Daithí Mac Síthigh has a blog post on a recent decision by the UK Information Commissioner that the Freedom of Information Act can apply to course materials. The decision stems from Ben Goldacre at badscience.net requesting information about homeopathy courses taught at the University of Central Lancashire. The decision was not absolute, excluding case studies resulting from the lecturer’s research. From the blog post:
his decision may have an impact on universities (as well as those who criticise them) far beyond the question of homeopathy. Indeed, given the well-known exemption from both FOI and data protection of certain materials (such as exam scripts), will universities seek a specific exclusion here, encourage UCLAN [University of Central Lancashire] to appeal the Information Commissioner’s decision, come up with better arguments against future requests, set fire to course materials – or all four?
