What I like about HelpMeInvestigate is that the process *can* help to expose the intricacies of policies and the nature of things as being anything but straightforward; it does begin to encourage critical analysis and collaboration in a way that tools such as WhatDoTheKnow do not.

But I would like to see more emphasis generally on encouraging critical reflection in civic engagement.

Secondly, and hopefully obviously I think FOI requests are A Good Thing. I agree that people should be educated as to their usage and that they should be used to increase transparency.

However the phrase that particularly bugged me was “Anyone want to send their first Freedom of Information request?”

Now if that phrase had been - “is there something they are keeping from you - here’s how you find out” - then I would have had no complaints.

But how this read was starting with the creation of a desire to fill out an FOI then to work backwards to think…now what am I going to ask?

If you are having to do it that way then the suggestion is you’re question is spurious and a waste of resouces. These questions can (not always) take hundreds of pounds to answer - they shouldn’t be asked lightly. How much did the council spend on flowers last year? Well, possibly less than answering this FOI request.

At what point is it fair to take away financial resources from all of those services that authorities fund in order to answer FOI requests? This roll up, roll up.. “Anyone want to send their first Freedom of Information request?”…

….is it fair on everyone? Is it fair on the poorest elements of society who might feel it at the sharp end when funds are diverted from programmes that assist them?

An FOI request is something we should never take lightly. As someone one said (okay, okay it was Spiderman) “with great power comes great responsibility”

We have a democracy that works. For all the MP outrage at the expenses saga it proved that through transparency people can be held to account. But if we turn these requests from information away from the vital and towards the spurious then we can guarantee that people will find reasons to diminish this honour and this opportunity.

As I wrote on Twitter, we wouldn’t be encouraging people to cost the NHS money, because we know they have better things to do with their resources. That’s not to say that we don’t want the NHS to be run as best it can be. But equally if you deluge authorities with FOIs then you are taking up valuable resources. And how much do you really need to know the answer?

If it’s vital - if it’s newsworthy - if it is of genuine interest to people at large then great. Do it. It is your duty to do it.

But don’t fill in a an FOI for the sake of it. Don’t revel in making authority employees jump, just because you can.

“Ha ha…I asked and now they *have** to answer. Look at them jump through hoops. Come on…let’s ask another question…this is fun.”

Just be responsible. Make you FOIs count. Ask yourself your reasons for filling it in. Is it really for the greater good or for personal entertainment and ego?

Just think twice and get the process the right way around. If you *need* to know something then you should fill in an FOI.

Don’t think…I *want* to fill in an FOI….now what can I ask?

The novice FOI requester may never need to make their own FOI, but it is for the common good that people have the confidence and skills to make a challenge when and if they need to.

I am yet to use ‘what do you know’, (although i have now) and i also saw it as a good opportunity to learn about submitting an FOI request - we have tried a couple with our University that have not produced much usable information, so it was especially interesting in this case to be able to use and learn from a pre written request.

I also think that this particular investigation is a very important one. Over 2 million pounds is being spent on the Birmingham City website, it needs to be accessible and it needs people to make sure it will be.

If we just sit by and never challenge those accountable to us over their responsibilities to us then we will suddenly find ourselves wondering what happened to our freedom and our rights.

I think it is better that a few extra FOI requests are sent than not enough.