[open-government] Open Data in Latin America: Here to stay

Fri Jul 19 16:04:15 UTC 2013

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/07/19/opengov-voices-open-data-in-latin-america-here-to-stay/

OpenGov Voices: Open Data in Latin America: Here to
stay<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/07/19/opengov-voices-open-data-in-latin-america-here-to-stay/>
by guest author Fabrizio ScrolliniJuly 19, 2013, 11:05 a.m.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the guest blogger and those providing
comments are theirs alone and [image: Fabrizio]do not reflect the opinions
of the Sunlight Foundation or any employee thereof. Sunlight Foundation is
not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information within the guest
blog.

Fabrizio Scrollini is currently working on a PhD on transparency and
accountability in Latin America at the London School of Economics and
Political Science. He co-founded *DATAuy* <http://www.datauy.org/> which
supports Quesabes <http://quesabes.uy/> -- the first website in Uruguay
that helps citizens request for public information from their government.
DATAuy has also championed open government, open parliament, and
transparency in Uruguay by collaborating with other NGOs in the region and
organizing hackathons.

Two weeks ago, Uruguay, a small Latin American country, had the pleasure of
hosting open data and transparency activists from different corners of
Latin America and the world for the first Latin American open data
unconference. ABRELATAM <http://www.abrelatam.org/> (named after a play on
the Spanish word “abrelatas,” which means can opener), was organized by DATA
Uruguay <http://www.datauy.org/> and Ciudadano Inteligente
<http://www.ciudadanointeligente.org/>
  from Chile in a pioneer partnership to advance transparency and open data
in the region. In this post I would like to share with you a snapshot of
the awesome discussions that took place at the ABRELATAM.

[image: Uruguay TCamp 1]*Community matters.*

This is hardly a surprise but community can mean different things. Indeed
people are interested in open data for all sorts of reasons, but when it
comes to a particular area or group of datasets, and the aim is social
change, the need for different skills and common goals becomes crucial.
Some of the greatest sessions were about how to link the different worlds
of technology, communication, policy and social problem solving. Open data
(or the lack of it) is sometimes a great excuse to put minds together
working to achieve better outcomes. People working together (not just data)
will deliver change, and this is done online, but offline engagement is
crucial as well. Communities need to be expanded to involve more people and
organizations who can also help to promote open data and use it for their
own ends.

Latin America is an uneven field, and transparency and open data can find
serious difficulties. There were sound contributions about the lack or poor
regulation in access to information legislation and also open data
standards. This is indeed frustrating and a source of common concern in the
civil society, particularly for those working in the context of the Open
Government Partnership. Anopen data policy goes well beyond having a nice
open data portal, and an open government policy goes also well beyond an
open data policy. governments in the region have been quick in joining the Open
Government Partnership <http://www.opengovpartnership.org/> (OGP), but
activists are now wondering if these governments plan on delivering what
they promised in the OGP. In sight of the next London annual meeting, only
a handful of countries had some sort of consultative process with very
different degrees of participation and success.

Format and (un)structure is important.[image: Uruguay TCamp 2]

ABRELATAM gathered people from almost every country in Latin America from
different backgrounds with a common interest in open data, transparency and
human development. Taking inspiration and advice from other experiences
such as Sunlight Foundation's TransparencyCamp<http://transparencycamp.org/>
, the Open Knowledge Festival <http://okfestival.org/> and with the great
support from our friends from Aspiration Tech <http://aspirationtech.org/>, we
decided that the event should aim at reaching as many people and as diverse
an audience as possible. We succeeded in this, and diversity from every
point of view can be considered a trademark of ABRELATAM. We were
overwhelmed by the response from the public and unfortunately we could not
accommodate everyone’s participation. But in keeping a reasonable number of
attendees, we managed to create a good atmosphere for exchange and debate.
Sharing, learning from peers and a neutral space where this can happen are
at the core of ABRELATAM’s philosophy. Only in this setting do we think it
is possible to have meaningful discussions, which should not be elaborate
speeches about products or policies but about building knowledge together.
We hope ABRELATAM provided such space and we hope next editions of
ABRELATAM will carry on with this philosophy.

Knowledge should be free and passed on to as many people as possible. This
is why we set upa
wiki<http://wiki.abrelatam.org/index.php/P%C3%A1gina_principal>
 where you can access the notes from ABRELATAM and can actively contribute
with your own new links and topics. To keep the momentum and inspiration
that ABRELATAM ignited in the region, we still have more ways to share
which we will let you know about. For those who think open data and
transparency are just a fad, and that “this too shall pass” we have bad
news: it will not. ABRELATAM showed how deep social issues, data and
technology are now interconnected, and that there is a nascent regional
community and a new generation of activists willing to move ahead facing
pressing governance issues ahead. Open data will play a central role in
this future.

*See full Flickr photo stream courtesy of ABRELATAM
here<http://www.flickr.com/photos/97920159@N08/with/9128901608/>
*.

*Interested in writing a guest blog for Sunlight? Email us at
guestblog at sunlightfoundation.com.*

-- 
Júlia Keserű
International Program Coordinator

1818 N Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
(1) 202-742-1520 *280

[image: Sunlight Foundation] <http://sunlightfoundation.com/> [image:
Sunlight Foundation on
Facebook]<http://www.facebook.com/sunlightfoundation>[image:
Sunlight Foundation on Twitter] <http://twitter.com/sunfoundation>[image:
OpenGov on Reddit] <http://www.reddit.com/r/sunlight> [image: Sunlight
Foundation on YouTube] <http://www.youtube.com/sunlightfoundation>
<http://sunlightfoundation.com/feeds/latest/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/open-government/attachments/20130719/45b6e834/attachment.html>