Description:

In Budapest, Hungary, a new experiment will take place: 'mobile FOI
activists' - that is, activists with notebook computers and mobile
internet connection, or wifi connection in hotspot areas - will ask
pedestrians, customers in pubs, students hanging around, or other
'ordinary' citizens, whether they have anything they would like to know
about public matters but never took the trouble to ask or they don't
know where and how to ask. The activists should have some knowledge
about how to retrieve publicly available information from relevant
websites and how to contact government offices or other organizations
holding information of public interest through e-mail. The activists
will then try to reach the requested information from the relevant
websites providing proactive electronic publication of the data
requested, or write an e-mail to the organization concerned on behalf of
the citizen on the spot.

The testbed of this experiment will be the student area of the Central
European University where other joint events will also take place: a
video installation displaying a presentation prepared for the Right to
know Day, posters, flyers, a mini-exhibition of books and publications
about access to information, and volunteers giving advice to the
students who represent an international community. The organizer is the
Human Rights Students' Initiative of the university, with the
contribution of the Center for Media and Communication Studies.