FOIA Workshop Announcement

My Holiday gift to you, a workshop!

Hello everyone! I’ve been busy with the holidays, end of year business, and had a bit of writers’ block lately. I have about 10 posts in my Drafts folder that don’t quite feel publishable yet but there are some good interesting stories I am working on.

In the mean time, I’ve had a lot of requests to talk about FOIA and how it can be used as an investigative and informational tool. I knew literally nothing about it when I started this operation in August 2021 and I think I’ve got a good grasp on it now. So I will be offering a 100% free workshop to anyone interested in learning the ropes.

• Friday, January 19, 2024 12:00 – 1:00pm US Central Time

• Public Google Calendar Link (This is a public event but should be anonymous when you add to your calendar - ie the guest list is shared only with me and is not public)

• Google Hangouts Link: https://meet.google.com/ajr-iswm-uqf

The session will be conducted on Google Hangouts, which permits up to 100 viewers. I will also record the workshop and post a video to this newsletter. Things I will cover in this workshop:

• What is FOIA? (Federal and Illinois statutes)

• How do you pick from the tree of FOIA knowledge?

• Resources you can leverage to get information that is hard to find and/or not in digital format, including ChatGPT.

• Recourses for when your FOIA is denied.

I will use real examples for everything I present. There will be a live chat during the session.

This will essentially be a 45 minute lecture with a Q&A at the end. I will run this session basically the same way I run my class at Northwestern, so I promise it will at least be entertaining and everyone gets an A.

I wish everyone the best and a fruitful 2024.