Course talk:ARST573/Archives and Freedom of Information

Hi Jessica,

Your wiki is looking great and has much improved since that first draft. I think you've done a wonderful job at covering all the main points and illustrating them in a clear and concise manner.

Just a few last minute comments:

• Brief History section - "Finland adopted its information access law in 1951, followed by the United States, which enacted its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 1966." Is this the official title of Finland's legislation? If so, I'm thinking it should be capitalized. If its not, I advise putting the title of the law if its available.

• I know this is a TON of work and is being a little picky, but according to Chicago formatting rules the period should be on the inside of the in-text citations, not on the outside/end like you have yours. But of course there's a time crunch and if you don't have time to devote to it I wouldn't worry about it too much.

• I recommend going over the middle portion of your wiki again, mostly the "Canadian Legislation" area with sections on "Access to Information Act (ATIA) R.S.C., 1985, c. A-1," "2015: Recommendations to Modernize ATIA," "Access to Information Regulations, SOR/83-507," and "Privacy Act R.S.C., 1985, c. P-21." I spotted quite a few sentences that could use citations.

• Fixed the Finland legislation and embedded the real name with the link- thanks for pointing that out.
  
• I WILL FIX THOSE PERIODS! it will be the last thing i do.
  

• Added a few citations I just left to the end of the paragraphs in those sections you mentioned.

Thanks Morgan!

Hello Jessica,

I appreciate how thorough your Wiki is. In terms of final comments I only have a couple of minor revisions:

• Perhaps change "Other Provincial Legislation" to "Other Provincial and Territorial Legislation"
• Northwest Territories is two words, not three
• There's a "4" after the link for Ontario's legislation that I don't think you intended
• In your "Records Destruction and Alteration" section you have "Archives" capitalized when it should be lowercase

Other than that great job! I really like your "External Resources" links at the bottom of your page.

Thanks Maggie! good eye on those minor revisions.

Yes..Northwest Territories is indeed two words...#fail. JT

You've done an excellent job with this so far! Complicated topic, but very neatly organized and accessibly-written.

If you don't have this in mind already, may I suggest adding a section in the Canadian Legislation section where you list and link every provincial and territorial access to freedom of information legislation? (Like you do in the International Legislation section). Mentioning that each has their own and only mentioning BC's is a bit of a teaser.

On that note, I would also make it consistent (where you can) where your legislation links redirect to. The Canadian Access to Information Act links to a webpage but your links under International Legislation list direct straight to .pdfs of the legislation. I preferred the the links that took me right the document, it felt more streamlined.

Thanks, Amy!

All your suggestions sound good to me, and doable. I will make the changes!

JT

Those changes look great

Hi Jessica, I found your page really interesting to read! Generally it's really well laid out and easy to understand, as well as being very in depth. Just one tiny suggeston: in your provincial legislation section, I was a bit confused as to whether your description of what Freedom of Information/ Protection of Privacy that you have under BC referred just to BC, or all the provinces, or if you were planning on adding information under each province. If it's supposed to illustrate what they mean for all the provinces, I would suggest moving it right under the Provincial Legislation header, just to make things more clear!

Thanks Christie, I have put a blurb under Provincial Legislation now to make it more clear, and separated the BC part to show that it was just an example. Thanks for the comment!

That makes a lot more sense now!

Anybody's wiki want a shout out in my "See Also" section?
Or has any suggestions of other wikis to link to mine?
Qualifications: Must be related to Archives and Freedom of Information.

So far I have:

• Archives and Copyright
• Archives and Privacy
• Archives and Power
• Ethics In Archives

Greetings Jessica,

you have a lovely wiki with lots of interesting and wide-reaching information regarding FOI. You spin a nice tale and give us a good backdrop to the intersection between FOI and archives. I think you have a great overview which really does a nice job tying in FOI with archives. Given this overview, some more content on archives could be incorporated, or more specific references to archives in your FOI discussions.

I agree that your wiki is showing signs of growing beyond a manageable size, but that speaks to the difficulty and complexity of your topic, which I think you are doing a nice job with so far - I'm happy I didn't pick this topic that's for sure.

Keep up the good work and looking forward to reading your completed wiki

Take care,

V

Hi Victor, Excellent suggestion. This final week I will focus on adding content and references about Archives AND FOI. After all, my wiki is about Archives and FOI. Yes, please DO read my completed wiki!! I'm happy I didn't pick your topic too, even if I'm jealous of the alliteration.

JT

Hello Jessica, Really liking your page! I tried looking into possible images / videos you could possibly incorporate into your Wiki with no luck. I was thinking maybe a picture of the signing of these acts into legislation?

A couple of minor revisions to suggest: -the link for the FOI map is not working. Perhaps because there are spaces between the words of the URL? -bold the "Freedom of Information" in the first paragraph to fit Wiki style -under "Privacy Legislation" perhaps indicate who you are quoting in the first and last statements in the main body of the text in addition to the reference

done, done and done! thanks maggie!

