The Sunshine Review is a “wiki” where anyone can publish a report on transparency in state and local government.  For those of you who don’t know what a wiki is, here is what Wikipedia has to say about them.

A wiki is a collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis.

Unfortunately, the collaborative and community aspects of the Sunshine Week wiki have not taken off.  Few of Connecticut’s cities have been reviewed and those that have been reviewed have not been reported on thoroughly.  The page for Connecticut is okay, but it isn’t the go-to resource that one might hope to find for such a website with a grand concept like the Sunshine Review.  But the potential is there.  Just take a look at the New Orleans review.  It may not be flashy, but it gives you the basics.  For most people, that’s all they ask to see.

So if you are a local activist or journalist, consider taking a few minutes to update your local city or town’s report.  The internet will thank you.

Though spearheaded by journalists, Sunshine Week is about the public’s right to know what its government is doing, and why. Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger. Sunshine Week is a non-partisan initiative whose supporters are conservative, liberal and everything in between.

To join in that effort, I will be doing my own part to highlight Sunshine Week on this blog.  In the mean time, take a look at a special section on the Connecticut Post website called “Secrecy vs. Your Right To Know” that the Post launched in 2007 to commemorate that year’s Sunshine Week.

That’s where the Connecticut Foundation For Open Government, Inc. steps in.  CFOG’s is dedicated to:

[P]romoting the open and accountable government essential in a democratic society. It seeks to achieve this by educating policymakers and citizens in general on the need for a free flow of information on all public policy matters.

CFOG sponsors seminars, a high school essay contest, and supports research into open government. More importantly, it provides a network for concerned citizens and lawyers to discuss how to improve access to and confidence in our state and local governments.

The best ways to read this blog are by subscribing to my Freedom of Information Law RSS feed or registering for e-mail updates, but you’re always welcome to read it right here at http://connecticutattorneyatlaw.com/freedomofinformationlawyer/.