Rethinking civil society organisations working in the freedom of information and open government data fields

Chapter 6 in the book The Social Dynamics of Open Data

The Social Dynamics of Open Data

The Social Dynamics of Open Data is a collection of peer reviewed papers presented at the 2nd Open Data Research Symposium (ODRS) held in Madrid, Spain, on 5 October 2016. Research is critical to developing a more rigorous and fine-combed analysis not only of why open data is valuable, but how it is valuable and under what specific conditions. The objective of the Open Data Research Symposium and the subsequent collection of chapters published here is to build such a stronger evidence base. This base is essential to understanding what open data’s impacts have been to date, and how positive impacts can be enabled and amplified. Consequently, common to the majority of chapters in this collection is the attempt by the authors to draw on existing scientific theories, and to apply them to open data to better explain the socially embedded dynamics that account for open data’s successes and failures in contributing to a more equitable and just society. CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction: The state of open data and open data research by François van Schalkwyk & Stefaan G Verhulst Chapter 2: The challenges of institutionalising open government data: A historical perspective of Chile’s OGD initiative and digital government institutions by Felipe González-Zapata & Richard Heeks Chapter 3: Beyond standards and regulations: Obstacles to local open government data initiatives in Italy and France by Federico Piovesan Chapter 4: Governance of open spatial data infrastructures in Europe by Glenn Vancauwenberghe & Bastiaan van Loenen Chapter 5: Beyond mere advocacy: CSOs and the role of intermediaries in Nigeria’s open data ecosystem by Patrick Enaholo Chapter 6: Rethinking civil society organisations working in the freedom of information and open government data fields by Silvana Fumega Chapter 7: Open your data and will ‘they’ build it? A case of open data co-production in health service delivery by Fabrizio Scrollini Chapter 8: The relational impact of open data intermediation: Experience from Indonesia and the Philippines by Arthur Glenn Maail Chapter 9: Smart cities need to be open: The case of Jakarta, Indonesia by Michael P Caňares Chapter 10: Protecting privacy while releasing data: Strategies to maximise benefits and mitigate risks by Joel Gurin, Matt Rumsey, Audrey Ariss & Katherine Garci

Situating Open Data

Open data and its effects on society are always woven into infrastructural legacies, social relations, and the political economy. This raises questions about how our understanding and engagement with open data shifts when we focus on its situated use. To shed a light on these questions, Situating Open Data provides several empirical accounts of open data practices, the local implementation of global initiatives, and the development of new open data ecosystems. Drawing on case studies in different countries and contexts, the chapters demonstrate the practices and actors involved in open government data initiatives unfolding within different socio-political settings. The book proposes three recommendations for researchers, policy-makers and practitioners. First, beyond upskilling through data literacy programmes, open data initiatives should be specified through the kinds of data practices and effects they generate. Second, global visions of open data implementation require more studies of the resonances and tensions created in localised initiatives. And third, research into open data ecosystems requires more attention to the histories and legacies of information infrastructures and how these shape who benefits from open data flows. As such, this volume departs from the framing of data as a resource to be deployed. Instead, it proposes a prism of different data practices in different contexts through which to study the social relations, capacities, infrastructural histories and power structures affecting open data initiatives. It is hoped that the contributions collected in Situating Open Data will spark critical reflection about the way open data is locally practiced and implemented. The contributions should be of interest to open data researchers, advocates, and those in or advising government administrations designing and rolling out effective open data initiatives

Politics of Open Government Data: A Neo-Gramscian Analysis of the United Kingdom's Open Government Data Initiative

Since the mid-2000s, the idea of Open Government Data (OGD) has emerged in the United Kingdom as a strong demand for the free and unrestricted re-use of data produced by public bodies. This thesis aims to better understand the social forces and interests that have been working to shape the UK’s Open Government Data (OGD) initiative and to what ends. It focuses on the period 2010-2012, when OGD was adopted as a core policy objective by the new Coalition (Conservative-Liberal Democrat) government that came to power in May 2010. Through analysis of interviews, observations and online documentation, and the adoption of a neo-Gramscian analytical framework to guide the data collection and analysis, the thesis produces an explanatory framework for better understanding and conceptualising the development of the OGD initiative in the UK during this period. Contextualising the emergence and development of the UK’s OGD initiative within the contemporary political and economic crises of the neoliberal project, the thesis adopts the neo-Gramscian concept of trasformismo to explain the domestication of the OGD agenda into a project - counter to many of the initial civil society OGD advocates intentions - which is aimed at the reproduction of the UK’s neoliberal state. In particular, it highlights how OGD policy is being used with the intention of leveraging the full marketisation of public services and the further expansion of capitalism into the exploitation of societal risks, and to help rebuild the fracturing consent for the neoliberal project. It is shown that whilst a radical, and potentially counter-hegemonic, political energy exists within sections of the civil society OGD community within the UK, these OGD advocates are necessarily restricted by both the structural conditions of OGD’s emergence and tactical decisions taken by OGD advocates. The thesis concludes with a number of suggestions for those aiming to direct the OGD initiative in a more egalitarian direction, counter to neoliberal hegemony. The thesis’s contribution to Information Science can be understood as providing a deeper critical understanding of the political economic domain which structures the discipline and its subject of interest at the most fundamental levels. The thesis’s contribution to Political Science is to utilise ideas developed in neo-Gramscian International Political Economy to draw insight into the complex political processes that have unfolded around OGD. In particular, it is the first neo-Gramsican analysis that considers the adaptation of neoliberal capitalism to the logic of ‘openness’

