Open data and its peers: understanding promising harbingers from Nordic Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 765-785
Author(s):  
Maxat Kassen
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Societal Implications ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Data Movement

PurposeThe peer-to-peer perspective on open data is an interesting topic to research, taking into account that data-driven innovations and related startups are often developed independently by civic and private stakeholders in a highly collaborative manner and are tentatively beginning to directly compete with traditional e-government solutions, providing arguably better services to citizens and businesses. In this regard, the paper aims to further debate on the potential of such independent data-driven collaboration not only to transform the traditional mechanisms of public sector innovations but also provide more democratic ways to ensure greater transparency of government and its responsibility before the society.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on a cross-country case study, resorting to the content analysis of three demonstrative cases in the development of open data-driven projects, which specifically promote peer-to-peer communication between its stakeholders. In this regard, the case study itself relies heavily on the analysis of rich empirical data that the author collected during his field studies in the Northern European region in 2015–2017, particularly in Estonia, Finland and Sweden. The practical research itself consists of three major parts, which reflect peer-to-peer perspectives of correspondingly civic, public and private stakeholders through manifested examples of related independent projects in the area.FindingsThe paper's results demonstrate that the use of peer-to-peer mechanisms in advancing related public sector reforms allows to transform the traditional understanding of e-government phenomena in a conceptually new way. E-government or its last more political interpretation – from the perspective of its peers could be regarded not necessarily as a platform to provide digital public services but as a source of raw material for various third party projects in, respectively, civic, government and business peer-to-peer dimensions of such reforms. As a result, open data provides an interesting playground to change the very nature of public sector innovations in the area.Research limitations/implicationsThe choice of countries for research was motivated by purposive and convenience sampling because all these countries are situated in one region, have both similarities and differences in historical, political and socioeconomic backgrounds and, therefore, provide an ideal playground to investigate open data as a context dependable phenomenon. In this regard, the unique political and socioeconomic contexts of these countries provide an interesting playground to debate on the potential of social democracy, egalitarian society and social equality, i.e. public values that are deeply embedded into the fabric of societies there, to benefit the open data movement in a fundamental manner.Practical implicationsThis paper reports on unique practical approaches for peer-to-peer collaboration and cooperation in advancing open data-driven platforms among stakeholders. The results of the case studies in three Nordic countries, which are currently among global leaders in advancing the concept of open government, are presented in an intrinsically illustrative manner, which could help practitioners and policymakers to understand better the potential of such a peer-to-peer perspective on open data. In this regard, the models proposed, of citizen-to-citizen, business-to-business, government-to-government interactions, could be interesting to a wide audience of e-government stakeholders in many nations.Social implicationsThe paper also enters into philosophical debates about societal implications of digital peer-to-peer data-driven communication among people. Recent efforts to digitize almost every part of social life, starting from popularization of solutions for distant work and ending to online access to various public services, incentivize individual members of civil society to communicate in an inherently peer-to-peer way. This fact will definitely increase the demand for related digital services. Social distancing in a digital context will allow to paradoxically emancipate technically savvy and entrepreneurial people in creating new services, including using open data, which could meet the demand.Originality/valueThe research is intrinsically of an empirical character because recent e-government reforms in the public sector in many countries, including in the open data area, provide rich practical knowledge to test the limits of new technologies to advance society in socioeconomic and, more importantly, political development. In this regard, this paper provides the first research in analyzing open data from a unique peer-to-peer perspective with an ultimate goal of the whole investigation to draw the attention of other e-government scholars and initiate debates on the collaborative nature of the phenomena to empower civil society and ensure transparency of government.

