How a crowdsourced FOI campaign improved EU transparency
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After years of FOI requests and appeals, a campaign to release EU commissioners’ travel expenses, finally found success through a co-ordinated crowdsourcing campaign.
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Transforming an industry through FOI
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FragDenStaat’s FOI campaign rallied members of the public to request food safety reports from their local authorities. It’s resulted in 100 court cases, and new legislation around food safety.
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A change in the law for school starters in Scotland — through FOI
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The Give Them Time campaign speaks about how requests sent via WhatDoTheyKnow.com helped them get the law changed, so that more children in Scotland can benefit from more time at nursery school.
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WhatDoTheyKnow Helps Re-Open Cambridge Footpath
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A practical example of how to use FOI to bring change in your local area.
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WhatDoTheyKnow and the Post Office Horizon scandal
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How one woman used FOI to uncover details of a massive scandal in the UK.
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Freedom of Information uncovers inequalities in our schooling system
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How FOI can be used to challenge misinformation in advertisements.
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Revealing vital environmental information with WhatDoTheyKnow Pro
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How a journalist uncovered important details of anti-climate lobbying to the UK government with FOI.
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A transparency success in Belgium
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See how Transparencia.be, the Belgian Alaveteli site, published a map and made councils change their ways.
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Freedom of Information as a tool for making cycle routes more accessible
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Using FOI in combination with the Equality Act of 2010 can have impressive results.
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Lost in Europe: a cross-border investigation into missing children
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A written account of the project which tracked missing minors at European borders.
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Using FOI to protect social housing and council property
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Freedom of Information was one tool used in a coordinated campaign to prevent a council from selling off a large part of its property portfolio.
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Freedom of Information and mental health in Higher Education staff
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A widespread FOI project to learn more about the state of mental health in higher ed.
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FOI reveals that Higher Education Institutes spend more than £330 million on access to research journals
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How a librarian uncovered facts about the costs of research journals across our educational institutions.
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FOI helps reveal the new surveillance tools deployed by police
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Privacy International uncovered a wealth of information about new technologies being put into use by UK police forces, in advance of any regulation.
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Taking Parliament to court: how Vouliwatch pursued the right to transparency
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Greek project Vouliwatch found themselves in the extraordinary position of issuing a lawsuit to their own parliament.
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FragDenStaat: a lighthearted approach with a serious mission
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The German FOI site is well-known for publicity stunts and thinking outside the box, all in the pursuit of transparency.
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A Million Moments for Democracy: using FOI to campaign against corruption
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From Czech Republic, learn how to leverage FOI sites to mobilise support, and to encourage citizens to engage in the democratic process.
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A change in the law for school starters in Scotland — through FOI
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We spoke to Patricia Anderson from the Give Them Time campaign about how Freedom of Information requests, sent via WhatDoTheyKnow, helped them get the law changed.
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After Exploitation: using FOI to understand what happens to victims of modern slavery
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A dogged investigation reveals that survivors of modern slavery are not being given the treatment the government claims they are.
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Sold From Under You by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism
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Discover this widespread investigation into how much property was sold by local councils in an attempt to raise money during austerity.
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Using WhatDoTheyKnow to uncover how schoolchildren’s data was used to support the Hostile Environment
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Charity defenddigitalme discovered that personal information of school children was being used by the government to help locate those suspected of being in the country without leave to remain.
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FOI: one part of the fight against the ‘lose-lose’ LOBO loans to local councils
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An investigation into controversial loans sold to councils by banks, known as LOBOs, by the group Debt Resistance UK.
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How local newspapers uncover council spending using FOI
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These examples might give you ideas for the types of information you can request.
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Truth & justice for haemophiliacs: WhatDoTheyKnow and the contaminated blood scandal
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A first-person account of uncovering evidence that brought to light a national scandal in the UK.
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Memorable FOI requests from WhatDoTheyKnow’s first ten years
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Gain inspiration from some of the most impactful requests that our team can remember.
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Croatia gets creative with Alaveteli
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Code for Croatia repurposed the Alaveteli codebase to make a complaints platform.
