Understanding and Improving

the Uptake and Utilization of

Open Data – Part 1 & 3

Adegboyega Ojo, Insight @ National University of Ireland, Galway

Marijn Janssen, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

o Present the state and progress in Open Data Programs

o Highlight emerging opportunities in Open Data Adoption

o Identify and discuss issues and challenges associated with

Open Data adoption and uptake

o Discuss ideas on how to mitigate challenges

Objectives

Agenda Session Duration Theme

Background

(1:30)

15 min Part 1 - Gboyega

o Background

Panel

Presentations

90 min o State of Play in OGD Programs

Part2 - Marijn

o Open data utilization

- Overview of practices

- New business models

Part 3 - Gboyega

Issues and Challenges

Break

(3.00)

15 min

Discussion 60 min o Open discussions involving all participants

on new practices

o Sharing of practices

Closing 15 min o Highlights of contributions and Follow up

BACKGROUND

Continued upswing in Interest

A = Annual Newspaper audit of FOI slams Fed’s “Open Data” performance [Calgary Herald]

B = Open data fail: Canada now charges for corporate records that were once free [Ottawa}

C = Stars wins open data award [Toronto]

D = Berners-Lee demands countries deliver on open data promises [Daily Telegraph - UK]

E = White House aim to “liberate open data” with Executive order [zdnet - US]

Institutional OD Adoption is Growing

Facts from surveys and major reports:

o > 380 open data catalogs and portal globally [from dataatlogs.org as at a

month ago]

o > 150 open data catalogs and portals in Europe [survey carried out at

Insight in late 2013]

o > 40 countries with open data portal [Mckinsey report 2013]

o > 100 cities participated in International Open Data Hackathon

Day [Mckinsey report 2013]

OD Research also Growing

Significant Events –

US Open Data Policy

Following 2009 Open Government Directive, the OMB in 2013 released

a new Open Data Policy requiring Federal departments and agencies to:

o Collect or create information in a way that users can use the data

o Build information systems that could be integrated to make data

more accessible to different categories of users;

o Strengthen data management and release practices; and

o Strengthen measures to ensure that privacy and confidentiality are

fully protected and that data are properly secured

White House has also opened up the Open Data Policy and Framework

for public input and reuse by local governments.

[Refs. Open Data Policy Document, Carrisoza & Scruggs, 2013]

Significant Events –

OD related Commitments in OGP Plans

Shifting Focus

o From “publishing datasets” to “identifying and publishing datasets

of high value”

o From “Policy and Adoption” to “Use and Impact”

o Creating a viable Open Data Ecosystem

STATE AND PROGRESS

Recent Surveys and Studies

Existing reports capturing the State of Play in Open Data

Programs include:

o The Open Data Barometer 2013 Global Report by ODI,

WWW Foundation,

o McKinsey Report on Open Data: Unlocking innovation

and performance with liquid information

o OECD’s Open Government Data: Towards Empirical

Analysis of Open Government Data Initiatives

We will only look at findings from the 2013 Open Data

Barometer Report

Open Data Barometer

Aims to “uncover the true prevalence

and impact of open data initiatives

around the world” , by:

o Analysing global trends

o ranking countries and regions

based on 1) readiness to secure the

benefits of open data; 2) actual

levels of implementation; 3) and

the impact of such initiatives

Open Data Barometer Indicators (1)

Readiness measurement is based on 3 major components:

1) Government capacity, government commitments to open data,

political will and organisational ability to open up data.

2) Citizen and civil society freedoms and engagement with the open

data agenda, presence of strong Right to Information and Data

Protection regimes

3) Resources available to entrepreneurs and businesses to support

economic re-use of open data, internet penetration, the

availability of training for businesses, and government support

for open data led innovation.

Open Data Barometer Indicators (2)

Implementation = Dataset availability and accessibility

Findings – Open Data Barometer (1)

1) About 55% of countries surveyed in the barometer have OGD

policies. Implementation is either through existing EGOV

framework or dedicated government-wide OGD programs

2) The availability of truly open data remains low, with 7% of the

dataset surveyed in the Barometer published both in bulk machine-

readable forms, and under open licenses.

3) Leading countries are:

o building “National Data Infrastructure”

o Have high-level broad-based political support

o Investing in capacity building with entrepreneurs and

intermediaries

o Building communities around the data

`Findings – Open Data Barometer (2)

“Mid-ranking countries” have some of the components of an OGD

initiative implemented, such as an open data portal and competitions

or events to catalyse re-use of data. However the foundations for

utilization of OD is weak for this group.

“Low-ranking countries” are yet to engage with Open Data, with many

lacking basic foundations such as well-managed and digitised

government datasets. “Interventions to support OGD may look

radically different from the leading OGD initiatives surveyed in the

Barometer – with opportunities for open data approaches to be used

to generate, as well as use, public information”.

Findings – Open Data Barometer (3)

Overall ranking of countries OD efforts:

o UK as the most advanced country for open data readiness,

implementation and impact

o USA (2nd), Sweden (3rd), New Zealand (4th), Denmark and Norway

(joint 5th)

o The leading developing country is Kenya (21st), ranking higher

than rich countries such as Ireland (29th) and Belgium (31st).

o However, no country can yet claim to be fully ‘open by default’

Findings Open Data Barometer (4)

Impact – may be too early to measure, but …

Major Institutional Actors

OPEN DATA UTILIZATION

Obtaining Value from OD

Part II – Marijn

Issues and challenges –

Part III - Gboyega

OD Business Models - Others

Business Models for the Open Data Industry: Characterization and Analysis

of Emerging Models, Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti, Adegboyega Ojo and Edward

Curry, dg.o 2014, Aguscalientes, Mexico, Session 10 for more information

Barriers to Uptake & Utilization (1)

o Few datasets of high value published

o Absence of strong Right to Information laws may prevent citizens

from using open data to hold government to account

o Weak Data Protection Laws may undermine citizen confidence in

OGD initiatives

o Limited training and support for intermediaries may mean data

cannot be mobilised to generate economic and social benefits.

Barriers to OD utilization (2)

Janssen, M., Charalabidis, Y., & Zuiderwijk, A. (2012). Benefits,

Adoption Barriers and Myths of Open Data and Open Government.

Information Systems Management, 29(4), 258–268.

Categories identified include: Institutional, Task Complexity, use and

participation, Legislation and Information Quality

Example of Institutional - Emphasis of barriers and neglect of

opportunities, No resources with which to publicize data, Revenue

system is based on creating income from data

MOVING FORWARD

Improving Access to Open Data

Some ideas from Insight @ NUIG

o Datasets on portals accessible through search engines

o Socializing Open Data - user events on user portal

published on social media and visible user friend

networks

o Next generation OD Portal – highly personalized,

user-centric interface to deliver relevant datasets

o Next generation Data Visualization for better

accessibility and easy consumption for “lay” users

Publishing High Value Datasets

o Leveraging successful information sharing practices

in public administration to ensure that Open Data of

high value are published by public administration.

o Better understanding of diverse needs and concerns

of government agencies in OD

o Building agency capacity and OD capabilities

o Incentivising businesses to actively participate in the

open data ecosystem, including as data producer

DISCUSSION