On Information Silos and Public Records Requests
On Information Silos and Public Records Requests
Much of this project has been conducted at the level of peer-to-peer and student-to-student. Despite asking several offices, professors, archivists, and officials for formal input during the earliest drafting period, for assistance or clarification, none was forthcoming in a concrete sense.
Luckily, one particular chain of interactions is so well documented that a stable chronology can be publicly presented: that of the failure of my Public Records Request and the events leading up to it. Editorialization on my end will be kept to a minimum, barring the circumstances of 04/13/2026, which, because it was in-person, requires my memory and testimony.
On 01/01/2026 I emailed student activities : Hello, my name is Carston Anderson. I am a grad student in the English department and I am writing because I am doing my best to track down extra copies of 'The Watermark.' I was wondering if there were any available? I know the magazine stopped publishing and I am trying to gather copies while they still exist for a project I am working on.
Thank you very much for your time, and I hope you have a pleasant afternoon!
I received a response for specific copies. I replied. I received no followup.
On 01/25/26 I emailed student activities: Hello, my name is Carston Anderson and I am a graduate student in the English department. I am writing because I am trying to track down issues of old student publications for The Watermark and Writ Large. Given that these magazines were under the umbrella of student activates, is there any chance you could direct me towards issues? I am in particular interested in issues of the Watermark after Issue #22 from 2014.
I sincerely apologize for bothering you, and I am very grateful for any assistance you could provide!
I received no response.
On 01/26/26 I emailed the graduate student government: Hello, I am wondering if there was anyone in the Undergraduate Student government who would be willing to speak with me about UMB's undergrad student journals, Writ Large and Watermark? I would be sincerely grateful!
I received no response, but this could be because of my own typo. Still when combined with the email to the undergraduate student government, their silence is interesting.
On 01/26/26 I emailed the undergraduate student government: Hello, I am wondering if there was anyone in the Undergraduate Student government who would be willing to speak with me about UMB's undergrad student journals, Writ Large and Watermark? I would be sincerely grateful!
I received no response.
On 02/16/2026 I emailed back to student activities: Hi, this is Carston Anderson circling back one last time about this. If you do not have any copies, no worries what so ever! I am just very motivated to document student media for my research project.
I received no response.
On 04/04/2026 I emailed student activities again: Hello, my name is Carston Anderson and I am following up one final time regarding the Undergrad Student Government and its funding of former UMB journals like Writ Large and Watermark?
I was directed to student activities.
On 04/10/2026 I emailed the archives: I am eagerly looking for records regarding print statistics for The Watermark. Either invoices from vendors that detail how many copies per volume were made, editorial board records, or student activities office records. Basically, any document which can say; "Volume X of The Watermark had XXX copies made this semester." I understand these records may be scattered or otherwise difficult to find. But any data at all which can point to print statistics would be very, very valuable for my research. I am in particular curious about the years 2016-2023, but will eagerly take anything that could be provided.
They responded they did not have these records, but that since the watermark was, quote, “published through student activities ” I should check there.
On 04/10/2026 I replied to the student activites office, which had now responded to my initial 01/26/26 outreach, and 04/04/26 followup, informing me that the publications had merged into The Waterfront. I said: Hi Bethany! Thank you very much for this information, but I am primarily looking for information on print statistics and funding patterns for a research project.
I have spoken with several former editors ranging from 1996 to the 2020s, but their responses are all based on their recollections. I am very eager to find out, if it is at all possible, how many copies of any given volume were made beyond their guesswork. I know certain issues of the Mass Media in 2006-2008 reported on this and gave concrete numbers, but I am wondering if you are able to provide any further specific information?
Thank you so much for your time and I hope you enjoy your weekend!
I was politely redirected on the same day to the current EIC of The Waterfront, or a named individual in admin.
On 04/10/2026 I filed a public records request which reads:
Hello,
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I am requesting records related to print production of The Watermark: A Journal of the Arts at UMass Boston.
I have previously attempted to obtain this information through Student activities and the Archives without much success, so I am submitting this formal request.