Addressing Information Asymmetry In The Social Contract: An Archival-diplomatic Approach To Open Government Data Curation

This thesis shows that the concepts and practices developed in the field of record-keeping can be applied to the curation of open government data to strengthen the trustworthiness of that data. It begins by situating open government data in the context of the social contract, which operates through the exchange of information. The thesis develops the notions of the ‘record-as-command’ and ‘data-as-command’ to explain the dialogical but asymmetrical information relationship between the individual and the state, which is modelled as a principal-agent problem. Using concepts from information economics, the study argues that open government data is the latest monitoring mechanism in a long history of government secrecy and openness. This establishes the significance of the curation of open government data beyond technical questions. The thesis then considers how trustworthiness has figured in thinking about record-keeping, identifying three core record-keeping controls; 1) metadata used to document 2) custodianship in 3) auditable systems. To show how these three broad controls have been put into practice, the study examines two examples of record-keeping guidance, one for paper records and one for hybrid records, which demonstrates the application of the three core controls across time and media. The study then looks for the presence or absence of these controls in government datasets published in Kenya and Australia. These analyses trace the datasets back to their source(s), at each step looking for evidence of custodial and curatorial interventions documented in metadata managed in auditable systems. The study’s contribution to open government data work is its demonstration of the value of record-keeping controls in the curation of data. Additionally, the study contributes new insights to information in the principal-agent problem of the social contract, contributes to archival theory and finds a need to foster critical data literacy in the body politic if open government data is to be read and used to correct information asymmetry

Open government data publication and use in a developing country: a case of Ghana

Implementing Open Government Data (OGD) increases a government's ability to share data on its activities with citizens in machine-readable formats. OGD improves citizen participation, transparency, accountability and creates impact. By permitting more transparency, OGD helps citizens monitor government activities, which contributes to minimizing corruption. For example, while Also, OGD enables governments to track the impact of their actions; it gives citizens the ability to monitor government activities and critique where necessary. In addition, institutionalizing OGD by governments encourages economic growth and creates employment for citizens. The aim of this study is to examine OGD as a phenomenon in Ghana by focusing on how social factors either constrained or enabled the publication and use of OGD in Ghana. The investigation also examined how these social factors were created and sustained over time, influencing OGD institutionalization. The Structuration Theory was used as the primary theoretical lens to aid in understanding these social factors. In addition, the Structuration Theory was supplemented with concepts from Network Power, Ownership, and the Public Value Frameworks to provide additional theoretical categorization for the empirical findings. This study adopted a qualitative interpretive approach. Data sources for the research included semi-structured interviews, observations, and secondary data. The primary sources of data included Data Users, Data Publishers, Data “controllers,” and beneficiaries. The main findings from the study indicated that despite Ghana's long-standing democracy and being one of the early implementers of OGD, the phenomenon was yet to be institutionalized in the country. Data ownership, data quality, regulatory mandate, data sharing culture, control, and resources were the core social factors that influenced OGD publication. The meanings that actors ascribed to data ownership resulted in establishing and maintaining bureaucratic structures that allowed institutions and individuals to control available data. The actual use of OGD was influenced by social factors such as alliances/network creation, resources, power in networks, informal networks, and data quality assessment. Conversely, factors like alliances/network creation and technological resources acted as enablers that helped data users access the data. Data Users relied on technology and constantly drew upon their knowledge and understanding of technology and social connections to enable them to access and use data. They also relied on their ability to use technology to scrutinize data to ensure that it was of good quality and its use could create an impact or public value. Specific recommendations of this study include the need to use change management strategies targeted at all actors and institutions in the OGD ecosystem; educating and sensitizing actors on the relevance of making data technically available on a single approved web portal; and the creation of a context specific data quality indicators

Institutional perspective of digital open government implementation : a case study from Kuwaiti Ministry of Home Security

Digital open government uses avenues such as online means, websites, etc., to communicate with the citizens. For sharing data and delivering it in the digital open government service, we need digital facilities such as computers, mobile and fixed phones, amongst others, to facilitate access to government information systems with less stress. There is a wide gap experienced by the population and its citizens in terms of communication and services provided by the government of Kuwait. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to offer a conceptual framework after analysing the key practices, enablers, opportunities, and motivators of digital open government (DOG), especially in the context of the Arab countries. Therefore, the context has been explored through applying the institutional theory that would lead to understanding the institutional issues that have generated public and institutional values through DOG in Kuwait. As this research is interlinked with political, social, cultural, economic and technological context, the interpretivist epistemological position is being taken to interpret the overall institutional context of DOG in Kuwait. The qualitative research method has been employed to collect in-depth data using semi-structured data collection tools from professionals and citizens. It has been found that there is uncertainty in policies, lack of professional commitment, and extra-political pressure that negatively impact the overall institutional efforts to generate public and institutional values through DOG. Therefore, this research suggests that institutional collaboration, transparency, trust, public participation, and institutional participation are required to lead toward the public and institutional values of the DOG. The theoretical contribution of this research is that this research applies institutional theory in the context of DOG value generation; consequently, through using the institutional theoretical lenses, this research proposes an institutional DOG value model, which is a theoretical contribution of this research. The practical contribution of this research is that it provides in-depth knowledge for the government to generate public and institutional value from DOG successfully, and this research also identifies the enablers of DOG, among which are included participation, trust, collaboration, and transparency to generate value through DOG successfull