JT

Looking at my fellow pod's wikis, my page is feeling left out from its lack of non-textual media. Anyone out there have a brilliant idea for adding pictures etc to my page? Something that would obviously not only contribute aesthetically but also intellectually!

Hi Jessica,

Your page is making great progress! I only have a few comments. First, you mention that "As of February 2014, 99 countries around the world have implemented some form of national FOI legislation." Is this the most up-to-date information on this? Or have additional countries implemented a form of legislation since then? Also under this section, you go into some detail about US and UK legislation, however if its possible, I advise adding in some discussion about other legislations in areas such as Latin America, Asia, Middle East, etc. And lastly, the list of countries you've provided with the Word doc downloads when you click on it. Is there a way to make this open in a new tab instead? Just a personal preference, but sometimes I find automatic downloads annoying...but then again I'm not a wiki expert so maybe this is super complicated to change.

Hi! Good suggestions. I will update that statistic, and try to find that non-downloadable link. But as for my International Legislation part, I think in terms of the scope of my Wiki- and it being mainly in and for Canadian context, I might not go into other legislation...my wiki is getting long and complicated! We shall see...

Hi Jessica,

I like the changes you have made so far, I think your structure is looking improved! A recommendation I have is to make your first overview paragraph start out by stating in basic terms what Freedom of Information is. Your current introduction is good as an introduction, but I think a leading explanatory statement is also important in a wiki-style. The definition section doesn't need to change, I think it's fine to go into a more detailed description of what FOI is in the body.

I think your recommendation is a good one. I will attempt to modify my first sentences to reflect the definition of FOI, while elaborating the definition part down below. Thanks!

hi, I was just looking at this and thought you might be interested, looks like Suzanne Legault just released several recommendations on how to improve Canada's ATI act: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/suzanne-legault-wants-to-subject-ministers-to-atip-requests-1.3016084 Might be a good idea to include some of her criticisms of the current legislation.

Thanks Shyla. I can definitely use this in my Canadian Legislation section or even my Challenges section.

Hi Jessica,

Your wiki page is looking really great!! I have a couple of minor questions/suggestions. First, since it appears you are approaching this from a Canadian perspective (and I apologize if I'm wrong), it may help mentioning that Canadian context sooner in your introduction and adding that it will be more than just "examples from a Canadian Context." As someone who isn't Canadian reading it, I mistakenly didn't make the assumption when reading the first part of your introduction that is was mainly about Canada, so I would have liked to know sooner. And maybe that was just me, and no one else has that problem!

Also, you mentioned BC legislation briefly, and that other provinces have their own access to information of freedom legislation. Are the other provinces' legislation significantly different enough to mention? Would they add much to the wiki, or not be worth discussing?

Thanks for the tips, Morgan! Yes, I will try and rephrase the introductory paragraph to more accurately reflect the contexts I will be mentioning in my wiki- I will need to juggle around a few things. And as for Provincial Legislation, good question. I had originally thought it was beyond the scope of my wiki to delve into that, but let me think about that some more...

Jessica, I really like the edits you've made to the introduction. Its more clear now that a Canadian context will be applied to the entire page. Great work.

Hi Jessica, I think your page is looking great! You've got a ton of stuff done. The way you've broken down the different aspects of FOI concerns works really well, I think. I'm going to vote for keeping Canadian Legislation nested above International, since we're looking at this in a Canadian context and I'm assuming International is going to be more general anyway. The Canadian stuff seems more pertinent and like it should go first. I can't wait to see how you fill in your Challenges section. It's looking great. You may also want to link out to Cathryn's Privacy page, as it is super relevant. Maybe nest a link under your blurb about privacy and FOI as well as down at the bottom of the page? Best, Allison

Yes, Linked to Cathryn's Privacy page! And yes, I will now try and make it clearer that my page is predominantly geared towards the Canadian context. Thanks!

Hello Jessica,

First of all I agree with Kelsey in that the "Other Countries" should be listed rather than linked through a Word document. I realize that it is an extensive list. Perhaps just say how many countries per region have such legislation then present the link?

Also, I'm wondering if it would make more sense to have "International Legislation" before "Canadian Legislation", as the former both came before and is more general in nature than the latter. Though that's totally up to you, as it does work as it is.

Thanks Maggie, I added the legislation links for recent countries that adopted ATI legislation.

Hi Jessica,

First of all, your page is very informative already and is well organized!

Secondly, I'm not sure if you were planning on changing this eventually, but I found the formatting of the International Legislation section somewhat confusing, with the link to a .doc file for other countries with ATI provisions. I think a better choice would be to make a bulleted list under a header "Other countries" within your page in that section, and then link that document as a citation. It would be more visible and easier for readers to access.

Good work so far!

Thanks Kelsey! I took your advice and made a bulleted list of recent countries that adopted ATI legislation and moved that link down.