OGD Heartbeat: Cities’ Commitment to Open Data

Abstract

<jats:p>This paper develops and tests a theoretical model, which proposes to examine cities’ commitment to the concept of open government data (OGD) according to three typical levels. Level 1, Way of Life, indicates high commitment to OGD; Level 2, On the Fence, represents either a low or erratic commitment; Level 3, Lip Service, refers to either scarce or no commitment. This study shows that these types exhibit distinct behavior in four key indicators: (1) Rhythm, (2) Coverage, (3) Categorization, and (4) Feedback. This theoretical framework is examined using longitudinal mixed-method analysis of the OGD behavior of 16 US cities over a period of four years, using a corpus of municipal quantitative metadata and primary qualitative data. This methodology allows us to represent, for the first time, cities’ evolving OGD commitment, or “OGD heartbeat”.</jats:p>

An evaluation of U.S. municipal open data portals: A user interaction framework

“…Table summarizes the sources utilized for our framework development. Most of these authors proposed their own evaluation indexes based on their analyses of existing literature, and then tested the indexes using a set of portals or data sets (Lourenço, ; Nahon et al, ; Ozmen‐Ertekin & Ozbay, ; Thorsby et al, ; Vetrò et al, ). Some also incorporated expert opinions in developing their criteria (Thorsby et al, ).…”

“…These studies show different perspectives and foci, and therefore the criteria used are of various levels of specificity. Nahon et al () provided an evaluation from the data suppliers’ point of view. Lourenço () focused on the accountability aspect.…”

“…Drawing from existing principles and evaluation methods, this User Interaction Framework consists of a comprehensive set of criteria, which were then used to evaluate 34 relatively mature OGD portals created and maintained by U.S. municipal government agencies. The study focuses on city government OGD portals, because cities possess a large amount of valuable data generated from daily government services, and they have the most potential to have a direct impact on the public in multiple ways (Nahon, Peled, & Shkabatur, ). While one approach to evaluating the portals is to assess the government's commitment to the concept of OGD (Nahon et al, ), our approach was to focus on the users’ perspective and examine the data portals as if we were potential users of the data.…”

“…The study focuses on city government OGD portals, because cities possess a large amount of valuable data generated from daily government services, and they have the most potential to have a direct impact on the public in multiple ways (Nahon, Peled, & Shkabatur, ). While one approach to evaluating the portals is to assess the government's commitment to the concept of OGD (Nahon et al, ), our approach was to focus on the users’ perspective and examine the data portals as if we were potential users of the data. The research question that leads this study is: How well do municipal OGD portals perform in supporting users’ access to, use of, and engagement with open data?…”

U.S. state and state capital open government data (OGD): A content examination and heuristic evaluation of data processing capabilities of OGD sites

“…Over the years, there have been empirical investigations on OGD portals (e.g., Xiao, Jeng, & He, ; Zhu & Freeman, 2019) with regard to metadata adoptions and user engagement framework. The majority of the investigative focus within the US has been on city OGD portals (e.g., Nahon, Peled, & Shkabatur, ; Thorsby, Stowers, Wolslegel, & Tumbuan, ; Xiao et al, ; Zhu & Freeman, 2019). Few studies have examined OGD sites at both city and state government levels.…”