Missing Harlan Cleveland

It’s a sad and sobering irony to reflect on the recent death of Harlan Cleveland mist the energy and hope that reign at the Media Reform Conference going full steam this weekend at the Minneapolis Convention Center. For decades Harlan Cleveland has been my guiding star in a turbulent information era.

Twenty-five years ago I was involved with a conference bearing the irresistible title “A Question of Balance: Public Sector, Private Sector Interaction in the Delivery of Information Services. The conference was a typically Minnesotan response to a report from the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science -- from whence we derived the catchy subtle. With prescient naiveté we gathered journalists, media moguls, access advocates and gangs of librarians for two days of weighing the issues raised in the report, a report that one speaker accurately described as “pernicious.”

[The gathering was not without its lively moments - most notably the spectacle of Paul Zurkowski, head of the Information Industry Association, storming down the aisle, pointing his cane as he snarled “Poppycock! at the elegant visionary Anita Schiller.]

The keynote speaker at that event - and my all-time Information Hero - was Harlan Cleveland. He spoke, as he frequently wrote, about the characteristics of information “as a resource, “the basic, yet abstract information.” Cleveland lamented that “we have carried over into our thinking about information (which is to say symbols) concepts development for the management of things - concepts such as property, depletion, depreciation, monopoly, market economics, the class struggle, and top-down leadership.” It might help, he opined, “if we stop treating information as just another thing, and look hard at what makes it so special.”

In Cleveland’s 21st Century construct, information as a resource possesses these unique characteristics:

Information is expandable - “The facts are never all in - and facts are available in such profusion that uncertainty becomes the most important planning factor.” Thus, “the further a society moves toward making its living from the manipulation of information, the more its citizens will be caught up in a continual struggle to reduce the information overload on their desks and in the lives in order to reduce the uncertainty about what to do.”

Information is compressible -- “Though it’s infinitely expandable, information can be concentrated, integrated, summarized... for easy handling.”

Information is substitutable -- It can replace capital, labor or physical materials.

Information is transportable -- “In less than a century, we have been witness to a major dimensional change in both the speed and volume of human activity.”

Information is diffusive -- It tends to leak - and the more it leaks the more we have.

Information is shareable -- Information by nature cannot give rise to exchange transactions, only to sharing transactions. Things are exchanged. “If I give you a fact or tell you a story, it’s like a good kiss: in sharing the thrill, you enhance it.”

Cleveland would relish the exuberant exchanges echoing through the Minneapolis Convention Center this weekend -- snippets of conversations involving 3000 reform advocates talking about knowledge, wisdom, informed citizens and their role in a democracy, transparency in government, media ownership, network neutrality. Many of these attendees may not know the name Harland Cleveland, but they understand - intuitively and empirically -- that information is a resource that is expandable, compressible, substitutable, transportable, diffusive and, most important, shareable -- like a kiss!

Note: One of the earliest iterations of Cleveland’s thoughts on information as a resource is found in the December 1982 issue of The Futurist. Check the site for much more about Harlan Cleveland’s life as well as numerous articles written by Cleveland through the years.

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Live From Main Street

Whether or not folks are immediately involved with the Media Reform conference, this is a not-to-be-missed opportunity. This interactive town hall event will be distributed by an unprecedented collaboration of independent media including LinkTV, Free Speech TV, The National Radio Project and many more.

The first 150 guests to arrive will receive a free copy of Amy Goodman’s Standing Up To the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times courtesy of Progressive Book Club!
Free and Open! Doors open at 1 p.m.

Women’s Club of Minneapolis 410 Oak Grove Street, near Loring Park
Details including RSVP.

MnCOGI hosts the National Freedom of Information Coalition 2009!

The Board of the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information is pleased to announce that we have been invited to play host to the 2009 national conference of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. This coalition of coalitions brings together a unique network of advocates committed to transparency in government and freedom of expression.

Each state projects a unique profile of membership, priorities and services, ranging from major organizations with large staffs and massive budgets to fledgling coalitions such as MnCOGI. Many are supported by mainstream media organizations, others by media attorneys, still others by foundations and individual/organizational memberships. All sponsor websites, most post blogs and each employs unique and creative strategies to address the common purpose of open government. Headquarters of the national coalition of coalitions is at the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

We look forward to this opportunity to define and articulate the mission of MnCOGI, to learn from other coalitions and to involve Minnesotans as speakers, panelists and attendees.

