Our research into the impact of technologies on FOI

by Tom Longley and Savita Bailur, on 03 July 2014

In March this year mySociety put out a call for a research consultant to look at the place that Alaveteli – mySociety’s open source freedom of information (FOI) filer – might have in creating cultures of transparency and accountability. So, eventually, mySociety chose us – Savita Bailur and Tom Longley. Since we’re the strangers here, we’d like to introduce ourselves, give you an idea of the approach that we’ll be taking, and what we’ve found in the first weeks of the research.

Who are we?

Savita is a consultant who has previously worked for the World Bank, Commonwealth Secretariat, USAID, and Panos and taught at the University of Manchester and London School of Economics. She has a personal interest in freedom of information as her family in India successfully used the Right to Information Act in India to find out about violations of building regulations (although the legal process to change things is taking more time). If there’s one thing of Savita’s to read, it’s Closing the Feedback Loop : Can Technology Bridge the Accountability Gap?, which she wrote in and co-edited.

Tom is a human rights and technology consultant who’s worked on field investigations of crimes against humanity. After years wading through stacks of documentation and interview transcripts, he became interested in how data and technologies could help this work. He has since worked for investigation organisations in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Zimbabwe and others helping building up their ability to use data and technologies safely and effectively. Tom also consults for Tactical Technology Collective, Global Witness and Open Society Foundations. If there’s one thing of his to read, it’s probably “Deadly Environment”, a report about murders of environmental defenders.

What are we doing?

The top level question we’re addressing is: “In what circumstances, if any, can tools like Alaveteli be shown to have measurable impacts on the ability of citizens to exert power over underperforming institutions?” To get at this, we’ll be doing three things:

  • First, a review of the studies so far on the impact of the internet on FOI. Our early findings flag a lot of research into the mechanics of FOI, but very little on its impact, other than anecdotal evidence. There are some great points and questions raised in the literature however, which we combine into roughly ten areas of impact. These include FOI’s role in aiding the transition from transparency to accountability, the role of different groups (like the media, movements, non-governmental and community groups), public and institutional perceptions, security and privacy. We find that the overall challenge is that the technology is only part of the FOI value chain – governments also need to respond, and sanctions/enforcements put in place which ensure governments are transparent and accountable.
  • Second, a field scan of practitioners. There are nearly 20 FOI websites running Alaveteli. Some sites are just getting started, like Доступ До Правди (“Access the Truth”) in Ukraine. By talking with the people setting up and using these sites, we aim to pull together a view of what makes a successful implementation, what the challenges are, and what can be learned for future implementors of FOI sites.
  • Third, a list of critical success factors, pulled together from both the literature and practitioner reviews, which will be translated into major languages.

All these documents should be published this September, along with something brief and readable with the topline findings.

What are we asking of you?

If you run an Alaveteli site, we may have already emailed you or will do very soon asking if you can spare some time to talk with us as part of the practioner review. More generally, we’re continuing to look for more articles and ‘grey’ literature, in particular any quantitative studies, about the role of technologies in FOI. We have a shorter list of articles we have found so far here, and a longer list here – have we missed any? Please let us know.

To wrap up, this is first generation research into this area. We hope to have material that can be useful to you and mySociety. Any questions, get in touch via the comments field, or via twitter at any of our handles (@alaveteli_foi, @tlongers, @savitabailur).

Short reference list

Baisakh, Pradeep. 2007. “India Together: Villagers Push for Work Benefits in Orissa.” http://indiatogether.org/egarti-human-rights.

Bauhr, Monika, and Marcia Grimes. 2014. “Indignation or Resignation: The Implications of Transparency for Societal Accountability.” Governance 27 (2): 291–320. doi:10.1111/gove.12033.

Bertot, John C., Paul T. Jaeger, and Justin M. Grimes. 2010. “Using ICTs to Create a Culture of Transparency: E-Government and Social Media as Openness and Anti-Corruption Tools for Societies.” Government Information Quarterly 27 (3): 264–71. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2010.03.001.

