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Librarian Lens

Librarian Lens: Requesting Information via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

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Meryl Brodsky, Information & Communication Librarian and Juliana Kasper. Juliana Kasper received a Master’s in Information Studies from UT’s iSchool in 2024 where she conducted interdisciplinary research on Autonomous Vehicles using PIA requests. She now works in records and information management as a Records Analyst for the Texas state government.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides the public the right to request access to records from any federal agency. Federal agencies are required to disclose information requested under the FOIA unless it falls under one of nine exemptions which protect interests such as personal privacy, national security, and law enforcement.

The FOIA requires agencies to post some categories of information online, including frequently requested records. FOIA is part of informing the public about government activities. The first step you should take if you think there is agency information you need, is to see if it is already available online. It  may be in a FOIA Library, or a FOIA Reading Room posted on an agency website. As an example, here’s a link to the Electronic Reading Room from the National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/foia/electronic-reading-room.

You will need to know which agency produces this information. Here is a list of federal agencies: https://foia.wiki/wiki/Agencies_Landing_Page. Each federal agency is a separate entity. There is no central office. For example, you must determine if you need information from the Department of Education or whether what you’re really looking for is local information about schools. You can request information from federal, state and local government agencies.

Once you’ve identified which agency has the information you are looking for, you must send them your FOIA request in the manner in which they specify. It could be a letter or an email or an online form. You need to make your request very specific. Structure your request so that whoever responds can easily find the information and get the information to you. In addition, you must specify the format in which you wish to receive your information. https://www.foia.gov/how-to.html

If you need to make multiple similar requests, it is valuable to build out a template to batch them. You can plug in words/terms based on the specific request. For example: “I am requesting [INSERT RECORD TYPE i.e: emails, meeting minutes] the [DEPARTMENT, AGENCY, OFFICE, ETC.] has collected on [INSERT SPECIFIC, SEARCHABLE TERM] related to [INSERT TOPIC OF INTEREST]. I aim to obtain records documenting [INSERT MORE CONTEXT/RELEVANT DETAILS ON THE SEARCHABLE TERM] related to [TOPIC] from [Month Date Year to Month Date Year].”

Agencies generally process requests in the order in which they are received. However, the information you seek may not be available immediately, depending on its complexity. Complex requests may be large or they may require searching for records from different locations or from different time periods. FOIA requests can take longer than a semester, so if you are interested in this information for a class project, you may need to start early, or use data that’s already available.

Sometimes there are fees for photocopying or other services. For example, the CIA has their fee schedule right on the FOIA page, though their information is generally free for academic pursuits.

You may even need to follow up to see where your request is in the process. Most of the agencies list people to call. Do not hesitate to get in touch with them. Getting access to public information is your right, even if you are not a citizen. However, it may take some effort. You might receive the response of “no responsive information” to a request. Sometimes the agency doesn’t keep the information you requested, especially if the information comes from a public/private partnership.

The Population Research Center on UT’s campus has restricted information on population health and well being, reproductive, maternal and infant health, family demography and human development and education, and institutions. This restricted information is generally private, but you may be able to access it for research purposes. If your research falls into this realm, you may apply to use their data, but you should first contact an Administrator to see if your proposal is feasible. Using this type of data requires a duty of care to protect study participants, even if the data is unrestricted public information. The data may be used if it is required for a research project, and the researcher keeps the data secure. https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/prc/

Texas Public Information Act (TPIA)

The Texas Public Information Act (TPIA) allows citizens to access government records held by public agencies. Information granted by TPIA is circulated but may not be readily available to the public.

While FOIA requests are open to the general public, TPIA requests are only available to citizens. TPIA can often release information faster, since the documentation has already circulated. Under the TPIA, governmental bodies are required to respond to PIA requests of all forms— you can even send them one written on a napkin and they have to respond to it.

Under the TPIA if it takes longer than 5 hours for them to gather the responsive information then they can charge you: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/files/divisions/open-government/conference/12-3CostBasics.pdf

Also, do not be surprised if the legal department asks questions about the nature of your research. 

For more information go to the Texas Public Information Act.

City of Austin

Austin makes municipal information available. For example, you can request information on reported incidents involving driverless vehicles. Go here to learn more. The FAQ is also helpful.

The City of Austin also maintains an Open Data Portal. You can find out graduation rates of local schools here: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/city-of-austin-schools-with-data

Last, for more detailed information, the UT Libraries has a new research guide on this topic here: https://guides.lib.utexas.edu/FOIA

Librarian Lens

Librarian Lens: Customer Reviews Data

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The Librarian Lens is an occasional column featuring librarians who support the research lifecycle across a range of disciplines sharing research tips, updates about both Libraries-provided and open source resources, and related topics intended to intrigue, demystify and highlight topics of interest to the research-curious. Posted columns are provided or curated by librarians from the University of Texas Libraries STEM and Social Science Engagement Team.

