Uptake and Utilization of Open Data

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

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]

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

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 …

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

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

Uptake and Utilization of Open Data

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