Computing in the Developing World

Valeria Esther Nigri Musafir

Brazil – Rio de Janeiro

E-Government in Brazil• Introduction

• E-government Policy

• Infra-Structure

• E-government Portal

• Open Source

• Cases of Success

• Social/Digital Divide

• Future Challenges

• References

Background

System Engineer with Master in Computer Science – PUC/RJ

Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow 2002-2003

University of Washington, Seattle

Professional Affiliations

City of Seattle (DoIT) and Microsoft

Biggest public IT services provider in Brazil

Project Manager for e-government implementations

Introduction

Brazil area: 8,514,204 sq km

(World fifth largest country)

USA area: 9,372,614 sq km

Demographic Data

Population (2001)

Brazil EUA

175,850,000 284,796,890

50.8% Fem 50.9% Fem

Region Population%

North 7.6

Northeast 28.12

Southeast 42.65

South 14.79

Central West 6.85

Source: Censo 2000

Urban 81.25 %

Rural 18.75 %

E-Government Policy• Information Society Program led by the Ministry of Science and Technology

in 1999 - coordinate and leverage all government initiatives on the Internet with the involvement of citizens, private initiatives, government and scientific communities

Goal social inclusion of all Brazilians in the new society and help the country’s economy compete on the global market

www.socinfo.org.br Green Book

• Inter-ministerial Workgroups supervises the Program - propose policies, norms , directions related with the new forms of electronic interaction.

Lines of action:

Market, Employment and Opportunities – support the implementation of e-commerce

Universalization of Services for Citizens Education in the Information Society – promote systems for collective or shared access to Internet

E-Government Policy Contents and Cultural Identity – promote the generation of contents and

applications that emphasize Brazilian cultural identity and matters of local and regional relevance

Government at everyone’s reach – promote the computerization of government administration and the employment of standards in its applicable systems

R&D Key Technologies and Applications – pinpoint the strategic technologies for industrial and economic development and promote R&D projects in universities and in the productive sector

Advanced Infra-Structure and New Services – implement a basic national infrastructure of information, integrating the various specialized network structures – government, private sector and R&D

Infra- Structure

Telecommunications and Computers

Between 70’s and 80’s – industry of minicomputers

90’s – open model (significant reduction of imports taxes)

1997 – Privatization of the telecommunications and creation of the National Technology Agency (ANATEL)

Fixed phones – 13.3 million (1994) to 49.4 million (2002)

Cell phones – 800,000 (1994) to 31.6 million (2002)

Infra- StructureInternet

Internet users: 14.3 million (8,31% of the Brazilian's population) 9th position in the world and first in Latin America Computer access – 15%

Br@sil.gov Network – integration of local networks in a multi-service network for the federal government

Internet Providers in 350 out of 5,561 county

World Economic Forum 2002-2003 – Readiness for the Networked WorldOverall – #32 (out of 82) and #1 of Latin America countries E-Government - #15E-Commerce - #18

The OAS chose Brazil to lead the Latin America cooperation network for the e-government

E-Government Services

• Out of Internet - 15%• Informational - 45% • Interaction - 20%• Transactional - 20%

E-Government Portal

www.e.gov.br

1700 services

22,000 links

1,700 sites from the federal, state and local levels

40 million page view/month

www.saopaulo.sp.gov.br

www.portoalegre.rs.gov.br

www.rio.rj.gov.br

Open Source

Linux Conectiva

FreeBSD

OpenBSD

perl

PHP

Java

Gnome

KDE

PostGres

BerkeleyDB

MySQL

Netscape

OpenOfficeSquid

Apache Web Server

Mozilla BrowserLinux Redhat

GNU Linux

www.softwarelivre.org

StarOffice

Open Source• “Projeto Software Livre RS” – Open source project has the involvement of Rio

Grande do Sul state government, public and private institutions in order to promote the open source as an economic and technological alternative for the proprietary software.

• “Projeto Rede Escolar Livre RS” – every public school in RS state should use open source software (basically GSU Linux)

• “Forum Social Mundial 2003” - World Social Forum – Porto Alegre, Jan 2003

• “IV Forum Internacional de Software Livre” – Porto Alegre, June 5-7,2003

• Porto Alegre Maps in the Internet (Geoprocessing)

• Network Integration using Linux servers

• Banrisul (Bank of Rio Grande do Sul State) is using Conectiva Linux in their ATM machines (340 out of 2000) .

www.softwarelivre.org

Open x Commercial Software

Steve Ballmer - Partnering with Government to realize potential

Open Standard x Open Source

XML Web Services

Bill Gates • U$5 bi investment in R&D

• Rigorous engineering processes

• High value & easy to use technologies

• Government should give equal opportunities to open & commercial softwares

Cases of Success

The only totally electronic election in the world – 130 million people voted electronically (elected candidates in last than 24 hours)