Birkinshaw, Patrick. 2010. “Freedom of Information and Its Impact in the United Kingdom.” Government Information Quarterly, Special Issue: Open/Transparent Government, 27 (4): 312–21. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2010.06.006.

Brooke, Heather. 2011. “Fess up – or Face a Future of Leaks.” British Journalism Review 22 (1): 17–19. doi:10.1177/09564748110220010601.

Cabo, David. (2012). “Tu derecho a saber” David Cabo at TedxMadrid. Accessed June 25. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okta1VjTM0I.

Cherry, Morag, and David McMenemy. 2013. “Freedom of Information and ‘vexatious’ Requests — The Case of Scottish Local Government.” Government Information Quarterly 30 (3): 257–66. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2013.02.004.

Consumer Unity and Trust Society. 2010. Analysing the Right to Information Act in India. Jaipur: Consumer Unity and Trust Society.

Costa, Samia. 2013. “Do Freedom of Information Laws Decrease Corruption?” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 29 (6): 1317–43. doi:10.1093/jleo/ews016.

Dunion, K. 2011. “Viewpoint: In Defence of Freedom of Information.” Information Polity 16 (2): 93–96. doi:10.3233/IP-2011-0233.

Etzioni, Amitai. 2010. “Is Transparency the Best Disinfectant?” Journal of Political Philosophy 18 (4): 389–404. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9760.2010.00366.x.

Finel, Bernard I., and Kristin M. Lord. 1999. “The Surprising Logic of Transparency.” International Studies Quarterly 43 (2): 325–39. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00122.

Fox, Jonathan. 2007. “The Uncertain Relationship between Transparency and Accountability.” Development in Practice 17 (4-5): 663–71. doi:10.1080/09614520701469955.

Gandhi, Shailesh. 2007. “The RTI Movement Will Lead India to Swaraj.” Accessed June 24. http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/oct/11guest.htm.
Global Right to Information Rating. 2014. “Country Data.” http://www.rti-rating.org/.

Government of India. 2005. “Right to Information, Planning Commission, Governement of India.” http://planningcommission.gov.in/rti/index.php.

Grimmelikhuijsen, Stephan. 2012. “A Good Man but a Bad Wizard. About the Limits and Future of Transparency of Democratic Governments.” Information Polity 17 (3): 293–302. doi:10.3233/IP-2012-000288.

Hazell, R., Benjamin Worthy, and M. Glover. 2010. The Impact of the Freedom of Information Act on Central Government in the UK: Does Freedom of Information Work? London: Palgrave Macmillan. http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=407804.

Hazell, Robert, and Ben Worthy. 2010. “Assessing the Performance of Freedom of Information.” Government Information Quarterly, Special Issue: Open/Transparent Government, 27 (4): 352–59. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2010.03.005.

India Together: RTI: An Enormous Power with the People: Vinita Deshmukh – 07 August 2006. 2006. http://indiatogether.org/arvind-interviews.

Jaeger, Paul T., and John Carlo Bertot. 2010. “Transparency and Technological Change: Ensuring Equal and Sustained Public Access to Government Information.” Government Information Quarterly, Special Issue: Open/Transparent Government, 27 (4): 371–76. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2010.05.003.

Joshi, Anuradha. 2013. “Do They Work? Assessing the Impact of Transparency and Accountability Initiatives in Service Delivery.” Development Policy Review 31: s29–s48. doi:10.1111/dpr.12018.

McDonagh, Maeve. 2013. “The Right to Information in International Human Rights Law.” Human Rights Law Review 13 (1). http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2446424.

Meijer, Albert Jacob. 2003. “Transparent Government: Parliamentary and Legal Accountability in an Information Age.” Information Polity 8 (1): 67–78.

