Participation in the city: A typology of open government data use

Abstract

Open Government Data (OGD) is defined broadly as any online publication of government documents, and more specifically as government data sets structured for public consumption and reuse. OGD proponents proclaim its benefits: government transparency, increased civic participation, and more efficient, sustainable cities. Critics point out that access to data is not enough: a sophisticated degree of information literacy is required to use OGD effectively for civic agendas. On either side of the debate, what is often missing is a more empirical understanding of who uses OGD and for what purposes. This poster presents preliminary research on methods that might aid in sifting through the civic uses of OGD. I focus on OGD related to city planning in the United States, namely data on air quality, public transit, and housing, to build a classification of OGD usage and to ask how these data sets might be deployed to enhance civic life.