Big congratulations, Theresa!

Thank you, Zac, for your kind words and support throughout the years! :)

Big thank you to @alexparsons.bsky.social & @mysociety.org for the WhatDoTheyKnow data - without their support, this research would not be possible! And to all of you who provided feedback on the numerous drafts ;)

The interactions through ATI laws also represent a useful opportunity for civil servants to explain and clarify any ambiguities that citizens have. The findings show that information requests represent for people a vital communication channel with public administration.

Information requests could serve as a litmus test for newly adopted or reformed policies for policymakers. It can provide them with insightful information on how citizens see and experience these policies and use this information as feedback to be incorporated into modifying these policies.

The most represented topic was the UK Welfare reform. In-depth analysis of selected requests demonstrated that policy beneficiaries were confused about changes. They used ATI legislation to raise criticism of the reform or seek clarification on how it would affect their individual cases.

People submit ATI requests when they are not listened to on other platforms for communicating with public administration and their elected representatives.

Requesters don’t just seek transparency and accountability, as was the initial expectation for passing ATI laws. They use ATI to navigate everyday life, raise concerns about new or recently reformed policies, and seek clarification on how they will impact their lives.

Using a dataset of 37k ATI requests submitted via the WhatDoTheyKnow platform (WDTK) to the UK central government bodies, I used structural topic modelling to explore what it is that UK citizens want to know from their government. I find that the information demand is very heterogeneous.

In this research, I examine what information requests can tell us about information-seeking patterns, public concerns, policy acceptance and engagement with the government.

We had a sense that we lost an entire generation of Palestinian journalists, but seeing the actual figures (a person behind each) is shocking.

Most were local journalists - people who risked their lives to report on the ground, document human rights abuses, and bring stories that might otherwise remain untold.

In just one year, 113 journalists and media workers were killed in direct reprisal for their work. Of those, 82 were killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.