[okfn-discuss] RFI: OKF accounts with the UK government

Mon Jul 25 07:47:15 UTC 2011

On 21 Jul 2011, at 12:49, Peter Murray-Rust wrote:
> If it is responsive (as in this case) then every request will come to the list and I think a large number of attached documents will simply clutter mailboxes. (I have asked several FOIs and I have much appreciated WhatDoTheyKnow as a way of managing a single instance of the correspondence. 

I understand. I did ponder mailing Will the data off-list but thought it useful for all to see:

* That we had responded
* What the data was

> I don't think we should have an OKF-WDTK as I expect the number of questions to be small. But can we have a wiki or page where the results are displayed. And, presumably, if the questions is generic (over time) it makes sense to pre-load that site with the data.

We do publish accounts and as others have mentioned we are looking at how to do more e.g OKF in OpenSpending but that's all early days and requires more work on our accounts etc.

> The OKF has nothing to hide. The disclosure of information that the public has a right to is often somewhat uncomfortable to organizations but that is how it should be. For example the (enormous) salaries / remunerations for officers of the American Chemical Society are required to be public info by the IRS and every year one of the members digs this out of the IRS and publishes it in a security-by-obscurity location.

I agree. The only issue is context. For example if we receive a lump sum of money for a three year grant in year 1 it looks like we are sitting on a huge pot of gold when in fact it is allocated to future years. How we present such situations needs thought but it's not a deal-breaker.

All the best,
Jason
--
Jason Kitcat
Project Co-ordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation

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