The proliferation of online content adds to the legal obligation to transparency and profoundly changes the practices of good governance and the management of public institutions. Is there always a need for more transparency or do we simply have to regulate it better? Here are some clues to feed our thinking.
“Knowledge is the key to power”: everyone knows this famous phrase from Confucius. The government has long considered this information to be a special protection under the name of state secrets or public security. However, things are changing: “In the public sector, transparency is praised for its many advantages, supposed or real, the professors assert. It would even be, according to some authors, “equal” to democracy, and constitute a pillar of good governance. » The arguments are legal (the right to access information) and moral (the right to participate on the basis of informed judgment). Liberalization of information, of course. But to what extent?
What kind of transparency?
“However, it remains difficult to assess the evolution of transparency as a whole, since it can take different forms,” write Vincent Mabillard and Jean-Patrick Villeneuve. In their work, the authors decode three main types of transparency: active transparency, which involves the voluntary publication of official information on different channels; passive transparency, which is exercised by officials when they respond, for example, to citizens’ requests; and improvised transparency, which concerns the uncontrolled leakage of official information.
Transparency is now supported and driven by digital technology, driven by websites, open data, social media and artificial intelligence. It is enough to stimulate thinking about the changes brought about by digital technology.
What should we think, for example, about WikiLeaks’ disclosure of millions of confidential documents, which some speak of as “radical transparency”? Indeed, whistleblowers help accelerate the dissemination of information on new platforms. But what are the risks associated with such activities? In their book, the authors pose several questions: “Do the risks associated with new technologies (information quality, privacy protection, accessibility) constitute an obstacle to transparency? Are organizations making appropriate use of new technologies to ensure increased active transparency?”
take measures
The proliferation of online content, the decline of the written press, and the increasing consumption of information and services on the Internet are creating greater pressures on transparency. However, “if, in the digital space, different tools, platforms and processes are able to increase administrative openness […]The researchers point out that “many obstacles still need to be overcome”, referring in particular to management methods, accessibility of digital tools and consideration of the privacy of some users. Real challenges!
*This article was published thanks to a partnership with the magazine. HEC Montreal Managementwhere it first appeared.
Transparency in the Digital Space – Principles, Developments, Issues
University of Quebec Press
146 pages
“Music guru. Incurable web practitioner. Thinker. Lifelong zombie junkie. Tv buff. Typical organizer. Evil beer scholar.”
