Differences between an open data portal and a transparency portal

Our governments and society in general are moving towards new paradigms that introduce concepts that need to be explained in order to facilitate their understanding. Among these concepts are those related to Open Government, a model of government that seeks transparency in the actions of public administrations, accountability, as well as the collaboration and participation of citizens.

After Spain joined the Open Government Partnership in 2011, public administrations have made great strides in developing initiatives to comply with the different Open Government Plans. Among them, the commitment of the Canary Islands to centralize the open data of the different public administrations and the configuration of the Canary Islands Open Government Network stand out.

As a result of these commitments, open data and transparency appear on the scene, whose definitions and scope must be clarified: what characterizes each of them? What are the differences between a transparency portal and an open data portal? What can be expected from each of them? In this post we will clarify each of these questions.

Data vs. transparency

The Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) describes transparency as "the possibility for third parties to know the mechanisms for managing the organization and these are fair and fit for purpose". However, when talking about open data, it refers to data whose license allows its reuse.

This means that, although they are related terms and share common features, such as making public information and data available to society, open data and transparency are different concepts and therefore require different platforms.

What is an open data portal?

First of all, it should be clarified that an open data portal is a web platform that enables access to published data and metadata (data catalog) in order to facilitate their free consultation, viewing, downloading and reuse by citizens, companies and public administrations. In addition to allowing access to the data catalog, they usually have other contents such as training materials, current news, forums and dashboards.

In this sense, the portal is intended for users who want to make use of raw data and are not looking for a final result, but will use these data to generate that final result.

Likewise, as established by the FEMP, this portal should not be the only way to consume open data, but "automated data access mechanisms should allow numerous applications and services to take the data and generate new uses for the data".

Key features

• The open data portal is focused on the reuse of data by citizens, companies and public administrations.
• It favors the development of new services and applications based on the data.
• It offers data in reusable formats.
• Contributes to greater transparency on the part of public administrations.

Open Data Portal of the Cabildo of Tenerife

The Open Data Portal of the Cabildo de Tenerife offers a catalog of more than 180 datasets from the Cabildo de Tenerife and its Public Sector.

On this portal, in addition to consulting, viewing, downloading and reusing open data, you can consult the latest news and the most relevant events organized by the institution in relation to open data. It also provides users with a training page and a forum where they can ask questions about the use of data, among other features.

What is a transparency portal?

Unlike the open data portal, a transparency portal is a web resource where the regulations and data that demonstrate the transparency of the institution are presented: the rules that apply, including the records and data that attest to the execution of these rules.

In relation to transparency, there are three different levels:

• Active transparency: this is the obligation of the administration to publish information, without the need for it to be requested. Thus, everything it produces must be visible, traceable and clearly expressed.
• Passive transparency: this is the right of society to receive the public information it requests.
• Collaborative transparency: this is understood as the obligation of the administration to publish raw data and the right of citizens to process them to generate new information. Its basic tools are the use of ICTs and open data.

With the transparency portal, the levels of active and collaborative transparency are met by providing raw information for subsequent analysis and use by society.

Main features

• The transparency portal is focused on providing institutional information to society.
• It provides citizens with greater knowledge of institutional activity, which favors greater participation in public affairs.
• It contributes to greater transparency on the part of the Public Administration.

Although the purpose of the transparency portal and the open data portal are different, there is a relationship between the content offered in one and the other. For this reason, on some occasions, these portals are unified, so that transparency is supported by the active publication of data.

Transparency Portal of the Cabildo of Tenerife

The Transparency Portal provides information on island management, in accordance with the indicators established by Law 12/2014, of December 26, on transparency and access to public information. In this way, it is possible to consult information related to: the institution, organization, freely appointed staff, public employment, remuneration, regulations, services and procedures, economic-financial information, assets, plans and programs, public works, contracts, agreements and commissions to own means, public services, aid and subsidies, land management, right of access, statistics and evaluation of insular transparency.

Likewise, it also provides access to the website of the Transparency Commissioner, the transparency portals of the dependent entities and offers information on the Canary Islands Transparency Law.