What the Public Wants to Know
Access to information (ATI) policies are perceived as serving predominantly a government oversight function, utilized by investigative journalists and activists to reveal political corruption or misconduct. In this study, I apply text-as-data methods to 37,356 information requests submitted to the U...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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HOPE
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media |
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| Online Access: | https://journalqd.org/article/view/8761 |
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| _version_ | 1849239374490763264 |
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| author | Mária Žuffová |
| author_facet | Mária Žuffová |
| author_sort | Mária Žuffová |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Access to information (ATI) policies are perceived as serving predominantly a government oversight function, utilized by investigative journalists and activists to reveal political corruption or misconduct. In this study, I apply text-as-data methods to 37,356 information requests submitted to the UK central government through the online participation platform WhatDoTheyKnow over a decade to explore public information demand. I analyze what information citizens seek and categorize it based on the probability of specific topics within the sample of requests. Citizens use online participation platforms such as WhatDoTheyKnow because it lowers the barriers to interacting with the state, and it is often the only way to obtain information, as, based on access to information laws, bureaucracies are legally obliged to respond. In line with previous research, the findings show that submitted requests are heterogeneous. By focusing on one of the identified topics — UK Welfare Reform — I also demonstrate that information requests can serve as an indicator of public reactions to recently adopted or reformed policies. Citizens use them to share their experiences, voice concerns about how these policies impact their lives, and seek clarification.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-64e14ac5a67442c28de486aca0b5fd45 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2673-8813 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | HOPE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media |
| spelling | doaj-art-64e14ac5a67442c28de486aca0b5fd452025-08-20T04:01:01ZengHOPEJournal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media2673-88132025-07-01510.51685/jqd.2025.010What the Public Wants to KnowMária Žuffová0European University InstituteAccess to information (ATI) policies are perceived as serving predominantly a government oversight function, utilized by investigative journalists and activists to reveal political corruption or misconduct. In this study, I apply text-as-data methods to 37,356 information requests submitted to the UK central government through the online participation platform WhatDoTheyKnow over a decade to explore public information demand. I analyze what information citizens seek and categorize it based on the probability of specific topics within the sample of requests. Citizens use online participation platforms such as WhatDoTheyKnow because it lowers the barriers to interacting with the state, and it is often the only way to obtain information, as, based on access to information laws, bureaucracies are legally obliged to respond. In line with previous research, the findings show that submitted requests are heterogeneous. By focusing on one of the identified topics — UK Welfare Reform — I also demonstrate that information requests can serve as an indicator of public reactions to recently adopted or reformed policies. Citizens use them to share their experiences, voice concerns about how these policies impact their lives, and seek clarification. https://journalqd.org/article/view/8761online participationaccess to informationtext-as-datainformation seekinginformation sourcesgovernment |
| spellingShingle | Mária Žuffová What the Public Wants to Know Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media online participation access to information text-as-data information seeking information sources government |
| title | What the Public Wants to Know |
| title_full | What the Public Wants to Know |
| title_fullStr | What the Public Wants to Know |
| title_full_unstemmed | What the Public Wants to Know |
| title_short | What the Public Wants to Know |
| title_sort | what the public wants to know |
| topic | online participation access to information text-as-data information seeking information sources government |
| url | https://journalqd.org/article/view/8761 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mariazuffova whatthepublicwantstoknow |