June 4th to 6th, 2012
Plenary 2 - Annex II - Chamber of Deputies
Brasilia, Brazil
Support:
Realization:
Background
The Regional Workshop “Connected Parliaments - Introduction to
Legislative XML”, is being organized by the Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB), in collaboration with the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, and in coordination
with the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, a joint initiative of the United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the Inter-Parliamentary
Union (IPU). The workshop, which will be held in the framework of the Exchange
Network of Parliaments of Latin America and the Caribbean (ENPLAC), will be
held from June 4th to 6th, 2012 in Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia, Brazil.
The technical training workshop is part of the activities of the technical
cooperation program “Connected Parliaments”, led by the IDB, and supported
by the Italian Trust Fund for Information and Communication Technology for
Development. The program aims to systematize information and knowledge on
the potential of new technologies in parliamentary affairs.
The pertinence of the workshop relies on the proven impact that the use of
XML has in the quality of legislation, by allowing greater interoperability between
the various institutions; increasing accessibility to the network of parliamentary
documents; promoting transparency throughout the process and preserving
the legal value of legislative documents, among other benefits. Despite these
observed benefits, there is a significant lag in the adoption of XML in Latin
America and Caribbean Parliaments, with only a few exceptions.
With this in mind, ICS/IDB conducted an online survey between July 18
and August 10, 2011 among the Heads or Directors of Information Technology
in Parliament from the Bank’s borrowing countries, who expressed interest in
participating in training to support their efforts to incorporate the use of XML in
the Parliament. In total, responses were received from 26 parliamentary bodies
from 21 countries, of which only 7% confirmed to be using XML, 78% said are
working to incorporate XML and 100% expressed interest in participating in
technical training.
3
Objectives of the Workshop
The objective of this workshop is to broaden the understanding and
knowledge of technology professionals in the legislature about the benefits of using
Legislative XML as a working tool. It is also expected to introduce the operational
basis of Legislative XML to technical staff in Latin America and Caribbean Parliaments.
The workshop aims to
• Introduce legislative service operators to the methodology and
operational procedures for the marking of a legislative document (eg. A
bill) using a standard Legislative XML;
• Present to those responsible for information systems some of the tools
available, as to illustrate how, in practice, XML may be used throughout the
parliamentary legislative process.
Expected results
Upon the conclusion of the Workshop, participants will have the skills to
mark the basic structure of a bill, its normative references, and amendments. This
will provide a better understanding of the basic principles of the legislative XML
mark-up methodology, as well as of the characteristics of the XML standard that
should represent and manage parliamentary documents in the long-term. To
illustrate the different mark-up phases, the XML standard to be used is Akoma
Ntoso, which has been adopted by the European Parliament.
Participants will have also experienced the methodology for conducting a
proper legal analysis of the document, which is of the utmost importance as it must
necessarily precede the technical mark-up in XML in order to correctly capture the
legal semantics contained in the document.
To ensure that the learning objectives of the workshop are met and that
participants needs continue to be addressed in future trainings; the IDB, through its
Inter-American Institute for Economic and Social Development (INDES), will provide
a certification to all participants and will make evaluation surveys to determine if it
proved to be useful and achieved its intended objectives.
4
Format
The opening of the workshop will take place in the morning of June
4th, where the importance and potential of using open document standards,
such as XML, in the process of parliamentary modernization. Benefits will be
illustrated through examples of good practices, followed by a dialogue on the
role the Exchange Network of Parliaments of Latin America and the Caribbean
(ENPLAC) may have in promoting legislative XML in the region.
The technical training program will take place during the second and
third days of the workshop. It will be delivered by experts from the University
of Bologna, Italy, and carried out with the aid of slides to present theoretical
aspects, combined with practical exercises, first using a native XML editor and
then a marking tool.
Audience
Given its technical focus and expressed interest, the IDB is pleased to invite
Heads or Directors of Information Technology from each of the Chambers of the
Bank’s 26 borrowing countries.
Organizing Institutions
• The Institutional Capacity of the State Division of the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB), supported by its Inter-American Institute for
Economic and Social Development (INDES);
• Chamber of Deputies of Brazil;
• United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA),
through the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament.
5
Day I (June 4th)
8:00 am
Transport from the Hotel to the Chamber of Deputies
8:00 am
9:00 am
Participant Registration
Opening Remarks
Mr. Eduardo Gomes, First Secretary,
Chamber of Deputies, Brazil
9:00 am
9:30 am
Rogério Ventura Teixeira, Director General,
Chamber of Deputies, Brazil
Dóris Marize Romariz Peixoto, Director General, Senate, Brazil
Juan Carlos De la Hoz, Interim Representative,
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Gherardo Casini, Director, Office of the United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
WORKSHOP CONTEXT: THE IMPORTANCE OF USING
OPEN DOCUMENT STANDARDS IN PARLIAMENTS
Presentation on the importance of using
open document standards such as XML in
Parliamentary modernization processes
9:40 am
10:30 am
Silvana Rubino-Hallman, Lead Specialist,
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Gherardo Casini, Director, Office United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs 10:30 am
Coffee Break
SESSION I: GOOD REGIONAL PRACTICES IN THE USE OF XML
LexML Brazil
10:50 am
11:35 am
João Lima, Senate, Brazil
Question and answer session
New collaboration culture between Parliament and Society
11:35 am
12:20 pm
Luiz Antônio Eira, Director of the Commission
Department, Chamber of Deputies, Brazil
Question and answer session
Lunch
6
Chamber of Deputies - Restaurant (Annex IV – 10th floor)
Day I (June 4th)
2:30 pm
3:15 pm
Information Technology for Legislative Transparency
Leirton Saraiva, Director of the Information
Technology Center, Chamber of Deputies, Brazil
Experience in the use of legislative XML
3:15 pm
4:00 pm
Alejandra Carvallo Migliaro, Chief of Development,
Senate, National Congress of Chile
Question and answer session
4:00 pm
Coffee Break
Bungeni: parliamentary open source information
system that supports XML documents
4:15 pm
5:00 pm
Flavio Zeni, Principal Technical Advisor, Africa
i-Parliaments, United Nations
Question and answer session
SESSION II - THE ROLE OF THE EXCHANGE NETWORK OF
PARLIAMENTS OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
(ENPLAC) IN PROMOTING LEGISLATIVE XML IN THE REGION
5:00 pm
5:45 pm
Presentation on the Exchange Network of Parliaments of
Latin America and the Caribbean, emphasizing activities
and plans related to promoting the use of ICT in the region
Adolfo Furtado, Executive Secretary, ENPLAC
Open Dialogue
5:45 pm
6:30 pm
Presentation of the conclusions of the day’s
sessions and introduction to the working and
training program of the next two days.
Silvana Rubino-Hallman, Lead Specialist,
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
7
Day II (June 5th)
The course will be delivered by Monica Palmiriani, Associate Professor, CIRSFID,
University of Bologna, Italy, and Fabio Vitali, Associate Professor, Department of
Computer Science, University of Bologna, Italy.
8:40 am
Transport from the Hotel to the Chamber of Deputies
SESSION III – INTRODUCTION
Introduction to legislative XML.
The Use of XML in parliament 15 min
Introduction to the state of the art of Legislative XML 15 min
9:00 am
10:45 am
Introduction to Akoma Ntoso 30 min
Introduction to the tools 30 min
Presentation of risks in the use of XML in
the legislative process 15 min
10:45 am
Coffee Break
SESSION IV - METHODOLOGY AND PRACTICAL EXERCISES
Methodology for the marking of a legal document 15 min
11:00 am
12:45 pm
Legal analysis: An introduction to the main
elements of Akoma Ntoso 30 min
• Practical exercises on paper texts 30 min
• Practical exercises with the basic software 30 min
Lunch
Chamber of Deputies - Restaurant (Annex IV – 10th floor)
Identifying legal documents: naming 30 min
2:30 pm
4:00 pm
Normative references 30 min
• Practical exercises on paper texts 30 min
4:00 pm
Coffee Break
The structure of a bill 30 min
4:15 pm
6:15 pm
• Practical exercises with the basic software 30 min
Transcript 30 min
• Practical exercises with the basic software 30 min
8
Day III (June 6th)
8:40 am
Transport from the Hotel to the Chamber of Deputies
SESSION V: TOOLS AND PRACTICAL EXERCISES
9:00 am
Shaping the legislative cycle 30 min
10:00 am
Amendments 30 min
10:00 am
Coffee Break
SESSION VI: INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED TOOLS
Introduction to Advanced Tools 30 min
10:15 am
12:45 pm
Modifying amendments 30 min
• Exercises with specialized software 60 min
The consolidated text after the amendments 30 min
Lunch
Chamber of Deputies - Restaurant (Annex IV – 10th Floor)
SESSION VII – PRESENTATION AND LAUNCH
OF THE “PRACTICAL TOOLKIT TO XML”
Presentation of the document commissioned by the
IDB and developed by CIRSFID and the Department
of Computer Science, University of Bologna, Italy.
“Legislative XML: Principles and Technical Tools”
2:30 pm
3:00 pm
Objective and introduction: Silvana Rubino-Hallman, Lead
Specialist, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Content: Monica Palmiriani, Associate Professor, and
Fabio Vitali CIRSFID, Associate Professor Department
of Computer Science, University of Bologna, Italy 3:00 pm
3:15 pm
3:30 pm
Comments, questions and answers
Closing Session and Cocktail
9
Governing Board (2011 - 2013)
President (Speaker)
Mr. Marco Maia
First Vice-President
Ms. Rose de Freitas
Second Vice-President
Mr. Eduardo da Fonte
First Secretary
Mr. Eduardo Gomes
Second Secretary
Mr. Jorge Tadeu Mudalen
Third Secretary
Mr. Inocêncio Oliveira
Fourth Secretary
Mr. Júlio Delgado
Substitute Secretaries
First Substitute
Geraldo Resende
Second Substitute
Manato
Third Substitute
Carlos Eduardo Cadoca
Fourth Substitute
Sérgio Moraes
Director General
Rogério Ventura Teixeira
Secretary General
Sérgio Sampaio Contreiras de Almeida
10
Support:
Realization: