{"id":4835,"date":"2010-03-07T09:49:05","date_gmt":"2010-03-07T14:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/?p=4835"},"modified":"2024-12-26T14:42:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T19:42:48","slug":"new-blog-the-art-of-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2010\/03\/07\/new-blog-the-art-of-access\/","title":{"rendered":"New book and blog: The Art of Access"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>If you’ve ever had to deal with a government agency that tried to withhold public documents from you, check out Steve Myers’ interview<\/a> with one of the authors of a new book<\/a> and blog, “The Art of Access.”<\/p>\n

Instead of focusing on the intricacies of open-records laws, David Cuillier and Charles Davis write about the social dynamics between people who ask for records<\/a>, and the gatekeepers who decide whether to release them. Cuillier says:<\/p>\n

\nIt’s crucial to understand the constraints agencies work under to be more effective in getting what you need. Those folks don’t come to work with horns and cloven hooves. There is a whole bureaucratic world that thinks differently than requesters. Understand that world, and you’ll navigate around it much better.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One technique the pair discuss on their blog is checking the job postings at government agencies to understand the agency’s attitude towards open government.<\/p>\n

Related: Sign up for blog updates from John Tedesco<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By coincidence, the same week I learned about this open-records blog, there was local news about BexarMet’s ousted gatekeeper T.J. Connolly, who pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations. We had written many stories about Connolly, one of which detailed his efforts to delay an open-records request at BexarMet. \u201cI want to be as uncooperative as possible … without being obvious,\u201d Connolly wrote to BexarMet officials.<\/p>\n

How did we learn about these stonewalling tactics? After Connolly and his supporters left the agency, we asked for their e-mails under the Texas Public Information Act. Under the new leadership at BexarMet, the agency was eager to appear more open, and handed over thousands of e-mails.<\/p>\n

So the authors of The Art of Access are making a very important point: The culture of an agency plays a huge part in determining how much access you get.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’ve ever had to deal with a government agency that tried to withhold public documents from you, check out Steve Myers’ interview with one of the authors of a new book and blog, “The Art of Access.” Instead of focusing on the intricacies of open-records laws, David Cuillier and Charles Davis write about the … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,6,744,7],"tags":[56,375,723,745,500,529],"class_list":["post-4835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-express-news-stories","category-journalism","category-open-records","category-reviews","category-students","tag-bexarmet","tag-open-government","tag-open-records","tag-reviews","tag-tj-connolly","tag-the-art-of-access","infinite-scroll-item","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"yoast_head":"\nNew book and blog: The Art of Access | John Tedesco<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2010\/03\/07\/new-blog-the-art-of-access\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New book and blog: The Art of Access\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you’ve ever had to deal with a government agency that tried to withhold public documents from you, check out Steve Myers’ interview with one of the authors of a new book and blog, “The Art of Access.” Instead of focusing on the intricacies of open-records laws, David Cuillier and Charles Davis write about the ... 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