Today I was interviewed by the Statesman regarding an open records request I made for the data behind the Austin Music Census. The Austin Music Census is a report released this summer detailing many issues for musicians. The 200+ page report is full of aggregated statistics detailing the realities of musicians and issues facing the music community.
I am teaching a course Coding and Data Skills for Communicators, and received a grant last year to tell stories about music in the community using data. I knew that for Austin, music was more than entertainment. It affects the economy, history and social interaction of our community. So, I thought it was a great topic, and the Knight Foundation and Online News Association agreed and provided the funding. One of the student projects from last Spring, using city data on loud music noise complaints, was a finalist in the Online Journalism Awards. Becky Larson did a great job using a public data set found on the city’s open data portal and presenting the data in several different, interactive ways, including a way for users to input their own zip code and see a map of the complaints in their area. So, the students in this class are gaining really valuable experience in using data to tell stories.
Last spring, we had a digital entrepreneurship speaker series. I invited Nikki Rowling of Titan Consulting to join us, because I wanted someone to represent music, tech and innovation. In our meeting leading up to the event, she told me she was working on the Music Census. I expressed interest in receiving all or some of the data as a part of this project. At that point the report wasn’t published, and the data wasn’t complete, so she made no promises.
Once the report came out in June, and I realized it was funded by the city, I decided to do a Public Information Request for the data behind the report. While Titan included several charts and analyses, they in no way provided all ways that the data could be aggregated. It especially did not include any interactive ways to view the data, which are the skills I am teaching in the course. I thought we could review the quantitative aspects of the data and provide some interactive analysis to add to the discussion.
I did a Public Information Request in August and was initially denied. I received the copy of the contract between Titan and the city (via Public Information Request), in which Titan agreed to provide the city with a csv or “comma-separated value” file of “all survey results” and agreed to the requirements of the Texas Public Information Act. This act does allow for removal of certain types of personally identifying information. But a study funded by a government entity with this level of quantitative data should have much of the information as open data.
I also received an email from a city employee associated with this project that I felt was an odd and inappropriate response to a member of the public seeking what should be considered as public information. “You are asking for something that doesn’t exist and is the exact reason on why we didn’t ask for it. But you refuse to let it go.” I can provide further information on this exchange if anyone is interested, but my purpose is not to single out individuals. I simply feel the city contracted with a consulting company to receive data and that data has not been received.
I asked again, being more specific about my purposes and quoting the contract. The city’s legal department sent a letter to Titan saying they must comply with the Texas Public Information Act. And Titan’s attorney’s replied by saying that they were under no obligation to provide this information due to privacy concerns.
I feel it is quite ironic that the privacy and trust issue being used as rationale for not providing the data is deteriorated by the lack of transparency and unwillingness to provide even some of this data as open record.
One of the purposes of the report was to provide a benchmark for future analyses of this kind. The very first line in the report says, “The ATX Music Industry Census and Needs Assessment (the ‘Austin Music Census’) provides a starting point to plan initiatives to best serve Austin’s music industry growth and establishes a benchmark for future measurements.” It will be important for the city to be able to track progress over time, and having the raw data is the only way to effectively do so, whether they choose to work with Titan or another company in the future. The report is quick to state that it is the first comprehensive analysis of musicians and the music community of this kind. “It appears that Austin is the first U.S. city to conduct a granular economic analysis like the Census” (page 12). There is much value in the intellectual property represented by the data behind this report. If the city is going to make policy decisions based on this information, it should have access to the raw data.
I want to be very clear that I don’t want to see any identifying personal information, nor do I feel that any qualitative statements need to be provided. I am not trying to “out” any particular person’s income or attitudes. But there are numerous quantitative responses that should in no way be able to be identified to an individual. If there are a few outliers that are concerning, those with extremely high incomes, I’d be fine if those were removed. If the entire “Income” line was removed, I’d even be fine with that as a last resort, just so we could analyze the many other variables. Although I do think that the non-identifying income data would provide good insight into some of the main issues addressed in the report.
I proposed this project and got this grant because I am passionate about the issues that musicians face in our community. My hope is that the comprehensive data behind the Music Census Report can be made available so that additional meaningful analyses can be verified and presented. My class will go on with or without this data. We have other methods to tell stories using data about the importance of music in the community. But this has been a valuable, teachable moment for students to understand the public’s right to data and the reason why Freedom of Information exists. They now know that access isn’t automatic, and sometimes you have to work for it.
This is not a “battle” or a “squabble.” This is a legitimate request for information collected on behalf of the city. According to the State of Texas Public Information Handbook, “When a governmental body has contracted with a private consultant to prepare information for the governmental body, the consultant keeps the report and data in the consultant’s office, and the governmental body reviews it there. Although the information is not in the physical custody of the governmental body, the information is in the constructive custody of the governmental body and is therefore subject to the Act. The private consultant is acting as the governmental body’s agent in holding the records.” See page 11 here: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/og/publicinfo_hb.pdf. Titan Consulting’s desire to control the intellectual property associated with this report does not outweigh the public’s rights under the law. I hope the city will take steps to enforce the contract in the best interests of the creative community for which the report was prepared.
