How to Enable Collaboration in Open Government Data Ecosystems: A Public Platform Provider’s Perspective

Johan Linåker,Per Runeson

doi:10.29379/jedem.v13i1.634

Johan Linåker, Per Runeson

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.29379/jedem.v13i1.634

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Abstract

Open Government Data (OGD) is an important driver for open innovation among public entities. However, extant research highlights a need for improved feedback loops, collaboration, and a more demand-driven publication of OGD. In this study, we explore how public platform providers can address this issue by enabling collaboration within OGD ecosystems, both in terms of the OGD, and any related Open Source Software (OSS) and standards. We conducted an exploratory multiple-case study of four OGD ecosystems with diverse characteristics, using a qualitative research approach. Based on the cases, we present a conceptual model that highlights different attributes of OGD ecosystems that may help public entities in designing and orchestrating new or existing OGD ecosystems. We conclude that enabling collaboration in an OGD ecosystem is a complex exercise yet believe that it offers ways for public entities in how they can leverage open innovation to address their goals and directives.

Highlights

Rich and high-quality data have over time become a critical asset for software organizations as a driver for innovation and input to solutions including artificial intelligence (Munappy et al 2019; Gao and Janssen 2020)
We explore how public platform providers can address this issue by enabling collaboration within Open Government Data (OGD) ecosystems, both in terms of the OGD, and any related Open Source Software (OSS) and standards
The ecosystem and its platform are developed and orchestrated by the Swedish Public Employment Service (SPES), a Swedish national government agency responsible for enabling the match making between job-seekers and employers on the labor market

Summary

Introduction

Rich and high-quality data have over time become a critical asset for software organizations as a driver for innovation and input to solutions including artificial intelligence (Munappy et al 2019; Gao and Janssen 2020). One way of increasing access and availability of such data is to share it as Open Data (Attard et al 2015) and collaborate on its collection and maintenance as commonly done with Open Source Software (OSS) (Munir, Wnuk, and Runeson 2016). Such sharing of data is less common within the software industry (Runeson 2019), but more so among public entities (Safarov, Meijer, and Grimmelikhuijsen 2017). This observation further adds to other definitions of data ecosystems surveyed by Oliveira et al (Oliveira, Lima, and Lóscio 2019)

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