#opengovernment — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #opengovernment, aggregated by home.social.
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New provincial laws are making it harder to access government records in Canada
#Canada #FreedomOfInformation #AccessToInformation #Transparency #Journalism #HumanRights #Privacy #OpenGovernment #PublicRecords #Politics #Ontario #Alberta #BritishColumbia
https://the-14.com/new-provincial-laws-are-making-it-harder-to-access-government-records-in-canada/ -
New provincial laws are making it harder to access government records in Canada
#Canada #FreedomOfInformation #AccessToInformation #Transparency #Journalism #HumanRights #Privacy #OpenGovernment #PublicRecords #Politics #Ontario #Alberta #BritishColumbia
https://the-14.com/new-provincial-laws-are-making-it-harder-to-access-government-records-in-canada/ -
New provincial laws are making it harder to access government records in Canada
#Canada #FreedomOfInformation #AccessToInformation #Transparency #Journalism #HumanRights #Privacy #OpenGovernment #PublicRecords #Politics #Ontario #Alberta #BritishColumbia
https://the-14.com/new-provincial-laws-are-making-it-harder-to-access-government-records-in-canada/ -
New provincial laws are making it harder to access government records in Canada
#Canada #FreedomOfInformation #AccessToInformation #Transparency #Journalism #HumanRights #Privacy #OpenGovernment #PublicRecords #Politics #Ontario #Alberta #BritishColumbia
https://the-14.com/new-provincial-laws-are-making-it-harder-to-access-government-records-in-canada/ -
New provincial laws are making it harder to access government records in Canada
#Canada #FreedomOfInformation #AccessToInformation #Transparency #Journalism #HumanRights #Privacy #OpenGovernment #PublicRecords #Politics #Ontario #Alberta #BritishColumbia
https://the-14.com/new-provincial-laws-are-making-it-harder-to-access-government-records-in-canada/ -
Slovenia’s new coalition under Janez Janša is accelerating measures that critics say weaken civil society, media, and democratic oversight. 🇸🇮⚖️
Janša’s government also faces warnings over expanded surveillance powers, privacy risks, and digital rights impacts in Slovenia and the EU. 🔒🔗 https://edri.org/our-work/slovenias-democracy-under-siege-an-urgent-update/
#TechNews #Slovenia #JanezJansa #DigitalRights #Privacy #Surveillance #Democracy #CivilSociety #HumanRights #OpenGovernment #Transparency #EU #Europe #CyberPolicy #FOSS #Politics
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Slovenia’s new coalition under Janez Janša is accelerating measures that critics say weaken civil society, media, and democratic oversight. 🇸🇮⚖️
Janša’s government also faces warnings over expanded surveillance powers, privacy risks, and digital rights impacts in Slovenia and the EU. 🔒🔗 https://edri.org/our-work/slovenias-democracy-under-siege-an-urgent-update/
#TechNews #Slovenia #JanezJansa #DigitalRights #Privacy #Surveillance #Democracy #CivilSociety #HumanRights #OpenGovernment #Transparency #EU #Europe #CyberPolicy #FOSS #Politics
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Slovenia’s new coalition under Janez Janša is accelerating measures that critics say weaken civil society, media, and democratic oversight. 🇸🇮⚖️
Janša’s government also faces warnings over expanded surveillance powers, privacy risks, and digital rights impacts in Slovenia and the EU. 🔒🔗 https://edri.org/our-work/slovenias-democracy-under-siege-an-urgent-update/
#TechNews #Slovenia #JanezJansa #DigitalRights #Privacy #Surveillance #Democracy #CivilSociety #HumanRights #OpenGovernment #Transparency #EU #Europe #CyberPolicy #FOSS #Politics
-
Slovenia’s new coalition under Janez Janša is accelerating measures that critics say weaken civil society, media, and democratic oversight. 🇸🇮⚖️
Janša’s government also faces warnings over expanded surveillance powers, privacy risks, and digital rights impacts in Slovenia and the EU. 🔒🔗 https://edri.org/our-work/slovenias-democracy-under-siege-an-urgent-update/
#TechNews #Slovenia #JanezJansa #DigitalRights #Privacy #Surveillance #Democracy #CivilSociety #HumanRights #OpenGovernment #Transparency #EU #Europe #CyberPolicy #FOSS #Politics
-
Slovenia’s new coalition under Janez Janša is accelerating measures that critics say weaken civil society, media, and democratic oversight. 🇸🇮⚖️
Janša’s government also faces warnings over expanded surveillance powers, privacy risks, and digital rights impacts in Slovenia and the EU. 🔒🔗 https://edri.org/our-work/slovenias-democracy-under-siege-an-urgent-update/
#TechNews #Slovenia #JanezJansa #DigitalRights #Privacy #Surveillance #Democracy #CivilSociety #HumanRights #OpenGovernment #Transparency #EU #Europe #CyberPolicy #FOSS #Politics
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Look at this excellent website for tracking the completion dates of naturalisation applications. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was just either a) official website with information, or, b) an api with annonomised dates. #OpenData
#OpenGovernment #UKPol #naturalisation
https://citizenship.magidev.co.uk/ -
Look at this excellent website for tracking the completion dates of naturalisation applications. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was just either a) official website with information, or, b) an api with annonomised dates. #OpenData
#OpenGovernment #UKPol #naturalisation
https://citizenship.magidev.co.uk/ -
DATE: June 24, 2026 at 08:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Cameras in the statehouse do not increase political polarization, study finds
URL: https://www.psypost.org/cameras-in-the-statehouse-do-not-increase-political-polarization/
When cameras begin recording state legislative sessions, politicians do not actually change their voting behavior or become more polarized as a result. The new findings suggest that livestreaming political proceedings does not break the policymaking process, according to a recent study published in the American Political Science Review.
For decades, political observers have debated the impact of video transparency on government institutions. Some argue that putting cameras in a legislative chamber empowers everyday voters to easily monitor their elected representatives. Under this theory, increased visibility should encourage politicians to compromise and act moderately, fearing a backlash from the general public if they behave unreasonably.
