W3C Brazil promotes the first course on open data for public entities in Latin America and the Caribbean

 The first course on open data for public managers in Latin America and the Caribbean will take place next 9, 10 and 11 January 2013, at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile .

This activity is organized by W3C Brazil, in collaboration with ECLAC and with the support of the International Centre for Research and Development Canada (IDRC ), within the framework of the project Open Data for Public Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean (OD4D).

This course addresses public managers’ requests to improve public entities’ capacities in carrying on open data initiatives. By training the participants in order to behave as “multiplier of competencies” once back in their respective countries, the course will represent a unique opportunity to learn about the development of open data initiatives, sharing best practices and experiences, and to promote debate on open data and its potential for public policies and for the development of a more inclusive knowledge economy in the region.

The course will take place in parallel with the first “Regional Meeting of the Open Government Partnership” for Latin America and the Caribbean “, taking advantage of synergies generated by this important event, which will bring together organizations, stakeholders and practitioners keen to issues related with open data, transparency and open government.

“The production and publication of open data in a format that allows their reutilization promote transparency and fight corruption, and boost a more participatory and collaborative relationship between citizens and government,” said Vagner Diniz, from W3C Brazil.

See the course program (only in Spanish).

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Seminar “Open Data 4 Development (OD4D): Open Data for an inclusive knowledge economy”

The seminar “Open Data 4 Development (OD4D): Open Data for an inclusive knowledge economy”, which will be held on Wednesday, 9 January 2013 at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago (Chile), aims at opening a space for dialogue with major players in the region and the world on the potential of open data in the formulation of public policies.

This event is developed within the framework of the project Open Data for Public Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean (OD4D), executed by ECLAC and the World Wide Web (W3C) of  Brazil, with support from the International Centre for Research and Development Canada (IDRC ).

The event will be opened at 9:00 am by Adrian Rodriguez, Head of the Agricultural Development Unit, Division of Production, Productivity and Management, ECLAC; Vagner Diniz, Manager of the W3C Brazil Office, and Fernando Perini, Senior Program Officer at IDRC Canada.

The speakers include Felipe Heusser, President of Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente, Chile; Mauricio Solar, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María; Amparo Ballivian, World Bank, and José Manuel Alonso, of the World Wide Web Foundation, among others.

The seminar will present the objectives, progress and activities OD4D project. A video about the definitions of the concepts of open data and its potential will be also shown. A round table on the experiences of opening government data that have surged during the last year in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay, will close the event.

The agenda (Spanish only)

About the speakers (Spanish only)

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ECLAC Headquarters: Avenida Dag Hammarskjöld 3477, Vitacura, Santiago.

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Developing Latin America 2012

The second edition of Developing Latin America 2012, a regional hackathon lasting 36 hours in which 8 countries - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay - participated , was held yesterday. The participating countries remained in constant connection via websites and livestreaming throughout the event.  The applications resulting from the hackathon are now available on the  DAL2012 website. Winning applications have already been announced for some of the countries.

Developing Latin America is distinct in that it uses open data as the main source of data for the applications, with the objective of generating innovative solutions to the social problems shared by many countries in the region.  Some of the issues highlighted  this year were health , childhood, transport and environmental, among others, with each country selecting the three issues most relevant for their specific context.

OD4D presents mapping of initiatives Government Open Data in Latin America

Elisa Calza, OD4D coordinator for ECLAC, resented the objectives and first results of the OD4D initiative during a panel on Open Data, as part of the II and IV Ministerial Meeting of National Electronic Government Network of Latin America and the Caribbean (Red Gealc) (see presentation). In particular, the focus was on presenting the progress of the mapping document of the Government Open Data initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This mapping is part of the first results of OD4D and seeks to offer a qualitative picture of data opening strategies in the region: as a photo, it offers a visual of the state of the Open Government Data initiatives developed or under implementation in different countries. Through the map, the reports for 12 countries in Latin America (currently available only in Spanish) can be accessed. Future reports will include the English-speaking Caribbean countries too.

The panel counted with the participation of Nagore de los Rios  (Director of Open Government and Internet Communication of the Basque Government), Felipe Heusser (President of the Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente, Chile) and Joao Battista Ferri (Director of Electronic Government in Brazil), which highlighted features and the growing role of Open Government Data in the respective Open Government and e-government initiatives.

