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Puerto Rico has a serious data problem. We have great laws that guarantee freedom of information, but experts say we don’t have the mechanisms to make sure that data is available. Above all, when data is available it’s inconsistent.

This series will have two written articles: one that contextualizes the problem and one that speaks about how civil organizations are taking action to guarantee transparency.

In the first one, we will count how many lawsuits have been presented in government in order to get public information. We will analyze how many of these have been successful and estimate how much money the government is spending trying to defend the right to not share public information.

We will interview members of organizations such as Sembrando Sentido, Abre PR, Cambio PR, and Clínica de Acceso a la Información to get their expertise on the problems that Puerto Rico faces when it comes to data.

In the second article, we will examine how much money the government is spending on systems and technology and analyze their efficiency. We will compare this with other countries and ask ourselves: could a better system be implemented?

We will speak to the same organizations about how they are going about creating more transparency and what type of system they want to see implemented in Puerto Rico. We will share the examples of Chile, Canada, and Ukraine: how these systems work and how this could be implemented in Puerto Rico.