UK : Open data, democracy and public sector reform

Have a look on this online report

This is an online report based on an MSc Dissertation at the Oxford Internet Institute by Tim Davies submitted to the University of Oxford, July 2010. It is shared using the Digress.it platform which allows for paragraph level commenting and hyperlinking to elements of the document.

A downloadable PDF copy of the report is available here.

The original research, underlying data, and further work has been blogged in detail on the Open Data Impacts blog. 

Abstract:
Governments are increasingly making their data available online in standard formats and under licenses that permit the free re-use of data. The justifications advanced for this include claims regarding the economic potential of open government data (OGD), the potential for OGD to promote transparency and accountability of government and the role of OGD in supporting the reform and reshaping of public services. This paper takes a pragmatic mixed-methods approach to exploring uses of data from the UK national open government data portal, data.gov.uk, and identifies how the emerging practices of OGD use are developing. It sets out five ‘processes’ of data use, and describes a series of embedded cases of education OGD use, and use of public-spending OGD. Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative data it presents an outline account of the motivations driving different individuals to engage with open government data, and it identifies a range of connections between open government data use of processes of civic change. It argues that a “data for developers” narrative that assumes OGD use will primarily be mediated by technology developers is misplaced, and that whilst innovation-based routes to OGD-driven public sector reform are evident, the relationship between OGD and democracy is less clear. As strategic research it highlights a number of emerging policy issues for developing OGD provision and use, and makes a contribution towards theoretical understandings of OGD use in practice.

 

Table of Contents

1. Research Summary (0)
2. 1. Introduction (0)
3. 2. Literature Review (0)
4. 2.1 Government Data: from origins to openness (1)
5. 2.2 Open Government Data: towards data.gov.uk (0)
6. 2.3. Data and Information (2)
7. 2.4. Data, Democracy and Public Service Reform (0)
8. 2.4.1 Formal politics (0)
9. 2.4.2. Collaborative and community-based participation (0)
10. 2.4.3. Market-based participation and personal democracy (0)
11. 2.5. Research questions (0)
12. 3. Methodology, Approach & Design (0)
13. 3 (2) Methods & Case Selection (0)
14. 4. Data (0)
15. 4.1. Understanding Open Government Data users (1)
16. 4.2. Open Government Data use in practice (0)
17. 4.2.2. Detailed comparisons and emerging themes (0)
18. 4.2.3. Direct access to facts (0)
19. 4.2.4. Interfaces, information and interpretation (0)
20. 4.2.5. Technological and social infrastructures (0)
21. 4.2.6. Impact (0)
22. 4.3. Civic uses of Open Government Data (0)
23. 5. Discussion: civic implications of Open Government Data (1)
24. 6. Conclusions & Further Research (0)
25. Bibliography (1)
26. (Addition) Web Science Poster (0)
27. (Additional) Transforming research through open data (4)
28. (Additional) Digital era government; open government; and models of democracy (0)

 

See also : Against Transparency ? The perils of openness in government.

http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/against-transparency?page=0,0

Laurence Lessig October 9, 2009