OD4D participates in the II Ministerial Meeting and IV of National Electronic Government Network of Latin America and the Caribbean (Red Gealc)

The II Ministerial Meeting and IV of National Electronic Government Network of Latin America and the Caribbean (Red Gealc) is taking place in San José (Costa Rica) during November 26 and 27 2012. The meeting involves both government ministers and e-gov managers representing 29 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and various international experts, with the aim of promoting dialogue and sharing results, good practices and efforts on electronic government issues in the region.

The first day (November 26), highlighted the role that e-government has played and continues to play in the transformation of public administration, favoring greater effectiveness, as well as its importance in facilitating citizen participation, a phenomenon intended to increase significantly due to the rise in interoperability of activities and services.

An ample space has been devoted to the emerging challenges for e-government, the role of social networks, cloud computing and mobile government (m-gov). Mechanisms for monitoring progress in e-government issues were discussed, reviewing the indicators and rankings proposed by DPADM of UNDESA and the World Economic Forum.

The results of some researches on e-government-related issued will be presented on the second day of the event, including the research “Technical and economic factors that facilitate or inhibit the implementation of open data in the region”, led by Mauricio del Solar, form  the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa Maria (USM) of Chile.

Some panels will also address various emerging issues for e-government, such as open data and personal data privacy. Elisa Calza, OD4D coordinator for ECLAC, will participate on a panel on open data, which can be followed via live streaming from 11 am (Costa Rica time).

México: Dimension Técnica

En México aún no existen catálogos de datos abiertos gubernamentales en “sentido esctricto”.

Ir al mapa del estado de desarrollo de los Datos Abiertos Gubernamentales en América Latina y el Caribe

México: Dimensión Institucional

La Ley Federal de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información Pública Gubernamental estableció un mandato de transparencia que las instituciones públicas deben cumplir, sobre la base del principio que “el derecho de acceso a la información favorece la transparencia en el gobierno y la rendición de cuentas de todos los servidores públicos, lo cual mejorará la eficiencia de las instituciones federales y la calidad de sus servicios”. El mandato de transparencia se realiza principalmente a través del Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información Pública (IFAI), que se creó a partir de la Ley en el año 2003. Este organismo es autónomo y se encarga de “garantizar a todas las personas el acceso a la información pública y la protección de sus datos personales que posee el gobierno federal”; por ello, el IFAI tiene como misión principal, procesar todas las solicitudes de acceso a la información pública, las que se hacen a través del sitio www.infomex.com.mx.[1]

El mandato de transparencia mexicano se complementa con la implementación de la Agenda Digital mexicana, un plan hasta el 2015 que entre sus objetivos tiene crear un Gobierno Digital que fomente la participación ciudadana, la transparencia y un gobierno abierto. La Unidad de Gobierno Digital de la Secretaría de la Función Pública del Gobierno Federal es la entidad encargada de llevar adelante la Agenda Digital del país. En temas de gobierno abierto, México forma parte del Open Government Partnership (OGP) y es de los países que ya envió sus compromisos con la iniciativa.

Los datos abiertos son considerados por la Unidad de Gobierno Digital de la Secretaría de la Función Pública del Gobierno Federal como información a disposición del público de uso libre y formato manipulable. Se opina que los datos abiertos pueden ayudar a satisfacer el mandato de transparencia y que son además, potencialmente muy beneficiosos en todos los niveles administrativos, pero especialmente en el municipal y si se hace en las áreas de Educación, Comercio y de impuestos y declaración de rentas. La apertura de datos beneficiaría específicamente a los ciudadanos (empoderamiento y participación), a las empresas (creación de nuevos negocios) y a la administración pública (facilitar la participación de los ciudadanos). Pese a esto, la Secretaría de la Función Pública piensa que la pérdida de control sobre el uso final de los datos (posible pérdida o falsificación) y las complicaciones jurídicas en temas de propiedad y licencias sobre los datos, representan riesgos o posibles obstáculos para su publicación.

La Unidad de Gobierno Digital de Secretaría de la Función Pública del Gobierno Federal explica que el Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información Pública es el organismo encargado del seguimiento de los asuntos de apertura de datos; éste ya se encuentra elaborando una estrategia de apertura de datos gubernamentales y cuenta con un presupuesto dedicado para ello. Estas iniciativas responden a uno de los compromisos que México hizo cuando adhirió a la Open Government Partnership, el que consistía en la creación de un mecanismo de datos abiertos a través del cual “el Gobierno se esforzará para promover la integración de los procesos relacionados con servicios digitales, el uso de plataformas comunes y sistemas informativos con el objetivo de expandir el uso de parte de los ciudadanos de bases de datos no procesadas”. Además, según la Unidad de Gobierno Digital de Secretaría de la Función Pública del Gobierno Federal, también instituciones gubernamentales como los ministerios y el Instituto de Estadística estarían colaborando en la estrategia de apertura de datos gubernamentales, y está programado involucrar a otras como universidades y centros de investigación en el futuro.

