Information Flows – The Real Art of Information Management and Freedom of Information
Archives and Manuscripts, Vol 35 No. 1 May 2007, 54-81
18 Pages Posted: 20 Dec 2014
Date Written: May 17, 2007
Abstract
Public access to government information is a long way from where it should be in an information age: citizens being able to routinely and easily access information on non-personal affairs. This paper puts forward ideas on how to address this problem, identifying a need to develop better theories and tools of analysis to enable government to achieve the aims of FOI reform and implementation. The work of Stiglitz provides such an instrument, providing for a better understanding of the relationship between access to information and records management. It is argued that the operating rationale of the corporate governance model can be applied to the public sector to address some of the problems of information asymmetry between the citizenry and the state, as identified by Stiglitz. Without good record management system, FOI cannot be an effective way to allow for information flow in the 21st Century.
Keywords: FOI, Freeom of Information, Information flow, Stiglitz, information asymmetry, records management
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation