Usability Evaluation of an Open Data Platform

Despite the rapid proliferation of open data platforms, the accessibility and ease of use of data portals is low. This factor prevents citizens and civil society organizations from exploiting open data for their goals. The poor usability of current generation of open data platforms could be attributed to the fact that these platforms were not designed for non-technical users. They are typically software products developed “by programmers for programmers or technical users”. Consequently, while reports about innovative use of open data by software developers and start-ups are common, there are very few reports about successful public use of open data to tackle concrete societal challenges. This paper provides the results and lessons learnt from the usability evaluation of the second alpha release of a next generation open data platform designed explicitly to support non-technical users. A scenario involving a transportation challenge in Dublin City was employed as the context for the evaluation of the platform. Findings provide some empirical basis for identifying important user interface design considerations, patterns for highly usable open data platforms and considerations for open data policy

Analytics-Driven Digital Platform for Regional Growth and Development: A Case Study from Norway

In this paper, we present the growth barometer (Vekstbarometer in Norwegian), which is a digital platform that provides the development trends in the regional context in a visual and user-friendly way. The platform is developed to use open data from different sources that is presented mainly in five main groups: goals, premises or prerequisites for growth, industries, growth, and expectations. Furthermore, it also helps to improve decision-making and transparency, as well as provide new knowledge for research and society. The platform uses sensitive and non-sensitive open data. In contrast to other similar digital platforms from Norway, where the data is presented as raw data or with basic level of presentations, our platform is advantageous since it provides a range of options for visualization that makes the statistics more comprehensive.Comment: The Thirteenth International Conference on Digital Society and eGovernments (ICDS 2019

Popping into Focus: Community Engagement for Environmental Impact and Awareness

Grey literature from Microsoft-funded Urban Futures Summer Workshop 2020 Community Engagement Group https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/uploads/prod/2020/10/Community-Engagement.pdfIn this white paper, we develop a dedicated space (physical and virtual) for the early and ongoing incorporation of community engagement through a series of scalable pop-ups and an open data platform to complement local sensor deployments. One cannot solve wicked problems in white papers. Instead, we are proposing a prototype that will grow and change over time. By incorporating on-the-ground practice and experimentation in collaboration with local partners and governments, we hope that our solution will promote the rights of residents to shape how and where new technologies are deployed within their cities, and how the data from those technologies are used.MicrosoftOffice of the VP for Researc

Usability of the G7 open government data portals and lessons learned

Recent advances in technology have made truly open and accessible government significantly more realisable. One of the ways in which governments are using this technology is in the implementation of online portals that allow open (i.e., public and unrestricted) access to data and use of data. Such portals can be used by citizens and professionals to facilitate improved decision-making across a wide range of areas, from car-parking to promoting entrepreneurialism. However, the existence of portals per se is not enough. To maximise their potential, users must also feel that they are both accessible and usable. To gain insights into the current state of usability of OGD portals for professionals working in data-related areas, a comparative study of the portals of the G7 group was carried out, using a mixed methodology. This is the first specific comparison of these portals for such users, as well as the first study to add a user-centred qualitative dimension to the research. The study’s findings showed that the G7 countries are not maximising the potential of their portals or collaborating effectively. Addressing these issues, and building better cross-national consistency, would help to improve the value delivered by investment in OGD portals. The study also further supported an existing user-centred, heuristic evaluation framework for application to a more specific user group, as well as more generally

A Method to Screen, Assess, and Prepare Open Data for Use

Open data's value-creating capabilities and innovation potential are widely recognized, resulting in a notable increase in the number of published open data sources. A crucial challenge for companies intending to leverage open data is to identify suitable open datasets that support specific business scenarios and prepare these datasets for use. Researchers have developed several open data assessment techniques, but those are restricted in scope, do not consider the use context, and are not embedded in the complete set of activities required for open data consumption in enterprises. Therefore, our research aims to develop prescriptive knowledge in the form of a meaningful method to screen, assess, and prepare open data for use in an enterprise setting. Our findings complement existing open data assessment techniques by providing methodological guidance to prepare open data of uncertain quality for use in a value-adding and demand-oriented manner, enabled by knowledge graphs and linked data concepts. From an academic perspective, our research conceptualizes open data preparation as a purposeful and value-creating process