Adopting and managing open data

2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 518-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxat Kassen
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Collaborative Platform ◽  
Post Industrial

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study a multi-institutional and multi-layer nature of open data-driven communication processes that provide a collaborative platform to meet the interests of various stakeholders in advancing public sector innovations, namely, government agents, citizens, independent developers, non-governmental organizations, mass media and businesses alike and understand an important role of mutually beneficial public–private partnerships in the area. Design/methodology/approach This is a case study research, which itself is based on a combinative approach, especially in applying, in a successive order, two methods of investigation, namely, stakeholder and policy analysis. In general, the combination of these two research techniques is useful in understanding the most important collaborative trends in the area and locating key institutional drivers and challenges that open data policymakers face today in implementing related digital collaborative and participatory platforms. Findings The open data concept could provide a promising collaborative platform to network various e-government stakeholders and accelerate related technology-driven public reforms. The successful implementation of the idea demands a fairly equal contribution from representatives of both public and private sectors of economy. The case has also clearly demonstrated the importance of cooperation with the local non-governmental sector, independent developers and journalists, whose active participation is a key factor for the overall progress of the open data phenomenon, to a greater degree, as a collaborative movement rather than an instrument of public sector innovations. Research limitations/implications One of the fundamental limitations of the investigation is that it is a single case study. It explores the development of open data phenomena in the context of such an advanced post-industrial society as Finland. In this regard, in order to support key arguments of the research, it is necessary to compare its findings with the results of similar case studies in other administrative, political and socioeconomic settings, which would open new promising dimensions for future research in this direction. Practical implications Policy recommendations are proposed by the author in the discussion section, which could help, for example, to boost information campaigns in popularizing open data technologies and its reuse among independent developers. A lot of unique visualizations and illustrations are presented in the paper to help readers grasp better key ideas of the research. In this respect, the paper is intended for a global professional community of open data experts, e-government specialists, political scientists, journalists, lawyers, students of public policy and public administration and all those who are interested in studying the phenomenon from the perspective of its key stakeholders. Social implications The author of the paper tried to develop a universal framework of case study research that could be used in investigating phenomena of open data not only in Finland but also in the context of other post-industrial societies, especially in analyzing roles of various stakeholders in adopting open data-driven collaborative and civic engagement platforms and startups. Originality/value This research presents a first case study that investigates a collaborative potential of open data phenomena from a stakeholder perspective in a more holistic manner, especially in analyzing professional networking platforms and related communication activities that meet the interests of stakeholders as diverse as government agents and journalists, independent developers and academia, charities and businesses in an attempt to better understand the fundamental factors of the open data movement as a collaborative socioeconomic trend.

Open data in Kazakhstan: incentives, implementation and challenges

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxat Kassen
Keyword(s):  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Data Movement ◽  
Socioeconomic Drivers ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Open Data Movement

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the promising potential of open data in Kazakhstan to boost public sector innovations and trace the emergence of the related civic engagement initiatives in order to understand how it affects the democratization of political communication processes in a typical developing country. Design/methodology/approach This is a case study research which begins with a brief history of the official open data project and then investigates various political and socioeconomic drivers, corresponding regulatory acts, the leading role of the key stakeholders and policy entrepreneurs in the diffusion of the open data movement as well as the main challenges associated with the advance of the open government concept in Kazakhstan, while various independent open data-driven projects provide a rich empirical basis for the analysis. Findings Open data provides new opportunities to promote civic engagement and e-participation but does not affect the fundamentals of the political system nor advances democratic institutions in a typical developing country. The traditional directives could paradoxically be effective in advancing open data even in a less collaborative political culture. The unitary administrative context is conducive for the development of the ICT-driven public sector initiatives as a single platform. The existence of independent developers is crucial in promoting various open data-driven projects and sharing related expertise. The open data movement creates a favorable atmosphere for the participation of the non-governmental sector in the sphere. Research limitations/implications This case study is primarily focused on the analysis of the open data movement at the national level of government, taking into account the unitary structure of the public administration system existing in Kazakhstan, which apparently has a crucial fundamental effect on the realization of any e-government system in this country. In this respect, the main limitation of the research is that the possible existence of various open data-driven projects at the local levels that hypothetically may have a different set of political and socioeconomic drivers and challenges was excluded from the final equation, which provides a new window for the future research in the area. Practical implications The results of the research could be used by e-government practitioners and policymakers in evaluating and improving the operation of the open data-driven projects in many developing countries. Social implications The author of the paper tried to develop a universal framework of the case study research that could be used in investigating the open data phenomenon not only in Kazakhstan but also in the context of other developing and transitional countries, especially in analyzing the apparitional emergence of the unique networking activities among the key stakeholders of the open data movement, i.e. policymakers, NGOs, businesses, developers, mass media and citizens. In addition, the results of the analysis could be used in testing the political and socioeconomic implications of the highly centralized e-government approach in the realization of the open data concept in a number of other typical unitary states. Originality/value In scientific works, the open data phenomenon is usually analyzed in the context of the most developed and democratic countries of the world with a vast majority of case studies being focused only on North America and Europe, forgetting that it is a global trend. In contrast to the traditional trends in the academic literature, the author of the paper studies the realization of the concept in an unusual context, resorting to the case study of a typical emerging and post-totalitarian nation such as Kazakhstan and focusing on the analysis of the key drivers and challenges in the diffusion of the open data concept in an attempt to answer the ultimate question: whether it is really harnessed by the members of civil society to promote civic engagement and e-participation.

