No user-facing feature updates this week, but we updated the API instructions and have a new sample script that helps export request data any way you need it.

Over the coming months, we’re migrating newsrooms to the new version of DocumentCloud (don’t worry — you’ll get a notification before anything changes!). Along with the updated version of the site, we’re also moving to a new API. Anything you can do through the web interface you’ll also be able to do through the API, so we’re excited to see what kinds of new integrations you build.

From restrictive laws contributing to prolonged response times, and high fees stopping the release of records, the State of State Public Records Laws is on a bumpy ride. To get a better sense of what’s going on at the state and local level, we’ve been analyzing our MuckRock data and finding the trends in records requesting.

In order to get a better sense of what’s truly going on with public records laws, we decided to take a look at data from over 2,600 agencies in MuckRock’s API. The numbers show the staggering differences in state and local average response times as well as the number of requests filed and completed in those states.

We’ve officially unveiled Muck.Rocks, a new resource that provides daily FOIA inspiration. Part of the goal of the project was to explore new ways our Assignments crowdsourcing tool could be used to solicit, manage, and incorporate audience submissions, so we’re taking a look behind the scenes at how the site works.