Tonight, the National Press Club (NPC) hosts an event that seeks “to explore the technical keys to making government data truly transparent.” The event is part of Sunshine Week, the annual endeavor by good government groups to highlight problems in government transparency and illustrate how eliminating such barriers leads to a healthier democracy.

Tonight’s panel, starting at 6:30 p.m. and titled “Partly Cloudy: Why ‘Public Information’ Doesn’t Always = Accessible Information,” features representatives from NPC, the Sunlight Foundation, Data Transparency Coalition, and prominent journalists from ProPublicaand USA Today. Sponsoring organizations include Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in WashingtonOpentheGovernment.orgProPublicaReporters Committee for Freedom the Press and the Sunlight Foundation. While the event looks to be already sold out for the general public, NPC members might still find some room. See here for more.

Another cool event this week (along with a litany of others brought to you by the good people over at the Sunlight Foundation) is a private screening this Thursday, March 20, of The Unknown Known, the new documentary by Errol Morris that focuses on former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. According to that film’s website, the documentary focuses on Rumsfeld’s memos during his nearly 50-year career and “their conundrums and their contradictions,” delving “into the unfamiliar terrain of Rumsfeld’s mind.” Reservations for the event are being taken here, and GAP coalition partner, the Project on Government Oversight, is cosponsoring.

 

Dylan Blaylock is Communications Director for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.