A pesar del  los compromisos de la OGP (declarados en abril de 2012), a la fecha (junio 2012), no se puede confirmar que en México ya se esté implementando una estrategia explícita para los datos abiertos gubernamentales, y en el país aún no se han empezado a abrir catálogos de datos gubernamentales. De todos modos, cabe señalar que desde 2011 se ha lanzado el portal “Tu Gobierno en Mapas”, que es una herramienta para la visualización de datos públicos generados por la Administración Pública Federal. A pesar de no poder ser definida como iniciativa de datos abiertos gubernamentales en “sentido estricto” (ya que no permite el acceso directo a las bases de datos, no permite conocer directamente las características de los datos que se están utilizando para generar los mapas), el hecho de haber consolidado en un solo sitio datos públicos y haber dado acceso a los ciudadanos a información sobre recursos, servicios e infraestructura ya es un avance importante y representa una iniciativa consistente con el comienzo de una estrategia de datos abiertos gubernamentales.

Ir al mapa del estado de desarrollo de los Datos Abiertos Gubernamentales en América Latina y el Caribe

Mapping of Open Government Data initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean

The OD4D project is mapping out experiences and initiatives of Open Government Data in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Without defining a ranking among countries and experiences, this mapping seeks to offer a visual of the state of the Open Government Data initiatives in the region. As an image, this is the first qualitative diagnosis regarding opening strategies of Government Data developed by different countries in the region, highlighting both the heterogeneity and the strengths of each experience.

In order to go beyond the technical component of Open Data and offer a more complete image of the Open Government Data ”ecosystem”, four dimensions of analysis in each country are identified:

1. Normative and Regulatory
2. Institutional
3. Technical
4. Use, Re-use and Consumption

The country reports are currently available only in Spanish ( to see the full list of available country reports)

Event “Ciudadanía y Gobierno Digital C+G” in Chile

On November 20, 2013 the conference entitled, “Ciudadanía y Gobierno Digital C+G,” took place in Santiago, Chile, and was organized by the Unit for Digital Government Modernization and Digital Government of the Ministry of General Secretariat of the Presidency of Chile. For the second consecutive year, this initiative served as a space for practitioners to debate issues pertaining to digital development in Chile as well as global trends in this area, in order to identify new patterns of communication and participation between institutions and citizens.

“Ciudadanía y Gobierno Digital C+G” focused mainly on government and open data as key elements to promote citizen participation and transparency. Two parallel workshops were dedicated to “Social networks for citizens” and “Challenges of Open Data in government”, including both national and international experts. In the Open Data workshop, representatives from Junar presented the work being done in providing technical support to the opening of government data catalogs in the region. Some relevant Chilean open data initiatives were also debated, such as open linked data from the Library of the National Congress of Chile and the opening of catalog data of Peñalolén. It also highlighted the potential for citizen empowerment of experiences in health field of open data journalism, as it is the case for Poderopedioa.

A hackathon entitled, C + G “Codeando por Chile,” was held the weekend before the meeting, the first citizen applications contest based on public data promoted in Chile by the public sector, in order to encourage its use for the development of applications as a service to the community, to facilitate their access to useful information in innovative ways in key areas such as education, health, transport and security, among others.

Open 311

3-1-1 is a number well known in some cities of the United States and Canada, where citizens can notify the authorities about situations that are not urgent like non working traffic lights, illegal burning, roadway problems, etc. The goal is to leave the number 9-1-1 for those emergencies that really need immediate attention.

Open 311 “provides open channels of communication for issues that concern public space and public services. Using a mobile device or a computer, someone can enter information (ideally with a photo) about a problem at a given location. This report is then routed to the relevant authority to address the problem. What’s different from a traditional 311 report is that this information is available for anyone to see and it allows anyone to contribute more information. By enabling collaboration on these issues, the open model makes it easier to collect and organize more information about important problems. By making the information public, it provides transparency and accountability for those responsible for the problem. Transparency also ensures that everyone’s voice is heard and in-turn encourages more participation”.

Learn more