A Conceptual Framework for Open Government Data: Drawing upon Conditions Surrounding Use

Public decision-makers’ interest in digital technology has fuelled the debate about the potential of open government data (OGD) as a foundation and driver for economic growth, competitiveness, innovation, job creation, and soci- etal progress in general. These potentials create high expectations sustained by a plethora of economic and societal forecasts about OGD. However, there appears to be a lack of scholarly literature about OGD use from which value stems. This paper addresses this concern by developing a conceptual framework scoping con- ditions surrounding OGD use. The conceptual framework, built on the literature, gathers three major components, i.e. (1) the characteristics of the datasets, (2) the features of the OGD portal, and (3) the organizational resources and capabilities, which altogether afford use. The paper also provides some insights for research- ers and policymakers. By structuring conditions surrounding OGD use in organ- izations, the framework allows to further distinguish between the opportunities offered by the OGD portal and respective datasets from the actualization of those opportunities by organizations throughout use

Increasing transparency through the open city toolkit

Degbelo, A., Granell, C., Trilles, S., Bhattacharya, D., & Wissing, J. (2020). Tell Me How My Open Data Is Re-used: Increasing Transparency Through the Open City Toolkit. In S. Hawken, H. Han, & C. Pettit (Eds.), Open Cities, Open Data: Collaborative Cities in the Information Era (pp. 311-330). [Chapter 14] Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6605-5_14The Open Data movement has been gaining momentum in recent years, with increasingly many public institutions making their data freely accessible. Despite much data being already open (and more to come), finding information about the actual usage of these open datasets is still a challenge. This chapter introduces two tools of the Open City Toolkit (OCT) that tackle this issue: a tool to increase transparency and interactive guidelines. Interviews with city council employees confirmed the utility of the transparency tool. Both tools can be used by city councils (for planning purposes) and by users interested to know more about the value of current open datasets (for information purposes).authorsversionpublishe

A Conceptual Framework for Open Government Data: Drawing upon Conditions Surrounding Use

Public decision-makers’ interest in digital technology has fuelled the debate about the potential of open government data (OGD) as a foundation and driver for economic growth, competitiveness, innovation, job creation, and societal progress in general. These potentials create high expectations sustained by a plethora of economic and societal forecasts about OGD. However, there appears to be a lack of scholarly literature about OGD use from which value stems. This paper addresses this concern by developing a conceptual framework scoping conditions surrounding OGD use. The conceptual framework, built on the literature, gathers three major components, i.e. (1) the characteristics of the datasets, (2) the features of the OGD portal, and (3) the organizational resources and capabilities, which altogether afford use. The paper also provides some insights for researchers and policymakers. By structuring conditions surrounding OGD use in organizations, the framework allows to further distinguish between the opportunities offered by the OGD portal and respective datasets from the actualization of those opportunities by organizations throughout use

Qualitative Structural Model for Capabilities in Open Data Organizations

Open data is increasingly becoming an essential asset for many organizations. However, large numbers of organizations fall short when it comes to utilizing open data effectively to fully leverage the potential of it. There are ample evidences that this shortcoming is attributable to the poor understanding of what types of capabilities are required to successfully conduct data related activities. At the same time, research on open data capabilities and how they relate to one another remains sparse. Based on the theoretical foundation constructed from the integration of Capability-based Theory and Dynamic Capability Theory and, extant literature and interviews of leadership of open data organizations, we attempt to address this knowledge gap by investigating open data capabilities and relationships between them. Findings help validate the two theories in the open data organizations and reveal unknown knowledge about open data capability areas and how they affect one another

Exploring the Issues of Open Government Data Implementation in Malaysian Public Sectors

The paper presents a preliminary study of current progress and the issues of OGD implementation in Malaysia. With this objective, the authors attempt to identify initial factors that influence OGD implementation in the public sectors and discern how far the OGD initiative in Malaysia has grown since its inception. The authors make the highlight of the OGD implementation phase rather than adoption phase due to the research aim is to look at the OGD activities beyond adoption. Adoption phase is where the organization is in the state of deciding whether to adopt an innovation or not, while the implementation phase is the extent where the innovation is taking into actual use. Taking from the perspective of the central agency who is leading the OGD initiative, by using interview, observation, and desk research as the research approaches, the issues pertaining to OGD implementation is consolidated into the technology-organization-environment framework. The findings have indicated that data granularity, culture, policy, resources, skills, incentives, use and participation, and external pressure are the current issues transpired in the OGD implementation. These findings are contributing to the conceptual framework of authors’ future works in determining the factors influencing OGD post-adoption in the public sectors

The effects of open government data: Some stylised facts

There is a general expectation that open government data (OGD) can lead to the generation of value for government, business, and society. However, there appears to be a lack of scholarly literature that empirically validates what this value is or how it emerges. This paper addresses this concern by exploring what empirical evidence currently exists about the effects stemming from OGD in the case literature. Through the use of a literature review, 17 papers capturing empirical evidence were identified and, from these papers, a systematic collection of statements was extracted from which 173 were retained to construct what we term nine stylised facts. The identified stylised facts depicting features and correlations provide some insights into the de facto positive, negative and/or inconclusive effects relating to OGD as opposed to simply opinions and beliefs

