The Use of Open Government Data to Citizen Empowerment

To this date, governments, civil society organizations, and private sector representatives consider Open Government Data as a building block for open government, as they see it as a key enabler of improved service delivery, transparency, and public engagement. But scientific literature also presents and discusses challenges and barriers to the effective citizen empowerment, especially among the most marginalized ones. Unequal skills, resources and time have a big impact on who is making use of OGD. The reach they can have using OGD, as data literacy and skills of individual groups of citizens, and their access to technology, should also be considered. The goal of this research is to analyze the output, outcomes and/or impacts that a network of organizations, institutions and individuals derives from OGD through a case study in the city of Sao Paulo focusing on a budget-transparency tool used by unskilled citizens.