Specifically, I am seeking any records that document or reflect the number of copies printed per volume, including:
Printing invoices, print orders, or vendor contracts
Student Government funding requests and budgets at the Graduate and Undergraduate levels
Any records maintained by Student activities , Student Activities, or related offices concerning publication production or circulation
If exact print quantities are not compiled, I request any records from which print quantities can be determined.
Please provide these records in electronic format where available.
Thank you.
On 04/13/2026 I received a response from the office of student activities saying copies had been ‘found’ and that I should swing by for a meeting. I agreed to a meeting, showed up, was led 4-8 desks down, a desk drawer was opened, and the individual explained that these copies had been there for awhile, I could have whatever I wanted from the desk (so long as there was more than 1 copy). They also asked me if I sent an email requesting public records.
Now I must confess that this did not surprise me, as I knew of the existence of the desk drawer already. In fact, I had been for some time very curious to get at this particular desk but lacked direct access to it. The individual who led me to the drawer did not know I knew about the drawer, given I had at no point indicated to him I was speaking to former Editors-in-Chief as far back as 2004, and none of my research was at the time publicly available on the internet, and by this point the Watermark was several years defunct and there was no regular communication between them, and former EIC’s, something I am comfortable stating given off-the-record conversations with the asterisk that this is not a universal rule.
These conversations were treated with mild suspicion given the years separating them from events described, but enough details were present and a short enough amount of time had passed that left me willing to build assumptions off of them with room for revision. There was, it would turn out, no need (from my point of view).
This individual asked why I was doing this. I launched into a rant about ecocomposition and little magazines as political organisms.
I was also informed my public records request would be (in their words) declined, and that I should work directly through them, that we should meet once over Zoom, and that they would answer all the questions I had if I wrote them out in advance. This individual I met with would go on to be cited as the custodian of the records I wanted.
It is important to note that, given the nature of the meeting as in-person, I have no 3rd party or else written documentation of it and am relying on my own private notes and recollections. I will say, however, that given the not inconsiderable routing and re-routing, it was the best I could do.
I am, personally and perhaps unfairly, suspicious of the timing of this person's response. After several earlier inquiries had produced either no response, partial responses, or referrals, generous offers to provide hard copies readily available on hand were unexpected but still predicted given the fact that sometimes drawers sit unused for decades. I had expected copies from bulk storage, at best. I was not expecting to be led to the former Watermark EIC desk a 1 minute walk from their desk given the fact I had been trying for 3 months to get access to bulk copies, and considered that perhaps they were in a storage locker somewhere, at best.
Instead, and I must state this clearly, this individual brought me to a desk that was still being actively used by Waterfront student editors at the time. I learned this when one walked up to begin working, and they introduced us.
Frankly, this left me mildly uncomfortable as an undergraduate editor watched me load up around 8 individual books into my backpack and this campus official began handing me copies of Writ Large from the desk they were working from. I left the meeting, and this was our only one.
On 04/17/2026, my public records request was met with the following explanation: “Hello, it is my understanding you are working directly with [redacted] on a related research project. Is that the case? If so, he is the custodian of these records. Thank you”
On 04/28/2026 I asked this figure for PDF releases: Hi [redacted], this is Carston. I am writing because I have finally settled down during finals season to the point where I can return to my project on The Watermark. I have one specific question for you:
Do you have an PDF of Volume 26? And if that is the case, would you be willing to share a copy of that PDF so I can track contributor counts and editorial layout and sequence design?
On 05/12/2026 they responded by asking what year this would be from.
On 05/12/2026 I responded: Hi! 2016-2017 is the year its from! But I'll settle for anything you have if you don't have that one. I'm very grateful!
There was no further communication.
Notably, this began originally with a series of requests for copies, records, and print statistics. The entire period from January into April culminated in being shown a desk, receiving 8 books, and no print statistics data, rendering the entire period a partial success only. Multiple offices either did not respond, responded in the negative, or else responded by rerouting me to another office which ultimately responded around the same time I filed my Public Records Request. However I cannot safely state there was a direct correlation, despite the fact I filed it on April 10th and received an invitation to an in-person meeting three days later, from someone I’d been emailing since January, who told me that it would be later declined.