Government Data Portals Research Articles

Spatial dynamics of access to primary care for the medicaid population

ABSTRACTPrimary care (PC) has always been underestimated and underinvested by the United States health system. Our goal was to investigate the effect of Medicaid expansion and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions on PC access in Broome County, NY, a county that includes both rural and urban areas, and can serve as a benchmark for other regions. We developed a spatial system dynamics model to capture different stages of PC access for the Medicaid population by using the health belief model constructs and simulate the effect of several hypothetical interventions on PC utilisation. The government data portals used as data sources for calibrating our model include the New York State Department of Health, the Medicaid Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) dashboards, and the US census. In our unique approach, we integrated the simulation results within Geographical Information System (GIS) maps, to assess the influence of geospatial factors on PC access. Our results identify hot spot demographic areas that have poor access to PC service facilities due to transportation constraints and a shortage in PC providers. Our decision support tool informs policymakers about programmes with the strongest impact on improving access to care, considering spatial and temporal characteristics of a region.

Identificação de mecanismos para a ampliação da transparência em portais de dados abertos: uma análise no contexto brasileiro

Resumo Dados abertos governamentais (DAG) são aqueles disponibilizados de modo gratuito por entes governamentais e podem ser livremente utilizados, reutilizados e redistribuídos por qualquer pessoa. Os portais de DAG precisam atender a uma série de mecanismos para que a descoberta, a extração e o aproveitamento dos dados possam ser realizados de forma efetiva pela sociedade. O foco desta pesquisa abrange a identificação dos mecanismos que ampliam a transparência em portais de DAG brasileiros. Por intermédio da literatura científica e da coleta de dados com especialistas e usuários, foram propostos 18 mecanismos que visam a ampliar o grau de transparência em portais de DAG. Os resultados demonstraram que a evolução do uso e das pesquisas sobre dados abertos possibilitaram agregar os mecanismos de autenticidade, irrefutabilidade, integridade, conformidade, amplitude, confiabilidade, compreensibilidade, participação cidadã, integridade referencial e dados conectados aos 8 mecanismos originais definidos pelo Open Government Working Group (OGWG). A classificação desses mecanismos e a definição de identificadores possibilitaram avaliar o principal portal de DAG brasileiro: o <http://dados.gov.br>. Os critérios e a facilidade de reaplicação futura possibilitam a comparação com os demais portais nacionais, servindo como um benchmarking para os gestores públicos, as partes interessadas e os pesquisadores da área.

An evaluation of U.S. municipal open data portals: A user interaction framework

As an increasing number of open government data (OGD) portals are created, an evaluation method is needed to assess these portals. In this study, we drew from the existing principles and evaluation methods to develop a User Interaction Framework, with concrete criteria in five dimensions: Access, Trust, Understand, Engage‐integrate, and Participate. The framework was then used to evaluate the current OGD sites created and maintained by 34 U.S. municipal government agencies. The results show that, overall, portals perform well in terms of providing access, but not so well in helping users understand and engage with data. These findings indicate room for improvement in multiple areas and suggest potential roles for information professionals as data mediators. The study also reveals that portals using the Socrata platform performed better, regarding user access, trust, engagement, and participation. However, the variability among portals indicates that some portals should improve their platforms to achieve greater user engagement and participation. In addition, city governments need to develop clear plans about what data should be available and how to make them available to their public.

A prioritization-based analysis of local open government data portals: A case study of Chinese province-level governments

While most data originate within a local context, our knowledge about the realization of open government data (OGD) at local levels is limited due to the lack of systematic analysis of local OGD portals. Thus, we focus on a core question about analysing and guiding the development of local OGD portals. An evaluation framework is developed based on the comparison of related studies and principles. To fill the gap in existing frameworks which lack clarity in the prioritization process, Analytic Hierarchy Process together with an expert survey is used to derive priorities of elements of the framework. To test the capability of the framework in analysing and guiding the development of local OGD portals, a case study of Chinese province-level OGD portals has been carried out. Results show that data accessibility and quality matter more than data quantity for a local OGD portal. Currently, Chinese province-level OGD portals are in their infancy of development, with a great gap between Taiwan and Hong Kong with other portals. Data relating to local statistics, credit records, and budget and spending are well released on portals in China. Population size and the size and wealth of the local government show no significant relation with the number of datasets. By combining priorities of the framework with evaluation results, it could help local governments to recognise their present shortcomings and give them recommendations for recognizing directions for OGD portal's future development.

