Brazil Embraces Digital Age With New Interactive E-Gov Portal – brasil.gov.br

BRASILIA, Brazil, March 3 /PRNewswire/ — In its latest move to increase
engagement with the global public and promote democratic access to
information, the federal government of Brazil today launched ‘Portal Brasil’
(www.brasil.gov.br) — the new official website of the Brazilian State.

“The world has entered a new era of open, interactive, real-time
communication and with the launch of Brazil.gov.br, Brazil is ready to harness
the opportunities presented by digital media to apply those qualities to
official State communications,” said Secretariat for Social Communication
Minister Franklin Martins.

“Portal Brasil underlines our institutional beliefs in social equality and
transparency. This website is one of the largest open-source undertakings
ever attempted. We will use its flexible platform to quickly, efficiently and
dynamically inform and communicate with local and foreign citizens of the
world,” he added.

The new e-government portal was launched in a ceremony held today in
Brasilia headed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and senior members of
the Secretariat for Social Communication (SECOM) of the Presidency of Brazil.

The launch of Brasil.gov.br was overseen by SECOM with a total investment
of US$ 4.1 million.

Dynamic Content for Dynamic Audiences

Portal Brasil aims to be a one-stop-shop for information on Brazil.
Available in Portuguese, English and Spanish, the site’s content is designed
to meet the needs of both Brazilian citizens and foreign audiences, including:
analysts, investors, private sector companies, media, academics, NGOs,
students, tourists, and other groups.

To support these audiences, Brasil.gov.br is organized into 12 thematic
channels covering: Brazil, Citizenship, Culture, Economy, Education,
Environment, Geography, Health, History, Science & Technology, Sports and
Tourism.

The site aims to not only inform, but also engage its users — creating a
collaborative platform that will be in constant evolution. To that end,
Portal Brasil already includes 850 articles, a database of 6,000 photos, 40+
infographics, over 2,000 video and audio files, flash applications,
user-generated content and customizable features.

New Multimedia Magazine

One unique area of Portal Brasil that distinguishes it from other
e-government sites is its monthly multimedia magazine. This new outlet will
provide informed insights into the heart of Brazil and its people, combining
text, video, and infographic content to bring each story to life. User
functions like voting and surveys and integration with social media platforms
like YouTube and Twitter will further expand the reach and impact of the
magazine.

Unique Technologies

Portal Brasil is built on an open-source CMS platform — Plone with Zope
application server — that offers maximum functionality and security to the
site. In order to fully realize Brazil’s vision, the information architecture
and programming of Portal Brasil had to be extensively customized, leading to
unique programming technologies not yet seen anywhere else in the world.

This functional framework means that users can interact and impact the
site in a number of ways, including: sending messages, questions, suggestions,
complaints and/or compliments to Portal Brazil, commenting on the news and
other content, uploading pictures to the collaborative photo gallery,
reporting technical and content errors, sharing content with friends,
integrating with other social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter,
syndicating via RSS and bookmarking pages using the ‘My Brazil’ application.

The Right Time to Embrace the Web

“Portal Brasil is a central part of the State’s efforts to provide
information quickly and efficiently in the digital age, and the timing could
not be more right for us. Domestically, we are responding to the tremendous
growth of Internet usage and broadband penetration in Brazil over the past
decade. Brazil currently has the largest online audience in Latin America, and
the ninth largest in the world,” commented Secretariat for Social
Communication Minister Franklin Martins.

“Externally, we are aware of the increased global interest in Brazil –
not only in terms of investment, but as also as a result of the upcoming 2014
World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, which we will host — and so I hope our
international friends and colleagues will take a moment to visit us at
Brazil.gov.br. We look forward to increased connections with the world,” he
added.

About SECOM: The Secretariat for Social Communication (SECOM) of the
Presidency of Brazil is responsible for coordinating the public relations
activities for the government of Brazil.

SOURCE SECOM