Critics harbor the opposite suspicion, worrying that cameras incentivize politicians to engage in political theater. They fear that constant video coverage turns the legislative floor into a stage for performance rather than a place for serious debate. When politicians speak to the cameras, they might cater to political extremists, wealthy donors, or special interest groups rather than the average voter.
Looking at the national government, many people suspect a strong connection between video coverage and political dysfunction. The introduction of national broadcasting networks to the United States House of Representatives in 1979 coincided with a steady rise in political polarization. This trend led observers to blame the cameras for the changing environment.
Many politicians share this negative assessment. Before passing away, Representative Don Young remarked of the eventual television coverage, “It’s probably the worst thing that happened to the Congress.”
Yet studying the national government presents a tough statistical challenge. Because national cameras were introduced only once, researchers cannot easily separate the impact of the broadcasts from other historical and cultural changes happening at the exact same time. It is impossible to know for sure what the national government would look like today if cameras had never been installed.
To overcome this hurdle, researchers turned their attention to state governments instead of the national capital. The new research was led by Jeffrey Lyons, a political scientist at Boise State University, along with Josh Ryan from Utah State University.
The team realized that different state legislatures adopted constant video coverage at wildly different times. Some states brought television cameras into their chambers in the late 1980s. Other states only began streaming their sessions online during the recent pandemic, in response to health limits on public access to government buildings.
The researchers specifically focused on continuous, unedited broadcasts, often known as gavel-to-gavel coverage. This means the cameras roll from the moment a legislative session opens until the moment it closes. By tracking this specific type of broadcast, the researchers avoided the inconsistencies of part-time camera coverage that only captures select, high-profile debates.
This staggered, state-by-state rollout allowed the researchers to conduct a robust statistical comparison. By gathering data on when 91 different state legislative chambers introduced this continuous coverage, they could track exactly how political behavior shifted before and after the cameras arrived in each specific state.
The researchers examined several distinct indicators of political dysfunction and productivity. At the chamber wide level, they tracked whether legislative sessions passed late budgets. A late budget indicates that politicians are refusing to compromise, which can lead to government shutdowns and economic instability within the state.
The team also measured the overall volume of bills passed to determine if lawmaking ground to a halt. In addition, they calculated whether the two major political parties drifted further apart in their voting records, a sign of deepening polarization.
They also looked at the behavior of individual politicians. The team analyzed each lawmaker’s overall ideological extremity based on their voting history. They tracked loyalty to the political party, noting how often a politician voted in lockstep with party leadership versus crossing the aisle.
Standardized effectiveness scores were evaluated as well. Legislative effectiveness measures how successfully a politician advances bills through the complex legislative process. If a politician abandons hard work in favor of performing for the camera, their effectiveness score would theoretically drop.
Despite the prevalent fears about video coverage, the results revealed that introducing cameras into a statehouse leaves legislative behavior largely unchanged. State chambers did not become more polarized, nor did they show increased dysfunction as the coverage began. At the individual level, lawmakers maintained their existing habits after cameras were installed.
The presence of video coverage did not affect whether states passed their budgets on time. It also did not alter the number of bills successfully enacted into law. The data produced no statistically significant changes in how often representatives voted with their party, and voting records did not become more extreme.
The researchers checked isolated cases to see if the timeline mattered. For example, they tested whether adopting television cameras in the 1990s had a different impact than adopting internet streaming in the 2010s. They also checked if the effects of video coverage took a few years to appear, but they still found no large or persistent shifts in how politicians approach the policymaking process.
The authors acknowledge a few limitations to their conclusions. While voting behavior and lawmaking productivity stay the same, it remains possible that the tone or rhetoric used during debates becomes more abrasive. Politicians might speak more aggressively for the cameras, even if their final votes remain unchanged.
It is also possible that politicians adjust to the presence of cameras by relocating their most sensitive negotiations. If the main legislative floor is being recorded, lawmakers might simply retreat to private offices, local restaurants, or back rooms to hammer out compromises away from public scrutiny.
Future studies might investigate whether other transparency measures influence statehouse dynamics. Researchers could look at the publication of roll call voting records in local newspapers, or track whether specific, media savvy politicians use the introduction of video coverage to uniquely boost their own individual careers.
For now, the latest evidence hints that livestreaming state and local government meetings is a benign practice. These findings are highly relevant today, as school boards, city councils, and local agencies increasingly stream their meetings over the internet.
Transparency advocates often encounter resistance from officials who claim that cameras will ruin the collaborative spirit of a governing body. The data from state legislatures cast doubt on those claims, suggesting that making government proceedings visible does not actually derail the hard work of legislating.
The study, “Lights, Camera, Inaction? The Effects of Gavel-to-Gavel Floor Coverage on U.S. State Legislatures,” was authored by Jeffrey Lyons and Josh M. Ryan. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055425101032
URL: https://www.psypost.org/cameras-in-the-statehouse-do-not-increase-political-polarization/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #CamerasInStateLegislatures #GavelToGavel #TransparencyInGovernment #LivestreamingLegislature #PoliticalPolarizationMyth #StatePolicyResearch #LegislativeEffectiveness #OpenGovernment #CivicTechnology #PublicAccessToMeetings
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DATE: June 24, 2026 at 08:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Cameras in the statehouse do not increase political polarization, study finds
URL: https://www.psypost.org/cameras-in-the-statehouse-do-not-increase-political-polarization/
When cameras begin recording state legislative sessions, politicians do not actually change their voting behavior or become more polarized as a result. The new findings suggest that livestreaming political proceedings does not break the policymaking process, according to a recent study published in the American Political Science Review.
For decades, political observers have debated the impact of video transparency on government institutions. Some argue that putting cameras in a legislative chamber empowers everyday voters to easily monitor their elected representatives. Under this theory, increased visibility should encourage politicians to compromise and act moderately, fearing a backlash from the general public if they behave unreasonably.
