It is our view that machine readability and interoperability are essential to the value creation. In this manuscript, we study the readiness of Open Government Data (OGD) platforms as AI enablers. Therefore, we incorporate an impact metric to OGD practices. Data can only be an artefact for social good when it has public value—only use creates impact—yet current research primarily concentrates on infrastructure development.
In this project we evaluate the availability of manchine-readable Open Data in two stages. First, we scrutinise the available data on open data portals across the world, and we measure compliance with open standards that ensure interoperability. Second, we observe the extent to which governments make their data available through application programming interfaces (APIs)—the connective nodes of current digital architectures. In doing so, we seek to answer an important research question: to what extent is OGD capable of having an impact beyond data accessibility?
The contribution of this work is twofold. In the first place, we provide an outlook on the potential social impact that OGD platforms have in the data science scene. Following, we address a crucial Open Data stewardship problem involving the design of OGD platforms for data reuse and, hence, social value creation. Data, as a representation of information, is a source for social innovation, and OGD platforms are missing an opportunity to create value further in the data lifecycle. As such, we hope this project will provide useful guidance not only to scholars, but also to policymakers and practitioners.
Project by: Omar Ballester, Tobias Mettler
