As part of my growing interest in educational federal and state policy, as well as the local implementation of it, I am finding myself growing more and more frustrated with accessing public information. By public, I mean it's not owned by anyone, and as a citizen of the state I am freely allowed to have it.
What I want is both a current and an historical perspective. My hope is to put context around the issues I investigate, but am having a hard time finding BOTH. I can understand the difficulties that may arise with getting Congressional Hearing reports from the 1960's, but today's documents should be easy to find. I mean it is public information, isn't it?
This leads me to question the accessibility of public information, and when making it available who is the "public" that it considered. If I have access to a state university system library and all it's resources, have internet access (fast I might add) and well beyond a master's degree in research and am having problems, then what about the rest of the American Public who, I might add, is often criticized casually for not being an active part of the political process.
Hmmmm.... maybe they would be if they could access the information.
Just food for thought.
Public access = pro forma. Public access does not = accessible.
ReplyDeleteSad right?! If its public make it public, dont make us feel bad for wanting it.