The story of the sixth myth of open data and open government

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to describe a local government effort to realise an open government agenda. This is done using a storytelling approach. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data are based on a case study. The authors participated in, as well as followed, the process of realising an open government agenda on a local level, where citizens were invited to use open public data as the basis for developing apps and external Web solutions. Based on an interpretative tradition, they chose storytelling as a way to scrutinise the competition process. In this paper, they present a story about the competition process using the story elements put forward by Kendall and Kendall (2012). Findings – The research builds on existing research by proposing the myth that the “public” wants to make use of open data. The authors provide empirical insights into the challenge of gaining benefits from open public data. In particular, they illustrate the difficulties in getting citizens interested in using open public data. Their case shows that people seem to like the idea of open public data, but do not necessarily participate actively in the data reuse process. Research limitations/implications – The results are based on one empirical study. Further research is, therefore, needed. The authors would especially welcome more studies that focus on citizens’ interest and willingness to reuse open public data. Practical implications – This study illustrates the difficulties of promoting the reuse of open public data. Public organisations that want to pursue an open government agenda can use these findings as empirical insights. Originality/value – This paper answers the call for more empirical studies on public open data. Furthermore, it problematises the “myth” of public interest in the reuse of open public data.

The Making of a 'Top' Open Data City: A Case Study of Edmonton’s Open Data Initiative

“…Anecdotal evidence also shows some basic failures, like the inability of governments to enforce open data repositories [17] and a lack of use of open data [18]. This disconnect between promise and reality suggests certain myths have been constructed around open data [6,7].…”

“…Six key myths of open data can be summarized as follows: 1) open data automatically and uniquely delivers benefits; 2) all public organization data should be published without restriction; 3) the main challenge of open data lies in the publication process; 4) open data can be used by everyone ; 5) open data creates open and transparent governments; and 6) there is public interest in the reuse of open data [6,7]. Collectively, these myths emphasize the potential benefits of open data, which may encourage the adoption of open data; however, they may also create unrealistic expectations for open data and mask major implementation challenges for cities [6,7,21].…”

“…Collectively, these myths emphasize the potential benefits of open data, which may encourage the adoption of open data; however, they may also create unrealistic expectations for open data and mask major implementation challenges for cities [6,7,21].…”

“…Open data is being driven by many perceived benefits, including increased government transparency, greater citizen participation, sustainable development, innovation, and economic development [2,3]. However, many governments have yet to realize the promised benefits of open data [4,5], leading some to suggest that certain myths surround around open data [6,7]. In truth, governments face many technical and organizational challenges to implementing and optimizing their open data programs [8,9].…”

The Smart City – how smart can ’IT’ be? : Discourses on digitalisation in policy and planning of urban development

“…In ISR there is an increasing interest in open data or big data and big data analytics (cf. Chen, Chiang, Storey, 2012), and, in relation to open government, research shows that in practice it often exists a too simplistic view of distribution and use of open data (Janssen, Charalabidis, Zuiderwijk, 2012;Hellberg and Hedström, 2015). Yet, in a smart city context the use of such data still is thought to contribute to more transparent and sustainable cities (Gil-Garcia, Pardo, Nam, 2015).…”