ICOG Access Survey: About the project
Problems and opportunities: Electronic access in Indiana
As part of an observance of the Indiana Coalition for Open Government’s 20th year of advocating for public access, ICOG joined with its administrative partner, The Media School at Indiana University, to put together this report on the status of digital access at the local level in Indiana.
A team of graduate student reporters from The Media School explored the effectiveness of email requests for public records, whether requesters can easily to obtain records in electronic format and the ability of requesters to use their own equipment — specifically cell phone cameras — to make copies of public records.
In 1997, members of ICOG (then known as FOIndiana) served as resources and sources as seven Indiana newspapers launched the nation’s first statewide audit of public records. The series revealed that many public officials in Indiana were ignorant of state records laws and there were few consequences for those in violation.
This project was undertaken in the spirit of that 1997 audit and uncovered similar barriers to citizen access to public records.
About the project:
To test compliance with Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act (APRA), a team of reporters from The Media School at Indiana University, in partnership with the Indiana Coalition for Open Government, emailed public records requests to agencies in 30 counties across Indiana. The counties were chosen through a random sample; then the team sent requests to commissioners’ offices, sheriff’s departments and health departments in each county.
Out of the 90 agencies contacted, two told team members that they did not have public email addresses. Of the remaining 88 agencies, 48 responded within seven days, as the APRA requires. Forty departments did not respond to the initial email request, though 10 of those gave a verbal response when reporters called to follow up about the lack of response. The other 30 agencies never responded to either the initial email or follow-up attempts.
Of the 58 agencies that responded – including the 10 that responded after follow-up – 17 provided the documents requested, 33 said there were no records responsive to the requests, and 8 ultimately failed to provide the documents.
Finally, out of the 17 agencies that agreed to provide documents, 15 agreed to do so electronically.
These stories were reported by Craig Lyons, Samim Arif and DeJuan Foster under supervision of Gerry Lanosga, assistant professor in The Media School and president of the Indiana Coalition for Open Government.
See the students’ work: