Open government data (OGD): challenging the concept of a “Designated Community”

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Moles
Keyword(s):  
Open Government ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Curation ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Government Data ◽  
Community Concept ◽  
The City

Purpose This paper aims to explore the curation of government-produced datasets for release as open government data (OGD) from the perspective of the digital curation and preservation concept of a “Designated Community”. Specifically, it explores how digital curation functions when there is no clear Designated Community to which curation services can be targeted. Design/methodology/approach The research was conducted through a case study of the City of Toronto’s efforts to revitalize their OGD program. Data was collected using three methods: semi-structured interviews, non-participative observation and document analysis. Findings The curators of OGD responded to the absence of a Designated Community through two complementary methods. The first was to draw from the discourse that defines the OGD domain. The second was to take a participatory approach that incorporated members of the community surrounding OGD and various other stakeholders into the process of developing a plan for the revitalization of the program. Research limitations/implications This study opens new directions for investigating the application of the Designated Community concept and its role in digital curation and preservation. Practical implications The approach used by OGD curators in this case has the potential to be used in other curation situations where there is no clearly defined user group. Originality/value The findings presented in this paper contribute empirical insights to on-going discussions on the concept of a Designated Community in digital curation and preservation.

Re-defining open government data standards for smart cities’ websites: a case study of selected cities

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Lnenicka ◽  
Stuti Saxena
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Data Standards ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the select Smart Cities of Czech and Indian counterparts and assess the extent to which open government data (OGD) standards are being adhered to using select indicators. Design/methodology/approach This study integrates the benchmarking frameworks provided in literature on OGD and apply them to evaluate the OGD standards of the Smart Cities’ websites. Findings Whereas the Czech Smart Cities are relatively more advanced in their OGD initiatives, the Indian counterpart is far lagging behind in their endeavors. Originality/value While there are many studies on OGD and Smart Cities, there has been no study which seeks to appreciate if the OGD initiatives are being adhered to by the Smart Cities.

The impact of open government data on accountability and transparency

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuti Saxena ◽  
Irfan Muhammad
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Accountability, citizen participation and transparency are the three pillars on which open government data (OGD) is based. As such, OGD implies that the government shall provide data freely via the internet so that the same may be re-used for diverse purposes. It is hoped that by re-using government data, public value shall be co-created and government services might be improved upon with the involvement of different stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to underline the impact of OGD on accountability and transparency in the context of Pakistan where OGD initiative is taking roots for quite some time now. In the present study, the authors seek to investigate the challenges being faced by the professionals in the private sector and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in Pakistan. Besides, the authors also seek inputs from the respondents in the manner in which OGD initiative of Pakistan has impact on ensuring accountability and transparency. Design/methodology/approach For conducting the review of the national OGD portal of Pakistan, the authors invoke documentary analysis wherein the authors investigate the features of the national OGD portal of Pakistan. Furthermore, the authors conducted structured interviews with 49 senior management representatives from private sector and NGOs in order to gauge the challenges encountered by them in tapping OGD from diverse online public sources. Findings Respondents aver that robust statistical analysis is not feasible via the data sets being shared by the online sources. More initiatives are required on the part of the government bodies to release the data sets which have remained confined in silos. Government should institutionalize an OGD policy and promote the re-use of OGD by the professionals from diverse backgrounds. At present, only educational data are being shared by the OGD portal of Pakistan and it is important that more data sets are being released in the public domain. Furthermore, the respondents perceive that in a bid to be more accountable and transparent, the government bodies should release data sets via the online channels which are user-friendly. Research limitations/implications The present study conducted a qualitative research where the number of respondents was relatively less. Further research is required by adopting quantitative approach in order to accommodate more respondents and lend reliability to the study. Nevertheless, the study holds implications for academicians and practitioners in the sense that while it is needed that further research be conducted on the OGD initiative of Pakistan, it is imperative that policy makers get involved in institutionalizing the OGD initiative of Pakistan at national and local levels. Social implications Professionals might be better involved in creating and co-creating products and services by tapping OGD. Originality/value Given that OGD initiative in Pakistan is in a nascent stage and research is wanting in exploring the nature and scope of Pakistan’s OGD, the present study seeks to contribute toward the existing OGD literature.

scholarly journals Citizen engagement with open government data

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arie Purwanto ◽  
Anneke Zuiderwijk ◽  
Marijn Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Data Quality ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data

