Are Public Organizations Ready For Data Openness? Obstacles In The Largest Latin American Metropolis

In Brazil, people demand transparency, accountability, and innovations from the government. Public organizations, on the other hand, fear the challenges posed by opening their data and continue to use outdated incompatible technology. People want to run; public organizations wish to walk on eggs. Sao Paulo is the largest city in Latin America, a vast metropolis, similar to New York in its vibrancy. In 2013, the city came to a halt when the rise in bus fares led to the largest popular demonstrations seen in decades. Since then, popular participation in general has increased and there is a rising demand for more transparency. Following the Sao Paulo protests, the municipality established the MobiLab, an award-winning laboratory of new technologies, to facilitate social participation in urban mobility issues. Simultaneously, the municipality signed up to participate in the United Nations Open Government Partnership (OGP), becoming one of the sub-national participants. One of the five goals set in the first OGP’s action plan - the Laboratory of Technological Innovation - intends to allow broader participation in an existing tech laboratory (the LabProdam). However, among the aforementioned five goals, this is the only one that has been delayed, since there are many barriers to its implementation, which are analyzed in this paper. There is an urgent need in Brazil to use technology appropriately for the establishment of an open government; the recent corruption scandals have raised the public's outcry for transparency and accountability. However, are local public organizations ready for the necessary data openness?