Freedom of information and the internet
I have recently been working with a number of partners on a new project that up until now I haven’t been able to talk about publically. However, the word is now out and I can reveal that I am currently consulting on a very exciting government project.
The JISC Information Governance Gateway (JIGG) web site will be the ultimate resource for students, lecturers, teachers, government officials and any other interested parties who wish to research or discover their rights defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The Freedom of Information Act defines the rights of people to request and receive information from all walks of life. If your web site contains any information that should be in the public domain, then usually upon request you will have to supply that information within 14 days. There are a lot of variations to this rule, sensitive information in particular gets into murky waters. But the big issue that effects every web site that captures user data, even if it is just the clients IP address, is that you have to supply an individuals data stored on your system upon their request.
The JIGG web site is being created by Liverpool John Moores University with technical expertise, particularly with accessibility issues, supplied by MIMAS at The University of Manchester. When complete, the site will act as a portal to a mass of resources related to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Steve Wood from LJMU has an existing award-winning blog on the subject that will provide some of the content for the JIGG portal. The site will provide reference and discussion tools, providing symposium for interested parties. In addition the site will contain a number of resources, mostly documents, that guide users on all the issues relating to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
My involvement with this project is providing Accessibility consultation, as part of my consultation to the University of Manchester. Polaris Digital are also providing the sitewide design schema for JIGG.
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