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50 news stories uncovered by WhatDoTheyKnow’s users
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On WhatDoTheyKnow’s 10th anniversary, we looked at some of the news stories large and small that have been found through FOI requests on the site.
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ATOS, Capita, PIP… and some persistent FOI requests
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A disability campaigner unearthed truths about eligibility criteria for state benefits.
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Introducing OPRAmachine: tackling political corruption in New Jersey
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This Alaveteli installation covers just one American state. The local journalist who runs the site explains the rationale behind it, and gives advice to others wanting to do similar.
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A successful first year – how Transparencia launched with a splash
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Learn from Belgium’s Alaveteli site, which has been and remains very good at attracting publicity.
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WhatDoTheyKnow used for research on FOI refusals
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Link to an article about best and worst practices in FOI refusals.
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Six stories from WhatDoTheyKnow Pro
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Links to news stories unearthed by journalists using the Pro tool.
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Is your local authority making life difficult for wheelchair users?
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A disability activist finds the data that shows where taxis are allowed to charge more for carrying wheelchairs – or refuse to take them at all.
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Introducing QueremosDatos: making access to information easier in Colombia
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Interview with the group who set up the Alaveteli site for Colombia.
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The Welsh Government and Aston Martin: the timeline of a delayed response
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Follow along with the 15-month saga to see what happens when you take a refusal to the ICO.
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Right To Know: the long path to Rights of Way data
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This request for open mapping data encountered frustrations and successes along the way.
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Now you can request information from the Police Federation of England and Wales
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Discover what this body does, and what kind of information you can request from it.
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Crowdsourcing information on EU commissioners’ travel expenses
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Alaveteli site AskTheEU called upon their followers to help request the travel expenses of EU Commissioners.
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Detention Logs: using FOI to reveal the truth about immigration detention in Australia
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Australian project Detention Logs is showing the power of FOI in bringing social change.
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Freedom of Information and asbestos in schools
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One woman’s campaign to rid the UK’s schools of asbestos.
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Workfare: what happens when the government doesn’t want to release information?
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Despite the government’s reluctance, FOI was used to reveal details of a controversial back-to-work scheme.
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How 350 FOI requests will increase the chance of success for start-ups
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Learn how mass FOI requests were used to discover information around empty shops, to help new businesses.
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Does your council break the law?
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FOI is used to research pay conditions for overnight care workers.
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West Ham stadium ruling: a win for transparency
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A ruling compels a high-profile football stadium to release its contract with West Ham football club.
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Using FOI to uncover the truth about the living wage
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One man’s campaign to ascertain whether carers were being paid a living wage by a care home that claimed to be committed to that.
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Assessing the Impact of Alaveteli
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Researchers Savita Bailur and Tom Longley answer this question: “In what circumstances, if any, can the FOI tools mySociety builds be shown to have measurable impacts on the ability of citizens to exert power over underperforming institutions?”
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Qué Sabes: Changing the face of FOI requesting in Uruguay
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An interview with DATA, the organisation running an Alaveteli site in Uruguay.
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Asking for information in the face of silence
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What’s it like running an Alaveteli site in a country where FOI is not a right? Learn from Spain.
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Using Freedom of Information Data for Campaigns and Visualisations
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Learning from OKFDe and ForSet about different ways to use FOI data to tell stories and make campaigns
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Parents for Inclusive Education Case Study
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A case study on Parents for Inclusive Education’s use of FOI in their campaigns
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How a payslip taught France about their Transparency rights
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A blog post about MaDada’s investigation into the president’s payslips
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Scorecards volunteering increases climate knowledge
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Reddit, WhatDoTheyKnow and Under-qualified medical staff
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An investigation into the use of underqualified medical staff using WhatDoTheyKnow and Reddit
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Access Info Impact Award
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A video about Access Info’s Impact award 2024
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Notes from the ATI Network: August 2024
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August 2024 monthnotes from the ATI COP
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Fundraising and Access to Information Guide
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Insights from our community of practice fundraising chat
Impact Measuring Workshop from OpenUp ZA
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A 45 minute workshop given by OpenUp ZA on creating and using impact measures for advocacy and campaign work
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