Hackers e participação : uma análise de aplicativos de dados públicos do Brasil e seus criadores

Abstract

This work seeks to explore the phenomenon of public data applications in Brazil. Mobile or not, they are digital programs created from public databases of the government. These programs reformat the information so as to make them more comprehensive and publicized to the general public. These applications are created by programmers and people interested in computer science, which are dedicated to explore government data and create visualizations and digital resources with them. The object of study thus lies at the intersection between the idea of government transparency and online participation, especially the work of hackers. We use the reconstructions of Coleman (2012), Levy (2010) and Castells (2003) to explore the work and practices of hackers. This is complemented with reflections from Jenkins (2009) and Shirky (2011) with regard to online participation, and the contributions of Rodriguez (2001), Schaffer (2007), Bowman and Willis (2003) and Bruns (2009) about citizen media. We apply, in addition, the thoughts of Williams (2005) and Castells (2001) on the assimilation of technologies and the relationship between technology and society, as well as the reconstruction of Briggs and Burke (2006) of the historical process of openness and circulation of information. This study, then, embeds a two-dimensional analysis. We analyze 17 applications from open data competitions in Brazil with the aim of contrasting the phenomenon of these programs with the concept of citizen media. We intended to understand how the two areas are related and what can be inferred from this manifestation in relation to other cases of online participation from the audience. This study also seeks to understand the motivations that lead these individuals to become involved in this area, exploring the underlying logic in their participations, and also the comprehension of their contributions. This was accomplished through semi-structured interviews with seven application developers. Moreover, we also created a typology of public data applications, with the goal of mapping this phenomenon. We seek to understand this recent concept, which is important from a social and communicational point of view.