Survey of Brazilian Open Budget Data Portals: Query Interfaces and Dashboards

Kaline B. F. Mesquita; Dennis G. Balreira; Andre S. Spritzer; Carla M. D. S. Freitas

doi:10.5753/jbcs.2026.5449

Authors

Kaline B. F. Mesquita Institute of Informatics (UFRGS) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8891-3872
Dennis G. Balreira Institute of Informatics (UFRGS) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0801-9393
Andre S. Spritzer Institute of Informatics (UFRGS) https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4232-1585
Carla M. D. S. Freitas Institute of Informatics (UFRGS) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1986-8435

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5753/jbcs.2026.5449

Keywords:

Data visualization, Open government data, Dashboards, Government Budget

Abstract

To promote transparency, the Brazilian government provides access to public data through web portals featuring query interfaces and dashboards. While query interfaces are used by more experienced users to gather data for further analyses, dashboards that include visualizations help a broader audience consult and explore data. A domain of particular complexity that benefits from the use of these interfaces is government spending and budgets. This study analyzes dashboards and query interfaces of government budget data through qualitative research based on a survey. Focusing on Brazil's budget transparency initiative, we examined 83 interfaces in total: 30 dashboards and 53 query interfaces from federal, state, and major city governments. This survey assesses these interfaces using design patterns for general-purpose dashboards and design principles for open government data dashboards. Our findings reveal a critical weakness: while most portals provide access to budget data, they largely neglect user-centered design, failing to provide the necessary context or consider the data literacy of their audience. This creates a significant "transparency gap'' that undermines genuine accountability and demonstrates the need for a fundamental shift in the design of these essential public tools.

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Author Biographies

Dennis G. Balreira, Institute of Informatics (UFRGS)

I am an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Informatics at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. I earned my Ph.D. (2019), M.S. (2015), and B.S. (2012) degrees in Computer Science from the same institution. I am also a member of the Brazilian Computer Society (SBC).

My research focuses primarily on the Natural Language Processing field, including Named Entity Recognition, Large Language Models, Exploration and Analysis of Texts, and Data Visualization. Please feel free to check further details on my Research page.

Andre S. Spritzer, Institute of Informatics (UFRGS)

Iam a computer scientist and a political scientist working at the intersection of information visualization, human-computer interaction, politics, and data journalism.

I hold a PhD, an MSc, and a BSc in computer science from UFRGS (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), with a focus on information visualization and human-computer interaction, and a BSc in politics and international relations from the University of London/LSE. I have worked as a researcher and university lecturer, a software engineer, and a journalist/political scientist.

My research has always been in information visualization and human-computer interaction, focusing on topics such as graph (i.e., network) visualization for data exploration, analysis, and communication; data journalism; and the application of visualization and data science in political science. I have worked as a postdoctoral at Inria’s Aviz team (where I also spent time during my PhD as a visiting student), in a joint project with INRA, in Paris, France, and at UFRGS's computer graphics, image processing, and interaction group, with which I still collaborate.

As a lecturer, I taught courses on computer graphics and virtual reality at UCS (University of Caxias do Sul, Brazil) and on programming and algorithms at UFRGS. I have also given talks on information visualization and its use for communication.

In the industry, I co-founded and co-ran Visualitica, a software company that developed projects related to visualization and computer graphics. After my time with Visualitica, I undertook freelance work as a software engineer, taking on general projects. As a freelancer, I found myself often collaborating with journalists in data-driven stories, working on data retrieval, processing, and analysis as well as the crafting of interactive visualizations.

As a journalist/political scientist, I collaborated with Estado da Arte, the online politics and culture magazine of Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, writing long-form articles on Brazilian and international politics, combining current affairs with the academic and mainstream literature in political science and theory.

Besides politics, computer science, and journalism, I am also interested in topics such as economics, finance (I was even a stockbroker for a while), philosophy, mythology, history, and filmmaking (screenwriting, in particular). I also speak eight languages, love to travel, have a peculiar and wide-ranging taste in music, and enjoy cooking (but suck at making soufflés).

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