Portulano Digital

Project Activities

The project involved the collection, processing and organisation of a vast body of documents relating to the administration of Barcelos Municipal Council. By the end of the process, around 9,500 proposals had been identified, exceeding the number initially estimated in the application by approximately 2,000.

Implementing the project also required the creation of a structure enabling each municipal meeting to be linked to its respective agenda and the documents relating to each motion. Wherever it was possible to verify the information reliably, additional details were also included, notably how councillors voted. To ensure the quality of the research and make the information effectively accessible to users, each proposal had to be processed individually, and it was necessary to use artificial intelligence services to streamline part of this technical process.

The result was the creation of a public, free and permanently accessible repository, which allows users to consult information on municipal decisions, financial support, investments and other matters with a direct impact on the local community. The platform thus began to provide, in an organised manner, documentation which, although public, had in practice remained inaccessible to the general public. The project was also designed to continue being updated after the funding period ended, keeping pace with new meetings of the municipal executive bodies.

What is the impact?

The project now helps to strengthen a particularly fragile information ecosystem. In a municipality the size of Barcelos, where the scarcity of media outlets limits pluralism and reduces opportunities for public scrutiny, Portulano Digital has provided a new tool in the public interest. Whilst it does not replace journalistic work, it provides an organised and verifiable documentary database that facilitates access to essential information on the activities of the local authority.

Its impact is particularly significant because it complements the work carried out by SETE JORNAL. Whilst the newspaper investigates, contextualises and interprets facts of public interest, Portulano Digital enables citizens and journalists themselves to consult directly the documents underpinning municipal decisions. This collaboration strengthens the capacity for scrutiny of public administration, broadens access to primary sources and helps to reduce dependence on information that is filtered or provided exclusively by the institutions.

In a context also marked by the challenges of disinformation, direct, free and organised access to official documents constitutes a concrete contribution towards a better-informed community and towards combating the conditions that characterise ‘news deserts’.
The main change introduced by the project was the democratisation of access to information on municipal management. Barcelos manages a very substantial annual budget and regularly allocates grants, subsidies and investments that have an impact on the various parishes and communities within the municipality. With the Portulano Digital, citizens now have free and unrestricted access to documentation that enables them to gain a better understanding of the decisions taken, the support granted, the beneficiary organisations, the amounts involved and other elements relevant to the scrutiny of municipal activity.
The platform has also reduced barriers that previously hindered access to public information. By centralising and organising the documents in a single digital space, it has made it easier for citizens with varying levels of availability, resources or proximity to decision-making centres to consult them.

Initial usage data revealed a growing interest in this tool, not only from regular readers of SETE JORNAL, but also from new users, regional media organisations, public bodies, political parties and local community groups.

Although it is still too early to gauge structural changes in the behaviour of the public, the project has already created new conditions for more informed civic participation, greater scrutiny of public administration and a more direct relationship between the community and the decisions that affect the municipality’s development.

Project Links

• Portulano Digital
• Sete Jornal