Let the Sun Shine In

Hi folks -- hope you had a good weekend. In something of an anomaly for March, we've hit 80 degrees today:

This temperature reading is from Dulles airport, which is practically right down the street from the office, and my shirtsleeve test confirms it -- it is darned warm right now.

Is it too late to play hooky?

Also, in a near-perfect weather-related segue, this week is also Sunshine Week -- it's a campaign to raise awareness and advocate for openness and transparency in government.

The chief tool for this is access to public records, especially through the various state and local open records laws and the federal Freedom of Information Act, combined with good old-fashioned inquisitiveness and persistance.

Al Tompkins over at Al's Morning Meeting has a roundup of some of the stories that media around the country are doing for Sunshine Week, including listing out some of the important local stories that might not have happened if it weren't for open access to public records.

Public access to information isn't and shouldn't be limited to the professional media of course, and blogging has opened up a lot of avenues for regular folks to contribute to the ongoing discussion.

For an overview of some of tools available to us, check out the Citizen Journalism Primer written for the BBC by citizen journalism expert and advocate Dan Gillmor.

Thanks -- Joe