Michener, Greg. 2011. “FOI Laws Around the World.” Journal of Democracy 22 (2): 145–59. doi:10.1353/jod.2011.0021.

Michener, Greg, and Katherine Bersch. 2013. “Identifying Transparency.” Information Polity 18 (3): 233–42. doi:10.3233/IP-130299.

Minihan, Mary. 2014. “Cabinet Abolishes €15 Freedom of Information Fee”, July 1. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/cabinet-abolishes-15-freedom-of-information-fee-1.1851481.

Nye, Joseph S., Philip Zelikow, and David C. King. 1997. Why People Don’t Trust Government. Boston: Harvard University Press.

Roberts, Alasdair. 2010. “A Great and Revolutionary Law? The First Four Years of India’s Right to Information Act.” Public Administration Review 70 (6): 925–33. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2010.02224.x.

Shepherd, Elizabeth, Alice Stevenson, and Andrew Flinn. 2011. “Freedom of Information and Records Management in Local Government: Help or Hindrance?” Information Polity 16 (2): 111–21. doi:10.3233/IP-2011-0229.

Spence, Kate, and William Dinan. 2011. “Healthy Tensions? Assessing FOI Uptake in the Voluntary Sector in Scotland.” Information Polity 16 (2): 97–109. doi:10.3233/IP-2011-0228.

Srivastava, Smita. 2010. “The Right to Information in India: Implementation and Impact.” Afro Asian Journal of Social Sciences 1 (1): 1–18.

Tuderechoasaber.es (2012). Informe Tuderechoasaber.es 2012. Accessed June 25. http://blog-tdas.s3.amazonaws.com/blog-tdas/2013/04/informe2012.pdf

Tuderechoasaber.es (2013). Silencio masivo de las instituciones en el año de la transparencia: Informe Tuderechoasaber.es 2013. Accessed June 25. http://blog.tuderechoasaber.es/informe2013/.

UNDP. 2006. A Guide to Measuring the Impact of Right to Information Programmes; Practical Guide Note. New York: UNDP.

Worthy, Ben. 2010. “More Open but Not More Trusted? The Effect of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on the United Kingdom Central Government.” Governance 23 (4): 561–82. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0491.2010.01498.x.

Long reference list

Baisakh, Pradeep. 2007. “India Together: Villagers Push for Work Benefits in Orissa.” http://indiatogether.org/egarti-human-rights.

Bannister, Frank, and Regina Connolly. 2011. “The Trouble with Transparency: A Critical Review of Openness in E-Government.” Policy & Internet 3 (1): 1–30. doi:10.2202/1944-2866.1076.

Bauhr, Monika, and Marcia Grimes. 2014. “Indignation or Resignation: The Implications of Transparency for Societal Accountability.” Governance 27 (2): 291–320. doi:10.1111/gove.12033.

Bentham, Jeremy, and Sir John Bowring. 1839. Works of Jeremy Bentham. W. Tait.

Berliner, Daniel. 2014. “The Political Origins of Transparency.” The Journal of Politics 76 (02): 479–91. doi:10.1017/S0022381613001412.

Bertot, John C., Paul T. Jaeger, and Justin M. Grimes. 2010. “Using ICTs to Create a Culture of Transparency: E-Government and Social Media as Openness and Anti-Corruption Tools for Societies.” Government Information Quarterly 27 (3): 264–71. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2010.03.001.

Birkinshaw, Patrick. 2010. “Freedom of Information and Its Impact in the United Kingdom.” Government Information Quarterly, Special Issue: Open/Transparent Government, 27 (4): 312–21. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2010.06.006.

Breton, Albert. 2007. The Economics of Transparency in Politics. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Brooke, Heather. 2011. “Fess up – or Face a Future of Leaks.” British Journalism Review 22 (1): 17–19. doi:10.1177/09564748110220010601.

Cabo, David. (2012). “Tu derecho a saber” David Cabo at TedxMadrid. Accessed June 25. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okta1VjTM0I.

