More News On Commonwealth's Decision to Switch to OpenDocument Format

The Boston Globe is reporting today that a wrinkle has arisen in the Commonwealth's decision to store all documents in the OpenDocument format by 2007. Saving documents in OpenDocument will allow them to be read by a variety of software packages, therefore, making them available on line to more people. However, since the documents will become unreadable by Microsoft Office as a result of the change, a number of visually impaired state workers have pointed out that the change could make it impossible for them to do their jobs. Microsoft Office has a number of features that assist the visually impaired in reading documents. According to the Globe article, the Information Technology Division has issued a policy statement that would allow state agencies to take any action necessary to ensure that the rights of people with disabilities are respected which could mean that some workers will be allowed to continue to use Microsoft Office.

Clearly, this issue must be resolved before the switch can occur. The problem will resolve itself if Microsoft makes its software compatible with OpenDocument. Short of that happening, the Commonwealth will have to find a way to accommodate the visually impaired employees and members of the public who rely on Microsoft Office to help them read documents.

Public Records Case Before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is hearing oral arguments in a public records case at 9:00 a.m. on November 7, 2005. The case is Harvard Crimson, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College & others. At issue is whether police records created by the Harvard College police are available to the public under the Massachusetts Public Records Law. The ACLU of Massachusetts is assisting in the case. You can watch the arguments live at www.suffolk.edu/sjc.
I will have more on this case later.

It's All About Democracy and Good Government

Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government is part of a growing movement of organizations and individuals that are trying to preserve and improve our democracy. Common Cause is one of those organizations. The Massachusetts Chapter of Common Cause is leading a petitioning drive to place an amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution on the ballot in 2006. The amendment would put redistricting in the hands of an independent redistricting commission. It would also open the process to the public. Under current law the legislature performs the redistricting behind closed doors. As a result, redistricting in the past has been done in such a way as to protect certain legislators and to punish other legislators, to the detriment of the voters. This is anti-democratic no matter which party is in power. Check it out and get involved.

Massachusetts Campaign For Open Government

Welcome. This is the inaugural post on a new blog linked to a new website: maopengov.org. Maopengov.org is the website for Massachusetts Campaign For Open Government, which is dedicated to making it easier for people in Massachusetts to obtain information about the activities of their state and local governments. The website has information about the various laws that protect the public's right to know. It also has information about which local governments are posting public records on their websites. I hope you will check it out and find the information useful.

This blog will provide updated information about issues relating to the public's right to know. I strongly believe that our democracy can only survive if the public's right to know about the government's activities is protected and if the public exercises its right to know on a regular basis. In an era of increasing consolidation of the press on the local and national levels, we can no longer simply rely on the press to do our job for us. Especially at the state and local level, the responsibility is ultimately ours to oversee what our government is doing and to make sure it is acting in our best interest; that is what democracy is all about. My goal is to provide you with the information you need to help in this endeavor. I hope you come back often.