Presentation to the Society of Professional Journalists board of directors April 18, 2015

1. It’s The People’s Data
It’s The People’s Data
Tom Johnson, Director - Region 9
Society of Professional Journalists
t o m @ j t j o h n s o n . c o m
4/18/2015 1

2. It’s The People’s Data4/18/2015 2
Source: The New Yorker. Oct. 4, 2010 http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-3
Digital Age
driving
change.
In everything.

3. It’s The People’s Data 3
• Journalists, et al., in Datasphere
Take in; intellectually “metabolize”
FOIA in the Digital Age
Data
In
Analysis
Info
Out
MetabolismLatent
Energy
In
Energy
Out
 Species in Biosphere:

4. It’s The People’s Data
FOIA in Digital Age
• Process = Data In  Analysis  Info Out
• “Data” = 1s and 0s, ergo…
• “Data” necessary for qualitative,
quantitative, geographic and timeline
analysis
• The DOCUMENT is not important; the
DATA is
4/18/2015 4

5. It’s The People’s Data
SPJ Initiative: It’s The People’s
Data
• Shift the vocabulary:
It’s NOT Freedom of Information; it’s
Freedom of DATA
• Taxpayers have paid for the collection
of the data. Therefore, IT IS THE
PEOPLE’S DATA
4/18/2015 5
Image
s
Tex
t
Quantativ
e
.Geo
g

6. It’s The People’s Data
Digital Age flips FOIA
• Admirable history[1]
of SPJ v. “Closed”
gov’t
4/18/2015 6
[1]
Swedish Freedom of Information Act of 1766.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1973849/Freedom-of-the-Press-Act-of-1766 Also: [U.S.]History of
FOIA.” Electronic Frontier Foundation. https://www.eff.org/issues/transparency/history-of-foia

7. It’s The People’s Data
Digital Age flips FOIA
• Admirable history of SPJ v. “Closed”
gov’t
• In Digital Age, citizens accustomed to
“instant delivery”
• History of FOIA is defensive/reactive
4/18/2015 7
David Cuillier Kathryn Foxhall Sonny Albarado

8. It’s The People’s Data
Digital Age flips FOIA
• Admirable history of SPJ v. “Closed”
gov’t
• FOIA action is too often reactive
• In Digital Age, citizens accustomed to
“instant delivery,” yet slow-down in
gov’t responses.[1]
4/18/2015 8
[1]
TED BRIDIS, Mar. 18, 2015 2:43 PM EDT AP. “Administration sets record for withholding government files”

9. It’s The People’s Data
Digital Age flips FOIA
• In Digital Age, citizens accustomed to
“instant delivery”
• Gov’t agencies complain about being
overwhelmed with FOIA requests[1]
• Majority of FOIA requests not from
journalists[2] [3]
• Can we take SPJ, et al. FOIA activities to
a local – and broader – audience?
4/18/2015 9
[1]
Department of Homeland Security in 2012 and Catherine Andrews. “Why You Need Improved Operational Intelligence for Big Data”
March 9, 2015
[2]
KEVIN JOHNSON and KEVIN G. HALL. “New players replacing newspapers in seeking government info” USA Today 03/14/2015;
2014 Chief Freedom of Information Act Officer Report to the Attorney General of the United States and FOIA Lawsuits
[3]
Jeffrey A. Roberts. “State budget includes new AG’s office lawyer to handle growing number of records requests.”Colorado Freedom of
Information Coalition. 2 April 2015.

10. It’s The People’s Data
It’s The People’s Data
• Traditional government responsibilities
4/18/2015 10
Public Safety
Education
Public Health
Elections
Courts
Infrastructure

11. It’s The People’s Data
It’s The People’s Data
• Drive change in political & bureaucratic
world view
4/18/2015 11
Primary Tasks of Government
Public Safety
Education
Public Health
Election
Courts
Infrastructure
Make The People’s Data
available to The People

12. It’s The People’s Data
SPJ Initiative: It’s The People’s
Data
• SPJ chapters and affiliates become the hub
of community training, data harvesting,
analysis
– Local journalism institutions promote and
coordinate broad spectrum of interest
groups/people[1]
4/18/2015 12
[1]
Jeffrey A. Roberts. “State budget includes new AG’s office lawyer to handle growing number of records
requests.” Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. 2 April 2015.

13. It’s The People’s Data4/18/2015 13
It’s The
People’s
Data
SPJ Pro &
Student+
Local Media
Green
Party
Socialist
Party
Chamber
of
Commerce
Centrist
Party
Local
Political
Scientists
Local
Economic
Develop.
Communit
y Action
Groups
Food
Banks
United
Fund
Community
Foundations
Freelancer
s
Traffic
Planners
Tea Party
Common
Cause
League of
Women
Voters

14. It’s The People’s Data4/18/2015 14

15. It’s The People’s Data
SPJ Initiative: It’s The People’s
Data• SPJ chapters and affiliates become the hub
of community training, data harvesting,
analysis
– Local journalism institutions promote and
coordinate broad spectrum of interest
groups/people
– Conduct city/county data census
– Build data base of local data bases
– Workshops in data retrieval, cleaning, analysis
and story-telling tools
– Test, measure and re-test
4/18/2015 15

16. It’s The People’s Data
SPJ Initiative: It’s The People’s
Data
Cons
•Technology is easy;
changing cultures is
hard
•Long-term endeavor
•Mgmt/coordination a
full-time task
4/18/2015 16

17. It’s The People’s Data
SPJ Initiative: It’s The People’s
Data
4/18/2015 17
Cons
• Technology is easy;
changing cultures is hard
• Long-term endeavor
• Mgmt/coordination a full-
time task
Pros
• Enhance democratic participation
• Economic development[1]
• Reduce data requests; cost of gov’t
• Enhance profile of local media
• Enhance profile of SPJ; recruit members
• Focused involvement of SPJ members
• New Digital Age skills
• Scalable
• Generate revenue (training & contract
projects)
[1] Joel Gurin. “Building Business with Open Government Data.” March 26, 2015
http://www.slideshare.net/centerforopendataenterprise/sxsw-panel-presentation

18. It’s The People’s Data
It’s The People’s Data: Next Steps
• What do you think?
4/18/2015 18

19. It’s The People’s Data
It’s The People’s Data
Tom Johnson, Director - Region 9
Society of Professional Journalists
t o m @ j t j o h n s o n . c o m
4/18/2015
19
Presentation @ slideshare or w w w . b i t . l y / 1 D d L U
Q 7
Video @ http://1drv.ms/1H0exlh

20. It’s The People’s Data
It’s The People’s Data
Think Big.
Start
Small.
Move Fast.
4/18/2015 20