Learner’s Submission: The Power of Information

“In Brazil, there are many ways to access relevant to actions of federal, state and local government information.

In our country, all municipalities and states have an official website. Most of these governments also have channels and official pages on social networks as well as advertisements on radio and television.

The federal government has, in addition to their official page (www.brasil.gov.br), official profiles on social networks such as Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/portalbrasil ), Twitter ( https://twitter.com / portalbrasil ) and Youtube Videos website.

In addition, the President of the Republic has a radio program called “Coffee with the President” that airs once a week where the president addresses matters of everyday life. All editions can be accessed through the program’s blog, hosted on the federal government website.

It is also customary in our country, on the eve of important dates such as vaccination campaigns, elections, and holidays like Mother’s Day and Labor Day the President of the Republic or event-related authorities to make pronouncements on national radio and television.

Another important media channel used by the government is a radio program called “The Voice of Brazil”. This program is the oldest radio and Brazil is in the air since 1935. It airs Monday through Friday at 7 pm when all the radio stations in Brazil. The program is divided into two parts. The first twenty- five minutes is devoted to the executive branch and the remaining thirty-five minutes are devoted to related news legislature. This program has been the target of demonstrations and protests from radio stations because its transmission is mandatory and many people argue that it has lost its purpose because of the ease of access to other media for greater reach.

Currently, the government channels in social networks have gained importance because these networks are extremely popular in Brazil. The number of Brazilians with access to social networks at home, at work and even on mobile is growing continuously.

The residence time of people, connected in a network also increases day by day. Having access to the government in this environment is very useful because this way we can find out the government’s actions while interacting with friends on social networks. After all, these actions directly affect the lives of every Brazilian person.

The social media channels are more than important, are fundamental to the development of democracy and Brazilian society, as we have experienced times of constant mobilization and social upheaval upon the problems of our country, where people have cared increasingly with quality of life, with life in society, with the preservation of life, safety and nature.

Moreover, many of the protesters do not care much about the government’s actions. Therefore, if such claims are fair, everyone must have access to accurate information and reliable source, so the official government channels in many imprecise information environment is critical”.  Rodrigo Leandro Sobrinho- Sao Paulo, Brazil

Learner’s Submission: Social Media in Brazil

“The Brazilian Federal Government does not benefit the interaction capabilities of Twitter to engage with the public or with other Latin American leaders , according to Twiplomacy , annual study by Burson – Marsteller which analyzes the presence and activity of the global leaders in microblogging .

According to the study , all South American countries except Suriname have a presence on Twitter . Most presidents have personal accounts on the microblogging and communicate with each other frequently. An exception is the president of Brazil , Dilma Rousseff .

According to the report , though popular among their peers , Dilma Rousseff keeps your inactive account since it was elected in late 2010.

The Brazilian leader is presented as a ” perfect example of how the world leaders discover Twitter during the election campaign and then abandon their followers , once elected . ”

On the other hand , the Foreign Ministry is quoted as an example of efficient use of Twitter by public institutions . The profile is the most connected between the ministries of foreign affairs of Latin American countries , has more than 80,000 followers and public interest content frequently , and share content in other formats , such as photos and posts on the official blog .

The study results show that Twitter has established itself as a tool of political integration and global diplomatic relations , but that Brazil is losing a great opportunity to expand the dialogue with the population and its international partners .

“Twitter is a platform agile and direct , used actively used by 19.2 million Brazilians . The companies have already discovered the power and reach of the tool . Leaders around the world use it for dialogue with citizens and with their peers in other countries . It is an opportunity for the Brazilian government to talk to people and partners , “said Cely Giraldes Carmo , digital strategist for Burson- Marsteller Latin America .

Among Latin American leaders present on Twitter , Rafael Correa of ​​Ecuador, is what most interacts with his followers . Around 83 % of all tweets Correa are responses to messages from other Twitter users .

The report also shows that Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is the most followed among the leaders of Latin America , with over 2.1 million followers .

Already the government has considered the most prolific in the region is the one that belongs to the presidential administration in Venezuela , with more than 41 tweets per day , on average .

Overall, the study shows that 77 % of leaders have a profile on the social network and 68 % are connected with other heads of state and official profiles world .

The ” Twiplomacy ” examined profiles 505 153 different countries. U.S. President Barack Obama is the leader most followed on Twitter , with 33 million followers .

Second is Pope Francisco, which is followed by seven million people in their profiles in nine different languages. The Pope’s Tweets are results on average 11,000 times , making the Pope the global leader of the most influential social network .” – Ester Cristina Alves Da Silva – São Paulo, Brazil

Learner’s Submission: The Importance of Networks

“The importance of networks is given by the application, reflection and maturation of KM – Knowledge Management – in all sectors involving group relations in a democratic and decentralized way between public knowledge and sensitive knowledge, mostly in how to deal with new challenges and deployment between BI – business intelligence and CI – Competitive intelligence. Its importance goes beyond reception, connection and dissemination of information and knowledge.

It aims to balance and focus on challenges and unpredictability of future prospective of the society and the world through the wide dialog actually disseminated and debated by the networks. Another important point of the networks is the potential to unite the people and cultures regardless of country, as the communication has its biggest benefit that is to unite humanity and its knowledge in the search of improvement and solutions to continuous evolution and to ensure two-way direct diplomacy.