Portugal, Angola and the state of Florida are interested in electronic ballot

Follow-up of Judicial Processes

Information on Retirement Funds and other Social Security Benefits (5.7 million transactions in 2000)

Electronic Elections

Cases of Success

ReceitaNet AwardsRecognition of Microsoft Good Practice in e-government from the European Economic Commonwealth (2001)5 times winner in IBest category Government/Public Services (since 98)INFO 2000 Award - Best Public Services Site

E-government

ReceitaNet

2002

15,500 million declaration of tax revenue

14,165 million sent from Internet

600,000 - paper

April 30,2003

17,500 million

16,500 million from Internet

(95% of the total declarations)

25,3% sent in the last 3 days

1,6 million in the last day

www.receita.fazenda.gov.br

Cases of Success

E-procurement

130,000 access/month

600,000 transactions/month

140 biddings/day for the governmental ministries, secretaries and agencies.

Saving of 25% off conventional purchasing methods

6 months -> 20 days

Brazil recently signed a cooperation treaty with Bolivia

ComprasNet Awards”Good Practice in e-governance” from the European Economic Commonwealth (Nov 2002)Hélio Beltrão Award

Local government e-procurement

www.comprasnet.gov.br

Social DivideA Country of Contrasts

Two ways of living waterfront

Amazonia

Rio de Janeiro

Social DivideA Country of Contrasts

Digital Divide Goal: Install Electronic Points of Presence (PEP) in every Brazilian town with

more than 600 inhabitants to provide free access to the services delivered through Internet.

• Installation of 3,500 kiosks around the country Today : installation of 80 pilot kiosks in the federal administrative agencies

• “e-Post” Project from the Post Office: provide 4,200 terminals in their branches for the citizen. Goal: provide for every branch with more than 10,000 inhabitants at least one terminal (until the end of 2003)

• Service 0700 – implement a cheaper and flat telephonic tariff in all Brazilian counties, ending up with an interurban tariff to access the Internet

Digital Divide

• Project “Acessa Sao Paulo” – 69 infocentros (“telecentres”) with free internet access in the interior and low income communities of Sao Paulo.

Number of people attended: 750,000 Goal: 300 infocentros until the end of

the year www.acessasaopaulo.sp.gov.br

• Project “Sampa.org” – bring Internet to the periphery of Sao Paulo. 10 telecentres with free Internet access, classes for children and young people and a portal devoted to citizenship and culture www.sampa.org.br

Digital Divide• CDI (Committee for the Democratization of Information Technology) headquarter in Rio de

Janeiro – since 1995

• Implements educational programs in Brazil and abroad through its self-sustainable Information Technology and Citizens Rights schools for low income community centers and special needs individuals such as visually impaired, psychiatric patients, homeless children and indigenous people

www.cdi.org.br

37 regional CDI

10 international CDI

Digital Divide• CDI (Committee for the Democratization of Information Technology) headquarter in Rio de

Janeiro – since 1995

• Implements educational programs in Brazil and abroad through its self-sustainable Information Technology and Citizens Rights schools for low income community centers and special needs individuals such as visually impaired, psychiatric patients, homeless children and indigenous people

www.cdi.org.br

Digital Divide• CDI (Committee for the Democratization of Information Technology) headquarter in Rio de

Janeiro – since 1995

• Implements educational programs in Brazil and abroad through its self-sustainable Information Technology and Citizens Rights schools for low income community centers and special needs individuals such as visually impaired, psychiatric patients, homeless children and indigenous people

www.cdi.org.br

CDI Awards

Nov. 2002 "UNESCO 2002 Award",category Comunication and Information

Jan. 2001 – Rodrigo Baggio is selected by World Economic Forum - as one of the "100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow".

Digital Divide

Certificate Authoritywww.serpro.gov.br

Future Challenges

• Establish policies to reduce the digital divide

• Incorporate the productive sector and the universities more effectively

• Integrate the e-Government with the states and local levels

• Enhance partnerships with the civil society and local communities

• Make use of International Cooperation Organizations (FTAA, ALADI, WTO, Mercosur, EU )

References

• Information Society in Brazil – Green Bookwww.socinfo.org.br/livro_verde/ingles/download.htm

• E-government Portalwww.e.gov.br

• Brazil’s Federal Government e-Procurement Portal www.comprasnet.gov.br

• Federal Revenue and Customs Secretariat Portalwww.receita.fazenda.gov.br

• SERPRO Portalwww.serpro.gov.br

References

• Projeto Software Livre RS (Open Source Project)

www.softwarelivre.org

• CDI (Committee for the Democratization of Information Technology)

www.cdi.org.br

• Project “Acessa Sao Paulo” www.acessasaopaulo.sp.gov.br

• Project “Sampa.org” www.sampa.org.br

valeria@u.washington.edu