Cherry, Morag, and David McMenemy. 2013. “Freedom of Information and ‘vexatious’ Requests — The Case of Scottish Local Government.” Government Information Quarterly 30 (3): 257–66. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2013.02.004.

Consumer Unity and Trust Society. 2010. Analysing the Right to Information Act in India. Jaipur: Consumer Unity and Trust Society.

Costa, Samia. 2013. “Do Freedom of Information Laws Decrease Corruption?” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 29 (6): 1317–43. doi:10.1093/jleo/ews016.

Douglass, Frederick. 2014. “(1857) Frederick Douglass, ‘If There Is No Struggle, There Is No Progress’ – The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed.” Accessed June 24. http://www.blackpast.org/1857-frederick-douglass-if-there-no-struggle-there-no-progress.

Dunion, K. 2011. “Viewpoint: In Defence of Freedom of Information.” Information Polity 16 (2): 93–96. doi:10.3233/IP-2011-0233.

Etzioni, Amitai. 2010. “Is Transparency the Best Disinfectant?” Journal of Political Philosophy 18 (4): 389–404. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9760.2010.00366.x.

Fenster, Mark. 2010. Seeing the State: Transparency as Metaphor. SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 1562762. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida. http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1562762.

Finel, Bernard I., and Kristin M. Lord. 1999. “The Surprising Logic of Transparency.” International Studies Quarterly 43 (2): 325–39. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00122.

Fox, Jonathan. 2007. “The Uncertain Relationship between Transparency and Accountability.” Development in Practice 17 (4-5): 663–71. doi:10.1080/09614520701469955.

Fung, Archon. 2006. “Varieties of Participation in Complex Governance.” Public Administration Review 66: 66–75. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2006.00667.x.

Gandhi, Shailesh. 2007. “The RTI Movement Will Lead India to Swaraj.”
Global Right to Information Rating. 2014. “Country Data.” http://www.rti-rating.org/.

Government of India. 2005. “Right to Information, Planning Commission, Governement of India.” http://planningcommission.gov.in/rti/index.php.

Grimmelikhuijsen, Stephan. 2012. “A Good Man but a Bad Wizard. About the Limits and Future of Transparency of Democratic Governments.” Information Polity 17 (3): 293–302. doi:10.3233/IP-2012-000288.

Hazell, R., Benjamin Worthy, and M. Glover. 2010. The Impact of the Freedom of Information Act on Central Government in the UK: Does Freedom of Information Work? London: Palgrave Macmillan. http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=407804.

Hazell, Robert, and Ben Worthy. 2010. “Assessing the Performance of Freedom of Information.” Government Information Quarterly, Special Issue: Open/Transparent Government, 27 (4): 352–59. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2010.03.005.

Hood, Christopher. 2006. “Transparency in Historical Perspective.” In Transparency: The Key to Better Governance?, edited by Christopher Hood and David Heald, 3–23. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. http://www.oup.co.uk/.

India Together: RTI: An Enormous Power with the People: Vinita Deshmukh – 07 August 2006. 2006. http://indiatogether.org/arvind-interviews.

Jaeger, Paul T., and John Carlo Bertot. 2010. “Transparency and Technological Change: Ensuring Equal and Sustained Public Access to Government Information.” Government Information Quarterly, Special Issue: Open/Transparent Government, 27 (4): 371–76. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2010.05.003.

Joshi, Anuradha. 2013. “Do They Work? Assessing the Impact of Transparency and Accountability Initiatives in Service Delivery.” Development Policy Review 31: s29–s48. doi:10.1111/dpr.12018.

Lathrop, Daniel, and Laurel Ruma. 2010. Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, Inc.

Linders, Dennis. 2012. “From E-Government to We-Government: Defining a Typology for Citizen Coproduction in the Age of Social Media.” Government Information Quarterly, Social Media in Government – Selections from the 12th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (dg.o2011), 29 (4): 446–54. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2012.06.003.

