Public Records

 

This post clarifies some thoughts from my last. When I speak of public records, I’m not talking about personal information – necessarily.

I picked up a list of registered voters from the Hamilton County Board of Elections. It lists your name, address, phone number, party affiliation (within the confines of our current political structure) and the date of your last vote. Sure. It’s election season. You knew that information was public.

What about the information attached to the registration of your dog?

That list has your name and address as well as the name and breed of your dog. Even though this is public information available to anyone, it has been (weakly) argued that the information should not be made available.

You can find the information neatly displayed in a map on the Cincinnati Enquirer’s website. The argument against making this information THAT public was that a burglar may enter your home without fear of your beloved protector because he would be able to call them by name.

You can search through other types of public records on the Enquirer’s website, but there are many, many more. Most can be found with a little digging in the right corners of the web, but not all.

The Ohio Department of Education releases a lot of data, but it maintains much more than it releases. They keep track of everything about everybody – literally.

Every student is assigned a student ID number in an attempt to maintain their privacy and tracked throughout their entire school career. Every teacher is graded on the performance of those students and every school is evaluated on the performance of their teachers. And it’s all about testing.

When suspicions of cheating swirled, according to a local reporter that covers education, USA Today fought for more than a year to obtain the information they needed.

So public records inevitably contain information about individual members of the public that can also be useful to the public (and watchdog reporters). What are your feelings on public records? Should it be required that all public records be easily accessible?

My mind explodes when I think about how much information is out there.

Open Missouri lists all of the public records that are not easily accessible, just for their state. David Herzog, the founder of the organization, said it took a small team one year to determine what information is maintained by most of their agencies, which isn’t available online. Not all agencies responded to their requests.

They didn’t fight for the information like USA Today because, he said, he didn’t think they should be doing the government’s job.

 

Implications of Big Data

 

I started this blog while I was buried under massive amounts of investigative work. I didn’t have time to think about the big picture until I was reassigned to a new project with a lighter mental load.

I’ve since been pushed/drawn/encouraged to begin the process of building a massive database of public records. I was told it would make me look like a rock-star journalist and secure work in the big leagues.

At first, the prospect was exciting because I’m in a position to make it happen. Then, I started to think about it… What are my personal goals? What do I want to do as a journalist? Where would this project lead?

Public records are filled with information about the public: me, you, our parents, our friends, our children. Is that what I want to build, another way for us to be watched?

No, it’s not. I want to gather and connect information about institutions and government agencies. I want to help us watch them like they watch us. I want to increase government transparency so the public can be more informed.

If I did take this path, where would it lead? I have no idea, but I see what has happened with FaceBook and the internet in general. If you know anything about the legislation and things that have been surrounding our information on the internet, I think you’ll agree that it’s a little scary.

I’m not sure who will read this, but if you’re an aspiring journalist don’t let yourself get pulled into something you don’t want to do. I know it’s a tough field and it’s exciting to feel like you’re impressing the right people. It’s easy to think that if you can secure a job with a mainstream outlet, you might be able to make a change… just be careful.

You have to live with the decisions you make.

So, to be honest. I haven’t been digging data all that much lately. I’ve been digging through the archives longing for simpler times.