NFOIC members will be meeting in Minneapolis at the end of May or early June 2009. Any individual or organization interested in open government and First Amendment issues can get involved NOW. Specifics about the conference program and logistics will appear on this blog as they unfold.

For details of past NFOIC conferences check here. Good stuff!

ROBBIE LaFLEUR RECEIVES PETER S. POPOVICH AWARD

Robbie LaFleur, Director of the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, has been named recipient of the 2008 Peter S. Popovich Award. The Popovich Award is given each year by the Minnesota Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists to “the person or organization that exemplifies the fight for First Amendment Rights.” SPJ will present the award at the 2008 Page One Awards Banquet on Thursday, June 12, at the Town & Country Club in St. Paul.
The award was named for the late Peter S. Popovich, a champion of open government during his years in the Minnesota House of Representatives, as the chief judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals and as the chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.
In nominating LaFleur the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information noted that, “for nearly a decade Robbie has been Director of the Legislative Reference Library, the special library that serves members and staff of the Minnesota State Legislature. Though her primary clientele is the Legislature, Robbie has distinguished herself by always bearing in mind and addressing the needs of the public, including investigative journalists who are steady customers at the LRL.”

Nominators noted the immense technological changes that have occurred during LaFleur’s tenure. To address those changes “Robbie has participated in countless significant task forces and committees dealing with state information policy…Thus, the impact of her leadership extends far beyond the LRL and the Legislature.”

LaFleur and staff of the LRL have been honored with numerous awards and citations for excellence in the provision of access to government information.

For additional information contact:
Mary Treacy mtreacy@onvoymail.com
Minnesota Coalition on Government Information www.mncogi.org
612 781 4234

Minnesota Monitor – NKOTB

James Sanna’s great piece about Minnesota Monitor (The New(ish) Kid on the Block 5-26-08) is making its way through the media maze -- and with good reason. Sanna describes the origins, mission and staff of MM with clarity. He goes on to analyze the context, including MM’s “sibling” enterprises linked through the Center for Independent Media network of news websites.

It’s a good story and a great introduction to the forthcoming National Conference on Media Reform, sponsored by Free Press and coming to Minneapolis June 6-8. “Key issues include net neutrality, media consolidation, the future of the internet and the quality of journalism.”

A Couple of Great Blogs

No longer is it a question of getting home in time for a favorite TV show - there’s little to watch and, if it’s really good, it’ll be on YouTube. Of late, though, I’ve found myself wanting to be near the computer mid-day, anticipating two of my favorite “you’ve got mail” beeps.

One is MinnPost, always loaded with the day’s news and views. The other is the beep from State Sunshine and Open Records, a product of the Lucy Burns Institute, a Madison, Wisconsin nonprofit dedicated to sharing information, guidance, practical advice, legal developments and news about open records at the state and local level. The voice is that of Leslie Graves.
This blog is fresh, full of snippets, tidbits, tips, foi-ish gossip, and fun! Take, for example, the Sunshine Troublemaker of the Week award. Or consider a recent blog devoted to the access challenges at the school system level. Or check out this best use of FOIA entry. It’ll give you the flavor.
Signing up for the email version will give you that healthy mid-day boost of energy to press on, knowing that the good fight is not without good people, good information and good humor.

Bill Moyers' Journal

The trail of information - from creation through processing through application -- is always a path forged by real people, people who do the research, who organize the results, who select and review, who dig and piece together and create then share information that - finally - makes a difference.

Bill Moyers most recent Journal, aired last Friday, offers one of the best articulations of that process I have ever seen. The topic the chemical Bisphenol A, but it’s the process that captivated my attention.

Stars of the show are a trio of investigative journalists on the staff of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Prodded by an appropriately pushy editor they set out to track the story of Bisphenol A. Their laborious investigation involves federal government deadends, hours in the stacks of the University of Wisconsin library and the keen analytic minds of concerned journalists.

The interim result is a remarkable series on “Chemical Fallout” that exposes the facts. On May 20, 2008 a reform bill was introduced - in spite of government blockage and the compromise of corporate and professional organizations along the way.

The reporting team who broke the story are taking viewer questions about the story and their work as investigative reporters on The Moyers Blog. Check out the video and the text on the Bill Moyers Journal. This is just how it’s supposed to work!