FOI Law

Governing Through Transparency: Investigating the New Access to Information Regime in Canada

This paper examines the state of Canada’s federal access to information (ATI) regime. Drawing from literature on government transparency, we conceptualize Bill C-58 and the problems it proposes to address as a form of policy discordance. We assess …

Race, Cannabis and the Canadian War on Drugs: An Examination of Cannabis Arrest Data by Race in Five Cities

The enforcement of drug laws in the United States has been heavily racialized. A substantial proportion of individuals arrested and prosecuted for drug possession in America are Black and Latino, despite similar rates of drug use across racial …

Neither confirm nor deny

I was recently listening to a Radiolab podcast on the history of the phrase "can neither confirm nor deny", formally known as the "Glomar Response". If you have not yet heard this episode, I highly recommend it.

A Gentle Introduction to Tesseract OCR

It is a perennial problem in Canada that municipal, provincial, and federal government agencies disclose records under Access to Information (ATI)/Freedom of Information (FOI) law in non-machine readable (image) formats by default.

Freedom of Information Research and Cultural Studies: A Subterranean Affinity

Introducing the idea of *subterranean affinity*, this article explores how methodological use of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests can contribute to the field of cultural studies. Contributing to literatures on transparency and secrecy, we …

Freedom of Information and Social Science Research Design

This multidisciplinary volume demonstrates how Freedom of Information (FOI) law and processes can contribute to social science research design across sociology, criminology, political science, anthropology, journalism and education. Comparing the use …

Repertoires of Empirical Social Science and Freedom of Information Requests: Four Techniques for Analyzing Disclosures

Using Freedom of Information Requests in Socio-Legal Studies, Criminal Justice Studies, and Criminology

The chapter explores the use of freedom of information (ATI/FOI) requests in social science research, with specific focus on using ATI/FOI requests in socio-legal studies, criminal justice studies, and criminology.

Unequal Justice: Race and Cannabis Arrests in the Post‐Legal Landscape

Freedom of Information Requests and Disclosures as Social Science Data

https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/sage-research-methods-foundations