PASSIVE TRANSPARENCY REALLY MATTERS? A MULTIPLE CASE STUDY ABOUT THE REFUSAL OF ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION FROM BRAZILIAN CUSTOMS AREA

From the perspective of the New Institutional Theory, legal enforcement of public transparency must overcome the culture of secrecy of bureaucracy. Fiscal and banking secrecy contributes to the remarkable presence of the culture of secrecy in bureaus such as Brazilian Federal Revenue Service - RFB, which is identified in the literature as a reference in e-Gov and active transparency practice. The comparative analysis of Brazil in the performance of the transparency policy remains satisfactory and RFB\u27s performance contributes to this. However, is this performance confirmed by the treatment given to the responses to requests for access to information? The research uses public information requested by means of e-SIC in order to investigate the behaviour of agents to deny access to information, through the analysis of the responses in a multiple case study. We expect to contribute with public transparency theory once the requests involve more complex issues than those traditionally observed in the literature, covering all the levels of appeals set in the Brazilian Right to Information Act. Besides, bringing customs area as object of study, provides the possibility to embrace the Street-level bureaucracy discretion, inter-agency collaboration, and the role of the public company responsible for Information Technology development

Social Media Usage by Municipal Elected Officials for Open Government Community Engagement

As public administration has evolved with the technological advances in today\u27s society, it can be challenging to ensure the demands of the public are being met in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and engagement. Nonetheless, a focus on community remains at the forefront of public administration. When looking at technology and the community, the tool known as social media emerges. Social media has allowed people to interact in new ways and therefore, has allowed the government to interact with citizens in ways they have not been able to in the past. In addition to attempting to modernize public administration, there has been an increased focus on building citizen trust through providing a more open government structure. The Open Government Directive issued by President Barack Obama focused on three tenets, which included transparency, participation, and collaboration. One of the ways government entities within the United States are strengthening these areas is through the implementation of various social media sites as a means to stay connected with citizens. With an increase of users utilizing social media tools for both information and connection, many government departments and agencies have incorporated social media use into their workplace as a function for their department. However, it is elected officials that are the ones who represent the citizens from their governmental role and thus, can aid in bridging the gap between citizens and government. Yet, there is little research on how elected officials, specifically in municipalities, are utilizing social media to connect with their constituents. This study discusses social media use by municipal elected officials and how it relates to open government community engagement. Open government community engagement is defined in terms of the three tenets of the Open Government Directive: transparency, participation, and collaboration encompassing the rungs of Arnstein\u27s ladder of citizen participation. For this qualitative study, fifty-seven Florida municipal elected officials were interviewed regarding their social media use or lack thereof in terms of engagement with citizens. The interviews are followed-up with content analysis of social media sites. An ethnographic approach is utilized to uncover and develop common themes related to open government community engagement. The findings suggest while some municipal elected officials are utilizing social media well in terms of open government community engagement, there is a lack of clear understanding of social media use within the context of the Sunshine Law, as well as other barriers prohibiting utilizing social media for more of the participation and collaboration components. There are several reasons municipal elected officials opt to avoid social media altogether, while additional concepts related to open government limited engagement and closed government community engagement are explored. The concept of avoidance was addressed, especially as it pertained to the practical implications for both city administrators and elected officials

The Social Dynamics of Open Data

The Social Dynamics of Open Data is a collection of peer reviewed papers presented at the 2nd Open Data Research Symposium (ODRS) held in Madrid, Spain, on 5 October 2016. Research is critical to developing a more rigorous and fine-combed analysis not only of why open data is valuable, but how it is valuable and under what specific conditions. The objective of the Open Data Research Symposium and the subsequent collection of chapters published here is to build such a stronger evidence base. This base is essential to understanding what open data’s impacts have been to date, and how positive impacts can be enabled and amplified. Consequently, common to the majority of chapters in this collection is the attempt by the authors to draw on existing scientific theories, and to apply them to open data to better explain the socially embedded dynamics that account for open data’s successes and failures in contributing to a more equitable and just society. CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction: The state of open data and open data research by François van Schalkwyk & Stefaan G Verhulst Chapter 2: The challenges of institutionalising open government data: A historical perspective of Chile’s OGD initiative and digital government institutions by Felipe González-Zapata & Richard Heeks Chapter 3: Beyond standards and regulations: Obstacles to local open government data initiatives in Italy and France by Federico Piovesan Chapter 4: Governance of open spatial data infrastructures in Europe by Glenn Vancauwenberghe & Bastiaan van Loenen Chapter 5: Beyond mere advocacy: CSOs and the role of intermediaries in Nigeria’s open data ecosystem by Patrick Enaholo Chapter 6: Rethinking civil society organisations working in the freedom of information and open government data fields by Silvana Fumega Chapter 7: Open your data and will ‘they’ build it? A case of open data co-production in health service delivery by Fabrizio Scrollini Chapter 8: The relational impact of open data intermediation: Experience from Indonesia and the Philippines by Arthur Glenn Maail Chapter 9: Smart cities need to be open: The case of Jakarta, Indonesia by Michael P Caňares Chapter 10: Protecting privacy while releasing data: Strategies to maximise benefits and mitigate risks by Joel Gurin, Matt Rumsey, Audrey Ariss & Katherine Garci