Critics harbor the opposite suspicion, worrying that cameras incentivize politicians to engage in political theater. They fear that constant video coverage turns the legislative floor into a stage for performance rather than a place for serious debate. When politicians speak to the cameras, they might cater to political extremists, wealthy donors, or special interest groups rather than the average voter.
Looking at the national government, many people suspect a strong connection between video coverage and political dysfunction. The introduction of national broadcasting networks to the United States House of Representatives in 1979 coincided with a steady rise in political polarization. This trend led observers to blame the cameras for the changing environment.
Many politicians share this negative assessment. Before passing away, Representative Don Young remarked of the eventual television coverage, “It’s probably the worst thing that happened to the Congress.”
Yet studying the national government presents a tough statistical challenge. Because national cameras were introduced only once, researchers cannot easily separate the impact of the broadcasts from other historical and cultural changes happening at the exact same time. It is impossible to know for sure what the national government would look like today if cameras had never been installed.
To overcome this hurdle, researchers turned their attention to state governments instead of the national capital. The new research was led by Jeffrey Lyons, a political scientist at Boise State University, along with Josh Ryan from Utah State University.
The team realized that different state legislatures adopted constant video coverage at wildly different times. Some states brought television cameras into their chambers in the late 1980s. Other states only began streaming their sessions online during the recent pandemic, in response to health limits on public access to government buildings.
The researchers specifically focused on continuous, unedited broadcasts, often known as gavel-to-gavel coverage. This means the cameras roll from the moment a legislative session opens until the moment it closes. By tracking this specific type of broadcast, the researchers avoided the inconsistencies of part-time camera coverage that only captures select, high-profile debates.
This staggered, state-by-state rollout allowed the researchers to conduct a robust statistical comparison. By gathering data on when 91 different state legislative chambers introduced this continuous coverage, they could track exactly how political behavior shifted before and after the cameras arrived in each specific state.
The researchers examined several distinct indicators of political dysfunction and productivity. At the chamber wide level, they tracked whether legislative sessions passed late budgets. A late budget indicates that politicians are refusing to compromise, which can lead to government shutdowns and economic instability within the state.
The team also measured the overall volume of bills passed to determine if lawmaking ground to a halt. In addition, they calculated whether the two major political parties drifted further apart in their voting records, a sign of deepening polarization.
They also looked at the behavior of individual politicians. The team analyzed each lawmaker’s overall ideological extremity based on their voting history. They tracked loyalty to the political party, noting how often a politician voted in lockstep with party leadership versus crossing the aisle.
Standardized effectiveness scores were evaluated as well. Legislative effectiveness measures how successfully a politician advances bills through the complex legislative process. If a politician abandons hard work in favor of performing for the camera, their effectiveness score would theoretically drop.
Despite the prevalent fears about video coverage, the results revealed that introducing cameras into a statehouse leaves legislative behavior largely unchanged. State chambers did not become more polarized, nor did they show increased dysfunction as the coverage began. At the individual level, lawmakers maintained their existing habits after cameras were installed.
The presence of video coverage did not affect whether states passed their budgets on time. It also did not alter the number of bills successfully enacted into law. The data produced no statistically significant changes in how often representatives voted with their party, and voting records did not become more extreme.
The researchers checked isolated cases to see if the timeline mattered. For example, they tested whether adopting television cameras in the 1990s had a different impact than adopting internet streaming in the 2010s. They also checked if the effects of video coverage took a few years to appear, but they still found no large or persistent shifts in how politicians approach the policymaking process.
The authors acknowledge a few limitations to their conclusions. While voting behavior and lawmaking productivity stay the same, it remains possible that the tone or rhetoric used during debates becomes more abrasive. Politicians might speak more aggressively for the cameras, even if their final votes remain unchanged.
It is also possible that politicians adjust to the presence of cameras by relocating their most sensitive negotiations. If the main legislative floor is being recorded, lawmakers might simply retreat to private offices, local restaurants, or back rooms to hammer out compromises away from public scrutiny.
Future studies might investigate whether other transparency measures influence statehouse dynamics. Researchers could look at the publication of roll call voting records in local newspapers, or track whether specific, media savvy politicians use the introduction of video coverage to uniquely boost their own individual careers.
For now, the latest evidence hints that livestreaming state and local government meetings is a benign practice. These findings are highly relevant today, as school boards, city councils, and local agencies increasingly stream their meetings over the internet.
Transparency advocates often encounter resistance from officials who claim that cameras will ruin the collaborative spirit of a governing body. The data from state legislatures cast doubt on those claims, suggesting that making government proceedings visible does not actually derail the hard work of legislating.
The study, “Lights, Camera, Inaction? The Effects of Gavel-to-Gavel Floor Coverage on U.S. State Legislatures,” was authored by Jeffrey Lyons and Josh M. Ryan. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055425101032
URL: https://www.psypost.org/cameras-in-the-statehouse-do-not-increase-political-polarization/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #CamerasInStateLegislatures #GavelToGavel #TransparencyInGovernment #LivestreamingLegislature #PoliticalPolarizationMyth #StatePolicyResearch #LegislativeEffectiveness #OpenGovernment #CivicTechnology #PublicAccessToMeetings
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DATE: June 24, 2026 at 08:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Cameras in the statehouse do not increase political polarization, study finds
URL: https://www.psypost.org/cameras-in-the-statehouse-do-not-increase-political-polarization/
When cameras begin recording state legislative sessions, politicians do not actually change their voting behavior or become more polarized as a result. The new findings suggest that livestreaming political proceedings does not break the policymaking process, according to a recent study published in the American Political Science Review.
For decades, political observers have debated the impact of video transparency on government institutions. Some argue that putting cameras in a legislative chamber empowers everyday voters to easily monitor their elected representatives. Under this theory, increased visibility should encourage politicians to compromise and act moderately, fearing a backlash from the general public if they behave unreasonably.