Automated Evaluation of Open Government Data Portals

The quality of public data made available by governments is a crucial factor in achieving greater transparency and also for such data to be used effectively by society. Several models of quality evaluation of open data portals have been proposed in recent years. The vast majority of these models incorporate manual evaluation processes, which makes it time consuming and expensive to maintain a continuous evaluation of open data portals. In order to verify the reliability of the results generated by an automated evaluation model, a comparative analysis was performed between an automated model and a manual model. The results showed the degree of convergence of the quality criteria of the automated model in relation to the manual evaluation model.

Dimensions of Open Government Data Web Portals: A Case of Asian Countries

Citizen Factors of the open government data are being explored in this study in the selected Asian countries. As per the open data availability countries have been selected on global open data index and well-structured open government data portals of Asian countries. To identify and analyze the differences of selected Asian countries through the principals of open government data which are eight in number, analysis the portal activities and observed the Open government data benefits. In analysis, the datasets of selected countries have been analyzed for the purpose of defining the portal activities. These activities include the Visitants, Suppliers, Applications, Developments, generation of Knowledge and overall resources utilization. Open government data of these countries are examined through web contented analysis, in order to understand the open government data’s status. This study also describes different challenges on how adoption, promotion and acceptance of the open government data and portals have been carried out by Asian countries. Moreover, there are some recommendations according to the key problems and status in the open government data initiatives. Also, the study has limitations regarding the number of countries and future directions emphasize the need for Open Government Data analysis in less developed countries also.

Investigating metadata adoptions for open government data portals in US cities

ABSTRACTOpen government data (OGD) is a valuable resource for both policy transparency and government accountability. All levels of the United States government are working hard to promote open data and its portals. However, there is still a lack of studies on local‐level OGD portals in the United States, particularly on the quality of metadata adopted by these portals. By examining 200 US cities, a list of 112 local‐level portals is sampled and we investigate the current usages of open data platforms for building local‐level OGD portals. This study further investigates and discusses the adoption and potential issues of metadata on those OGD portals. Our result findings discuss the platform distributions among US local‐level OGD portals, and also highlight several critical issues associated with metadata on the portals. We anticipate the results will inspire further studies on identifying solutions to improve the metadata and enhance the usability of open government data portals.

The Individual in the Data — the Aspect of Personal Relevance in Designing Casual Data Visualisations

AbstractOver the last two decades, data visualisation has diffused into the broader realm of mass communication. Before this shift, tools and displays of data-driven geographic- and information visualisation were mostly used in expert contexts. By now, they are also used in casual contexts, for example on newspaper websites, government data portals and many other public outlets. This diversification of the audience poses new challenges within the visualisation community. In this paper we proposepersonal relevanceas one factor to be taken into account when designing casual data visualisations, which are meant for the communication with non-experts. We develop a conceptual model and present a related set of design techniques for interactive web-based visualisations that are aimed at activating personal relevance. We discuss our proposed techniques by applying them to a use case on the visualisation of air pollution in London (UK).

Improving the Veracity of Open and Real-Time Urban Data

Within the context of the smart city, data are an integral part of the digital economy and are used as input for decision making, policy formation, and to inform citizens, city managers and commercial organisations. Reflecting on our experience of developing real-world software applications which rely heavily on urban data, this article critically examines the veracity of such data (their authenticity and the extent to which they accurately (precision) and faithfully (fidelity, reliability) represent what they are meant to) and how they can be assessed in the absence of quality reports from data providers. While data quality needs to be considered at all aspects of the data lifecycle and in the development and use of applications, open data are often provided ‘as-is’ with no guarantees about their veracity, continuity or lineage (documentation that establishes provenance and fit for use). This allows data providers to share data with undocumented errors, absences, and biases. If left unchecked these data quality issues can propagate through multiple systems and lead to poor smart city applications and unreliable ‘evidence-based’ decisions. This leads to a danger that open government data portals will come to be seen as untrusted, unverified and uncurated data-dumps by users and critics. Drawing on our own experiences we highlight the process we used to detect and handle errors. This work highlights the necessary janitorial role carried out by data scientists and developers to ensure that data are cleaned, parsed, validated and transformed for use. This important process requires effort, knowledge, skill and time and is often hidden in the resulting application and is not shared with other data users. In this paper, we propose that rather than lose this knowledge, in the absence of data providers documenting them in metadata and user guides, data portals should provide a crowdsourcing mechanism to generate and record user observations and fixes for improving the quality of urban data and open government portals.