Investigating metadata adoptions for open government data portals in US cities

Open government data (OGD) is a valuable resource for both policy transparency and government accountability. All levels of the United States government are working hard to promote open data and its portals. However, there is still a lack of stud-ies on local-level OGD portals in the United States, particularly on the quality of metadata adopted by these portals. By ex-amining 200 US cities, a list of 112 local-level portals is sampled and we investigate the current usages of open data plat-forms for building local-level OGD portals. This study further investigates and discusses the adoption and potential issues of metadata on those OGD portals. Our result findings discuss the platform distributions among US local-level OGD portals, and also highlight several critical issues associated with metadata on the portals. We anticipate the results will inspire further studies on identifying solutions to improve the metadata and enhance the usability of open government data portal

Метод змішаного навчання для підвищення рівня медіаграмотності студентів

The paper discusses the issues of improving students' media literacy skills to help them to navigate through an increasingly complex information society. It reports on a project aimed at applying the blended learning model to boost high school students' media literacy levels. The given model is recognized to have a number of advantages for both teachers (tutors) and learners (students). It is generally accepted that the blended learning method provides students with profound theoretical knowledge and retains the emphasis on practice. Besides, online classes offer a great opportunity to reach a wider audience. The purpose of the paper is to describe the authors' experience in introducing a new method for improving the learners' media literacy skills based on the blended learning model. The survey responses demonstrated that the accessibility, ease-of-use, and duration of the classes were deemed effective in terms of students' engagement and increases in their media literacy level. The course helped learners to develop their critical thinking and other media-related skills, to identify propaganda, manipulation, and fake messages found in media streams.У статті обговорюються питання вдосконалення навичок медіаграмотності учнів, щоб допомогти їм орієнтуватися у дедалі складнішому інформаційному суспільстві. Він повідомляє про проект, спрямований на застосування моделі змішаного навчання для підвищення рівня медіаграмотності старшокласників. Визнано, що дана модель має низку переваг як для вчителів (репетиторів), так і для учнів (студентів). Загальновизнано, що змішаний метод навчання дає студентам глибокі теоретичні знання та зберігає наголос на практиці. Крім того, онлайн -заняття дають чудову можливість охопити ширшу аудиторію. Мета статті - описати досвід авторів щодо впровадження нового методу вдосконалення навичок медіаграмотності учнів на основі моделі змішаного навчання. Відповіді на опитування продемонстрували, що доступність, простота використання та тривалість занять вважалися ефективними з точки зору залучення студентів та підвищення рівня їх медіаграмотності. Курс допоміг учням розвинути своє критичне мислення та інші навички, пов’язані зі ЗМІ, виявити пропаганду, маніпуляції та фейкові повідомлення, що зустрічаються у медіапотоках

Digital Transformation in the Public Administrations: A Guided Tour for Computer Scientists

The goal of Digital Transformation of the Public Sector is the achievement of a better quality of life for citizens, via a more responsive and transparent administration and governance. By now it is clear that technological innovation, both in terms of computer architectures and software systems, is a crucial component of it, yet not sufficient. Indeed, a cultural, organizational and legal shift in how public organizations operate and relate to the citizens is also required. Nevertheless, computer scientists can play a key role in such a transformation and, given its impact on Society, it is essential to achieve a broader level of awareness of it and involvement in it of those scientific and professional figures. To this end, a technical map specifically designed for computer scientists, but properly placed in the context of the cultural, organizational and legal changes mentioned above, would be highly beneficial. To date, such a map is missing, to the best of our knowledge. The main contribution of this Tutorial is to provide it, together with a guided tour describing which key technological aspects enable and drive such a transformation. More specifically, based on a careful analysis of the available scholarly literature, that does not seem to include any Computer Science textbook material, a model of such a transformation is proposed, together with carefully selected examples incarnating it to show its validity: the cities of Barcelona and Chicago. Finally, a look at the future of this area is also provided

Educational Open Government Data in Germany: The Landscape, Status, and Quality

This paper examines the educational datasets of Open Government Portals (OGPs) in Germany. While OGPs has become an important player in making public data available, the quality and coverage are increasingly problematized. This study analyzes the quality of 28 OGPs, 18 on the city-level, seven on the state-level (the city-states of Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen were counted as states), and three at the national level. The focus of this study is on identifying the gap in open educational data. The results show that the total number of datasets and the educational data varies very much between the portals. While the portals contain 94% ‘open’ datasets, most of the portals do not provide comprehensive usage metrics like the data download, evidence of usage in research or applications. Finally, the paper highlights the main shortcomings of the existing open data portals regarding the quality of datasets and the lack of findability and granularity