Strategies and Approaches for Exploiting the Value of Open Data

Data is increasingly permeating into all dimensions of our society and has become an indispensable commodity that serves as a basis for many products and services. Traditional sectors, such as health, transport, retail, are all benefiting from digital developments. In recent years, governments have also started to participate in the open data venture, usually with the motivation of increasing transparency. In fact, governments are one of the largest producers and collectors of data in many different domains. As the increasing amount of open data and open government data initiatives show, it is becoming more and more vital to identify the means and methods how to exploit the value of this data that ultimately affects various dimensions. In this thesis we therefore focus on researching how open data can be exploited to its highest value potential, and how we can enable stakeholders to create value upon data accordingly. Albeit the radical advances in technology enabling data and knowledge sharing, and the lowering of barriers to information access, raw data was given only recently the attention and relevance it merits. Moreover, even though the publishing of data is increasing at an enormously fast rate, there are many challenges that hinder its exploitation and consumption. Technical issues hinder the re-use of data, whilst policy, economic, organisational and cultural issues hinder entities from participating or collaborating in open data initiatives. Our focus is thus to contribute to the topic by researching current approaches towards the use of open data. We explore methods for creating value upon open (government) data, and identify the strengths and weaknesses that subsequently influence the success of an open data initiative. This research then acts as a baseline for the value creation guidelines, methodologies, and approaches that we propose. Our contribution is based on the premise that if stakeholders are provided with adequate means and models to follow, then they will be encouraged to create value and exploit data products. Our subsequent contribution in this thesis therefore enables stakeholders to easily access and consume open data, as the first step towards creating value. Thereafter we proceed to identify and model the various value creation processes through the definition of a Data Value Network, and also provide a concrete implementation that allows stakeholders to create value. Ultimately, by creating value on data products, stakeholders participate in the global data economy and impact not only the economic dimension, but also other dimensions including technical, societal and political

Principios, lineamientos, dimensiones y atributos para la evaluación de calidad de Datos Abiertos de Gobierno

The purpose of this research was to establish a conceptual basis for the quality assessment of open government data, by delimiting the principles, guidelines, dimensions and quality attributes required to implement an effective operation of the guidelines given by the Ministry of Technologies of Information and Communications of Colombia. A literature review was carried out, in which the objective of the research was defined, a query was made in different sources, the data was prepared and the literature was classified according to the defined selection criteria and thus align the selected components in a strategic scheme that prioritizes the exploitation of data as a source of trends and innovations. Three essential principles were identified: Fitness for Use, Process Orientation and Continuous Improvement, from which three dimensions emerge to consider the context, properties and value representation of the data, with 6 guidelines and 12 attributes that gradually contribute with the level of quality required according to the technical reference documents for the Colombian context. In conclusion, the proposed model makes it possible to develop a quality assessment of open government data to enable, through its publication and reuse, the benefits of converting the raw material of the data into products that are materialized in relevant information and coherent for the public and private sectors and the general public.El propósito de esta investigación fue establecer una base conceptual para la evaluación de calidad de los datos abiertos de gobierno, al delimitar los principios, lineamientos, dimesiones y atributos de calidad requeridos para implementar una operación efectiva de las directrices dadas por el Ministerio de Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones de Colombia. Se realizó una revisión de literatura, en la cual se definió el objetivo de la investigación, se realizó una consulta en diferentes fuentes, se prepararon los datos y se clasificó la literatura de acuerdo con los criterios de selección definidos y así alinear los componentes seleccionados en un esquema estratégico que prioriza la explotación de los datos como fuente de tendencias e innovaciones. Se identificaron tres principios esenciales: Aptitud para el Uso, Orientación a Procesos y Mejora Continua de los cuales se desprenden tres dimensiones para considerar el contexto, las propiedades y representación de valor de los datos, con 6 lineamientos y 12 atributos que aportan de manera gradual con el nivel de calidad requerido según los documentos técnicos de referente para el contexto colombiano. En conclusión, el modelo propuesto permite desarrollar una evaluación de calidad de los datos abiertos de gobierno para habilitar, a través de su publicación y reutilización, los beneficios de la conversión de la materia prima de los datos en productos que se materializan en información relevante y coherente para el sector público, privado y la ciudadanía en general

The strategies, myths and practices of open data : Analysis of access to open data in three countries

The thesis examines the principles and practical measures for opening up public information resources. The study focuses on the national strategies and measures of three countries, Finland, Denmark and Estonia, in publishing open data. The principles of open data disclosure and distribution are examined using content analysis methods. The focus in the analysis is the formal open data strategy or public policy that the authorities have made. In addition to analyzing the actual text, the content analysis evaluates the goals and values behind the strategies. Furthermore, the use of myths related to open data is evaluated. In the analysis of the national open data portals, the European Open Data Portal is also used to assess the publication of data. The information contained in the portals is compared with the criteria for publishing open data. Open data has included a wide variety of data in different countries. The publication of digital materials as open data has been analyzed in more detail in two subject areas (traffic information and environmental information). The main findings of the study on open data strategies and practical dissemination concern, firstly, the differences between national open data strategies and, secondly, the differences in the distribution of open data and, in particular, the availability of linked open data. There are clear differences in open data strategies in open data management and in the utilization of open data standards. In Estonia, the role of the state is more central than in Finland or Denmark. In total, open data strategies in Finland, Denmark and Estonia have different content emphasis. In the distribution of open data, the differences between Denmark, Finland and Estonia are significant. Denmark and Finland use advanced open data file formats, but in Estonia open data is mainly published as a simplified website. The study found that the distribution of open data in Finland is more diverse and extensive than in Denmark or Estonia. Regarding the environmental data and traffic data that were analyzed, significantly more data are available in Finland than in the countries used in the comparison