E-Government and Semantics: Digital Citizenship Approaching Inclusion and Equality in Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

The increasing digital transformation in all segments of society has been creating demand in information management and access. Consequently, local and federal governments must adapt and launch digital services that enable inclusion and citizenship participation initiatives through digitalization and content management to meet these demands. Nevertheless, the simple conversion of physical forms to digital is not enough to enable access. This chapter highlights the relevance of the use of plain language towards information access. This work conducted action research supported by the Toyota Kata approach demonstrating how the change in the semantical construct in the forms and service description is significantly altered post digitalization of some services provided by the State of Santa Catarina Government. The results demonstrate that plain language impacts the comprehension and consumption of information, incurring more inclusive e-government services.