Identifying Transparency

Information Polity, 2013

13 Pages Posted: 26 Dec 2018

Date Written: July 26, 2013

Abstract

Recent scholarship on transparency has been voluminous, and transparency policies continue to garner international adherents through global initiatives such as the Open Government Partnership. Yet extant scholarship has failed to address the empirical parameters for what constitutes ‘transparency’ and what does not. This lacuna gives way to misuses and abuses, jeopardizing the analytical utility of the term and the integrity of so-called ‘transparency’ policies. This article provides a framework and vocabulary for identifying and evaluating transparency, which depends on two necessary and jointly sufficient conditions: the visibility of information, and its inferability – the ability to draw accurate conclusions from it. By disaggregating these two conditions for identifying transparency, this article provides a framework for the emerging research agenda on the quality of transparency.

Keywords: Transparency, Information and Communication Technologies, Public Administration

Suggested Citation

Michener, Gregory and Bersch, Katherine, Identifying Transparency (July 26, 2013). Information Polity, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3290813

Gregory Michener (Contact Author)

EBAPE/FGV ( email )

R. Dr. Neto de Araujo 320 cj 1307
Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 22250-900
Brazil

HOME PAGE: http://ebape.fgv.br/

Katherine Bersch

Davidson College ( email )

United States

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