I was pretty excited when Helio Leite Teixeira joined GovLoop. I’m always interested to see how Gov 2.0 is being used in other countries and he sounded like he was doing great work with his blog and at his Commission. Helio graciously took the time out to answer a few questions for GovLoop Member of Week series.
1) What is your background?
I graduated in chemical engineering and Marketing and Advertising Management. Despite also having studied engineering, I’m a man of communication.
2) What is your current role?
I’m the manager of the communication team at Commission of Constitution and Justice of Alagoas Parliament and the producer manager of the Chapa Branca website (http://chapabranca.com).
3) How did you hear about GovLoop?
I saw it in http://steveradick.com
4) How did you get involved with Gov 2.0 (using web 2.0 tools in government) and Open Government?
I’ve been deeply involved in Interlegis Project (http://interlegis.gov.br). The Interlegis Project was created to support the modernization process of the legislative branch of the Brazilian government at the federal, state, and municipal levels. The purpose is to strengthen and expand the scope of the Legislative Integration and Participation Network (InterLegis) program. To achieve these objectives, financing will be provided for four components whose respective specific objectives are: (i) to consolidate the InterLegis program’s current national network; (ii) to increase the efficiency and the competencies of Brazil’s legislative bodies through technology transfers, training, and the use of information and communication—which are part of the four pillars of the legislative new modernization model; (iii) to build InterLegis’ institutional capacity for design, development, and implementation of projects and upgrades in its operating systems; and (iv) to develop specific products for the parliamentary network and promote international parliamentary cooperation.
5) What is the state of Gov 2.0 in Brazil?
The Gov 2.0 is in its infancy in Brazil, but the growing of social web is already having an effect, the launch of the e-Democracy (http://www.edemocracia.camara.gov.br/publico/) the social network of the federal chamber of deputies, is an example.
As I’ve already suggested in Chapa Branca Blog (http://chapabranca.com), the most of the brazillian public organizations not yet realized that explosive growth of the social web hás changed the public communicatios’s role from a broadcaster pushing out messages and materials to an aggregator who brings together content, enables collaboration, and builds and participates in communities. As an aggregator, you bring together content, collaborate with your citizens, and engage your online communities. Content includes new ideas, research, and opinions. Collaboration creates an open environment in which people can, and do, share knowledge. The aggregator extends invitations to individuals as well as to groups to join communities of interest.