Critics harbor the opposite suspicion, worrying that cameras incentivize politicians to engage in political theater. They fear that constant video coverage turns the legislative floor into a stage for performance rather than a place for serious debate. When politicians speak to the cameras, they might cater to political extremists, wealthy donors, or special interest groups rather than the average voter.
Looking at the national government, many people suspect a strong connection between video coverage and political dysfunction. The introduction of national broadcasting networks to the United States House of Representatives in 1979 coincided with a steady rise in political polarization. This trend led observers to blame the cameras for the changing environment.
Many politicians share this negative assessment. Before passing away, Representative Don Young remarked of the eventual television coverage, “It’s probably the worst thing that happened to the Congress.”
Yet studying the national government presents a tough statistical challenge. Because national cameras were introduced only once, researchers cannot easily separate the impact of the broadcasts from other historical and cultural changes happening at the exact same time. It is impossible to know for sure what the national government would look like today if cameras had never been installed.
To overcome this hurdle, researchers turned their attention to state governments instead of the national capital. The new research was led by Jeffrey Lyons, a political scientist at Boise State University, along with Josh Ryan from Utah State University.
The team realized that different state legislatures adopted constant video coverage at wildly different times. Some states brought television cameras into their chambers in the late 1980s. Other states only began streaming their sessions online during the recent pandemic, in response to health limits on public access to government buildings.
The researchers specifically focused on continuous, unedited broadcasts, often known as gavel-to-gavel coverage. This means the cameras roll from the moment a legislative session opens until the moment it closes. By tracking this specific type of broadcast, the researchers avoided the inconsistencies of part-time camera coverage that only captures select, high-profile debates.
This staggered, state-by-state rollout allowed the researchers to conduct a robust statistical comparison. By gathering data on when 91 different state legislative chambers introduced this continuous coverage, they could track exactly how political behavior shifted before and after the cameras arrived in each specific state.
The researchers examined several distinct indicators of political dysfunction and productivity. At the chamber wide level, they tracked whether legislative sessions passed late budgets. A late budget indicates that politicians are refusing to compromise, which can lead to government shutdowns and economic instability within the state.
The team also measured the overall volume of bills passed to determine if lawmaking ground to a halt. In addition, they calculated whether the two major political parties drifted further apart in their voting records, a sign of deepening polarization.
They also looked at the behavior of individual politicians. The team analyzed each lawmaker’s overall ideological extremity based on their voting history. They tracked loyalty to the political party, noting how often a politician voted in lockstep with party leadership versus crossing the aisle.
Standardized effectiveness scores were evaluated as well. Legislative effectiveness measures how successfully a politician advances bills through the complex legislative process. If a politician abandons hard work in favor of performing for the camera, their effectiveness score would theoretically drop.
Despite the prevalent fears about video coverage, the results revealed that introducing cameras into a statehouse leaves legislative behavior largely unchanged. State chambers did not become more polarized, nor did they show increased dysfunction as the coverage began. At the individual level, lawmakers maintained their existing habits after cameras were installed.
The presence of video coverage did not affect whether states passed their budgets on time. It also did not alter the number of bills successfully enacted into law. The data produced no statistically significant changes in how often representatives voted with their party, and voting records did not become more extreme.
The researchers checked isolated cases to see if the timeline mattered. For example, they tested whether adopting television cameras in the 1990s had a different impact than adopting internet streaming in the 2010s. They also checked if the effects of video coverage took a few years to appear, but they still found no large or persistent shifts in how politicians approach the policymaking process.
The authors acknowledge a few limitations to their conclusions. While voting behavior and lawmaking productivity stay the same, it remains possible that the tone or rhetoric used during debates becomes more abrasive. Politicians might speak more aggressively for the cameras, even if their final votes remain unchanged.
It is also possible that politicians adjust to the presence of cameras by relocating their most sensitive negotiations. If the main legislative floor is being recorded, lawmakers might simply retreat to private offices, local restaurants, or back rooms to hammer out compromises away from public scrutiny.
Future studies might investigate whether other transparency measures influence statehouse dynamics. Researchers could look at the publication of roll call voting records in local newspapers, or track whether specific, media savvy politicians use the introduction of video coverage to uniquely boost their own individual careers.
For now, the latest evidence hints that livestreaming state and local government meetings is a benign practice. These findings are highly relevant today, as school boards, city councils, and local agencies increasingly stream their meetings over the internet.
Transparency advocates often encounter resistance from officials who claim that cameras will ruin the collaborative spirit of a governing body. The data from state legislatures cast doubt on those claims, suggesting that making government proceedings visible does not actually derail the hard work of legislating.
The study, “Lights, Camera, Inaction? The Effects of Gavel-to-Gavel Floor Coverage on U.S. State Legislatures,” was authored by Jeffrey Lyons and Josh M. Ryan. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055425101032
URL: https://www.psypost.org/cameras-in-the-statehouse-do-not-increase-political-polarization/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #CamerasInStateLegislatures #GavelToGavel #TransparencyInGovernment #LivestreamingLegislature #PoliticalPolarizationMyth #StatePolicyResearch #LegislativeEffectiveness #OpenGovernment #CivicTechnology #PublicAccessToMeetings
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📣 TOMORROW! 📣
There’s still time to join us for THE FIGHT FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD, a LIVE Future Knowledge #podcast conversation on one of the defining information challenges of our time.📅 Tues, Jun 23
🕙 10AM PT
📍ONLINE
🎟️ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-fight-for-the-public-record-future-knowledge-podcast-tickets-1990004941349 -
📣 TOMORROW! 📣
There’s still time to join us for THE FIGHT FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD, a LIVE Future Knowledge #podcast conversation on one of the defining information challenges of our time.📅 Tues, Jun 23
🕙 10AM PT
📍ONLINE
🎟️ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-fight-for-the-public-record-future-knowledge-podcast-tickets-1990004941349 -
📣 TOMORROW! 📣
There’s still time to join us for THE FIGHT FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD, a LIVE Future Knowledge #podcast conversation on one of the defining information challenges of our time.📅 Tues, Jun 23
🕙 10AM PT
📍ONLINE
🎟️ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-fight-for-the-public-record-future-knowledge-podcast-tickets-1990004941349 -
📣 TOMORROW! 📣
There’s still time to join us for THE FIGHT FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD, a LIVE Future Knowledge #podcast conversation on one of the defining information challenges of our time.📅 Tues, Jun 23
🕙 10AM PT
📍ONLINE
🎟️ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-fight-for-the-public-record-future-knowledge-podcast-tickets-1990004941349 -
📣 TOMORROW! 📣
There’s still time to join us for THE FIGHT FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD, a LIVE Future Knowledge #podcast conversation on one of the defining information challenges of our time.📅 Tues, Jun 23
🕙 10AM PT
📍ONLINE
🎟️ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-fight-for-the-public-record-future-knowledge-podcast-tickets-1990004941349 -
🎥 Livestreams der Grazer Gemeinderatssitzungen sind gut, aber sie nach einer Woche zu löschen, ist nur halbe Transparenz! Demokratie braucht Erinnerung, kein Ablaufdatum.