The access to information, the transparency of public property strengthens democracy and knowledge of the people valuing the individual. It allows people to interact directly with information being able to openly discuss it and helps to improve on a healthy basis the social politics, science and technology development. Social Networks has made easier to fight corruption through identification, connection and dissemination of knowledge with its powerful tool that is avoiding that knowledge suffers censor and misinformation by groups against law enforcement.

On the other hand there is also the risk of hoax. However, the same social networks can protect and instruct about how to avoid hoax using tools to provide search of information and knowledge. In Brazil, we have examples of flagrant from sectors in the media and politicians that were corrupted and tried to censor information to the public. Thanks to these networks, such groups of corrupts and criminals were identified. Also, abusive bills were re-discussed and reevaluated forcing politicians to make necessary changes to attend society according to the democratic state of Law.

True peace is constantly celebrated through the debate of ideas and sustainable arguments as has been occurring through networks. On a democratic way it helps to produce alternatives to reflection and meditation on conflict management and resolution allowing societies to auto adjust with no need of excessive State paternalism. Social Networking has been the main and most modern means for the people to achieve a customary law with harmony and knowledge, gradually reducing culture shocks by increasing learning.

Another example to be followed is the work that is being produced by UN in Brazil via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ONUBrasil that has been maintaining population informed and interactive with subjects that are not always transmitted by the Brazilian media, which has few informative and clarifying vehicles of information. The UN channel, ONU Brasil, has been of great importance emphasizing topics that surprised Brazilian people who sometimes don’t even imagine what happens around the world. My reflection is that through this channel, UN has broken a huge barrier in communication and a kind of knowledge that was far beyond people’s eyes and ears.” – Graziano Nardis – Santa Catarina, Brazil

Learner’s Submission: Access to Information in Brazil

“In Brazil, the right of access to public information is provided constitutionally since 1988, the date of enactment of the Magna Carta. Only on November 18, 2011, Law No. 12,527, called Law and Access to Information Restriction with “vacatio legis” of 180 (one hundred eighty) days, was sanctioned by the President of the Republic. As most already had the text of constitutional law, it was given the power to regulate, already mentioned, citizens’ access to public information. The devices bring the statute in its wake, rules for three branches, in any sphere of Union, United States, Federal District and Municipalities. NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) are also subject to the law, the nonprofit private entities that receive public funds to carry out actions in the public interest and have partnership or agreements with the government must disclose information about money received and its destination.

Law 12.527/2011 created the so-called transparency active, ie, dissemination of information on the initiative of the Administration itself, in ways accessible to citizens; passive and transparency in procedures to meet the specific demands of citizens .

The publication of the Law under discussion meant an important evolution for Brazilian democracy. It represents a paradigm shift, because it establishes that access is the rule and secrecy the exception. In addition, made possible greater popular participation, social control of government actions, society’s access to public information fostered improvements in public administration and in prevention of corruption in the country.

The law has determined that public bodies create call centers within each organ called SICs (Citizens Information Services). These centers need to have structure to assist and guide the public to access information in the collective interest, eg, processing of documents, bidding processes and spending. Information may be requested in the Citizen Information Services (SICs), which will be installed at each public agency. The law also mandates that the citizen is granted the option to request data via the Internet. Other means, such as letter and telephone, will depend on the systems adopted by each agency. If the agency has information within immediate reach, the request can be serviced at the time it is made by Citizen, the SICs. If you need to search, the agency has twenty (20) days, renewable for another ten (10) days, to meet demand. The citizen will be notified by phone or internet. After that period, the public official must justify the reason for not providing the information.

On the internet, the Access to Information Act also requires that public entities to disclose, in a clear and easily accessible information about public administration. Must contain at least record the skills and organizational structure, addresses and phone numbers of their units and opening hours to the public. Also to be published records of any transfers or transfers of financial resources and information on bids, including bids and results. The law also requires that become exposed on the Internet for general data tracking programs, activities, projects and works of the government, as well as answers to frequently asked questions of society. The information should be kept up to date. Only municipalities with fewer than 10,000 (ten thousand) inhabitants are absolved the present on a website, data on municipal operations. However, the bodies of these small municipalities are obliged to provide information when requested.

No need to provide any justification for the request for information. There are no limits to the information being requested. Public servants who do not provide the requested information and submit legal justification may not suffer administrative sanctions and even be prosecuted for misconduct. Can be requested any information about data on public agencies. Is it possible, for example, ask how a ministry or department has spent on wages of servants, public works, ongoing bidding processes, details of audits, inspections and other.

The government of each member state created Brazilian transparency portals, network-accessible computers. Depend on how the body has stored the data for reporting. In cases of digital files, the citizen may obtain information on a CD or other digital media. If you need to print a high volume of papers, the citizen will pay the cost.

Free access to information of public service is a fundamental and constitutional right of the citizen. Law 12.527/2011 brought an instrument for citizenship. This is an achievement, a tool that improves the transparency of management and gives the principles of advertising effectiveness and morality of art inserts. 37 of the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil. Free access became the rule and secrecy the exception.” – Gustavo Oliveira Paganini – Minas Gerais, Brazil