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Rummaging in the Government’s Attic: Lessons Learned from 1,000 FOIA Requests

Presented by Michael Ravnitzky & Phil Lapsley at The Next HOPE, July 2010 in NYC (page 18 of the presentation) The three exemptions most misused • Exemption b(1) – currently and properly classified national security information • Exemption b(2) – internal materials • Exemption b(5) – legally privileged material; usually the “deliberative process privilege” Be …

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U.S. Geological Survey: Twitter Earthquake Detector (TED)

People can receive earthquake data from the @USGSTED Twitter account. The site sends maps of earthquake zones to account holders. U.S. Geological Survey: Twitter Earthquake Detector (TED) The U.S. Geological Survey is using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support a student who’s investigating social Internet technologies as a way to quickly …

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Design for the Other 90% Exhibit + “Micro-Giving” Global Needs Index to Connect Rich to Poor/Fullfill Global-to-Local Requests

“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.” —Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises Exhibition on view National Geographic Museum, Washington, DC through September 6, …

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Secrecy News: Costs of Major US Wars, Contractors in Iraq & AF, Drones & Homeland Sec

COSTS OF MAJOR U.S. WARS COMPARED More than a trillion dollars has been appropriated since September 11, 2001 for U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.  This makes the “war on terrorism” the most costly of any military engagement in U.S. history in absolute terms or, if correcting for inflation, the second most expensive …

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New Declassified Records Showing the Path Down the Vietnam Road of Doubt and Deception

Records Show Doubts on ’64 Vietnam Crisis By ELISABETH BUMILLER Published: July 14, 2010 WASHINGTON — In an echo of the debates over the discredited intelligence that helped make the case for the war in Iraq, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday released more than 1,100 pages of previously classified Vietnam-era transcripts that show …

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Design for the Other 90% Exhibit + “Micro-Giving” Global Needs Index to Connect Rich to Poor/Fullfill Global-to-Local Requests

“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.” —Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises Exhibition on view National Geographic Museum, Washington, DC through September 6, …

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Multidimensional Poverty Index (new)

London, 14 July 2010: The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) of Oxford University and the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched a new poverty measure that gives a “multidimensional” picture of people living in poverty which its creators say could help target development resources more effectively. …

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