Improvements to dados.gov Portal (PT0013)

What is the problem addressed by the commitment? Despite the effort to aggregate and make data available, in particular through the dados.gov portal, there are opportunities for improvement in this framework: ● The need to increase, in scope and quality, the sources and entities that provide information; ● The possibility of strengthening the capacity for analysis and intelligible cross-referencing of the information provided; ● The opportunity to increase citizens' literacy as users of such platforms.

What is the commitment? Develop the dados.gov portal, through: ● New components to improve data analysis as well as their reliability; ● Greater volume of data made available, increasing the portfolio of public entities; ● Investment in communication and pedagogy on the Portal to inform and listen to the needs of civil society.

How does the commitment contribute to solving the problem identified? The improvement of the dados.gov portal should result in: ● Improved quality, depth and reliability of the data disseminated; ● Increase of the usefulness and importance of public data available to civil society.

Why is the commitment relevant to the values of the OGP? The commitment contributes to: ● More transparency, through access and the right to information; ● Greater involvement of citizens by listening to their needs and proposals for improvements to the portal; ● Increased quality information made available, which can provide opportunities of value to civil society.

Additional information Measure 10.3 of the Strategy for Innovation and Modernisation of the State and Public Administration

Description of expected results ● Increase in the portfolio of public entities providing data for the portal; ● Increase in traffic generation in the dados.gov Portal; ● Accompany Public Administration entities in the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/1024.

Macro activities Start date Completion date 1. Conduct a survey to be distributed to entities, in order to assess the level of involvement with data.gov, the need for data, the degree of maturity in data sharing, and the status of compliance with Directive (EU) 2019/1024. September 2021 November 2021 2. Focus group to listen to the needs of users. September 2021 December 2021 3. Hold workshops with civil society to increase engagement on this issue. January 2022 July 2022 4. Introduce improvements in the dados.gov Portal. March 2022 July 2022

Action Plan Review

Commitment 5: Develop and disseminate the Dados.gov portal

Results Report

Commitment 5. Develop and disseminate the Dados.gov portal

The commitment sought to improve Portugal’s Open Data Portal dados.gov, to which public and private organizations can upload and share data with the public under open licenses. ^[30] This commitment can be connected to commitment 8 as information in the portal Mais Transparência ^[31] is permanently updated with data available on the national Open Data Portal.

The commitment’s program of activities was mostly completed. ^[32] There was a survey with 12 public entities that publish or reuse open data to assess their degree of maturity in data sharing and the impact of open data in economic, social, environmental, and governmental dimensions. The focus group to listen to the needs of users was composed of public entities but not citizens or civil society organizations. ^[33]

AMA organized several events to discuss open data in public administration and collect input from different users on their needs in terms of data and accessibility, with the aim of increasing social engagement on the issue. Workshops were mostly directed to the public sector and sometimes included private companies, developers, and academia, such as an open data webinar ^[34] in December 2022 and a workshop on data strategy in public administration ^[35] in January 2023. For Open Gov Weeks 2022 and 2023, webinars open to civil society were organized with 61 and 160 participants, respectively. In May 2023, as part of the Portuguese presidency of the Digital Nations international forum, ^[36] AMA held a promotional event, eMerge’23, showcasing its advances in the area of data, ^[37] which represented an opportunity to listen to the needs for data provision and accessibility by several types of users, from designers to academia and journalists.

To make improvements in the portal, a representative said AMA considered input collected throughout the implementation period, including in the above-mentioned events and in sessions with selected companies, local and central public sector entities, and academia. ^[38] According to AMA, several technical solutions were introduced in the Open Data Portal, such as previsualization of datasets, inclusion of open-source solutions, and improvements in connectivity. ^[39] At the time of writing the report (November 2023), 9,164 datasets had been uploaded and shared in dados.gov by 171 entities (mostly public), generating 72 reutilizations. ^[40] This is a notable increase from 4,723 datasets and 51 reuses of data recorded in 2021. ^[41]

However, in the view of civil society organizations working on data openness, the portal does not offer much new data nor improved reliability, accessibility, and reusability. ^[42] Some civil society organizations participated in the co-creation of this commitment and in some dissemination events but were not involved in the monitoring. Additionally, the IRM could not determine the extent of quantitative and qualitative improvements brought to the portal without a benchmark assessment prior to commitment implementation.

The development of the Open Data Portal is an ongoing and long-term project. During the action plan cycle, moderate results were shown in improving access to information.