• Alaveteli now has better support for running entirely over SSL – as can be seen at WhatDoTheyKnow and the new Australian Right to Know site.
• Upgrade to HTML 5
• Preliminary support for running under ruby 1.9 (full support to come with the Rails 3 upgrade)
• Better isolation and testing of the mail handling code
• A more consistent admin user interface using Bootstrap by default
• Better support for responsive front end themes and sqlite on the back end
• A clearer and more consistent format for translations

Thanks to everyone who’s contributed!

We have a few such dependencies, like recaptcha and rmagick.  Previously we installed these from system packages on Debian.  The advantages of using Bundler are:

• We can upgrade to newer versions more quickly than Debian packages allow
• It’s the standard way of packaging software in Rails 3, to which we will migrate in due course (in fact, we will probably skip straight to Rails 4…)
• It brings the process of getting a working setup in OS X closer to that of building the same thing on a Linux-based system

It’s not utopia — the first run of “bundle install” on a new system will take a very long time, because Xapian has to be compiled from scratch; and we can’t remove our non-rubygems dependencies like gnuplot and memcached.  However, as part of the slow process of moving to a modern Rails setup, this is a major step forward.

Here’s the “Follow” button:

…and here’s the “wall”:

Alaveteli has always supported hiding requests that are unsuitable, but in version 0.6 we’ve added some new functionality that makes the process smoother and faster.

First, we allow any logged in user to report a request for moderation by an administrator. This is important because there’s no way we could support the moderation of requests before they are published on the site:

Requests that have been reported now appear in a worklist on the home page of Alaveteli’s administrative interface:

When a moderator clicks through to the edit page for the request, they are now presented with radio buttons to select a reason why the request should be hidden (if any). A text box appears prefilled with suggested text, and when the moderator hits the “hide request” button, this message is emailed to the requestor notifying them that their message has been hidden:

Let us know if you find this useful, and if you think it needs any more tweaking!

The theme was started at AlaveteliCon by @wombleton.  It’s based on Twitter’s Bootstrap framework, a CSS-and-javascript foundation for layout and styling of websites.  It tries to collapse the large amounts of data often found on a single page into smaller chunks that can be scanned more easily.

When I started integrating the new code into the Alaveteli core, I realised that this might be quite a big and potentially unwanted step for users who are used to the old interface.  So I moved all the interface changes into their own theme, which can be installed or uninstalled by changing a line in the configuration file.

The upshot of this is that instead of specifying a single theme in your site’s configuration file, you can now specify a list of themes.  When Alaveteli needs to display a help page, or a template, or a CSS file, it starts by looking in the first theme on the list.  If the resource isn’t there, it works through the other themes in order, until it falls back to the resources provided in Alaveteli itself.  This may be useful if you want to borrow someone else’s theme but just change the logo or colours; or perhaps if you want to temporarily add a banner at the top of your site to make an announcement about a change in FOI laws in your jurisdiction.

In new installations of Alaveteli 0.6, the admin theme is installed by default, but existing installations that want to try the theme out will need to add it to their config file, as per the sample config supplied with Alaveteli.

The new admin theme includes some new functionality that isn’t available in the old theme, and the old theme should be considered deprecated.  You can expect the new admin theme to be merged into the Alaveteli core (and the old theme to disappear) by version 0.7, so if you don’t like the new look, shout out on the mailing list before it’s too late!

A full list of changes is on Github.  Interesting features and bugfixes include:

• Most Ruby dependencies are now handled by Bundler (thanks @mckinneyjames!)
• Support for invalidating accelerator cache — this makes it much less likely, when using Varnish, that users will be presented with stale content. Fixes issue #436
• Adding a GA_CODE to general.yml will cause the relevant Google Analytics code to be added to your rendered pages
• It is now possible to have more than one theme installed. The behaviour of multiple themes is now layered in the reverse order they’re listed in the config file. See the variable THEME_URLS in general.yml-example for an example.
• A new, experimental theme for the administrative interface. It’s currently packaged as a standalone theme, but will be merged into the core once it’s been tested and iterated in production a few times. Thanks to @wombleton for kicking this off!
• Alert subscriptions are now referred to as “following” a request (or group of requests) throughout the UI. When a user “follows” a request, updates regarding that request are posted on a new “wall” page. Now they have a wall, users can opt not to receive alerts by email.
• New features to support fast post-moderation of bad requests: a button for users to report potentially unsuitable requests, and a form control in the administrative interface that hides a request and sends the user an email explaining why.
• A bug which prevented locales containing underscores (e.g. en_GB) was fixed (issue #503)
• Error pages are now presented with styling from themes

