We’ll be releasing the experience for everyone in mid-November. Keep reading for an in-depth explanation for why we started this project, how we approached it, and how it succeeded.

Since at least 2023, the Attorney General has asked the federal government how it uses machine learning for public records. We want to know more.

MuckRock’s September FOIA Friday conversation focused on opening up the statehouse through requesting data and documents such as calendars, contracts, lobbying data and travel logs.

New changes have been made to both the DocumentCloud and MuckRock APIs, including that and embargoes are now restructured.

The Data Liberation Project transparency initiative is joining MuckRock, where together with the data experts at Big Local News it will expand how the community of FOIA enthusiasts requests, documents and publishes data.

Public records are a cornerstone of government transparency and accountability.

Reporters for both organizations were present at the awards ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

DocumentCloud, supported by the Filecoin Foundation, is using the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) network and Filecoin to ensure long-term preservation and distribution of documents. IPFS’s decentralized nature enhances censorship resistance and privacy, while Filecoin provides incentives for data storage and sharing. DocumentCloud’s Push to IPFS Add-On facilitates easy integration with IPFS/Filecoin for secure and enduring document access.

August’s FOIA Friday session covered documents that are especially useful during the election season: personal financial disclosures, business interests and finances.

DocumentCloud has consolidated its documentation to include detailed guidance on customizing embeds and using the API to call Add-Ons. The MuckRock API received an update that allows you to add or remove collaborators from a FOIA request and to sort requests by datetime. The Legal Citations Add-On also now provides page numbers for citations found in each document.

DocumentCloud’s recent review provides a detailed comparison of available tools, highlighting their strengths and limitations in handling diverse data extraction tasks.

Admiral Grace Hopper was a pioneering figure in early computing, developing the first compiler and architecting early compiled programming languages. Now, after a FOIA request and technical assistance from the National Archives, the National Security Agency has released her 1982 lecture, “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People.”

MuckRock Senior Developer Chris Amico led a hands-on session on self-hosted maps at SRCCON 2024.

Take advantage of new resources to help your election reporting.

This FOIA Bill of Rights can be used as a guide by both agencies and requesters and can be included into the FOIA guidance provided by the Department of Justice to agencies, and its provisions and protections even added to the FOIA statute.

The MuckRock team is excited to introduce several new features in our transparency toolkit. Users can now easily search across all public projects, making it simpler to find relevant collections of documents.

MuckRock hosted its monthly FOIA Friday conversation on the challenges of requesting public records when businesses and nonprofits intervene.

Over the past few weeks, the MuckRock team has been busy with several updates and improvements. The biggest update: Our new Email Archiver Add-On allows you to preserve email files (EML/MBOX) with corresponding metadata for long-term storage by seamlessly converting emails to EA-PDFs, a new archive-friendly standard that preserves email metadata in a consistent way while ensuring emails are consistently preserved as PDFs.

MuckRock obtained documents on the $2 billion project that promised to bring two major D.C. teams to Virginia.

In a vault at the National Security Agency lies a historical treasure: two AMPEX 1-inch open reel tapes containing a landmark lecture by Admiral Grace Hopper, a giant in the field of computer science. Yet this invaluable artifact remains inaccessible, trapped in an obsolete format that the NSA will not release, stating that the agency is unable to play it back.

The Illinois EPA has created a Koppers resource website, with documents related to all four Illinois EPA violations, due to “significant public interest” in the facility. And the state attorney general’s office said it received more information from the Illinois EPA related to Koppers’ alleged violations in December, saying in a statement that it is “evaluating the matter.”

Get in the spirit of the holidays by making your own public records request or taking some inspiration from your fellow MuckRockers.

Over the past few weeks, the MuckRock tech team has focused on several key updates and additions. These include the development of the Knight Election Hub, which offers vital resources to U.S. newsrooms for comprehensive coverage of the 2024 elections.

As November inches closer, June’s #FOIAFriday session explored what type of public records can be used to investigate political candidates who are running in the 2024 election cycle. Friday’s session covered how to request these overlooked documents, including military personnel records, voter lists and Paycheck Protection Program loans.

MuckRock has archived data on over 160,000 FOIA requests, including the Environmental Protection Agency and Customs and Border Protection.