Medialab Prado

In the last few decades, we have witnessed the development of two mechanisms for obtaining public information, linked to social movements in favour of transparency and open, participatory government. They have been revolutionary in terms of making vast amounts of data held by the public sector available to citizens: the right to access and reuse public information. Over 80 laws granting access to public information have been passed worldwide. However, despite these advances, many issues have not yet been resolved in a uniform manner on the international level. Instead, a hodgepodge of solutions have been proposed, some of them quite different from what one would expect from societies with advanced information technology. Do citizens have the right to ask public organisms and institutions for information or do they only have the right to ask for copies of documents? Can entire databases be requested and then reused in a way that differs from the initial idea? Should we have access to all public powers in the same way? Can we have access to information from private entities that carry out public works, receive public funds, or provide public services? What do citizens want access to: data, documents or information?

In recent years, various citizen initiatives have been launched internationally which have used these incipient rights as strategic tools for political influence and social action. The way they presented the data obtained through requests for information have led to changes in legislation and on occasions, the graphic way they were presented served to provoke debate, changes in public opinion, and true citizen participation.

In addition to showing the current framework in which responses are sought for questions posed, the purpose of this lecture is to explain the context in which these intiatives have arisen and the principles of transparency and public participation that have taken form based on these proposals.

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