DIGITAL TRANSPARENCY OF INFORMATION AND SERVICES ON MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT WEB PORTALS IN CEARÁ

Resumo

Transparency in the management of public resources, a key element of democracy, is of growing social relevance. As a result, public demand for transparency, pressuring governments to provide universal access to public databases and systems, has contributed significantly to the dissemination of government web portals. Previous national and international research on digital transparency in public administration has mostly focused on capitals and large cities. To fill the gap in our knowledge of digital transparency in small municipalities, the present study evaluated the digital transparency of information and services made available on municipal government web portals throughout the state of Ceará, using a model of digital transparency analysis. To do so, we adopted a quantitative approach using indicators to quantify the collected information. Data was retrieved from 157 active municipal government web portals in Ceará, following a set of rules for web navigation and data retrieval. Our findings show that municipal government web portals in Ceará provide information and services which render the management of public resources more transparent, but disclosure is generally limited to mandatory items and to what is deemed desirable by municipal administrators.