There are some blog posts about some of the new features here:

• The new admin theme
• The request moderation features
• “Following” and the “wall”
• Bundler

Attending the first Alaveteli World Conference reminded me why I am dedicated to promoting access to public information in my country.

At the University of Oxford, where the event was held, I found not just 50 delegates from 33 countries, but a group of people who, like myself, are convinced that only by working together will we bring the Right to Information to light.

In this place I gained an understanding of what Alaveteli is. You can define it as open source software for creating sites that solicit information from the State. But that is the very least of it, and does it a disservice.

Alaveteli is, above all, a community, a group of people willing to get the word out to help citizens improve their quality of life, to understand that Freedom of Information is a right and as such, must be respected.

This is the goal of the team. It’s a difficult task if it’s anything. However, no obstacle seems to stop those who have chosen to take the project forward.

During the first day of the conference, a panel discussed access to public information in different countries. The general conclusion was that much remains to be done: there are still national territories with no FOI law instilled, as in our case, and there are places with long lead times for delivery of a response, a problem most evident in the U.S., for example.

With lunch came a series of flash talks, in which we shared the situation in our countries, but in most cases, the talks ended with “count on us for what we need.”

I was also pleasantly surprised to talk to Tom Steinberg, director of mySociety, the NGO which built Alaveteli, and to find that he was unlike anyone else in the room. Tom is one of those people that it is impossible to ignore: he has the contagious spirit of a student, and a welcome for everybody. He makes it impossible not to get involved, because he has complete belief in what he does. He’ll always listen to criticism and he knows the best way to help people move forward when they hit an obstacle.

All the workshops for activists focused on the need for collaboration, open discussion and teamwork. Monday’s session, by Daniel Silva, one half of the duo behind the Brazilian Alaveteli, highlighted the main problems facing those who wish to promote the project in their countries: the initial resistance of the authorities, and non-response to requests.

Beyond that, in jurisdictions where Alaveteli is already up and running, positive change has been achieved.

In the UK, some public bodies are interested in the possibilities offered by this open source software. No wonder. Alaveteli is not just a technology for transparency, but it also promotes a new type of relationship between the State and the people.

Any technological advance without a body of stakeholders to promote it is doomed to failure before it even begins. Therefore, to develop the initiative, always and without exception, you have to get the public sector behind you.

The very best type of civic leader understands that Alaveteli is not anti-government. On the contrary, it presents a unique opportunity for citizens to talk to them. When public information is in the hands of the people, it contributes to a democracy that is no longer experienced in the abstract – it is felt to be tangible and real.

This is the main challenge for all of us who met in Oxford earlier this week, already feeling like  part of a great community that mySociety had brought together.

Perhaps for this reason, on the last day of the event, a list of all proposed improvements to Alaveteli was put on the wall.

Which got the most votes?
-  A way to generate statistics, with a league table of institutions, showing which bodies are the most, or least, responsive;
- Advice for users where they are given no information, or requests are denied;
- Functionality to allow the use of these sites in countries where FOI requests have to be submitted on paper, rather than by email.

My participation in the conference, without doubt, has changed my understanding of what it means to be an activist, a word which is often loaded with negative meaning.

In my case, being an activist for Freedom of Information means asking the state questions every week, walking, taking the subway, approaching the front desk of an agency to make my request, taking home my sealed copy, sitting and waiting, in some cases receiving a request for an extension… and finally having the answer in my hands.

This is what I call “literally getting access to public information.” Because as an excellent teacher of journalism once said, a journalist’s work is not done from the desk. Neither is the FOI activist’s.