Evidence of an Open Government Data Portal Impact on the Public Sphere

Data portals are being created as part of open government strategies to increase transparency. But although the potential of the internet to increase transparency (as data disclosure) has been widely considered in the literature, there is no reported evidence of any of the released data actually being used by their ultimate recipients (citizens) for public accountability purposes. This descriptive research effort aims to find evidence of the impact of open government portals, asserting whether data is indeed being used and for what purposes. One contract portal was selected and Google Search was used to find portal references on the internet. A qualitative content analysis approach was adopted, whereby references were examined with respect to its main purpose and data usage. Evidence was found of contract data being used, among others, to identify possible situations of corruption, nepotism and misusage of public resources, support argumentation on public policy debates and, in general, to hold public officials accountable in the public sphere through ‘blame and shame' sanctions.

Improving the Veracity of Open and Real-Time Urban Data

Within the context of the smart city, data are an integral part of the digital economy and are used as input for decision making, policy formation, and to inform citizens, city managers and commercial organisations. Reflecting on our experience of developing real-world software applications which rely heavily on urban data, this article critically examines the veracity of such data (their authenticity and the extent to which they accurately (precision) and faithfully (fidelity, reliability) represent what they are meant to) and how they can be assessed in the absence of quality reports from data providers. While data quality needs to be considered at all aspects of the data lifecycle and in the development and use of applications, open data are often provided ‘as-is’ with no guarantees about their veracity, continuity or lineage (documentation that establishes provenance and fit for use). This allows data providers to share data with undocumented errors, absences, and biases. If left unchecked these data quality issues can propagate through multiple systems and lead to poor smart city applications and unreliable ‘evidence-based’ decisions. This leads to a danger that open government data portals will come to be seen as untrusted, unverified and uncurated data-dumps by users and critics. Drawing on our own experiences we highlight the process we used to detect and handle errors. This work highlights the necessary janitorial role carried out by data scientists and developers to ensure that data are cleaned, parsed, validated and transformed for use. This important process requires effort, knowledge, skill and time and is often hidden in the resulting application and is not shared with other data users. In this paper, we propose that rather than lose this knowledge, in the absence of data providers documenting them in metadata and user guides, data portals should provide a crowdsourcing mechanism to generate and record user observations and fixes for improving the quality of urban data and open government portals.

An International Analysis of the Quality of Open Government Data Portals

National governments are increasingly aware of the importance of carrying out Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives for the provision of public sector information and for use and reuse without restriction or charge by society. Therefore, the aim of this article is to examine and compare the quality of the OGD portals created by national governments, in terms of three analytical aspects: function, semantics, and content, and to identify the impact of diverse factors on the quality of these portals. The results obtained show there is considerable heterogeneity among OGD portals, reflecting the lack of harmonization and the need for quality standards. In this regard, the quality of the OGD portals examined is only at an intermediate level and is affected by the level of Internet penetration and the economic capacity of each country.

Open Government Data Implementation Evaluation

This paper analyses the implementation of the Open Government Data strategy and portal of the City of Vienna. This evaluation is based on qualitative interviews and online polls after the strategy was implemented. Two groups of users were involved in the evaluation: internal target groups (employees and heads of department in the City of Vienna's public administration departments) and external stakeholders (citizens, business representatives, science and research, journalists). Analyzed aspects included the present organizational processes, the benefits (to business and society), and requirements for future Open Government Data initiatives. This evaluation reveals success factors which accompanied the implementation: the clear definition of responsibilities and the implementation along a process model, the integration of the Open Government Data platform into existing Content Management Systems, the evaluation of the Open Government Data initiative very shortly after its inception. Based on the theoretical and empirical findings, recommendations for future Open Government Data strategies are made which target the local authority and would require action on the federal level such as Creative Commons Attribution License as the default for subsidy funds or public relation measures carried out directly by the data providing departments.

A State-of-the-Art Analysis of the Current Public Data Landscape from a Functional, Semantic and Technical Perspective

Open Government Data initiatives and particularly Open Government Data portals have proliferated since the late 2000's. A comprehensive analysis of the capabilities and potential of these initiatives is currently missing from the recent research literature. In order to address this gap, the paper at hand aims towards analyzing the landscape of Open Governmental Data in the European Union from a functional, semantic and technical perspective. Our research focused on the collection and categorization of an indicative number of public data sources for each of the 27 European Union country-members through investigating their services and characteristics. By modeling and classifying the data sources according to their key attributes, we were able to proceed to their statistical analysis and assessment in terms of their content, licensing, multilingual support, acquisition, ease of access, provision and data format. Our results portray the current quality of Public Sector Information infrastructures and highlight what still needs to be done in order to make public data truly open and readily available for researchers, citizens, companies and innovation in general.

Open government data implementation evaluation

This paper analyses the implementation of the Open Government Data strategy and portal of the City of Vienna. This evaluation is based on qualitative interviews and online polls after the strategy ...