Transparency and Accountability in Digital Governance

Data collection through various sensors and monitors, and analysing them with the help of Artificial Intelligence can be a powerful system that Smart Cities use to understand the municipal needs in real time. However, without transparency and accountability of how the government use the data and process of the decision making, can be a hazard to democracy. To support more balanced power relations, governments should be held accountable for their actions and for the implications of the technology they adopted in cities. Smart Cities can take steps such as 

• Publishing policy documents and data sets in open formats that are accessible for the public
• Providing full access to the algorithm code by the competent authorities whenever needed for inspection or verification purposes
• Use open registries to be transparent about suppliers; data collected and used; algorithm performance, which can include dedicated registries such as AI registry, sensor registry, etc

Smart Cities that are more transparent creates thriving ecosystem that foster innovation. Open data and open government can contribute for new solutions to existing urban challenges that impact people’s lives in cities. Allowing any person or organization to access non personal or sensitive data, software and infrastructure prevents discrimination of groups and promotes inclusion. Governments can increase participation and contributions in the development of technology when it is open source. 

Reference:

UN Habitat’s Mainstreaming Human Rights in the Digital Transformation of Cities: A guide for local governments

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