Wir fordern:
🏴☠️ Dauerhaftes Archiv aller Sitzungen
🏴☠️ Durchsuchbare Videoprotokolle
🏴☠️ Einfachen Zugang für alleVollherzige Transparenz gibt es nur mit uns. 💜
Piraten zurück in den Gemeinderat!#Graz #Graz2026 #Transparenz #Gemeinderat #PiratenGraz #OpenGovernment #Demokratie
-
🎥 Livestreams der Grazer Gemeinderatssitzungen sind gut, aber sie nach einer Woche zu löschen, ist nur halbe Transparenz! Demokratie braucht Erinnerung, kein Ablaufdatum.
Wir fordern:
🏴☠️ Dauerhaftes Archiv aller Sitzungen
🏴☠️ Durchsuchbare Videoprotokolle
🏴☠️ Einfachen Zugang für alleVollherzige Transparenz gibt es nur mit uns. 💜
Piraten zurück in den Gemeinderat!#Graz #Graz2026 #Transparenz #Gemeinderat #PiratenGraz #OpenGovernment #Demokratie
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How to Make Transparency Hurt Power Without Breaking the Law
By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — June 7, 2026
Authoritarian systems do not collapse under protest alone. They erode when forced to explain themselves, document themselves, and preserve their own actions in writing. Transparency is not a moral appeal; it is a structural weapon. Used calmly and consistently, it turns speed into delay, discretion into exposure, and authority into liability.
Even when policy pressure is dictated from Washington, D.C., the machinery that enforces it operates locally. That machinery runs on records. This essay focuses on how lawful transparency—used patiently—can disrupt authoritarian control without confrontation, illegality, or spectacle.
Why Authoritarian Power Hates Records
Fascist and authoritarian governance prefers:
- Verbal agreements
- Urgency
- Informal understandings
- “Everyone knows how this works”
Written records interfere with all of that. They slow decisions. They create accountability trails. They allow patterns to be demonstrated rather than argued. Most importantly, they outlive the people who made the decisions.
Transparency does not need outrage to be effective. In fact, outrage often makes it easier to dismiss requests as political. Neutral, persistent documentation is far more dangerous.
Public Records Are Not a Last Resort
Many people treat public records requests as a nuclear option—something to use only when a scandal is already obvious. That is backwards.
Public records laws exist for routine oversight. When used early and often, they normalize scrutiny and discourage abuse before it becomes entrenched.
Useful requests include:
- Contracts and amendments with private vendors
- Procurement scoring sheets and bid evaluations
- Development agreements and tax incentives
- Emails and calendars tied to specific decisions
- Enforcement guidelines and priority memos
These requests should be narrow, precise, and boring. Boring requests are harder to deny and easier to process—on paper, at least.
The Power of Repetition
One request can be ignored. A pattern cannot.
When records are requested consistently:
- Officials become cautious
- Informal channels dry up
- Decisions migrate back to documented processes
- Staff begin advising leaders to “assume it will be requested”
This is not intimidation. It is institutional conditioning. The system adapts to scrutiny by reducing abuse.
For readers seeking a consolidated reference on transparency tools and civic accountability, additional material is available at https://endfascism.xyz.
Open Meetings Are Not Performances
Authoritarian influence often hides in “technical” meetings no one attends. Planning boards, zoning commissions, licensing hearings, and advisory panels do real work precisely because they are ignored.
Attending these meetings does not require speeches or disruption. It requires:
- Presence
- Notes
- Requests that statements be entered into the record
- Follow-up questions submitted in writing
Minutes matter. Once something is in the record, it exists independently of spin or denial.
Documentation Changes Future Behavior
The greatest value of transparency is not exposure—it is prevention.
Officials who know their emails may be read write differently. Agencies that expect records requests route decisions more carefully. Contractors who know documents may surface behave more conservatively.
Transparency reshapes incentives without confrontation. It makes abuse inefficient.
Protecting Yourself While Applying Pressure
Transparency is lawful, but that does not mean it is risk-free. The safest approach is collective and procedural.
Best practices include:
- Sharing request templates within communities
- Rotating who submits requests
- Keeping language neutral and factual
- Storing records redundantly and securely
The goal is not heroism. It is durability.
Transparency as Long-Term Resistance
Fascism depends on speed, fear, and forgetting. Transparency imposes delay, clarity, and memory. It does not topple systems overnight, but it makes authoritarian control brittle over time.
By insisting on records, meetings, and written justification, communities force power to operate in the open—or reveal its refusal to do so. Both outcomes matter.
This is how lawful resistance accumulates: quietly, methodically, and in ways that cannot be undone by a change in leadership or a shift in attention.
References (APA)
Bermeo, N. (2016). On democratic backsliding. Journal of Democracy, 27(1), 5–19.
