{"title":"An Introduction","authors":"F. Lomonte, David Cuillier","doi":"10.32473/joci.v1i1.115656","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32473/joci.v1i1.115656","url":null,"abstract":"Publisher Frank LoMonte and Editor David Cuillier introduce readers to the new Journal of Civic Information, a peer-reviewed online open-access journal dedicated to fostering research in the acquisition, disseminiation, and use of information vital to civic engagement and self-governance.","PeriodicalId":165927,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Civic Information","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115194969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Secrecy Inc.","authors":"D. Stewart, A. Sanders","doi":"10.32473/joci.v1i1.115657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32473/joci.v1i1.115657","url":null,"abstract":"As governments engage in public-private partnerships, they have devised ways to shield the public’s business from the traditional level scrutiny offered by citizens and journalists, watchdogs of the public trust. The authors propose rethinking public oversight of private vendors doing government business. First, the authors explore the historical and legal background of open records laws. This core purpose is undermined by overly broad interpretations of trade secrets and competitive harm exceptions, a trend exacerbated by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 2019 ruling. The authors demonstrate why public-private collusion to sabotage transparency demands a reinvigorated approach to the quasi-government body doctrine, which has been sharply limited for decades. The authors conclude with recommendations on reversing the trend.","PeriodicalId":165927,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Civic Information","volume":"326 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124603339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Agency Perspectives on Online Public Records Request Portals","authors":"Alexa Capeloto","doi":"10.32473/joci.v1i1.115659","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32473/joci.v1i1.115659","url":null,"abstract":"Spurred by converging trends facilitated by the interactive web, government agencies are moving to digitize and make more transparent the public record request (PRR) process via dual-facing online portals. Such portals, often provided by third-party vendors as SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions, are built on the premise and promise of helping agencies streamline their internal workflows while aiding requesters through the sometimes labyrinthine process of accessing public records. This research aims to study the effects and efficacy of such portals from the agency perspective, both at the process level and in a broader sense of reshaping the relationship between citizen and government. Set within a contextual framework of the trends from which these portals have emerged, a survey of 54 U.S. public jurisdictions suggests that online portals are significantly improving agencies’ internal and external processes of receiving, tracking, and responding to requests for public records, but do not necessarily bring correlative improvement in their overall relationship with citizens for a number of possible reasons.","PeriodicalId":165927,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Civic Information","volume":"64 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115604910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Access to Government Officials in the Age of Social Media","authors":"Katie Blevins, Kearston L. Wesner","doi":"10.32473/joci.v1i1.115658","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32473/joci.v1i1.115658","url":null,"abstract":"As social media platforms have become more pervasive, there has been a concomitant increase in the number of government officials using their personal social media accounts to perform official government duties. Most notably, President Donald Trump continues to use his personal Twitter account, established in 2009, prior to his presidency, to conduct a variety of official tasks. While the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause traditionally protects an individual’s right to engage in self-expression, the Supreme Court has not unequivocally recognized an affirmative right to know as an extension of the First Amendment. Recent court decisions suggest this may change. This study addresses the contours of public access to government officials on social media. Specifically, it considers the circumstances in which government officials are likely to be held to a standard of accountability and the case for treating public officials’ social media accounts as public forums, including how factors relating to account ownership and content impact that analysis.","PeriodicalId":165927,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Civic Information","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116972816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}