This document discusses two innovative areas for information and development: open government and e-citizen science. It analyzes their implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean, noting that while policies promote them, citizens are mainly just data providers rather than full participants. It recommends governments improve consultation, make information more accessible, and establish internationally compatible indicators to better measure outcomes. Promoting thematic conferences, regional coordination, and prioritizing e-citizen science in scientific policies could help engage citizens and communities.

1. Research Institute Gino Germany, Faculty of Social Sciences,
University of Buenos Aires, and LINKS, Civil Association for
the Development of Information Society
Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme
IFAP Special Event: Information and Knowledge for All, Emerging Trends and Challenges
UNESCO House, Paris, 27 February 2013

2. The WSIS Plan of Action (2003) states, at point 10:
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ICTs allow people, anywhere in the world, to access information and knowledge almost
instantaneously. Individuals, organizations and communities should benefit from access to
knowledge and information.
Develop policy guidelines for the development and promotion of public domain information
as an important international instrument promoting public access to information.
Governments are encouraged to provide adequate access through various communication
resources, notably the Internet, to public official information. Establishing legislation on
access to information and the preservation of public data, notably in the area of the new
technologies, is encouraged.
(…)
Promote research and development to facilitate accessibility of ICTs for all, including
disadvantaged, marginalized and vulnerable groups.
(…)
Encourage research on the Information Society, including on innovative forms of
networking, adaptation of ICT infrastructure, tools and applications that facilitate
accessibility of ICTs for all, and disadvantaged groups in particular.
Encourage initiatives to facilitate access, including free and affordable access to open
access journals and books, and open archives for scientific information.

3. This paper focuses on two innovative areas of
information for development:
 Open Government (OG)
 E-citizen science (eCS)
Reasons:
 Both are claimed by citizens’ organizations and by
some sectors of the media as a tool for development
and citizens’ empowerment
 Both make an intensive and increasing use of ITCs
and mobile technologies
 Both facilitate access to information for development
We have considered particularly the case of Latin
America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries

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OG: a governing guideline which considers that
citizens have the right to access the documents
and proceedings of the government to allow for
effective public oversight
ICTs facilitate citizens´ access to governmental
information
Open source governance applies the ideas of the
open source and open content movements to
democratic principles in order to enable any
concerned citizen to contribute to the creation of
policy, as with a wiki document

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OG admits further development in at least 7
fields:
1. detailed information about public expenses;
2. searching for information about State contracts in
public data bases;
3. information on lobbyists;
4. information about financial contributions to political
campaigns;
5. information about public hearings;
6. information about legislative processes

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eCS is the collection of data by volunteer citizens to
contribute to scientific projects, deduce theories and
determine policies. Most recent advances are due to new
scientific approaches plus the use of ICTs
Community involvement and empowerment are central to
the notion of scientific democracy
eCS covers a wide variety of applications: from agriculture
to urban planning, astrobiology to software and
informatics services, health care to oceanography, social
sciences to rocketry
In eCS, citizens become science prosumers
E-science is part of the WSIS Action Line C7, “ICT
applications: benefits in all aspects of life”. This line points
to E-Science, focusing mainly on improvement of
knowledge exchange between scientists, and between
scientists and citizens

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With more than 500 million people or 86 per cent of Latin
America’s total population residing in OGP (Open Government
Partnership) participating countries already LAC is becoming a
world leader in open government, with rich experiences to share
both within and beyond the region (OGP, 2013)
Transparency is a crucial public policy tool for stimulating
greater efficiency in the use and distribution of public resources
and improving public services
In Brazil the internal monitoring agencies use targeted
transparency to identify irregularities (Comptroller General
(Controladoria-Geral da União, or CGU, transparency portal)
Colombia’s government has initiated a series of actions: the
modernization of public administration, access and availability of
government information, transparency, the development of new
technologies and innovation, accountability, and the creation of
tools to promote civil society participation (Prosperity
Agreements, the economic transparency site (www.pte.gov.co),
and the open data portal (www.datos.gov.co).

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In LAC countries targeted transparency policies are not
always instigated nor enforced by the legislative branch or
public sector agencies
National Action Plans for Open Government are
inconsistent and uncoordinated between them
Lack of regional coordination
Texts are complex. Will they be understandable to laymen
and common citizens?
The variety of plans may make difficult the comparative
monitoring efforts in the future
The plans show the weakness of previous consultation
processes, the absence of innovation in regards to
countries’ ongoing activities, the ambiguity of general
commitments, and the need for concrete targets

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Citizen cyberscientists are at present mainly concentrated
in Europe and North America
The initiatives and funds regarding eCS in developing
countries are also generated there
There is a direct correlation between explicit public
policies regarding the development of science, technology
and ICTs, and the number of eCS projects
However, eCS projects are emerging in LAC countries: El
Salvador project to rescue ancient words, Brazil@home,
Birds World in Uruguay, Reporta in Mexico
Most National Digital Agendas in LAC countries include
S&T policies as key factors to build local Knowledge
Societies
The new Plan of action on the Information society for LAC
(eLAC2015) asserts that ICTs are instruments of economic
development and social inclusion.

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Common grounds between the implementation of OG and eCS
initiatives in LAC:
◦ Neither of them fully includes citizens as main actors
◦ In both, citizens are mainly data providers, or they can have relative access
to governmental or scientific data, but they scarcely participate in the
whole process
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OG is a process that goes beyond merely digitalizing
bureaucracy and opening information sources; it should be a
platform for rethinking the role of the state from a pro-citizen
perspective that can open up opportunities for participation and
collaboration between the public sector, civil society, and the
private sector
It is necessary that OG policies focus on the democratization of
governance, which is crucial to build increasingly democratic
societies in LAC countries
Community involvement and empowerment are key to the notion
of scientific democracy. Citizen’s participation in scientific
projects, whatever their size and scope, contributes to empower
citizens and communities
It would be necessary to Open Government and citizens
participation in Science & technology + Innovation, to IFAP´s
Information for Development criteria

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Recommend governments to use targeted
transparency as a public policy tool
It is necessary for governments to implement wide
consultation processes with civil servants and
citizens before the implementation of OG policies,
in order to identify needs from citizens and
organizations
Governmental information should be expressed in
accessible language
Surveys, monitoring and evaluations are key
elements in OG policies
Establish internationally compatible sets of
indicators to measure, follow up and evaluate OG
public policies and their outcomes

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Promote thematic conferences to discuss policies and strategies aimed
at the development of eCS, as part of the WSIS 2015 process
Constructing sets of indicators to measure the scope and impacts of
eCS projects, in order to propose action lines for WSIS + 10.
Enlarge the use of ICT and particularly mobile technologies in the
development of eCS projects, so that ITCs devices are available to all
participants
Promote public scientific policies worldwide in order to fund eCS
programs and processes, train scientists and experts to participate in
them, and disseminate the results of such research projects among
governments, the scientific community, and society in general
Fostering and funding eCS programs and projects that may be
included within the enterprises´ programs of social responsibility
European Union, Mercosur, Unasur and others regional organizations
could be invited to identify priority areas to use eCS for regional
integration
Both the scientific sector and communities should promote discussion
of explicit policies and strategies aimed at the development of Ecitizen Science