CETIC.br Surveys Stimulate Debate in the Federal Government on ICT Public Policies in Brazil

The Ministry of Communications opened the doors of its headquarters' auditorium, in Brasília (DF), last Wednesday (12), for a seminar with the participation of representatives from various ministries. At the center of the debate were indicators on Internet access and use produced over the past ten years by the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (CETIC.br), which was responsible for mediating the meeting.

Alexandre Barbosa, manager of CETIC.br, explains that “the indicators can drive the achievement of goals and the creation of effective public policies.” The Dialogue on Public Policies and ICT Indicators in Brazil was divided into three panels: broadband, infrastructure, and access to ICT in Brazil; innovation, software development, and digital content production; public services and the Internet. The event was also marked by the launch of the study ICT Public Access Centers 2013, which investigates the contribution of telecenters to digital inclusion.

Minister of Communications, Paulo Bernardo, participated in the opening of the event, along with NIC.br's president, Demi Getschko, who highlighted the importance of producing statistics with quality and international standards. The minister reinforced that the surveys are strategic for decision-making and cited that the ICT Public Access Centers 2013 contributed to the Government gaining insight into the use of telecenters, especially in remote areas with limited Internet access.

Internet Universalization

One of the topics discussed throughout the event was the universalization of the Internet in Brazil. In his presentation at the seminar, the coordinator of the ICT Households survey, Winston Oyadomari, presented the historical series of the study, noting that just over half (51%) of the Brazilian population are Internet users and that there are still many obstacles to overcome, such as inequality by social class and income in home access – in class A, the proportion of households with Internet access is 98%, while in classes D and E, it is 8%.

Telebras' sales manager, Arthur Achilles Dayrell, explained the infrastructure, energy, and licensing difficulties in advancing Internet universalization in the country. He detailed ongoing projects for optical fiber installation and submarine cable construction. Additionally, regarding efforts to mitigate the inequalities revealed by ICT Households, Telebras plans to launch satellites by 2018.

According to the Broadband Director at the Ministry of Communications, Artur Coimbra, the Government has a specific goal for Internet coverage in rural areas – by the end of 2015, it is expected to reach 91% of rural households with wireless Internet access. The ICT Households 2013 reveals that the lack of service availability in rural areas is the main justification for the absence of Internet in 37% of households with a computer.

Software and Education

The software and services program of the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation, TI Maior, and Startup Brazil, which aims to foster technology-based companies, were mentioned during the meeting by Marcos Vinicius Guimarães, a representative of the agency, as government efforts to advance in this field. ICT Enterprises 2013 shows that only 31% of companies using computers reported introducing new software or undergoing significant improvements. And 51% of companies said the biggest problem in hiring IT professionals is the lack of specialized qualification.

Regarding education, Daniel Aragão Valetim spoke about the Ministry's main program for technology, Proinfo. He explained the three main actions of the project: infrastructure (technology labs), operating system (Educational Linux), and mobile technologies.

The coordinator of the ICT Education and ICT Kids Online projects, Camila Garroux, presented, during the seminar, data on the use of ICT in schools. ICT Education shows that the most common environment for using computers and the Internet in public schools is the computer lab (76%). The amount of educational resource publications by teachers is small – only 21% of public school teachers have published educational content they produced for their classes on the Internet.

Culture and Social Participation

The value of the Internet lies in the content and applications layer. This is the opinion of Marcelo Barbosa from the Ministry of Communications. He emphasized that the Government should promote content applications produced nationally. The coordinator of projects and surveys at CETIC.br, Fabio Senne, reminded that the ICT Households 2013 indicates that only 20% of Brazilians create or update blogs, Internet pages, or websites. In line with this, José Murilo, from the Ministry of Culture, explained the work behind the Federal Government's digital collections, which aim to democratize knowledge.

Social participation through digital tools was discussed by Eduardo Paiva from the Ministry of Justice and by Ricardo Poppi from the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic. They talked about the experience of public consultation in the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet. In this context, the coordinator of the E-Government project at CETIC.br, Manuella Ribeiro, brought data about the presence of public agencies on the Internet. ICT Electronic Government 2013 reveals that 53% of federal and state public agencies reported conducting online public consultations, 28% adopted surveys, and 18% facilitated interaction through forums or discussion communities.

Health

The representative of the Ministry of Health, Paulo Eduardo, spoke about the National Health Information and Informatics Policy of the Unified Health System (SUS), a project still under construction, which aims to provide a national guideline in the area for health plans. Fabio Senne provided data from ICT Health 2013 that point to challenges for electronic records of patients' clinical information. Data on vaccines taken, for instance, are electronically available in only 21% of health establishments.

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