- About OpenRECORDS + About OpenRecords


- OpenRECORDS is a quick, simple way for you to submit a + OpenRecords is a quick, simple way for you to submit a public records request to a New York City Agency.

@@ -24,10 +24,10 @@


- What is OpenRECORDS? + What is OpenRecords?

- OpenRECORDS is a quick, simple way for individuals to submit Freedom of + OpenRecords is a quick, simple way for individuals to submit Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests to a NYC agency. The web application also allows government employees to manage, respond to, and fulfill incoming requests. By providing more information about records requests, members of the public may @@ -35,7 +35,7 @@


- Why aren't all documents uploaded on OpenRECORDS? + Why aren't all documents uploaded on OpenRecords?

City agencies will not publicly release records or information that violates your right to privacy. @@ -49,23 +49,16 @@


- History of OpenRECORDS (Previously RecordTrac) + History of OpenRecords

- The 2013 Code for America fellows created RecordTrac for the City of Oakland in response to public - complaints that people did not know what happened after submitting FOIL requests and that the response - time was too long. By making the process transparent, requesters could know when their requests were - fulfilled. In 2014, the Department of Records and Information Services and the Department of Information Technology - and Telecommunications began working with the open source code from the Oakland application to create - additional features and functionality required to meet the FOIL needs of New York City agencies. The - resulting FOIL portal is part of Mayor de Blasio's overall initiative for transparency in government. - The - initial beta version of OpenRecords was released in March 2015 for use with eight pilot agencies. The - current version 2.1 was released in August 2017 and is used by 38 agencies, with more to be added on a - regular basis. The DORIS development team rewrote all of the code to increase the stability and - robustness of the application. - + and Telecommunications began working with open source code developed by Code for America to build a + portal for Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests. The resulting FOIL portal allows members of the + public to easily submit a request for government records to City agencies and offices. Agency users can + use automated scripts to respond and to provide information about the timeframe to fulfill requests and + to post the responsive record on the portal unless it contains personal privacy information. As of March + 2024, there are 55 New York City agencies and offices using the OpenRecords portal.


Harvard Ash Center Bright Ideas Award 2017