Copenhagen, 22 March 2011

(by Ton Zijlstra)

The website Wobbing.eu, focussing on freedom of information for journalistic and other purposes across the EU, has been relaunched. Originally launched in 2007 as wobbing.be, the term 'wobbing' refers to the Dutch slang word for sending in freedom of information requests. The Dutch FOIA is called 'WOB', hence 'to wob'.

Copenhagen based journalists Brigitte Alfter and Staffan Dahllöf are co-editors of the relaunched site and effort. They say about the new site "We like to see it as a news site, but also as a tool and a meeting place for all interested. We hope you will visit us to catch up, to learn, to practice – and to help us improve!"

The site keeps track of relevant news, such as FOIA related court cases, and news stories that are based on the results of FOIA requests. Next to this role of tracking relevant developments Wobbing.eu is also meant as a tool to help others do successful FOIA requests. It links to relevant FOIA documents for all European countries, gives step by step instructions on procedures to follow and discusses tactics in obtaining information, as well as existing obstacles. A special interest are cross-border FOIA requests, as many news stories are of an international nature.

Ultimately wobbing.eu hopes to be a tool in strengthening the European journalist community around FOIA and open government and open government data.