Purpose Citizen engagement is key to the success of many Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives. However, not much is known regarding how this type of engagement emerges. This study aims to investigate the necessary conditions for the emergence of citizen-led engagement with OGD and to identify which factors stimulate this type of engagement. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors created a systematic overview of the literature to develop a conceptual model of conditions and factors of OGD citizen engagement at the societal, organizational and individual level. Second, the authors used the conceptual model to systematically study citizens’ engagement in the case of a particular OGD initiative, namely, the digitization of presidential election results data in Indonesia in 2014. The authors used multiple information sources, including interviews and documents, to explore the conditions and factors of OGD citizen-led engagement in this case. Findings From the literature the authors identified five conditions for the emergence of OGD citizen-led engagement as follows: the availability of a legal and political framework that grants a mandate to open up government data, sufficient budgetary resources allocated for OGD provision, the availability of OGD feedback mechanisms, citizens’ perceived ease of engagement and motivated citizens. In the literature, the authors found six factors contributing to OGD engagement as follows: democratic culture, the availability of supporting institutional arrangements, the technical factors of OGD provision, the availability of citizens’ resources, the influence of social relationships and citizens’ perceived data quality. Some of these conditions and factors were found to be less important in the studied case, namely, citizens’ perceived ease of engagement and citizens’ perceived data quality. Moreover, the authors found several new conditions that were not mentioned in the studied literature, namely, citizens’ sense of urgency, competition among citizen-led OGD engagement initiatives, the diversity of citizens’ skills and capabilities and the intensive use of social media. The difference between the conditions and factors that played an important role in the case and those derived from the literature review might be because of the type of OGD engagement that the authors studied, namely, citizen-led engagement, without any government involvement. Research limitations/implications The findings are derived using a single case study approach. Future research can investigate multiple cases and compare the conditions and factors for citizen-led engagement with OGD in different contexts. Practical implications The conditions and factors for citizen-led engagement with OGD have been evaluated in practice and discussed with public managers and practitioners through interviews. Governmental organizations should prioritize and stimulate those conditions and factors that enhance OGD citizen engagement to create more value with OGD. Originality/value While some research on government-led engagement with OGD exists, there is hardly any research on citizen-led engagement with OGD. This study is the first to develop a conceptual model of necessary conditions and factors for citizen engagement with OGD. Furthermore, the authors applied the developed multilevel conceptual model to a case study and gathered empirical evidence of OGD engagement and its contributions to solving societal problems, rather than staying at the conceptual level. This research can be used to investigate citizen engagement with OGD in other cases and offers possibilities for systematic cross-case lesson-drawing.

The importance of open government data for the private sector and NGOs in Indonesia

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agus Hermanto ◽  
Solimun Solimun ◽  
Adji Achmad Rinaldo Fernandes ◽  
Wahyono Wahyono ◽  
Zulkarnain Zulkarnain
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Key Management ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data ◽  
The Government

PurposeOpen government data (OGD) is making data available free to all by the government with the aim of ensuring accountability and transparency in government besides generating public value by its usage. OGD is an emerging government initiative in Indonesia and there is potential for harnessing OGD for spearheading innovation and improvising services in different economic sectors. This paper aims to investigate the usage of OGD in the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Indonesia.Design/methodology/approachDocumentary analysis was conducted to review the national OGD portal of Indonesia. Structured interviews were conducted with 49 senior management representatives from the private sector and NGOs to solicit their perspectives regarding the usage of OGD for professional purposes. Also, questions were posed regarding the challenges in harnessing OGD for professional purposes.FindingsOGD has immense potential for private sector and NGOs; however, more initiatives are required on the part of the government to open their data sets. Further, involvement of stakeholders from the private sector and NGOs and other interested partners is required for an optimum usage of OGD in different economic sectors of Indonesia.Research limitations/implicationsAs the research focuses on the private sector and NGOs in Indonesia, the study requires a more broad-based approach to consider the perspectives of different users. Further research is required to appreciate the role of contextual factors in determining the usage of OGD in Indonesia.Originality/valueThe study is one of the first to be conducted in Indonesia about the OGD initiatives of the country. Soliciting views from the key management representatives in the private sector and NGOs, the paper contributes to the extant OGD literature, which is more supply-focused and not demand-driven. While conceding that there are ample usages of OGD for the different economic sectors, the paper underlines the need for refining the OGD initiatives of Indonesia.