If we want our voices heard, we must cry out, until the echo is so intense that they can not ignore it. Alaveteli does that, and much more: it gives voice to those who did not know they had one. It allows you to ask, not only in order to get an answer, but to show public information can improve the lives of people.

And indeed it does. Only a few people know that everyone has the right to ask about scholarships, neighborhood plans, grants, and many other things. This is where Alaveteli’s power lies.

For all this, it was really hard for me to leave Oxford. Everyone who took part in this first world conference of activists and hackers showed that if one is truly convinced of a project like those that mySociety have instigated, you can achieve. The most important thing is to find a team that believes in this aim, and wants to pursue it.

The rest is secondary. After all, in the Alaveteli community we are a couple of crazy people who want to change access to public information, nothing more and nothing less. A couple of people that nobody can ignore.

Launching a website that can change the history of access to public information in Argentina requires just three elements: the open source software Alaveteli, an enthusiastic team, and a few weeks of work.

Here, in eight points, is the key to understanding why Alaveteli has excited advocates of transparency everywhere.

1. It can be developed in countries whether or not they have a right to the Freedom of Information. In places which have an established Right to Information law, Alaveteli helps strengthen and extend citizens’ access, through the publication of thousands of public documents. In places with no history of FOI, it helps people to put pressure on the State to create a law.
2. Why the name? Alaveteli is the town where the first ever Access to Public Information law was passed. mySociety chose the name to express the idea of “free for everybody.” Development began in 2011 when a team, led by Seb Bacon, decided to take the open code from the UK site WhatDoTheyKnow, and improve and adapt it so that  it could easily be replicated in different contexts.
3. Anyone can participate in the project. Yes, you will need access to programmers and FOI experts. But take a look at Turbo Transparency, a brief guide explaining what Alaveteli is, how it is used and why it should implemented in other countries. Above all, it highlights the need for people who are passionate about open government, and accountability for the many tasks that government performs for its people.
4. It serves as a public archive. Any site using Alaveteli will request documents from the State, but it will also serve as a repository for everything that an authority provides to users. Other advantages include the ability to search, to track the progress of any request, to comment, and even to set email alerts which will send a message every time a keyword or topic that interests you is mentioned.
5. You’ll need some legal advice  and money. To begin your adventure, and to ensure the success of the site, you will need the services of a lawyer. But not full time. You’ll also need funds to run the site.
   Tuderechoasaber, the latest Alaveteli implementation, raised its minimum project funding of 4,100 euros in just 30 days, and today the money is still coming in. All thanks to Goteo.org, a crowdfunding site that finds people to collectively fund development initiatives for the common good.
6. It’s very flexible. Alaveteli can be modified for use in areas where requests for access to information must be submitted in writing, as in the case of Argentina.
7. Your project will need organisation. To ensure that things get done, it is vital to have someone leading the initiative. That person will have to centralise and coordinate multiple tasks and resources: programmers, volunteers, a media contact, all working together as a team. Beyond that, one of the principles of Alaveteli is to create a great community, providing support to all who need it. That’s why mySociety is offering help to those taking their first steps with Alaveteli.
8. And it will need maintenance. After launch, the site will have to be maintained and updated.

Alaveteli in numbers

• So far, the UK site WhatDotheyKnow has processed more than 111,000 requests for information.
• Alaveteli has been implemented in five jurisdictions and many others are in progress.
• 100 requests were made on the very first day Turederechoasaber.es launched.
• The Alaveteli code has been translated into 8 languages.

Dolores Lavalle Cobo, a lawyer and specialist in access to public information, says Alaveteli revolutionises the concept of what it means to share information, and creates a change of mentality in the people.

She’s not exaggerating. This software is a testament to how technology, enthusiasm and a commitment to transparency can create a tool without limits for citizen participation.

Meanwhile, public policy consultant Germain Stalker agrees with this definition: “Alaveteli universalises access to information, allowing the public documents held by the State to acquire real and tangible value.”

Nothing is more certain than this. Demanding transparency is a task for the people, and the platform has awakened interest in what governments do, as never before.

The only hope is that Argentina can get on board. A project has been started and the will is there. Perhaps in this way, together we will achieve national access to Freedom of Information in 2012.