Executive Editor John Bodette of The St. Cloud (Minn.) Times, writes:

There are people who talk about First Amendment freedoms and there are those who put words into action. One of those people who throw themselves into action is David Cuillier, a professor and journalism professional. We also add Freedom of Information evangelist to his credits. Cuillier…has embarked on a 45-day national teaching tour sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists and other organizations. His mission is…training people about gaining access to public information….His tour…”Access Across America”…(covers)…more than 26 states from California to Vermont.

…Cuillier’s point: The government works for the people. So you should enter in a way that is confident and demanding. After all, the citizens are the boss. The government answers to the citizens.

Cuillier came through the Northwest earlier this month, giving seven presentations in Oregon and Washington including one in Tacoma sponsored by the Washington Coalition For Open Government and the Western Washington SPJ pro chapter. As part of his “Access Across America” outreach, Cuillier in one of his latest blog posts offers a number of suggestions for improving government transparency through community-based action. I especially like this one:

Teach community education classes on “Journalism for Citizens,” providing helpful tips and skills on getting information, verifying facts, ethics, photography, video, and writing clearly.

Another effort championing public data as a tool for community engagement, civic journalism and government accountability is beginning to unfold here in the Pacific Northwest. With the enlightened support of my employers at Countywide Community Forums and Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants, I’ve founded an independent informational initiative named Public Data Ferret. It includes a database searchable by topic and jurisdictions, composed of neutral, blogged synopses of important public documents, and tutorials on user-friendly government databases.

Shortly after Public Data Ferret’s launch, I began a regular weekly live segment on KOMO 1000 AM, Seattle’s leading news radio station, highlighting the latest work at the site. Recent broadcasts and transcripts are here, here, here, here and here. Public Data Ferret and Countywide Community Forums were also part of a broader conversation titled “Technology And Civic Engagement” on KUOW-FM’s “Weekday.”

Ferret is also a core component of the “Building On Transparency” initiative described in the full, recently-issued post-conference report of Journalism That Matters – Pacific Northwest, to the Knight Commission On The Information Needs of Communities In A Democracy.

JTMPNW participants have provided ongoing support and guidance for the Ferret, and we have added our first Contributing Editor, University of Washington student Andrew Hart. His first piece is here.

Go Forth And Commit Civic Journalism
A great place to start for online citizen journalists and para-journalists who’d like to provide a public service is with the weekly online meeting agenda of your city council and school district. Look for the individual document attachments. Quite often, stories live there. Here’s our list of links to some of the local governments in King County, plus Seattle, county and regional taxing bodies, state and federal sources. Also take a look at what sorts of public databases exist. They may be worth highlighting. Two we’ve highlighted at Ferret are written up here, and here. As well, take advantage of the guidance offered by groups such as Washington Coalition For Open Government.

Where is public data going in the future? More places, more efficiently and in ways that are more closely integrated with the community and informational ecospheres. We’ll be writing more about that here, later.