The challenges presented to records management by open government data in the public sector in England

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Mary Chorley
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Records Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Hospital Trust ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges that open government data initiatives present to records management within the public sector in England and to identify areas of practice and policy that will need to be developed to ensure compliance with such environments. Design/methodology/approach A review of current literature underpins the analysis of data collected through an anonymised case study of a National Health Service (NHS) hospital trust. Data were collected through a qualitative research in the form of semi-structured interviews with information professionals at the case study site. Additionally, a short descriptive online survey was distributed to the members of a specialist interest group, the Health Archives and Records Group. Findings Open government data presents a series of interconnected practical challenges to records management at a local level as the open government data environment continues to develop. These practical challenges overshadow a number of technical challenges, such as ensuring the accuracy and integrity of proactively published data. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of this research is the small number of interviews conducted during data collection, which limits its capacity to present more generalised findings. Originality/value The case study of an individual NHS hospital trust allows for a specific insight into the challenges that open government data presents to records management within a single operational unit.

Design, develop and evaluate an open government data platform: a user-centred approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 550-562
Author(s):  
Ruhua Huang ◽  
Chunying Wang ◽  
Xiaoyu Zhang ◽  
Dan Wu ◽  
Qingwen Xie
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Complete Case ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Usability Test ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Data Platform ◽  
Government Data

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of designing, developing and evaluating a prototype of an open government data (OGD) platform that provided user-centred experiences. Design/methodology/approach Based on the OGD lifecycle, an OGD prototype was created, which involved the system functionality, user interface, standard specification and security mechanism. The main functionalities of the system included data acquisition, data processing and data management. A usability test was conducted following the prototype implementation. Findings The usability test indicated that an OGD platform was desired to help the public to find, access, reuse and share government data effectively and efficiently. Functions, such as visualization, local download and digital watermark should be provided and integrated into the platform. Originality/value This paper provided a complete case study on the design of an OGD platform and a reference for information system developers to design such system in the future.

Utility of Open Government Data for PhD students in India

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 122-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuti Saxena
Keyword(s):  
Research Work ◽  
North India ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data ◽  
Government Websites ◽  
The Government

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the utility of Open Government Data (OGD) from the perspective of the PhD students in India. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews are conducted with 68 PhD students in India to solicit their perspectives regarding the utility of OGD for them. Convenience and snowball sampling was used for contacting the PhD students and the study was conducted among students of North India who are from public and private universities. Findings While some PhD students tap OGD for their research work, others use OGD as informational tools for broadening their general knowledge. There are also some PhD students who do not use OGD at all. There are challenges associated with OGD usage by the PhD students. For instance, the outdated and incomplete data available on the government websites prevent their optimum use. Likewise, information available on the government websites needs to be revised on a regular basis for proper utilization in research. Research limitations/implications The study approached PhD students for seeking their perspectives about OGD utility and further research is required with a large number of respondents. Nevertheless, the study leaves social and practical implications because while the study leaves insights for more involvement of PhD students in tapping OGD for their research, it also leaves recommendations for the policy-makers to take a pro-active stance by providing data sets regularly and accurately for improving government efficiency in public service delivery. Originality/value Hitherto, conceptual and theory-driven research on OGD has been undertaken and case study-based research works have been conducted to assess the challenges and prospects of OGD implementation in Western settings. Furthermore, prior research has solicited perspectives from stakeholders like public officials, politicians or citizens to investigate the difficulties in OGD use and policy-implementation. Identifying the research gaps in extant literature with respect to the aforesaid dimensions, this is the first study where the perspectives of Indian PhD students have been recorded in terms of the utility of OGD in research and other purposes.

Barriers to use open government data in private sector and NGOs in Pakistan

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuti Saxena ◽  
Irfan Muhammad
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Key Management ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data ◽  
The Government

Purpose Open government data (OGD) is making available data freely to all by the government with the aim to ensure accountability and transparency in government besides generating public value by its usage. OGD is an emerging government initiative in Pakistan, and there is a lot of potential for harnessing OGD for spearheading innovation and improvising services in different economic sectors. This paper aims to seek to investigate the usage of OGD in private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach Documentary analysis is conducted to review the national OGD portal of Pakistan. Besides, structured interviews were conducted with 49 senior management representatives from private sector and NGOs to solicit their perspectives regarding the usage of OGD for professional purposes. Also, questions were posed regarding the challenges in harnessing OGD for professional purposes. Findings OGD has immense usage for private sector and NGOs; however, more initiatives are required on the part of the government to open their data sets. Further, involvement of stakeholders from the private sector and NGOs and other interested partners is required for an optimum usage of OGD in different economic sectors of Pakistan. Research limitations/implications As the research focuses on private sector and NGOs in Pakistan, the study requires a more broad-based approach to take into account the perspectives of different users. Further research is required to appreciate the role of contextual factors in determining the usage of OGD in Pakistan. Practical implications Government should be more forthcoming in its OGD initiatives and encourage collaboration from citizens, businesses, voluntary organizations and the like. Social implications Working professionals from different economic sectors should tap OGD for generating value by improvising their services. Originality/value The study is the first one to be conducted in Pakistan about the OGD initiatives of the country. Soliciting views from the key management representatives in the private sector and NGOs, the paper contributed to the extant OGD literature which is more supply-focused and not demand-driven. While conceding that there are ample usages of OGD for the different economic sectors, the paper underlines the need for refining the OGD initiatives of Pakistan.