#Accountability #Authoritarianism #civicOversight #Democracy #Fascism #localPower #openGovernment #publicRecords #Transparency
Cuillier, D., & Piotrowski, S. J. (2009). Internet information-seeking and its relation to support for access to government records. Government Information Quarterly, 26(3), 441–449.
Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How democracies die. Crown Publishing Group.
National Freedom of Information Coalition. (n.d.). Public records and open government principles.
Roberts, A. (2010). Blacked out: Government secrecy in the information age. Cambridge University Press. -
How to Make Transparency Hurt Power Without Breaking the Law
By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — June 7, 2026
Authoritarian systems do not collapse under protest alone. They erode when forced to explain themselves, document themselves, and preserve their own actions in writing. Transparency is not a moral appeal; it is a structural weapon. Used calmly and consistently, it turns speed into delay, discretion into exposure, and authority into liability.
Even when policy pressure is dictated from Washington, D.C., the machinery that enforces it operates locally. That machinery runs on records. This essay focuses on how lawful transparency—used patiently—can disrupt authoritarian control without confrontation, illegality, or spectacle.
Why Authoritarian Power Hates Records
Fascist and authoritarian governance prefers:
- Verbal agreements
- Urgency
- Informal understandings
- “Everyone knows how this works”
Written records interfere with all of that. They slow decisions. They create accountability trails. They allow patterns to be demonstrated rather than argued. Most importantly, they outlive the people who made the decisions.
Transparency does not need outrage to be effective. In fact, outrage often makes it easier to dismiss requests as political. Neutral, persistent documentation is far more dangerous.
Public Records Are Not a Last Resort
Many people treat public records requests as a nuclear option—something to use only when a scandal is already obvious. That is backwards.
Public records laws exist for routine oversight. When used early and often, they normalize scrutiny and discourage abuse before it becomes entrenched.
Useful requests include:
- Contracts and amendments with private vendors
- Procurement scoring sheets and bid evaluations
- Development agreements and tax incentives
- Emails and calendars tied to specific decisions
- Enforcement guidelines and priority memos
These requests should be narrow, precise, and boring. Boring requests are harder to deny and easier to process—on paper, at least.
The Power of Repetition
One request can be ignored. A pattern cannot.
When records are requested consistently:
- Officials become cautious
- Informal channels dry up
- Decisions migrate back to documented processes
- Staff begin advising leaders to “assume it will be requested”
This is not intimidation. It is institutional conditioning. The system adapts to scrutiny by reducing abuse.
For readers seeking a consolidated reference on transparency tools and civic accountability, additional material is available at https://endfascism.xyz.
Open Meetings Are Not Performances
Authoritarian influence often hides in “technical” meetings no one attends. Planning boards, zoning commissions, licensing hearings, and advisory panels do real work precisely because they are ignored.
Attending these meetings does not require speeches or disruption. It requires:
- Presence
- Notes
- Requests that statements be entered into the record
- Follow-up questions submitted in writing
Minutes matter. Once something is in the record, it exists independently of spin or denial.
Documentation Changes Future Behavior
The greatest value of transparency is not exposure—it is prevention.
Officials who know their emails may be read write differently. Agencies that expect records requests route decisions more carefully. Contractors who know documents may surface behave more conservatively.
Transparency reshapes incentives without confrontation. It makes abuse inefficient.
Protecting Yourself While Applying Pressure
Transparency is lawful, but that does not mean it is risk-free. The safest approach is collective and procedural.
Best practices include:
- Sharing request templates within communities
- Rotating who submits requests
- Keeping language neutral and factual
- Storing records redundantly and securely
The goal is not heroism. It is durability.
Transparency as Long-Term Resistance
Fascism depends on speed, fear, and forgetting. Transparency imposes delay, clarity, and memory. It does not topple systems overnight, but it makes authoritarian control brittle over time.
By insisting on records, meetings, and written justification, communities force power to operate in the open—or reveal its refusal to do so. Both outcomes matter.
This is how lawful resistance accumulates: quietly, methodically, and in ways that cannot be undone by a change in leadership or a shift in attention.
References (APA)
Bermeo, N. (2016). On democratic backsliding. Journal of Democracy, 27(1), 5–19.
#Accountability #Authoritarianism #civicOversight #Democracy #Fascism #localPower #openGovernment #publicRecords #Transparency
Cuillier, D., & Piotrowski, S. J. (2009). Internet information-seeking and its relation to support for access to government records. Government Information Quarterly, 26(3), 441–449.
Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How democracies die. Crown Publishing Group.
National Freedom of Information Coalition. (n.d.). Public records and open government principles.
Roberts, A. (2010). Blacked out: Government secrecy in the information age. Cambridge University Press. -
3/3
Featuring Merrilee Proffitt of Democracy’s Library at the #InternetArchive, James Jacobs of Stanford University, and Christopher Marcum of the Federation of American Scientists.We’ll explore digital preservation, democratic infrastructure, and how librarians, archivists, technologists, and policymakers are working to safeguard trustworthy public information in a time of rapid political and technological change. 📚🌐🗂️
#FutureKnowledge #DigitalPreservation #OpenGovernment
@csmarcum -
3/3
Featuring Merrilee Proffitt of Democracy’s Library at the #InternetArchive, James Jacobs of Stanford University, and Christopher Marcum of the Federation of American Scientists.We’ll explore digital preservation, democratic infrastructure, and how librarians, archivists, technologists, and policymakers are working to safeguard trustworthy public information in a time of rapid political and technological change. 📚🌐🗂️
#FutureKnowledge #DigitalPreservation #OpenGovernment
@csmarcum -
3/3
Featuring Merrilee Proffitt of Democracy’s Library at the #InternetArchive, James Jacobs of Stanford University, and Christopher Marcum of the Federation of American Scientists.We’ll explore digital preservation, democratic infrastructure, and how librarians, archivists, technologists, and policymakers are working to safeguard trustworthy public information in a time of rapid political and technological change. 📚🌐🗂️
#FutureKnowledge #DigitalPreservation #OpenGovernment
@csmarcum -
3/3
Featuring Merrilee Proffitt of Democracy’s Library at the #InternetArchive, James Jacobs of Stanford University, and Christopher Marcum of the Federation of American Scientists.We’ll explore digital preservation, democratic infrastructure, and how librarians, archivists, technologists, and policymakers are working to safeguard trustworthy public information in a time of rapid political and technological change. 📚🌐🗂️
#FutureKnowledge #DigitalPreservation #OpenGovernment
@csmarcum -
3/3
Featuring Merrilee Proffitt of Democracy’s Library at the #InternetArchive, James Jacobs of Stanford University, and Christopher Marcum of the Federation of American Scientists.We’ll explore digital preservation, democratic infrastructure, and how librarians, archivists, technologists, and policymakers are working to safeguard trustworthy public information in a time of rapid political and technological change. 📚🌐🗂️
#FutureKnowledge #DigitalPreservation #OpenGovernment
@csmarcum -
"We clearly need law reform here to protect transparency. This must include explicit penalties in the OIA, stronger (and matching) penalties in the Public Records Act, and a tweak to the Electoral Act declaring violation of either to be a corrupt practice - meaning anyone convicted will be automatically removed from parliament."
