Thanks for your help!

* My definition of “hero” is inclusive, particularly since an extraordinary number of these heroes are very female

Mary Treacy

Traditional Press & Bloggers Met Monday...

3-2-1 Dive into the wireless pond! It’s not too late to sign up for the “Afloat on the wireless pond” conference set for Saturday, March 1. Curious about the theme? Remember that the genesis of the idea emerged from the 2007 conference focused on Henry Thoreau’s little-known travels in Minnesota. The idea was, and is, Thoreau-inspired -- a time, place and stimulus for Minnesotans to reflect on the reality of living in an information world. We spend far more time mastering the tools than giving a passing thought to the social, economic, political and aesthetic upheaval in which we float. The setting on the beautiful Luther Seminary campus sets the stage; the diverse presenters play unique roles - a geographer, data manager, philosopher, educator, city planner, poet, journalist and other thoughtful colleagues willing to share their expertise and their insights. How do you plan to spend the extra day this week? There’s still time to sign up.

The “traditional” press and the bloggers met Monday night in the opulent splendor of the new Minnesota Public Radio to share insights on standards and ethics in journalism. Bob Collins played the ringleader/MPR blogger role while guest Dan Gillmor focused on content. Gillmor has clearly given much thought to what is and what is possible to support an informed society -- and a readership that wants to learn. Just about everybody had something to say - several men and at least four women (one a “panelist”) got to speak. Maybe it was the cold outside, but no one seemed in any hurry to leave, even after pretty much everything had been said. Many thanks to the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists which set the stage for this diverse audience. It’s the jumpstart of an essential and more substantive conversation, virtual or mano a mano. The questions raised, sometimes answered, testify to the need for more.

Molnau Sold Farm Near Road She Pushed.
Read this from the information access - investigative journalism - perspective.

For Political Candidates, Saying Can Become Believing. I’ve often thought about this because I sometimes tell a story with such enthusiasm and regularity that I believe it myself. In fact, it often gets better with the telling. Ask any storyteller or Irishman.

GAO Finds Data Protection Lagging The balance between openness and privacy is being played out in Congress. Minnesota’s very own Senator Norm Coleman, along with Susan Collins (R-ME), chairs the committee that called for a study of data protection after the 2006 theft of a data-laden computer from a VA employee. Collins notes that “the findings released in this report are very troubling -- indicating that agency after agency has failed to make securing citizens' personal information a high priority."

Video on the Net: The Content Question, by Jeffrey A. Hart. On one level this isn’t specifically about access to government information, but it’s certainly grist for the mill of anyone who cares about an informed public. Hart offers a straightforward analysis of the topic, in layman’s terms.
On Tuesday, February 26, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on Electronic Records Preservation at the White House. The Committee, led by Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA-30), has been investigating what happened to millions of missing White House emails and what the White House is now doing to make sure it is preserving its records in compliance with the Presidential Records Act.

New from Sunshine Week -- a new partnership with Helium that creates a special page where anyone can write about open government issues or this year’s election theme. The Sunshine Week promos on the SW website deserve an affirmative vote. Check them out.

They Also Serve Who Only Stand

The cadence doesn’t quite work, but it’s still a good idea. For a long time now I’ve been compiling what’s heretofore been known as “Hidden Heroes of Minnesota History”. It’s a Sesquicentennial diversion about which I’m getting more serious. Thus, I’m shedding the allegedly sexist “heroes” title for the more ubiquitous “They.” The point is the same:

We wouldn’t know about the Big Heroes if we didn’t have a legacy of countless unnamed heroes - individuals, organizations, funders, visionaries - who have pack ratted, collected, preserved, organized, tabulated, digitized, mapped, cataloged, indexed, reprinted, reformatted or otherwise opened the doors to the recorded history of our state -- or the cosmos, for that matter.

The process of making history available demands vision, collaboration, and a commitment to the past and to the future. Headline seekers need not apply. If egomania is not your thing, you too can join the ranks of the “also servers” by adding to this fledgling compilation of hidden heroes, heroines, and heroic organizations.

I’m about to post my totally random compilation, leaving it to others to amend and/or organize the list. Most important, please add your suggestions by emailing me with a jot or a treatise describing the “also servers” who have opened the door for you.

Preserving Minnesota’s digital resources: Along similar lines, the Minnesota office of Enterprise Technology recently submitted a mandated report to the Minnesota Legislature. Preserving the Present: Creating, Accessing and Maintaining Minnesota’s Electronic Documents, now available online, reflects the collective work of the agency and a survey of stakeholders. Citing the dynamic nature of technology innovation, the report specifically declines to recommend the adoption of a particular format standard. The study concludes that “the choice or use of a standard must not be to adopt a standard for the sake of adopting a standard. Any choice must be in the context of what value such a decision adds to government.”

The report goes on to identify several concrete, practical steps that the state can take to address electronic records policy issues.

Our Cells, Ourselves. Joel Garreau of the Washington Post poses a whole lot of tough questions for a Sunday morning. Taking a global look at the impact of the cell phone, Garreau ponders the question of whether the cell phone, now a global factor, frees or tethers us. He doesn’t answer that question, either, but he does leave me turning it over in my mind. Turn your cell off for the few minutes it will take to read this thoughtful piece.

Quote: "When information which properly belongs to the public is systematically withheld by those in power, the people soon become ignorant of their own affairs, distrustful of those who manage them, and - eventually - incapable of determining their own destinies." Pres. Richard Nixon, 1972

Scientists Call on next President to End Political Interference in Science; Guarantee Scientists' Freedoms. A panel of leading scientists recently issued a significant call for openness at the annual conference of the AAAS (February 15). Speaking at the announcement event Francesca Grifo, director of the Scientific Integrity Program at UCS, observed that “good federal policy depends upon reliable and robust scientific work… When science is falsified, fabricated or censored, Americans' health and safety suffer.”

Mary Treacy