Zimbabwean government clampdown could escalate

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Pension Funds ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Potential Increase ◽  
To Come

Significance This was the second major protest banned by the authorities in recent days, amid deepening public dissatisfaction with the government's handling of the economy. As fears grow among the ruling ZANU-PF government of a popular uprising, the security forces are intensifying a clampdown on opposition and civil society figures. Impacts Recent violence will probably delay, but not necessarily scupper plans for a new IMF funding package over the medium-to-long term. A potential increase in public-sector wages has unnerved the IMF amid fears over renewed fiscal slippages. A recent scandal over the looting of pension funds by officials has undermined already fragile confidence in government. The current public services crisis will likely worsen over the short term, as strikes by workers increase. Opposition calls for a transitional government are likely to come to naught over the short term amid entrenched ZANU-PF resistance.

ISO 9001 and the public service: an investigation of the effect of the QMS on the quality of public service organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Armando López-Lemus
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Iso 9001 ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the influence exerted by a quality management system (QMS) under ISO 9001: 2015 on the quality of public services organizations in Mexico. Design/methodology/approach The methodological design was quantitative, explanatory, observational and transversal, for which a sample of 461 public servants from the state of Guanajuato, Mexico was obtained. To test the hypotheses, a structural equation model (SEM) was developed through the statistical software Amos v.21. For the analysis of the data, software SPSS v.21 was used. Regarding the goodness and adjustment indices of the SEM (χ2 = 720.09, df = 320, CFI = 0.933, TLI = 0.926 and RMSEA = 0.05) which, therefore, proved to be acceptable. Findings According to the results obtained through the SEM model, the QMS under ISO 9001: 2015 is positively and significantly influenced tangible aspects (β1 = 0.79, p < 0.01), reliability (β2 = 0.90, p < 0.01), related to response quality (β3 = 0.93, p < 0.01), guarantees (β4 = 0.91, p < 0.01) and empathy (β5 = 0.88, p < 0.01) of the quality related to public services in Mexico. The study’s key contribution is that it discovered that implementing a QMS in accordance with the ISO 9001: 2015 standard has an impact on the quality of public services, with the most influential quality of response. Similarly, the assurance and dependability of service quality turned out to be important in providing public service quality. Research limitations/implications In this paper, the QMS was only evaluated as a variable that intervenes in the process of obtaining quality in public service under the ISO 9001 standard in its 2015 version. In this regard, the results’ trustworthiness is limited to the extent that the findings may be generalized in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico’s public service. As a result, the scientific community is left primarily focused on service quality to promote new future research. Practical implications The ISO 9001: 2015 standard’s QMS is one of the tools for success in both the commercial and government sectors. However, there are practical limitations, which focus on the time during which managers exercise their vision in the public sector: first, the dynamics that managers play in public policy; second, the length of time they have served in public office; and third, the interest of directors of public institutions to improve the quality of service provided by the government. Other practical consequences concern organizational culture and identity, public servant commitment, senior management or secretaries of government, as well as work and training. Originality/value The findings of this paper are important and valuable because they foster knowledge generation in the public sector through the ISO 9000 quality area. A model that permits the adoption and implementation of a QMS based on the ISO 9001: 2015 standard in public organizations that seek to provide quality in their services offered to the user is also presented to the literature. Similarly, the paper is important because there is currently insufficient research focusing on the variables examined in the context of public service in Mexico.