@norightturnnz, 2026
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2026/06/a-crime.html
Preach.
-
"We clearly need law reform here to protect transparency. This must include explicit penalties in the OIA, stronger (and matching) penalties in the Public Records Act, and a tweak to the Electoral Act declaring violation of either to be a corrupt practice - meaning anyone convicted will be automatically removed from parliament."
@norightturnnz, 2026
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2026/06/a-crime.html
Preach.
-
A prominent government transparency advocate is accusing the city of Las Cruces of unlawfully convening a select committee that conducted public business out of public view for years.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/government-watchdog-says-city-held-secret-policy-meetings/3053084
-
A prominent government transparency advocate is accusing the city of Las Cruces of unlawfully convening a select committee that conducted public business out of public view for years.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/government-watchdog-says-city-held-secret-policy-meetings/3053084
-
A prominent government transparency advocate is accusing the city of Las Cruces of unlawfully convening a select committee that conducted public business out of public view for years.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/government-watchdog-says-city-held-secret-policy-meetings/3053084
-
A prominent government transparency advocate is accusing the city of Las Cruces of unlawfully convening a select committee that conducted public business out of public view for years.
https://www.abqjournal.com/news/government-watchdog-says-city-held-secret-policy-meetings/3053084
-
Common Corpus, an open training set for AI, goes global – and so should support for itAs many of the AI stories on Walled Culture attest, one of the most contentious areas in the latest stage of AI development concerns the sourcing of training data. To create high-quality large language models (LLMs) massive quantities of training data are required. In the current genAI stampede, many companies are simply scraping everything they can off the Internet. Quite how that will work […]
#aiAlliance #commonCorpus #curation #euAiAct #financeCommons #france #gdpr #github #legalCommons #llms #multilingual #openCulture #openGovernment #openScience #openSource #openWeb #pdf #permissiveLicensing #pleias #publicDomain #scraping #tokens #toxicity #wikimedia #youtube https://walledculture.org/common-corpus-an-open-training-set-for-ai-goes-global-and-so-should-support-for-it/ -
Common Corpus, an open training set for AI, goes global – and so should support for itAs many of the AI stories on Walled Culture attest, one of the most contentious areas in the latest stage of AI development concerns the sourcing of training data. To create high-quality large language models (LLMs) massive quantities of training data are required. In the current genAI stampede, many companies are simply scraping everything they can off the Internet. Quite how that will work […]
#aiAlliance #commonCorpus #curation #euAiAct #financeCommons #france #gdpr #github #legalCommons #llms #multilingual #openCulture #openGovernment #openScience #openSource #openWeb #pdf #permissiveLicensing #pleias #publicDomain #scraping #tokens #toxicity #wikimedia #youtube https://walledculture.org/common-corpus-an-open-training-set-for-ai-goes-global-and-so-should-support-for-it/ -
Common Corpus, an open training set for AI, goes global – and so should support for itAs many of the AI stories on Walled Culture attest, one of the most contentious areas in the latest stage of AI development concerns the sourcing of training data. To create high-quality large language models (LLMs) massive quantities of training data are required. In the current genAI stampede, many companies are simply scraping everything they can off the Internet. Quite how that will work […]
#aiAlliance #commonCorpus #curation #euAiAct #financeCommons #france #gdpr #github #legalCommons #llms #multilingual #openCulture #openGovernment #openScience #openSource #openWeb #pdf #permissiveLicensing #pleias #publicDomain #scraping #tokens #toxicity #wikimedia #youtube https://walledculture.org/common-corpus-an-open-training-set-for-ai-goes-global-and-so-should-support-for-it/ -
Common Corpus, an open training set for AI, goes global – and so should support for itAs many of the AI stories on Walled Culture attest, one of the most contentious areas in the latest stage of AI development concerns the sourcing of training data. To create high-quality large language models (LLMs) massive quantities of training data are required. In the current genAI stampede, many companies are simply scraping everything they can off the Internet. Quite how that will work […]
#aiAlliance #commonCorpus #curation #euAiAct #financeCommons #france #gdpr #github #legalCommons #llms #multilingual #openCulture #openGovernment #openScience #openSource #openWeb #pdf #permissiveLicensing #pleias #publicDomain #scraping #tokens #toxicity #wikimedia #youtube https://walledculture.org/common-corpus-an-open-training-set-for-ai-goes-global-and-so-should-support-for-it/ -
Common Corpus, an open training set for AI, goes global – and so should support for itAs many of the AI stories on Walled Culture attest, one of the most contentious areas in the latest stage of AI development concerns the sourcing of training data. To create high-quality large language models (LLMs) massive quantities of training data are required. In the current genAI stampede, many companies are simply scraping everything they can off the Internet. Quite how that will work […]
#aiAlliance #commonCorpus #curation #euAiAct #financeCommons #france #gdpr #github #legalCommons #llms #multilingual #openCulture #openGovernment #openScience #openSource #openWeb #pdf #permissiveLicensing #pleias #publicDomain #scraping #tokens #toxicity #wikimedia #youtube https://walledculture.org/common-corpus-an-open-training-set-for-ai-goes-global-and-so-should-support-for-it/ -
Hello Mastodon! Deflock Broward here. We use public records to track license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance, then publish sources + plain-English explainers.
