FOIA Libraries, Part 2
Health and Medical Information
Infophilia, a Positive Psychology of Information | March 22, 2025 | Vol. 3, Issue 14
✨Welcome to Infophilia, a weekly letter exploring how our love of information and connections can help us all thrive, individually and collectively. 🤗
Cite as: Coleman, Anita S. (2025, March 22). FOIA libraries, investigating government one document at a time (Part 2): health and medical information. Infophilia, a positive psychology of information, 3 (14).
Announcements:
A few days ago, the Author’s Guild shared about The Atlantic’s newest search that allows authors to check if their works are in LibGen, the illegal pirate site AI companies copied for their AI systems. This search tool is similar to the one that journalist Alex Reisner previously made available for the Books3 AI training dataset last year with ~193,000 books, but the new tool has more than 7.5 million books. It is not clear if the books were all copied, in part or in full, by Meta and other AI companies for their AI systems. A class action lawsuit is already underway against the AI companies, with a decision expected this summer. Authors can also take steps to protect their works, including sending notices to Meta, joining the Authors Guild for advocacy and legal support, adding "NO AI TRAINING" notices to their works, and getting a "Human Authored" certification. The Authors Guild offers resources and a biweekly newsletter to keep authors informed about legal developments. Read more.
FOIA Libraries
Investigating Government One Document at a Time (Part 2)
Health and Medical Information
Last week in Part 1 of FOIA Libraries: Investigating Government One Document at a Time, I introduced FOIA libraries as important public resources for accessing federal government records, highlighting two journalists renowned for their skill in hunting down primary sources. I described the concept of civic infophilia, and distinguished it from mere information literacy, as nurturing a healthy love for civic information that empowers democratic participation.
In Part 2 today, I present information hunting in the human health sciences, which includes medicine and drugs, where the stakes involve not just democracy's survival, but individual lives. And whether you follow Hollywood celebrities or social media influencers, track the world’s wealthiest figures’ fitness routines, or devour bestselling exposés, I hope the intriguing connection between the prestigious Arthur Sackler Gallery, diverse documents, health related FOIA libraries, and ‘kind AI’ provokes thought. And, I invite you to check out at least one of the FOIA libraries.
I must stress this: FOIA libraries are powerful tools for democratic transparency, but they are only as trustworthy as the governments maintaining them. In functioning democracies, they serve as vital accountability mechanisms; under autocratic regimes, these same repositories may become sophisticated vehicles for disinformation (that is, state propaganda).
Hollywood Trends, Hidden Warnings, and Human Health
"When I look around at this room I can't help but wonder, 'Is Ozempic right for me?'"