Transparency portals versus open government data

Abstract

Since the launch of the Open Government Partnership, several countries have acceded to this multilateral agreement to develop and to implement ambitious reforms to make their governments more open. Brazil, as one of the eight founding countries, has implemented a series of actions to open its government. One of these key actions is its Access to Information Law. The Brazilian law established a legal framework of guidelines for opening data from all levels of government in the country, in addition to considering internet and transparency portals key elements for the consolidation of open government. In this scenario, local governments built websites dedicated to transparency without observing the law requirements and, consequently, Open Government Data (OGD) principles. This paper shows a comprehensive assessment of transparency websites through a survey with 20 municipalities. The Brazilian law requirements are used as evaluation criteria because they somehow cover OGD principles. Our results show a gap between local transparency portals and the effective implementation of the OGD principles. This gap leads to a misconception that transparency portals are dissociated from the open government initiative, which is not true.