Tax dollars paid for the report, and the entire report – charts and all – has been publicly available online for months. The value to the city came in the professional analysis of the cumulative data and the trends that were identified.
The confidential raw data that informed the report is an entirely different matter. It belongs to the company that collected it; by itself, the data has no value to the city…which is why the city does not have a copy.
Considering you are simply looking for sandbox data for your students to play with, this escalation – taking your story to the media because you weren’t satisfied with the answer you got to your information request – is beneath you. And the damage you are doing to the city’s relationship to its musicians is unforgivable. Shame on you.
Thank you for your comment. I respect your opinion on this, although I disagree. The city entered into a contract with Titan in compliance with the Texas Public Information Act in which the first deliverable in the scope of work was the data set of “all survey results.” Information collected on behalf of a government entity by a consultant is also subject to this act. The data has immense value to the city and its citizens and artists, and additional analyses could be performed on it, if made available with care taken to preserve confidentiality of responses. I wouldn’t dream of damaging the city’s relationship with musicians, and shame on you for suggesting the contrary. My hope is to preserve the trust that we have in the data that was used to produce this report and let additional analysis and presentation be available, so that informed policy decisions can be enacted. I would think that your organization, Austin Music People, would support access to open data and want to enact your own additional analyses around issues identified in the report that you find most pertinent. I would not have entered into this process simply because I wasn’t satisfied with the answer. I have a responsibility to my students to make them aware of their rights to public information. I hope the spirit of open data will be embraced while maintaining the confidentiality of the respondents.
Cindy, let me speak as one of the musicians who participated in the survey, and I think you will find that this sentiment is shared among many in the musician community. The survey participants were assured that any raw data they provided would not be part of the public record, and many of us would not have taken the survey otherwise. So in fact, had the raw data been made public, the survey would not have been nearly as useful. Assuming you did have a legal leg to stand on, your success in this effort absolutely would damage the city’s relationship with musicians, and it would make it very difficult for our city to do this kind of study in the future and for other cities to do similar studies. Please be sensitive to the fact that music is a very political field. Getting musicians to be upfront and honest about how bad things are is a tricky thing, because sometimes being upfront and honest can be damaging to our careers. That’s why anonymity was such an important aspect of this survey. Musicians already have a tough enough time in this town. We already have to deal with our hard work being devalued. We really don’t need our privacy to be devalued as well. If you are genuinely interested in doing what’s best for musicians, which seems to be your goal in obtaining this data, then maybe ask musicians what they actually want instead of assuming you know what’s best for us.
Thank you for you comment, and I appreciate the position of the musicians who took the survey. But there is no way that the coded, quantitative responses would violate anyone’s privacy. Regardless of what respondents input, at some point someone had to code and add up the responses and divide by the total to find out the percentage for each of those categorical questions. That has to exist somewhere in a spreadsheet or database. A trained survey organization can provide quantitative data while continuing to assure confidentiality of responses. The quantitative numbers behind the charts should be able to be accessed.
Here’s one example of how the data could be used. Let’s say I wanted to run every single scaled, category question, but do it by female, then male respondents and compare. Female musicians may face different issues than male, but we don’t know that from the report. Our hands are tied from doing any further analysis of the data that wasn’t done by Titan in the report.
I am not buying the “there’s no way to assure confidentiality” argument. This is valuable intellectual property that Titan wants to control. But that’s not how contracts with government entities should work. The contract that was signed indicates the need to comply with the Texas Public Information Act and indicates a deliverable of a file of “all survey results.” The city can decide if it is in the best interest of the public to preserve their legal right to information.
There are many musicians who agree with me that both transparency and confidentiality can be accomplished in this situation, if the parties are willing.
“there is no way that the coded, quantitative responses would violate anyone’s privacy.”
Yeah, and there is no way that the Titanic could sink, either. Never underestimate the tenacity of hackers or icebergs. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who some prominent members of the local entertainment industry are based on their quantitative responses.
“Let’s say I wanted to run every single scaled, category question, but do it by female, then male respondents and compare.”
That’s awesome but also completely moot. The city did not pay to obtain the raw data, and if that data had been obtained and made part of the public record, then the survey wouldn’t have received the same response. The survey is what it is because of the anonymity of that data. One cannot promise anonymity in order to get the best survey response possible and then welch on that promise once the survey is done. Legality aside, it is simply not the right thing to do. What if another city wants to do this same survey? How could those musicians trust that their city’s promise of anonymity will be respected?
“There are many musicians who agree with me that both transparency and confidentiality can be accomplished in this situation, if the parties are willing.”
Name two.
Again, thank you for your comment. All I will say is that I wouldn’t have pursued this without knowledge of the Texas Public Information Act and without having reviewed the contract between the City and Titan that specified the deliverable of a comma-separated value (csv) file of “all survey results.” It is up to the city now if they want to enforce the contract or not. I just wanted to have access to the data, because I thought it would be an interesting data set for students to explore, and based on the above, they should be able to gain access. The city should not have entered into this type of an agreement with Titan without amending the standard contract that reflects the rights of the public to information funded by governmental entities.
There is a reason for public information – transparency in government.