Government Data Openness and Coverage. How do They Affect Trust in European Countries?

Purpose: This paper aims to assess if the extent of openness and the coverage of data sets released by European governments have a significant impact on citizen trust in public institutions.Design/methodology/approach: Data for openness and coverage have been collected from the Open Data Inventory 2018(ODIN), by Open Data Watch;institutional trust is built up as a formative construct based on the European Social Survey(ESS), Round 9. The relations between the open government data features and trust have been tested on the basis of structural equation modelling(SEM).Findings: The paper reveals that as European governments improve data openness, disaggregation, and time coverage, people tend to trust them more. However, the size of the effect is still small and, comparatively, data coverage effect on citizens' confidence is more than twice than the impact of openness.Research limitations: This paper analyzes the causal effect of Open Government Data(OGD) features captured in a certain moment of time. In upcoming years, as OGD is implemented and a more consistent effect on people is expected, time series analysis will provide with a deeper insight.Practical implications: Public officers should continue working in the development of a technological framework that contributes to make OGD truly open. They should improve the added value of the increasing amount of open data currently available in order to boost internal and external innovations valuable both for public agencies and citizens.Originality/value: In a field of knowledge with little quantitative empirical evidence, this paper provides updated support for the positive effect of OGD strategies and it also points out areas of improvement in terms of the value that citizens can get from OGD coverage and openness.

How to assess the success of the open data ecosystem?

Open data are currently a hot topic and are associated with realising ambitions such as a more transparent and efficient government,solving societal problems,and increasing economic value.To describe and monitor the state of open data in countries and organisations,several open data assessment frameworks were developed.Despite high scores in these assessment frameworks,the actual(re)use of open government data(OGD)fails to live up to its expectations.Our review of existing open data assessment frameworks reveals that these only cover parts of the open data ecosystem.We have developed a framework,which assesses open data supply,open data governance,and open data user characteristics holistically.This holistic open data framework assesses the maturity of the open data ecosystem and proves to be a useful tool to indicate which aspects of the open data ecosystem are successful and which aspects require attention.Our initial assessment in the Netherlands indicates that the traditional geographical data perform significantly better than non-geographical data,such as healthcare data.Therefore,open geographical data policies in the Netherlands may provide useful cues for other OGD strategies.

Open data in spatial data infrastructure:the practices and experiences of Poland

As an important facilitator in e-government and society in general,Open SDI merits an assessment of its characteristics and the monitoring of its development.The aim of the study was the proposal of the SDI openness assessment approach based on existing openness assessment frameworks,as well as the presentation of the Polish Spatial Data Infrastructure(PSDI)development towards openness.The results indicated that ten geodetic and cartographic databases fulfilled ten out of eleven criteria of data openness,according to the methodological assumptions,and reached a 3-star level of openness.The need for further development of the infrastructure towards sharing public administration data is recognized,as well as non-governmental data that meet the open data criteria,thus contributing to the openness of the SDI.The proposed assessment method,referenced to a five-level data openness system and providing clear scoring benchmarking for assessing SDI openness,may be used for comparative analysis of SDI openness in different countries,including EU Member States that draw on the experience of the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive.

Building a Holistic Taxonomy Model for OGD-Related Risks:Based on a Lifecycle Analysis

For many government departments,uncertainty aversion is a source of barriers in the advancement of data openness.A more active response to potential risks is needed and necessitates an in-depth examination of risks related to open government data(OGD).With a cross-case study in which three cases from the United Kingdom,the United States and China are examined,this study identifies potential risks that might emerge at different stages of the lifecycle of OGD programs and constructs a taxonomy model for them.The taxonomy model distinguishes the“risks from OGD”from the“risks to OGD”,which can help government departments make better responses.Finally,risk response strategies are suggested based on the research results.