Culture of Open Government (IT0062)

Background and objectives

The values of open government promoted by the OGP (participation, transparency and accountability) imply a cultural change, a new relationship between citizens and public administration and vice versa.
Nowadays feelings like diffidence, contrast, anxiety, distrust on the one hand, and self- centeredness, indifference, disregard on the other, undermine that relationship and generate behaviors on both sides which negatively affect ordinary citizens and create grey areas where privileges proliferate sometimes leading to illegality.

Therefore, it is crucial to pair the action plan with a thorough dissemination process of the values of open government, making it possible for citizens to have a direct contact with the spaces of public administration where such values and principles are best represented.

Such spaces, both physical or digital, apps or digital services, will be highlighted, communicated, explained, made known and included in an overall communication and participation strategy addressed to citizens, with special attention paid to disadvantages categories, through social media and concrete initiatives at local level.

We will work on already tested solutions, recognized at the international level, to improve them, enhance them and make their impact bigger.
Commitments

This action is aimed at broadly disseminating the values of open government and strengthening the visibility of the places where these values are already implemented, by promoting:
- the organization of the Open Government Week;
- the Open Gov Champion Award;
- the restyling and enhancement of the website open.gov.it;
- the inclusion in the website open.gov.it of information and access to open government initiatives implemented by public administration (apps, websites and digital services);
- the organization of institutional communication campaigns to disseminate information on ongoing or already implemented open government initiatives;
- piloting PA communication strategies on social media for citizens and public administration itself;
- Implementation of multiple initiatives to engage visitors in national museums through digital environments.

Lead Administration
Department for Public Administration (PCM – DFP) – Marco Marrazza

Other administrations involved
Department for Information and Publications (PCM – DIE), Ministry of Culture (MIBAC) Monitoring contact person from the Open Government Forum
FERPi – Federazione Relazioni Pubbliche Italiana – Raffaele Paciello

6. Culture of open government

6. Culture of open government

Completion: Substantial

Milestones 6.1–6.5 (PCM-DFP): The self-assessment reports there were 61 online events during Open Gov Week 2020 and 2021 involving over 1,400 participants. [113] There was no Open Gov Champion Award in 2020 and the process for 2021 is ongoing. [114] The open.gov.it website redesign is also ongoing and due to be complete by the end of 2021. [115] The self-assessment also reports trainings for the Tuscany Region, Mazara del Vallo Municipality, and Vicenza Municipality in designing their social media strategies and their internal and external social media policies. [116] During 2020, PCM-DFP organized nine webinars for training public administrations on using social media, which involved over 3,500 participants from 381 public institutions. [117] It is unclear if there was special attention paid to issues around hate speech, gender violence, or online discrimination as outlined in Milestone 6.5.

Milestone 6.6 (MIBAC): MIBAC reported in the self-assessment that this milestone is still ongoing, such as launching mobile applications, implementing facial recognition and machine learning techniques, and testing online booking services for various museums. It states that Uffizi Gallery queuing times are now less than five minutes. [118]

Milestones 6.7 and 6.8 (PCM- DIE): These activities were vaguely described in the action plan. The self-assessment reports that PCM-DIE presented information on institutional communication campaign techniques during Open Gov Week 2021, and that it continues to assist institutions with developing and implementing their own communication campaigns. The self-assessment did not link to any open government experiences on the open.gov.it website. [119]