Access Conferences

The conference on Nov. 12 was a big success. Check out the program and our sponsors from the links below.

Thank you to our sponsors

Access 2015 --
get the program here

PRESS RELEASE - for immediate release

Open government group announces 2014 award winners

A Fairfax mom and the state’s library will be honored Nov. 14

(exact times and panelists are subject to change)

Return to Registration/Donation page

10:00 - 10:15

Welcome from VCOG’s president Craig Fifer and Williamsburg City Manager Jack Tuttle

10:15 - 11:25

PANEL 1: Lax: Are Virginia’s laws as bad as they say?

Sarah Bryner, Center for Responsive Politics
Vivian Paige, Political observer
Gordon Witkin, Center for Public Integrity

11:30 - 1:10

Virginia Coalition for Open Government
Board of Directors
November 30, 2012

Craddock-Terry Hotel & Event Center
Lynchburg, VA

The meeting was called to order at 8:00 a.m., by Dorothy Abernathy, President.

By Brenda Acevedo

RICHMOND, Va. – Thanks to the Internet, citizens have greater access to government records and other public information, representatives of government agencies said Friday at a panel discussion at the state Capitol.

"The whole idea is that you should be able to go online and not have to ask," said Emily Siebert, a marketing and public relations specialist for the Virginia Information Technology Agency, which oversees the state government's computer operations.

By Talisha Williams

RICHMOND, Va. – Colleges and universities sometimes deny student journalists access to information that by law should be open to the public, a campus newspaper editor told the Virginia Coalition for Open Government on Friday.

Katie Thisdell, editor-in-chief of The Breeze at James Madison University, said officials at the Harrisonburg school treat the twice-weekly student newspaper differently from "real news organizations," such as the Richmond Times-Dispatch.