Integrating organisational- and individual-level performance management systems (PMSS): a case study in a large Indonesian public sector organisation

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudy M. Harahap
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Control Systems ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Performance Management Systems ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Performance

Purpose This study aims to comprehensively examine the integration of organisational- and individual-level performance management systems (PMSs) in the context of public sector organisations (PSOs) of developing countries (DCs), by investigating the elements of PMSs in the studied organisation. Design/methodology/approach A case study in a large PSO of a developing country was conducted. The design of the study and the data analysis drew on Ferreira and Otley’s PMSs framework. Data were captured from electronic and printed document archives, online written interviews with participants and face-to-face interviews. The data then were triangulated and analysed thematically. Findings The study reveals a recursive relationship between culture and PMSs, and identifies conflicting regulatory requirements and a lack of information technology capacity led to the development of dual, loosely coupled PMSs in the studied organisation. Research limitations/implications The findings may not be generalisable beyond a large, PSO in a developing country; the study did not consider the linkages between the integration of organisational- and individual-level PMSs and other PMSs; the study looked at only two notions of culture; and the study asked participants to recall past events, so was retrospective in its design. Practical implications The findings illustrate the need for public sector managers and key policymakers to use both formal and informal control systems, together with technical and social integration mechanisms, as well as management accounting (MA) and human resources management (HRM) control approaches, when attempting to integrate organisational- and individual-level PMSs in the PSOs of DCs. Social implications Future studies may usefully investigate the integration of organisational- and individual-level PMSs in different contexts, consider culture and contextual factors when investigating the integration of organisational- and individual-level PMSs in different contexts, examine whether national culture also substantially impacts PMSs in other countries and attempt to inform the MA literature by drawing on HRM theory and research on individual-level PMSs. Such studies may help to address the gap between PMS theory and practice and better allow MA researchers to contribute to practice. Originality/value The study contributes to management control systems (MCSs) and PMSs literature by extending our understandings in the relationship between accounting and non-accounting controls, the contextual factors that affect PMSs and highlighting the importance of considering cultural context when integrating PMSs in the PSOs of DCs.

scholarly journals Record linking in the EHRI portal

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-378
Author(s):  
Sigal Arie Erez ◽  
Tobias Blanke ◽  
Mike Bryant ◽  
Kepa Rodriguez ◽  
Reto Speck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Controlled Vocabularies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Historical Archives ◽  
Finding Aids ◽  
Rich Data ◽  
Significant Attention

Purpose This paper aims to describe the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) project's ongoing efforts to virtually integrate trans-national archival sources via the reconstruction of collection provenance as it relates to copy collections (material copied from one archive to another) and the co-referencing of subject and authority terms across material held by distinct institutions. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a case study of approximately 6,000 words length. The authors describe the scope of the problem of archival fragmentation from both cultural and technical perspectives, with particular focus on Holocaust-related material, and describe, with graph-based visualisations, two ways in which EHRI seeks to better integrate information about fragmented material. Findings As a case study, the principal contributions of this paper include reports on our experience with extracting provenance-based connections between archival descriptions from encoded finding aids and the challenges of co-referencing access points in the absence of domain-specific controlled vocabularies. Originality/value Record linking in general is an important technique in computational approaches to humanities research and one that has rightly received significant attention from scholars. In the context of historical archives, however, the material itself is in most cases not digitised, meaning that computational attempts at linking must rely on finding aids which constitute much fewer rich data sources. The EHRI project’s work in this area is therefore quite pioneering and has implications for archival integration on a larger scale, where the disruptive potential of Linked Open Data is most obvious.

