Do You Exercise Your Right to Access to Gov't Information?

In light of , Milpitas is no stranger to issues concerning the freedom of information and the public should be given to government records.

Two journalism fellows from Stanford University are currently doing a study on that very issue, and want to ask Milpitians - how often do you exercise your rights under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA)?

The two fellows say they hope to use results of the study and survey to help discover new ways to increase the effectiveness and usage of the FoIA worldwide.

"Please help us improve transparency, accountability and all things journalism," ask the two fellows, T. Christian Miller of ProPublica and Djordje Padejski, founder of the Center for Investigative Reporting in Belgrade, Serbia. "Whether or not you've used the FoIA process to gain access to information that your government keeps, we want to hear from you. It will definitely help us learn. It will probably show us some projects to tackle. And it might even make the world a more transparent place!"

Click here to access Miller's and Padejski's survey, which they say takes only about two minutes to complete online.

"FoIA requests allow citizens of a country to ask their government for public records and information," said Robin Evans, who works with John S. Knight Journalism Fellows like Miller and Padejski. "Padejski and Miller are trying to find out how and why people use this right to improve access to public information."

Evans said the survey is confidential and for research purposes only.