An In-Depth Analysis of Open Data Portals as an Emerging Public E-Service

Authors: Martin Lnenicka

Abstract:

Governments collect and produce large amounts of data. Increasingly, governments worldwide have started to implement open data initiatives and also launch open data portals to enable the release of these data in open and reusable formats. Therefore, a large number of open data repositories, catalogues and portals have been emerging in the world. The greater availability of interoperable and linkable open government data catalyzes secondary use of such data, so they can be used for building useful applications which leverage their value, allow insight, provide access to government services, and support transparency. The efficient development of successful open data portals makes it necessary to evaluate them systematic, in order to understand them better and assess the various types of value they generate, and identify the required improvements for increasing this value. Thus, the attention of this paper is directed particularly to the field of open data portals. The main aim of this paper is to compare the selected open data portals on the national level using content analysis and propose a new evaluation framework, which further improves the quality of these portals. It also establishes a set of considerations for involving businesses and citizens to create eservices and applications that leverage on the datasets available from these portals.

Keywords: Big data, content analysis, criteria comparison, data quality, open data, open data portals, public sector.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1099708

References:

[1] E. Kalampokis, E. Tambouris, and K. Tarabanis, “Linked Open Government Data Analytics“, in Proceedings of the 12th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference: EGOV 2013, Springer, Heidelberg, 2013, pp. 99–110.
[2] C. P. Geiger, and J. von Lucke, “Open Government and (Linked) (Open) (Government) (Data) “, eJournal of eDemocracy& Open Government, vol. 4, no. 2, 2012, pp. 265–278.
[3] M. Kostovski, M. Jovanovik, and D.Trajanov, “Open Data Portal based on Semantic Web Technologies“, inProceedings of the 7th South East European Doctoral Student Conference, University of Sheffield, Greece, 2012, pp. 1–13.
[4] S. van der Waal, et al., “Lifting Open Data Portals to the Data Web“, in Linked Open Data – Creating Knowledge Out of Interlinked Data, Springer, International Publishing, 2014, pp. 175–195.
[5] M. Chen, S. Mao, and Y. Liu, “Big Data: A Survey“, Mobile Networks and Applications, vol. 19, no. 2, 2014, pp. 171–209.
[6] N. Elgendy, and A. Elragal, “Big Data Analytics: A Literature Review Paper“, in Advances in Data Mining: Applications and Theoretical Aspects, Springer, Heidelberg, 2014, pp. 214–227.
[7] Y. Charalabidis, E. Loukis, and C. Alexopoulos, “Evaluating Second Generation Open Government Data Infrastructures Using Value Models“, in Proceedings of the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, IEEE, 2014, pp. 2114–2126.
[8] T. Jetzek, M. Avital, and N. Bjørn-Andersen, “Generating Value from Open Government Data“, in Proceedings of 34th International Conference on Information Systems: ICIS 2013, Bepress, Berkeley, 2013, pp. 1–20.
[9] J. Kucera, and D. Chlapek, “Benefits and Risks of Open Government Data“, Journal of Systems Integration, vol. 5, no. 1, 2014, pp. 30–41.
[10] S. Martin, M. Foulonneau, S. Turki, and M. Ihadjadene, “Open Data: Barriers, Risks and Opportunities“, in Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on eGovernment: ECEG 2013, Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited, 2013, pp. 301–309.
[11] World Wide Web Foundation. Open Data Barometer Global Report (online). 2015. Available at: http://opendatabarometer.org/assets/downloads/Open%20Data%20Barometer%20-%20Global%20Report%20-%202nd%20Edition%20-%20PRINT.pdf (cited 2015-02-15).
[12] T. Heath, and C. Bizer, “Linked Data: Evolving the Web into a Global Data Space“, Synthesis Lectures on the Semantic Web, vol. 1, no. 1, 2011, pp. 1–136.
[13] United Nations, United Nations E-government Survey 2014: E-Government for the Future We Want, New York: UN Publishing Section, 2014.
[14] H. S. Hansen, L. Hvingel, and L. Schrøder, “Open Government Data – A Key Element in the Digital Society“, in Technology-Enabled Innovation for Democracy, Government and Governance, Springer, Berlin, 2013, pp. 167–180.
[15] S. Buchholtz, M. Bukowski, and A. Śniegocki, Big and open data in Europe: A growth engine or a missed opportunity, 1st ed. Varšava: demosEUROPA, 2014.
[16] R. Lourenço, “Open Government Portals Assessment: A Transparency for Accountability Perspective“, in Proceedings of the 12th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference: EGOV 2013, Springer, Heidelberg, 2013, pp. 62–74.
[17] United Nations, United Nations E-government Survey 2012: E-Government for the People, New York: UN Publishing Section, 2012.
[18] International Telecommunication Union, Measuring the Information Society Report 2014, Geneva: Telecommunication Development Bureau, 2014.
[19] World Economic Forum, The Global Information Technology Report 2014: Rewards and Risks of Big Data. Geneva: SRO-Kundig, 2014.
