Open government, dilemmas, and innovation at the local level

2020 ◽  
pp. 45-62
Author(s):  
Edgar A. Ruvalcaba-Gomez ◽  
Soledad Gattoni ◽  
Raymond W. Weyandt
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Open Government

scholarly journals The story of the sixth myth of open data and open government

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Sofie Hellberg ◽  
Karin Hedström
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Data Reuse ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Data ◽  
Competition Process ◽  
Public Organisations

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to describe a local government effort to realise an open government agenda. This is done using a storytelling approach. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data are based on a case study. The authors participated in, as well as followed, the process of realising an open government agenda on a local level, where citizens were invited to use open public data as the basis for developing apps and external Web solutions. Based on an interpretative tradition, they chose storytelling as a way to scrutinise the competition process. In this paper, they present a story about the competition process using the story elements put forward by Kendall and Kendall (2012). Findings – The research builds on existing research by proposing the myth that the “public” wants to make use of open data. The authors provide empirical insights into the challenge of gaining benefits from open public data. In particular, they illustrate the difficulties in getting citizens interested in using open public data. Their case shows that people seem to like the idea of open public data, but do not necessarily participate actively in the data reuse process. Research limitations/implications – The results are based on one empirical study. Further research is, therefore, needed. The authors would especially welcome more studies that focus on citizens’ interest and willingness to reuse open public data. Practical implications – This study illustrates the difficulties of promoting the reuse of open public data. Public organisations that want to pursue an open government agenda can use these findings as empirical insights. Originality/value – This paper answers the call for more empirical studies on public open data. Furthermore, it problematises the “myth” of public interest in the reuse of open public data.

scholarly journals “Open”: the changing relation between citizens, public administration, and political authority

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursula Maier-Rabler ◽  
Stefan Huber
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Public ◽  
Active Approach ◽  
Government Data ◽  
The Right

"Open" is not just a fancy synonym for transparent and accountable. The "Open" in Open Government, Open Data, Open Information, and Open Innovation stands for the changing relation between citizens and authorities. Many citizens no longer accept the passive stance representative democracy held for them. They take an active approach in setting up better means of collaboration by ICTs. They demand and gain access to their historically grown collective knowledge stored in government data. Not just on a local level, they actively shape the political agenda. Open Government is to be seen in the context of citizens‘ rights: the right to actively participate in the process of agenda-setting and decision-making. Research into open government needs to address the value of the changing relation between citizens, public administration, and political authority. The paper argues finally for the application of the Public Value concept to research into open government.

Different perceptions, different open government strategies: The case of local Mexican public managers

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Sandoval-Almazán ◽  
J. Ignacio Criado ◽  
Edgar A. Ruvalcaba-Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Research Trend ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Democratic Values ◽  
Public Managers

Open government has become a research trend among e-government scholars around the world. However, most research in this field has focused on national policies and the implementation thereof. Typically, this is related to Open Government (OG) ecosystems, data, policies and models, yet very little attention has been paid to the most basic level: the municipal/local level. The purpose of this research paper is to fill this gap. We based our research on an instrument for the assessment of OG priorities in Spanish municipalities (Gómez, Criado, & Gil-Garcia, 2017a). This instrument for assessment was adapted to Mexican municipalities. In so doing, we surveyed 67 cases of Mexican public officials working on OG or in transparency offices in municipalities across Mexico during 2017. This paper reports the findings of this exploratory research, grouping concepts of perception, and analyzing four elements of OG: 1. Open Government; 2. Transparency; 3. Citizen Participation and 4. Open Data. Going forward, we used factor analysis to group concepts and identify two principal perspectives for addressing OG policy implementation in local governments, one oriented at fostering technological innovation, and another at promoting democratic values of co-responsibility. Broadly, we discovered there is some emphasis on democratic values and some on technological innovation. We also found varying levels of knowledge on this topic in Mexican municipalities. Another finding is that OG policies are not well-defined due to a lack of resources for the promotion of genuine transparency, participation, and collaborative actions.

scholarly journals A Survey of Municipal Open Data Repositories in the U.S.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bev Wilson ◽  
Cong Cong
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Open Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Open Government Data ◽  
Government Data ◽  
Regulatory Actions

Cities in the United States are increasingly embracing open data as a means of advancing a variety of interests. Promoting transparency, facilitating public engagement, proactively managing records requests, and fostering innovation in the public and private sectors are among the commonly cited motivations for this phenomenon. While there is an extensive literature on the benefits and challenges of open government data, there are far fewer empirical studies that explore and document how these initiatives are unfolding at the local government scale. This article asks what kinds of data are being made open in U.S. cities and to what extent do open data policies and related regulatory actions matter in shaping the content and structure of public-facing repositories. The authors conclude that population size and regulatory actions exert a positive influence on the amount and variety of datasets provided through municipal open data portals. Implications for the design and governance of open government data initiatives at the local level are also discussed.

scholarly journals LEGAL ASPECTS OF OPEN GOVERNMENT AT THE LOCAL LEVEL IN LATVIA

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 363
Author(s):  
Una Skrastiņa ◽  
Juris Radzevičs
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Open Government ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Detailed List ◽  
Analytical Research ◽  
Historical Comparative ◽  
The Right

A municipality should provide its citizens' participation in self-government; in order to increase the public’s awareness of the activities of municipalities and their ability to participate in the discussions, measures must be taken. According to section 101 of the Constitution, every Latvian citizen has the right to participate in the national and local government’s activities. The forms of participation cannot be formal. Separate legal acts in various fields are adopted by the local authorities, and their institutions initiate public discussions. A too extensive and detailed list of participants increases bureaucratic barriers that restrict their participation. The aim of the research study is to analyse the legal aspects of open governance in a municipality in Latvia; through characterizing the problems, which most frequently have been stated in practice, to offer a deeper understanding of the matters addressed by the research study by searching for the best possible legislative regulation. The descriptive, dogmatic, historical, comparative and analytical research methods were used in this research. In order to achieve the aim, the following tasks were defined when analysing policy documents, legislation, conclusions of law scholars - to evaluate the concept of open governance partnership in the context of municipalities and legal aspects of information publicity and access as well as partnership implementation in a municipality.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document