Starting with Weston: https://deflockbroward.org/weston
#DeflockBroward #Deflock #WestonFL #Broward #SouthFlorida #Florida #PublicRecords #SunshineLaw #OpenGovernment #Privacy #Surveillance #ALPR #LicensePlateReaders #FlockSafety
-
Hello Mastodon! Deflock Broward here. We use public records to track license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance, then publish sources + plain-English explainers.
Starting with Weston: https://deflockbroward.org/weston
#DeflockBroward #Deflock #WestonFL #Broward #SouthFlorida #Florida #PublicRecords #SunshineLaw #OpenGovernment #Privacy #Surveillance #ALPR #LicensePlateReaders #FlockSafety
-
Hello Mastodon! Deflock Broward here. We use public records to track license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance, then publish sources + plain-English explainers.
Starting with Weston: https://deflockbroward.org/weston
#DeflockBroward #Deflock #WestonFL #Broward #SouthFlorida #Florida #PublicRecords #SunshineLaw #OpenGovernment #Privacy #Surveillance #ALPR #LicensePlateReaders #FlockSafety
-
Hello Mastodon! Deflock Broward here. We use public records to track license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance, then publish sources + plain-English explainers.
Starting with Weston: https://deflockbroward.org/weston
#DeflockBroward #Deflock #WestonFL #Broward #SouthFlorida #Florida #PublicRecords #SunshineLaw #OpenGovernment #Privacy #Surveillance #ALPR #LicensePlateReaders #FlockSafety
-
Hello Mastodon! Deflock Broward here. We use public records to track license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance, then publish sources + plain-English explainers.
Starting with Weston: https://deflockbroward.org/weston
#DeflockBroward #Deflock #WestonFL #Broward #SouthFlorida #Florida #PublicRecords #SunshineLaw #OpenGovernment #Privacy #Surveillance #ALPR #LicensePlateReaders #FlockSafety
-
Seeking advice. I frequently teach a #HigherEd #AcademicChatter class in the US on Social Informatics which includes a module on #OpenGovernment and #CivicTech to give students an overview of the sector (international, national, state/provincial, local) as a public good, driver of economic health, and locus for potential careers. Obviously there have been changes in US federal policies with deleterious trends in the past year, and I have those covered.
I am seeking help covering emerging #DigitalSovereignty trends. Especially those which involve non-US entities leaving or planning departures from US-based tech because of any combination of tariff demands, copyright/surveillance policies, or other concerns about corporate and/or political power. I already cover the UK transition to Open Document Format in 2014. So I'm not presenting this as something new, but the speed and urgency is definitely picking up (see example links of EU moves to promote FOSS alternatives to US tech, France dropping Teams and Zoom).
1. Examples and links are definitely welcome
2. Thoughts from folks about how to explain this emergent scenario to US-based #ComputerScience and #Informatics and other college students, and its impacts on their futures. Thoughts from outside and inside the US are very welcome.
3. Same as no.2 but where do you see this trend in 5 years? 10 years?
You read this far? Thank you! Wow!
e.g. France https://www.zdnet.com/article/france-dumps-teams-zoom-digital-sovereignty-replacement/
-
Seeking advice. I frequently teach a #HigherEd #AcademicChatter class in the US on Social Informatics which includes a module on #OpenGovernment and #CivicTech to give students an overview of the sector (international, national, state/provincial, local) as a public good, driver of economic health, and locus for potential careers. Obviously there have been changes in US federal policies with deleterious trends in the past year, and I have those covered.
I am seeking help covering emerging #DigitalSovereignty trends. Especially those which involve non-US entities leaving or planning departures from US-based tech because of any combination of tariff demands, copyright/surveillance policies, or other concerns about corporate and/or political power. I already cover the UK transition to Open Document Format in 2014. So I'm not presenting this as something new, but the speed and urgency is definitely picking up (see example links of EU moves to promote FOSS alternatives to US tech, France dropping Teams and Zoom).
1. Examples and links are definitely welcome
2. Thoughts from folks about how to explain this emergent scenario to US-based #ComputerScience and #Informatics and other college students, and its impacts on their futures. Thoughts from outside and inside the US are very welcome.
3. Same as no.2 but where do you see this trend in 5 years? 10 years?
You read this far? Thank you! Wow!
e.g. France https://www.zdnet.com/article/france-dumps-teams-zoom-digital-sovereignty-replacement/
-
📺 Keynotes are available to watch online 📺
Subscribe to our channel and keep checking the playlist for all the conference videos coming soon.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI3yu3oBYCpgqhrsZJ07U1UJacYO5TvL4
#EO2026
#EverythingOpen
#conference
#openSource#OpenSourceSoftware
#OpenEducation
#OpenGovernment
#OpenScience
#OpenData
#OpenPractice -
📺 Keynotes are available to watch online 📺
Subscribe to our channel and keep checking the playlist for all the conference videos coming soon.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI3yu3oBYCpgqhrsZJ07U1UJacYO5TvL4
#EO2026
#EverythingOpen
#conference
#openSource#OpenSourceSoftware
#OpenEducation
#OpenGovernment
#OpenScience
#OpenData
#OpenPractice -
Our chair @kattekrab is talking about all our services at @everythingopen! #EverythingOpen #eo2026 #RightToKnow #PlanningAlerts #Transparency #OpenGovernment #TheyVoteForYou