[20] Waseda University. WASEDA - IAC 10th International E-Government Ranking 2014 (online). 2014. Available at: http://www.e-gov.waseda.ac.jp/pdf/2014_E-Gov_Press_Release.pdf (cited 2015-02-15).
[21] J. Kučera, D. Chlapek, and M. Nečaský, “Open Government Data Catalogs: Current Approaches and Quality Perspective“, in Technology-Enabled Innovation for Democracy, Government and Governance, Springer, Berlin, 2013, pp. 152–166.
[22] Z. Yang, and A. Kankanhalli, “Innovation in Government Services: The Case of Open Data“, in Grand Successes and Failures in IT: Public and Private Sectors, Springer, Berlin, 2013, pp. 644–651.
[23] A. Zuiderwijk, and M. Janssen, “A Coordination Theory Perspective to Improve the Use of Open Data in Policy-Making“, in Proceedings of the 12th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference: EGOV 2013, Springer, Heidelberg, 2013, pp. 38–49.
[24] B. Ubaldi, “Open Government Data: Towards Empirical Analysis of Open Government Data Initiatives“, OECD Working Papers on Public Governance, No. 22, OECD Publishing, 2013.
[25] L. Reggi, and C. A. Ricci, “Information Strategies for Open Government in Europe: EU Regions Opening Up the Data on Structural Funds“, in Proceedings of the 10th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference: EGOV 2011, Springer, Heidelberg, 2011, pp. 173–184.
[26] M. Janssen, Y. Charalabidis, and A. Zuiderwijk, “Benefits, Adoption Barriers and Myths of Open Data and Open Government“, Information Systems Management, vol. 29, no. 4, 2012, pp. 258–268.
[27] B. Hyland, and D. Wood, “The Joy of Data-A Cookbook for Publishing Linked Government Data on the Web“, in Linking Government Data, Springer, New York, 2011, pp. 3–26.
[28] D. Cowan, P. Alencar, and F. Mcgarry, “Perspectives on Open Data: Issues and Opportunties“, in Proceedings of the 2014 IEEE International Conference on Software Science, Technology and Engineering, IEEE, 2014, pp. 24–33.
[29] Y. Demchenko, et al., “Addressing Big Data Issues in Scientific Data Infrastructure“, in Proceedings of International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Systems, IEEE, 2013, pp. 48–55.
[30] I. Ermilov, et al., “Linked Open Data Statistics: Collection and Exploitation“, in Knowledge Engineering and the Semantic Web. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, 2013, pp. 242–249.
[31] I. Caballero, M. Serrano, and M. Piattini, “A Data Quality in Use Model for Big Data“, in Advances in Conceptual Modeling, Springer, Heidelberg, 2014, pp. 65–74.
[32] D. Loshin, Big Data Analytics: From Strategic Planning to Enterprise Integration with Tools, Techniques, NoSQL, and Graph, 1st ed. Elsevier Inc.: Waltham, 2013.
[33] G. Vossen, “Big data as the new enabler in business and other intelligence“,Vietnam Journal of Computer Science, vol. 1, no. 1, 2014, pp. 3–14.
[34] J. M. Tien, “Big Data: Unleashing Information“,Journal of Systems Science and Systems Engineering, vol. 22, no. 2, 2013, pp. 127–151.
[35] D. Singh, and C. K. Reddy, “A survey on platforms for big data analytics“, Journal of Big Data, vol. 1, no. 8, 2014, pp. 1–20.
[36] D. Che, M. Safran, and Z. Peng, “From Big Data to Big Data Mining: Challenges, Issues, and Opportunities“, in Database Systems for Advanced Applications, Springer, Heidelberg, 2013, pp. 1–15.
[37] Methodology. Global Open Data Index by Open Knowledge (online). 2014. Available at: http://index.okfn.org/methodology/ (cit. 2015-02-15).
[38] P. Colpaert, S. Joye, P. Mechant, E. Mannens, and R. van de Walle, “The 5 stars of Open Data Portals“, in Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Methodologies, Technologies and Tools enabling e-Government (MeTTeG13), University of Vigo, Spain, 2013, pp. 61–67.
[39] D. S. Sayogo, T. A. Pardo, and M. Cook, “A Framework for Benchmarking Open Government Data Efforts“, in Proceedings of the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, IEEE, 2014. pp. 1896–1905.
[40] N. Verma, and M. P. Gupta, “Open Government Data : More than Eighty Formats“, in Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on E-Governance (ICEG 2012), CSI, 2012, pp. 207–216.
[41] R. Cyganiak, and F. Maali, Use Cases and Requirements for the Data Catalog Vocabulary, (Online). 2015. Available at: https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/gld/raw-file/default/dcat-ucr/index.html
[cited 2015-02-02].
[42] T. Lebo, et al., “Producing and Using Linked Open Government Data in the TWC LOGD Portal“, in Linking Government Data, Springer, New York, 2011, pp. 51–72.
[43] F. Maali, R. Cyganiak, and V. Peristeras, “Enabling Interoperability of Government Data Catalogues“, in Proceedings of the 9th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference: EGOV 2010, Springer, Heidelberg, 2010, pp. 339–350.
[44] S. S. Dawes, and N. Helbig, “Information Strategies for Open Government: Challenges and Prospects for Deriving Public Value from Government Transparency“, in Proceedings of the 9th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference: EGOV 2010, Springer, Heidelberg, 2010, pp. 50–60.
[45] C. Alexopoulos, et al., “Designing a Second Generation of Open Data Platforms: Integrating Open Data and Social Media“, in Proceedings of the 13th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference: EGOV 2014, Springer, Heidelberg, 2014, pp. 230-241.