Cetic.br discusses the adoption of information and communication technologies in Brazilian cities

The meeting also marked the launch of the publication TIC Electronic Government 2015

The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) through the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br) of the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br), launched, last Wednesday (10/19), the publication TIC Electronic Government 2015, during a debate on the adoption of ICT in Brazilian cities. The meeting brought together public managers, academics, researchers, and representatives from the private sector and civil society at the Getulio Vargas Foundation auditorium in São Paulo, focusing on discussions about the challenges for the use of ICT in areas such as infrastructure, transparency, and participation.

“It is important to promote debates, think about where we are going, and how the Internet affects society. Good ideas come from discussions like these, also essential for maintaining relevant concepts,” highlighted Demi Getschko, director-president of NIC.br, at the opening of the event. The data that served as the basis for the discussion was presented by Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br, who noted that “few countries invest with such frequency and scope in producing data on ICT as Brazil has been doing through the surveys by CGI.br.”

Barbosa also commented on the regional disparities in Brazil regarding ICT management in public agencies: only 41% of Brazilian municipalities have some department or IT area; in the Northeast, this proportion is only 29%. He also highlighted the need for efficient online channels of interaction with society. “A high proportion of municipal sites are not adapted for mobile devices, in a scenario where the cell phone is the main device for Internet access in the country, as shown by the TIC Households 2015.”

For Maria Alexandra Cunha, professor at FGV-SP and moderator of the debate, the adoption of technologies increases the potential efficiency of the Government, the possibility of offering better services, and strengthening ties with citizens. However, according to the researcher, the way public administration uses ICT has not always been clear. “In the 90s, 5% of the Treasury Department's expenses were on technology. We did not have indicators on the adoption and use of ICT, and international surveys did not support us. Now we look at the data from the TIC Electronic Government survey and understand what is happening and the trends that are emerging,” she emphasized.

“Cetic.br's data is fundamental for us to establish public policies,” added Wagner Silva de Araujo from the Ministry of Planning, Development, and Management, who stated that he uses the indicators from the surveys in presentations and meetings with the Federal Government.

Participation

Digital public services, social participation in the cycle of public policies, and transparency (information to citizens and the use of open data) were listed by Araujo as pillars of a digital government. He highlighted the need to create a citizenship platform that acts as a hub between the federal public administration and citizens. “The Government needs to be recognized as a service provider like any other,” he opined. Marco Antonio Teixeira, professor at FGV-SP, drew attention to the role of the Legislative. “The interaction between democracy and technology is important, especially in decision-making spheres. The Legislature is also a producer of public policies as it can create and change rules,” he pointed out.

Transparency

In addition to the disclosure of information by public agencies transparently and in open formats, the difficulty in adequately translating these data for citizens was highlighted by Robson Zucolotto, professor at UFES. “The information is public, but inferring is complex.” In Zucolotto's opinion, “a communicating agent is necessary to inform the public opinion, someone who transforms this information into something digestible, allowing understanding of the data to occur more quickly.”

Infrastructure

The challenges for implementing Electronic Government in São Paulo's city hall were addressed in the meeting by Fernanda Campagnucci, public policy analyst and governmental management at the municipal body. “There is a mismatch between the conceptual framework of open government and the technological infrastructure and IT governance in municipal administrations,” she considered. On the other hand, Fernanda points out that this movement generated innovation labs, also discussed in the debate by José Carlos Vaz, professor at USP.

Vaz discussed the concept of the right to technology, which will be increasingly demanded by society, with discussions such as the introduction of programming courses in schools and the growing production of technology in startups and developer communities. “Creating labs open to society that encourage innovation might initially have a small impact. But what does it signal? It is an opportunity for the co-production of digital services. We already have actors in society organizing to compete for this space,” he warned.

TIC Electronic Government

The publication TIC Electronic Government 2015, in addition to gathering the indicators - already published in April 2016 - includes original articles and analyses on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in two types of organizations: federal and state public agencies of all branches (Executive, Legislative, Judiciary, and Public Ministry) and also in municipalities (Municipal Executive). In this edition, the sample of municipalities was expanded compared to the study conducted in 2013, and the results were released by a larger number of population size ranges of the municipalities and all regions of the country.

Access the publication: https://cetic.br/pesquisa/governo-eletronico/publicacoes.

Also, check the evolution of the indicators through the data visualization tool: https://data.cetic.br/cetic/explore?idPesquisa=TIC_EGOV.

This content was automatically translated with the support of artificial intelligence.