Public Access to Government Information and Information Literacy Training as Basic Human Rights

Horton, Forest Woody (2002) Public Access to Government Information and Information Literacy Training as Basic Human Rights. In Proceedings Information Literacy Meeting of Experts.

Abstract

One of the key critical success factors for a stable democracy is an informed and empowered citizenry. A more formal way of saying this is to proclaim that public information is a strategic resource needed at all levels of society, by all people, and in all walks of life. This paper examines the philosophical concept of why public access to government information should be considered a basic human right, why minimal information literacy skills are necessary to exploit that strategic resource, and why the acquisition of those skills by all citizens should also be treated as a basic human right. The two ideas are essentially an ends and a means. In short, an end (public access to government information), however worthy, but without the means to realize it (information literacy skills) might as well be no end at all.