Uncertain risk: assessing open data signals

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-637
Author(s):  
Anne L. Washington
Keyword(s):  
Information Asymmetry ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Digital Government ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Information Signaling ◽  
Future Value ◽  
Data Signal

Purpose Open data resources contain few signals for assessing their suitability for data analytics. The purpose of this paper is to characterize the uncertainty experienced by open data consumers with a framework based on economic theory. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on information asymmetry theory about market exchanges, this paper investigates the practical challenges faced by data consumers seeking to reuse open data. An inductive qualitative analysis of over 2,900 questions asked between 2013 and 2018 on an internet forum identified how a community of 15,000 open data consumers expressed uncertainty about data sources. Findings Open data consumers asked direct questions that expressed uncertainty about the availability, interoperability and interpretation of data resources. Questions focused on future value and some requests were devoted to seeking data that matched known sources. The study proposes a data signal framework that explains uncertainty about open data within the context of control and visibility. Originality/value The proposed framework bridges digital government practice to information signaling theory. The empirical evidence substantiates market aspects of open data portals. This paper provided a needed case study of how data consumers experience uncertainty. The study integrates established theories about risk to improve the reuse of open data.

Don't walk by: urban faith-based homeless outreach campaigns

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-115
Author(s):  
Hans Oh ◽  
Sam Albertson
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Homeless People ◽  
Community Inclusion ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Rehabilitation Programs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Tremendous Amount

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the objectives and overall approach of a faith-based homeless outreach campaign. It aims to stimulate wider discussion about how civil society can play a role in achieving participatory parity for the homeless. Design/methodology/approach – Using a case study approach, this viewpoint paper then connects practical considerations to extant literature on community inclusion. Findings – This particular homeless outreach campaign generated a tremendous amount of volunteerism – perhaps unparalleled relative to any other recent campaign driven by civil society. Yet it aimed only to funnel the homeless into the private social sector. Furthermore, most of the homeless people engaged on the streets did not complete the rehabilitation programs. Research limitations/implications – Campaigns such as this may need to adopt discursive habits in order to recognize the social distances that must be bridged between the housed and the homeless. With greater reflexivity, volunteers can use their interactions with the homeless to develop empathy, compassion, and understanding. Volunteers may then feel inspired to leverage their personal resources to address community perceptions of homelessness, or to advocate for systematic changes. Originality/value – This paper suggests recasting the goals of homeless campaigns to include the development of social bridges between the housed and the homeless, which can guide advocacy efforts.

Unrest begins to boil over as China's economy falters

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
New Normal ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Instability ◽  
Economic Slowdown ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Double Digit ◽  
China’S Economy

Significance Leaders describe this as a 'new normal', backtracking on their warnings during the era of double-digit growth that failure to keep growth above 8.0% would lead to social instability. However, unrest among the 770 million strong workforce is rising rapidly, much of it directly related to the economic slowdown. Businesses are closing and employers failing to pay wages and benefits. Local authorities are responding to this unrest with greater force. Impacts Tensions between workers and the authorities will remain high as local governments and police take a tougher stance with strikers. The current crackdown on civil society will reduce NGOs' ability to intercede in and successfully resolve labour conflicts. The impact of the economic slowdown will broaden to include workers in the mining and energy sectors. Low-paid public sector workers will stage strikes and protests as cash-strapped local governments cut employee pension and other benefits.

Rising Guinean instability will prompt uprising fears

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Term Limit ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
History Of ◽  
Step Down

Significance The FNDC, comprising the main opposition parties and civil society groups, claims that Conde favours a new constiitution to get around the two-term limit that would oblige him to step down this year. They have vowed to intensify demonstrations until the proposal is abandoned. The worsening unrest is prompting growing disquiet regionally and among the country’s international partners. Impacts Rising political instability, coupled with increased public-sector unrest, will hinder economic growth this year. Concerns will grow over potential military upheaval given the security forces’ history of intervening during political crises. The bulk of unrest will likely be centred on suburbs of the capital Conakry and towns with strong opposition support.

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