Sunshine Week Events for Thursday, March 14th

Sunshine Week Events in the D.C area for Thursday, March 14th:

Secrecy and Security: The Future of Classification ReformThe Brennan Center for Justice, Washington, DC
The Brennan Center will host a panel discussion March 14 from 12-1:30 p.m. at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. Panelists will include Nancy Soderberg, chair of the Public Interest Declassification Board; Robert S. Litt, general counsel, Office of the Director of National Intelligence; former Director of the Information Security Oversight Office, J. William Leonard; Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy, Federation of American Scientists; and Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program. More details will be available soon on the Brennan Center website.

Cato XML (event to be held Thursday and Friday)The Cato Institute, Washington, DC
The Cato is hosting a Sunshine Week workshop looking at legislative data and Wikipedia. The first session, Thursday from 2:30-5:30 p.m., is designed for people of all technical skill levels and will cover Wikipedia editing, policies and culture. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop. Immediately following at 5:30 p.m., Cato will host a Sunshine Week reception. Friday’s daylong workshop for qualified Wikipedians and legislative data practitioners will be led by Pete Forsyth of Wiki Strategies, and is about making Wikipedia more informative about legislation and public policy. Participants can select one or all of the sessions and reception to attend. More information and registration information is on the Cato website.

How to Use the Freedom of Information ActNational Press Club, Washington, DC
As part of its Sunshine Week observances, the National Press Club will offer a panel discussion on using FOIA, moderated by Rick Dunham of the Houston Chronicle. Panelists will include Charles Babcock of Bloomberg News, Randy Rabinowitz from the Center for Effective Government, and Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation. The event is free to club members, $10 for non-members, and it is open to the public. For more information, see the NPC announcement.

Sunshine Week Meeting of the FOIA IT Working GroupOffice of Information Policy, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington
The OIP will convene a meeting at the Justice Department from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. of the FOIA IT Working Group, comprised of federal agency FOIA and technology professionals. Also invited to participate are technology specialists from civil society organizations and open government groups. Registration is required. More information is available from The FOIA Post