“Usage by stakeholders” as the objective of “transparency-by-design” in open government data

2017 ◽  
Vol 118 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 420-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuti Saxena
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data

Purpose While “transparency-by-design” serves as the antecedent of any Open Government Data (OGD) initiative (Janssen et al., 2017), its logical objective would be the extent to which data “usage” is facilitated. This paper aims to underscore the significance, drivers and barriers to ensure “usage” of data sets conceding that re-use of data sets is one of the key objectives of any OGD initiative. Design/methodology/approach With a documentary analysis approach, the OGD initiative of Sri Lanka is investigated for the present purpose. Furthermore, the theoretical model of citizen engagement in OGD suggested by Sieber and Johnson (2015) is being referred to appreciate the extent to which the usage of data sets is facilitated via the OGD platform. Findings There are drivers as well as barriers as far as facilitating the usage of the data sets in the Sri Lankan OGD initiative is concerned. For instance, some of the drivers are the provision of suggesting data sets or the possibility of referring to data sets which are historical in nature. However, there are countless barriers to usage than the drivers. For instance, there is absence of metadata in the data sets; the data sets are not updated regularly; there are historical data; the formats of the data sets are limited in nature and are not user-friendly; there is no facility of conducting data visualization or analytics, and there is no collaborative approach towards building further the OGD initiative. Research limitations/implications As only one case study is probed in the paper, further research is warranted to undertake a comparative approach by taking two or more case studies into consideration. Practical implications This study holds relevance for Sri Lankan Government and other stakeholders (policy makers, citizens, developers and the like) so far as furthering of user engagement in OGD initiative is concerned. Social implications Facilitating more usage by citizens would increase their engagement, and they might derive value out of the data sets. At the same time, the government’s objective of ensuring increased usage of the data sets would be better realized. Originality/value “Transparency-by-design” approach had its focus on the publishing phase of OGD, and this paper seeks to provide its logical conclusion by emphasizing upon “usage by stakeholders” because by opening data sets, the government has the target to ensure that these open data sets are being used and re-used. Therefore, it is the outcome which is being discussed with the support of a case study set in the background of Sri Lanka’s Open Data initiative. Besides, this is the first study which probes the OGD initiatives of Sri Lanka – therein lies the major contribution of the study.

scholarly journals Mining Open Government Data for Business Intelligence Using Data Visualization: A Two-Industry Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 1042-1065
Author(s):  
Anne Gottfried ◽  
Caroline Hartmann ◽  
Donald Yates
Keyword(s):  
Data Visualization ◽  
Business Intelligence ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Latent Dirichlet Allocation ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Market Opportunities ◽  
Government Data ◽  
Source Of Information

The business intelligence (BI) market has grown at a tremendous rate in the past decade due to technological advancements, big data and the availability of open source content. Despite this growth, the use of open government data (OGD) as a source of information is very limited among the private sector due to a lack of knowledge as to its benefits. Scant evidence on the use of OGD by private organizations suggests that it can lead to the creation of innovative ideas as well as assist in making better informed decisions. Given the benefits but lack of use of OGD to generate business intelligence, we extend research in this area by exploring how OGD can be used to generate business intelligence for the identification of market opportunities and strategy formulation; an area of research that is still in its infancy. Using a two-industry case study approach (footwear and lumber), we use latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling to extract emerging topics in these two industries from OGD, and a data visualization tool (pyLDAVis) to visualize the topics in order to interpret and transform the data into business intelligence. Additionally, we perform an environmental scanning of the environment for the two industries to validate the usability of the information obtained. The results provide evidence that OGD can be a valuable source of information for generating business intelligence and demonstrate how topic modeling and visualization tools can assist organizations in extracting and analyzing information for the identification of market opportunities.

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