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Capability: Government support for re-use

The following indicator is under consideration for this pilot edition of the Barometer: To what extent is there evidence that government is providing support for data re-use?

Definitions and Identification

This indicator tracks a wide range of actions that reflect consistent strategy from the government to build, maintain and develop a national culture of data re-use, including but not limited to challenges, hackathons, virtual events, communications strategies, information sessions, working groups, and financial programs to support data re-use.

Governments might support data re-use regarding different kinds of data. Creating communities around and supporting re-use of Open Government Data is a well known aspect of Open Data Strategy, however, nowadays this need extends beyond Open Data, and we aim to cover other types of datasets, such as private data, crowdsourced data, or support working on Big Data in a general way, no matter its source and licences.

Past ODB editions have registered the following activities to support data re-use. They are focused on Open Government Data, but help to build a picture of the kind of support that we are looking for:

  • Challenge.gov is a US Government website that lists open data challenges and prize competitions. As of July 2016, there were 722 live competitions. The challenges and competitions are run by over 75 agencies across federal governments. According to challenge.gov, 640+ competitions have been launched and more than $220 million awarded in prizes since 2010, with participants from every state in the US.
  • In cooperation with Cloudera, the government of Singapore launched BASE (Big Analytics Skills Enablement) initiative, which is aimed to equip workforces from public and private sectors with data analytics skills (4)
  • The Stuiveling Open Data Award by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations is granted annually for 5 years (2016 being the first year of the award) to a public or private party who deploys, promotes or enables open data in helping resolve social issues.
  • In France, Etalab, the national open data initiative, organizes a yearly challenge called Dataconnexions, where the best data reused are showcased and promoted nationally.

Starting points

  • Sources:

    • ODB notes on question ODB.2013.C7 may have relevant information for the year 2016. Some of those programs may still be operating, or lead to organizations in charge of these kinds of activities.

  • Search:

    • Annual reports on Governments activities regarding data.
    • Look for "news and updates" in National and local data portals.
    • Explore updates from newsletters of government agencies working with data

  • Consult:

    • Relevant people from the Open Data Community.
    • Public officials working with Open Data and or Data in a general sense.
    • Scholars working on the local data agenda.
    • Civil Society Organisations working with data, e-government, and relevant topics.

What to look for?

Look for evidence that can answer the following questions:

  • Is there evidence of a government strategy to support and encourage data re-use?
    • Is this evidence from isolated examples, or is it a coherent strategy with long term objectives and plans?
  • What kinds of data is government supporting re-use? Open government data, private data, crowdsourced data? Or it is just encouraging data sharing no matter its source and licence to build a Big Data working culture?
  • In practice, how is government supporting this data re-use? With challenges, working groups, communication efforts, informative sessions, financial aid for data projects?
  • For which stakeholders is support available?

National and sub-national considerations

Some countries have data strategies at a national level, which might coordinate efforts with local governments. In others, there might be local support with no national initiatives. Please note these situations at the last question of this indicator, that asks for an assessment of the coverage of the support found.

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

  • Is there evidence of a government strategy to support and encourage data re-use? Evidence may, for example, include plans, policies, actions, initiatives, and other events. Make sure relevant evidence is referenced in the justification.
    • There is no evidence of government supporting and encouraging data re-use.
    • There is isolated evidence of government supporting and encouraging data re-use.
      Supporting questions: Please provide a URLs or details of the strategy that supports increased data re-use, and briefly explain your assessment.
    • There is some evidence of government supporting and encouraging data re-use.
      Supporting questions: Please provide a URLs or details of the strategy that supports increased data re-use, and briefly explain your assessment.
    • There is widespread and regular evidence of government supporting and encouraging data re-use, framed by a long term strategy.
      Supporting questions: Please provide a URLs or details of the strategy that supports increased data re-use, and briefly explain your assessment.

Elements

  • Kinds of capacities:

  • There is evidence of government efforts to support open government data re-use. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide evidence of this support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' response.

    If Yes: Please provide evidence of this support.

  • There is evidence of government efforts to support big data re-use in a general sense. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide evidence of this support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' response.

    If Yes: Please provide evidence of this support.

  • There is evidence of government efforts to support private data re-use. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide evidence of this support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' response.

    If Yes: Please provide evidence of this support.

  • There is evidence of government efforts to support crowdsourced data re-use. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide evidence of this support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' response.

    If Yes: Please provide evidence of this support.

  • There is evidence of government efforts to support data re-use from various data topics. (No, Partially, Yes) Data topics could be varied: datasets related to political integrity, climate action, land, company information, transport, energy, health, etc. Answer 'No' if data re-use is focused un one or few data topics. Answer 'Partially if there is evidence of support for data re-used involves some topics, but there are many other relevant left aside. Answer 'Yes' if government efforts to support data re-use address a wide range of data topics relevant to the country.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide evidence of this support for data re-use and briefly explain which important data topics were left aside.

    If Yes: Please provide evidence of this support for data re-use.

  • User groups:

  • There is evidence of government efforts to support data re-use by civil society organizations. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' answer.

    If Yes: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support.

  • There is evidence of government efforts to support data re-use by media. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' answer.

    If Yes: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support.

  • There is evidence of government efforts to support data re-use by academic institutions. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' answer.

    If Yes: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support.

  • There is evidence of government efforts to support data re-use by private sector. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' answer.

    If Yes: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support.

  • Specific features:

  • Government support for data re-use involves data challenges. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' answer.

    If Yes: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support.

  • Government support for data re-use involves hackathons. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' answer.

    If Yes: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support.

  • Government support for data re-use involves communication and community building efforts. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' answer.

    If Yes: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support.

  • Government support for data re-use involves running information sessions on how to use particular datasets, or how to re-use government data in general. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' answer.

    If Yes: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support.

  • Government support for data re-use involves the release of funding schemes (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support, and briefly explain your 'Partially' answer.

    If Yes: Please provide a URL with details or an example of this kind of support.

Extent

  • How comprehensive, in terms of jurisdiction, is the coverage of the support assessed for this question?
    • Support is given in one or more localities, but there are many other localities without such support, or with support of a lesser quality.
      Supporting questions: Please provide sources that informed your answer, and a brief explanation.
    • Support is given in one or more localities and is a representative example of the kind of support that can be found for all, or most, localities.
      Supporting questions: Please provide sources that informed your answer, and a brief explanation.
    • Support assessed is at national level.
      Supporting questions: Please provide sources that informed your answer, and a brief explanation.

Having legal frameworks in place and data released for re-use might not be enough for a country to see the outcomes, uses and impacts that deliver use of data for the public good.

Data re-use is not an action that takes place in a vacuum, where actors have mechanical interactions in a single release-use flow: it is a process where stakeholders interact in different ways, and where constant interactions and feedback take place, to build an ecosystem of interrelations with actors affecting each other.

Therefore, government plans and actions to encourage data re-use are key components of a country's data strategy for the public good. This indicator tracks what kind of support, if any, governments provide for data-reuse, to create vibrant data ecosystems.

Moreover, user engagement with data is meant to be a crucial element when talking about sustainability of data policies, since it is a key component to ensure positive outcomes and impacts, that justify policies and initiatives (OECD, 2020).

This indicator also provides continuity with ODB.2013.C.SUPIN which asked "To what extent is the government directly supporting a culture of innovation with open data through competitions, grants or other support actions?"