Freedom of Information

and Social Media: Strengths and Challenges for the

Public Sector in Canada

Outline

• Changing expectations and FOI

• Social Media in the Public Sector

• Challenges and Mitigations

• Questions

Freedom of Information

• Provide timely access to information in the custody

and control of a government institution.

• Paper-only requirement of access legislation in is

outdated and inefficient.

• Access requests do not make money and are rarely

cost recovery:

Average cost of fulfilling an access to information

request in 2009-2010 was $1332.31(Office of the

Information Commissioner of Canada)

Survey at the City indicated that 1/3 of access requests

were for public information or duplicate requests

Changing Expectations

• Citizen expectations are changing…

– Greater expectation of access to information

– Self-serve

– Not used to waiting for mail responses

• Government perspectives are changing…

– Movement towards proactive disclosure

– Open Government/Open Data

– Efficiency focus and cost reduction

Social Media in the Public Sector

Social Media

1,229 US hospitals use social media

261 Canadian hospitals (May 211)

Mobile (measure / respond)

Flickr (crowdsourcing)

Skype (Alternative Service Delivery)

YouTube (mashup)

Print to Mobile

Wiki’s (collaboration)

Slideshare (share / brand)

Twitter (listening)

Challenges/Risks and

Mitigations

Fractured Identity

• Who am I talking to?

• Multiple service lines and experts required to

participate in a single “voice”

• Risks

– Mixed messages

– Failure to respond

– Misinformation

Mitigation Strategy

SLA

Service

Request

CRM

Email

CP&S

P&D

OCM

PW

24-48hrs

2-4hrs Transit

9-5

Misrepresentation

• Some one assumes your identity

– Damage to public reputation

– People act on bad information, potential harm

– Inaccurate expectations

Mitigation Strategy

1. Verify your account

2. Stake your claim even if you are not

participating

3. Monitor

4. Educate

Privacy

• Employees post information that is confidential

• People forget social media is “public”

• Lack of ownership and accountability

• Employee personal profiles can impact

corporate image

Mitigation Strategy

1. Educate

2. Use existing Code of Conduct and policies

(may need to adjust)

3. Monitor and delete

4. Post reminders on sites

Information Retention

• Information is not in the custody or control of

the public body

• Loss of information

• Limited ability to control what is viewable or

posted

Mitigation Strategy

1. Capture communications image and maintain

internally

2. Training and education

In Summary

• Social media offers many benefits to public

sector organizations

– Democratic principals and citizen engagement

– Timely and efficient

– Limited resources and fiscal responsibility

encourage use

• Not a replacement for FOI due to limitations

and public nature but compliments

Questions?

Alyssa Daku

Manager, Corporate Information Governance

Twitter @AlyssaDaku

Email: adaku@regina.ca

Philippe Leclerc

Manager, Interactive Communications

Email: pleclerc@regina.ca

facebook.com/cityregina

twitter.com/cityofregina

youtube.com/cityofregina

http://www.regina.ca/residents/open-government/