Moderator at NFOIC Sunshine Fest 2025
On March 20, I moderated the open plenary at the National Freedom of Information Coalition’s Sunshine Fest 2025 in Washington DC. More information about Sunshine Fest here | Watch video of the plenary here.
Posts from the ‘Open government’ Category
Mar 20
Short history of CAIRS/ATI database
Globe and Mail journalist Tom Cardoso recalls the Canadian government’s CAIRS database, which compiled Access to Information Act requests, in this blog post. As Tom mentions, I created a publicly accessible version of the database at Queen’s University in 2000.
ICIC panel on state secrecy
On October 29, I’ll participate in a panel on state secrecy as part of the 2021 International Conference of Information Commissioners. Details here.
Right to Know Week conference
I’ll be a speaker at the 2021 Right to Know Week conference organized by the Public Service Information Community Connection (PSICC). Program here.
Comment on government secrecy
The Canadian Institute for Information and Privacy Studies has reposted my column, “A complex battle over openness.” Access here.
Talk at Rutgers transparency conference
I gave opening remarks at the Transparency Research Workshop hosted by the Institute on Transparency and Governance in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University Newark on September 22.
Address to International Conference of Information Commissioners
I gave the keynote speech to the International Conference of Information Commissioners in Manchester, UK on September 20, 2017. The title was “Defending the open society.” Text for the talk available here. The meeting was hosted by the UK Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, and the Scottish Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew. More information about the conference here.
Canadian Bar Association panel on future of access to information
I participated in a panel discussion on the future of access to information at the Canadian Bar Association’s Access to Information and Privacy Law Symposium in Ottawa on October 28. The program is here. The panel included Michel Drapeau, Murray Rankin MP, and David Loukidelis.
RFI story on WikiLeaks
I’m quoted in a July 29 story by Radio France Internationale on WikiLeaks. Read the story. I provided a skeptical view about WikiLeaks’ impact in a 2011 article in the Wilson Quarterly, The WikiLeaks Illusion. Read the 2011 article. A longer academic version of that article also appeared in the International Review of Administrative Sciences in 2012. Read the 2012 article.
Technology for Accountability Lab
I’ll be a presenter in the Technology for Accountability Lab that will be hosted this summer by Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law. Details here.
Alasdair S. Roberts 