Customer reviews data are what you look at when you’re deciding which product to buy, which restaurant to eat at, or which hotel to reserve. The data consists of star ratings and the written or video reviews from customers. Most people consult customer review data when making online purchasing decisions.

Customer reviews are also considered a form of advertising. In advertising lingo, customer review data is known as “electronic word of mouth,” meaning it comes from a customer’s experience, not the manufacturer or service provider. Traditional “word of mouth” advertising, especially from people we know, is the most trusted form of advertising. Electronic word of mouth can also influence purchase behavior. Academic researchers have measured that influence and concluded that the most trustable and influential reviews are those that are high quality, i.e., they contain a lot of detail and the reviewer posts regularly.

However, is trusting reviews from people we don’t know a good idea? Like the answer to many questions involving human-centered behaviors, the answer is, it depends.

On its face, customer review data is a compilation of crowd sourced wisdom. If we believe that people are genuinely reporting their experience with the product or service, then why not rely on customer review data?

Guilt

There are many reasons why people don’t always give their honest opinions in a review. They may feel guilty about leaving a poor review. This is common for services such as ridesharing or house rentals in which a consumer’s written opinion can impact the service provider’s ability to earn income. It also happens because service providers can review the consumer. No one wants to be labeled as difficult. These reviews are not always reliable.

Distraction/Hidden Agenda

Other reasons for consumers not giving honest reviews may be unrelated to their experience with the product or service. They could be hungry or in a hurry or they may not read the product’s instructions. Or they could have a political disagreement with the company. There is no way for you as a consumer to know about these conditions unless you research the reviewer and check their other reviews. You may not have time for this kind of investigation.

Consumer Reports tests electric lights in different ways, including for longevity and brightness. Consumer Reports, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Expertise

Another reason to consider not using customer review data is because people leaving the reviews may not be experts in the field. In fact, most reviews are from people who do not have special expertise. You may have noticed this in movie reviews. Film critics review films differently from most people, such as in the case the Netflix show Squid Game: The Challenge. This is why it is interesting to look at a site like Rotten Tomatoes which contains reviews from both experts (Tomatometer) and regular folks (Audience Score).

In situations in which you are not spending a large amount of money, it may not matter all that much what the reviewers write. After all, how much difference is there between one type of hand lotion and another? More details help. The reviewer could write I live in a dry environment, and this product improved my skin’s texture. This why sites that sell clothing often ask reviewers to fill in other criteria such as age and body type so that you can try to choose a reviewer that matches you so that you can use their review to make your best guess about whether to make a purchase.

If you are spending a large amount of money, or procuring something for a child, it’s a good idea to use expert reviews. For investment advice or car purchases, please turn to the folks who work in this field. Or for safety considerations for items such as car seats or booster seats, consult the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For technical products, such as hardware or networking equipment, use sources such a CNET or PC Magazine.

Another consideration is durability. Some organizations, such as Consumer Reports and Wirecutter are testing experts. They don’t specialize in a particular industry, but they have expertise in testing. For home products such as microwaves or washing machines, it’s a good idea to read reviews from these organizations, because they’ve done the kind of tests where they’ve held a watch under water for 8 hours, or slammed an oven door repeatedly, unlike the regular consumers who post reviews to Best Buy or Lowes. 

Fake Reviews

In a recently published article, New York Times reporter Stuart A. Thompson said that fake reviews are so pervasive that nearly every online shopper has most likely encountered one.  Amazon blocked more than 200 million suspected fake reviews last year and Google said it removed 115 million rule-breaking reviews from Maps in 2022. It is an on-going problem. In some case, people are paid to write fake reviews, so the reviews are coming from individuals, not bots. Sometimes fake review writers are given a script to use, so searching for a phrase that comes up repeatedly could indicate a fake review.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence, or AI could help or hinder the fake review problem. You may have noticed that Amazon now provides summaries of reviews for products. If you click on Reviews, there’s a section that says “Customers say” which summarizes comments about product attributes. In small text beneath the summary paragraph, it says “AI generated from text of customer reviews.” It’s likely that fake reviews are included in this collection, and that skews the summary to be more positive, since fake reviews are almost always positive. One way to combat this is to read the negative reviews.

Customer Review Data was the subject of a UT Libraries’ Data & Donuts Workshop in October 2023. Please link to the Zoom recording for more information on customer reviews.