The document proposes an initiative called "It's The People's Data" where the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) chapters would become hubs for community training on data harvesting, analysis, and storytelling using open government data. The goal is to shift the focus from Freedom of Information to Freedom of Data by making taxpayer-funded data more accessible to the public. SPJ chapters would promote workshops to teach broad interest groups how to retrieve, clean, analyze and use local data to enhance civic participation, economic development, and reduce the costs of responding to records requests. While challenging, the initiative could boost democratic engagement and the profile of SPJ while developing new skills for the digital age.

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
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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