This week's guest on "Report from Santa Fe" is veteran journalist Tom Johnson, Director of the Institute for Analytic Journalism, speaking about the global "Open Data" movement, transparency, and why Albuquerque is unique in the world in providing "meta data" online.

Tom Johnson has over 40 years of journalism experience teaching and as an active journalist. He is Professor of Journalism (Emeritus) at San Francisco State University, taught at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and was named to the “Fulbright Specialists Roster.” In the early 1980s he covered the early Silicon Valley era for TIME and Popular Science. He is currently the Region Nine (Rocky Mountain) Director for the Society of Professional Journalists.

Johnson discusses the global concept of “open data,” transparency, “sunlight,” and the Freedom of Information Act. He explains that “It's The Peoples' Data” and there are many advantages to allowing free, easy, and public access to the data that the taxpayers have paid for and can be used by government workers, taxpayers, citizens, economic development people, and journalists.

Among Johnson's ideas to make public information more available would be to “change the title of people in government agencies from public records custodian to public records providers, that’s their job – provide those public records.”