McDonagh, Maeve. 2013. “The Right to Information in International Human Rights Law.” Human Rights Law Review 13 (1). http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2446424.

Meijer, Albert J. 2012. “Introduction to the Special Issue on Government Transparency.” International Review of Administrative Sciences 78 (1): 3–9. doi:10.1177/0020852311435639.

Meijer, Albert Jacob. 2003. “Transparent Government: Parliamentary and Legal Accountability in an Information Age.” Information Polity 8 (1): 67–78.

Michener, Greg. 2011. “FOI Laws Around the World.” Journal of Democracy 22 (2): 145–59. doi:10.1353/jod.2011.0021.

Michener, Greg, and Katherine Bersch. 2013. “Identifying Transparency.” Information Polity 18 (3): 233–42. doi:10.3233/IP-130299.

Minihan, Mary. 2014. “Cabinet Abolishes €15 Freedom of Information Fee”, July 1. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/cabinet-abolishes-15-freedom-of-information-fee-1.1851481.

Nye, Joseph S., Philip Zelikow, and David C. King. 1997. Why People Don’t Trust Government. Boston: Harvard University Press.

Official Information: Your Right To Know — Ministry of Justice, New Zealand. 2014. Accessed June 24. http://www.justice.govt.nz/publications/global-publications/o/official-information-your-right-to-know.

OneWorld. 2011. ICT Facilitated Access to Information Innovations.

Press Association. 2009. “Telegraph Reveals Cost of MP’s Expense Story.”

Roberts, Alasdair. 2010. “A Great and Revolutionary Law? The First Four Years of India’s Right to Information Act.” Public Administration Review 70 (6): 925–33. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2010.02224.x.

Schedler, Andreas. 1999. “Conceptualizing Accountability.” In The Self-Restraining State: Power and Accountability in New Democracies, edited by Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner, 13–28. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Shepherd, Elizabeth, Alice Stevenson, and Andrew Flinn. 2011. “Freedom of Information and Records Management in Local Government: Help or Hindrance?” Information Polity 16 (2): 111–21. doi:10.3233/IP-2011-0229.

Smith, Matthew L., and Katherine M. A. Reilly. 2014. Open Development: Networked Innovations in International Development. Ottawa: MIT Press.

Spence, Kate, and William Dinan. 2011. “Healthy Tensions? Assessing FOI Uptake in the Voluntary Sector in Scotland.” Information Polity 16 (2): 97–109. doi:10.3233/IP-2011-0228.

Srivastava, Smita. 2010. “The Right to Information in India: Implementation and Impact.” Afro Asian Journal of Social Sciences 1 (1): 1–18.

Tuderechoasaber.es (2012). Informe Tuderechoasaber.es 2012. Accessed June 25. http://blog-tdas.s3.amazonaws.com/blog-tdas/2013/04/informe2012.pdf

Tuderechoasaber.es (2013). Silencio masivo de las instituciones en el año de la transparencia: Informe Tuderechoasaber.es 2013. Accessed June 25. http://blog.tuderechoasaber.es/informe2013/.

UNDP. 2006. A Guide to Measuring the Impact of Right to Information Programmes; Practical Guide Note. New York: UNDP.

Wilson, Woodrow, and William Bayard Hale. 1918. The New Freedom: A Call for the Emancipation of the Generous Energies of a People. Doubleday, Page.

Worthy, Ben. 2010. “More Open but Not More Trusted? The Effect of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on the United Kingdom Central Government.” Governance 23 (4): 561–82. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0491.2010.01498.x.

Xiao, Weibing. 2010. “The Improved Information Environment as a Key Rationale for Freedom of Information Reform in China.” Information Polity 15 (3): 177–87. doi:10.3233/IP-2010-0214.


If you have any questions, or problems installing the code, please do get in touch, or post on our mailing list.