Open Data: Barriers, Risks and Opportunities
Sébastien Martin 1, Muriel Foulonneau 2, Slim Turki 2 and Madjid Ihadjadene 1
1 Université Paris 8, Vincennes‐Saint‐Denis, France 2 PRC Henri Tudor, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
slim. turki @ tudor. lu
Abstract: Despite the development of Open Data platforms, the wider deployment of Open Data still faces significant barriers. It requires identifying the obstacles that have prevented e‐Government bodies either from implementing an Open Data strategy or from ensuring its sustainability. This paper presents the results of a study carried out between June and November 2012, in which we analyzed three cases of Open Data development through their platforms, in a medium size city( Rennes, France), a large city( Berlin, Germany), and at national level( UK). It aims to draw a clear typology of challenges, risks, limitations and barriers related to Open Data. Indeed the issues and constraints faced by re‐users of public data differ from the ones encountered by the public data providers. Through the analysis of the experiences in opening data, we attempt to identify how barriers were overcome and how risks were managed. Beyond passionate debates in favor or against Open Data, we propose to consider the development of an Open Data initiative in terms of risks, contingency actions, and expected opportunities. We therefore present in this paper the risks to Open Data organized in 7 categories:( 1) governance,( 2) economic issues,( 3) licenses and legal frameworks,( 4) data characteristics,( 5) metadata,( 6) access, and( 7) skills.
Keywords: open data, open government, e‐government, risk, contingency actions
1. Introduction
Open Data has gained a lot of interest in the e‐Government communities over the last years, leading to the implementation of many initiatives and platforms to publish open datasets in such areas as mobility( e. g., bus timetables), security( e. g., crime rates), or economy( e. g., statistics on business creations). Open Data is an essential tool for the dissemination of the Open Government principles. However its wider deployment requires identifying the obstacles that prevent e‐Government bodies either from implementing an Open Data strategy or from ensuring its sustainability. We have therefore carried out a study between June and November 2012, in which we analyzed three cases of Open Data development through their platforms, in a medium size city( Rennes, France 1), a large city( Berlin, Germany 2), and at national level( UK 3). In addition, we have studied the context in which the Open Data movement has been developed across Europe, in particular the type of data that have been opened, and the services that were developed by Open Data re‐users.
In this study, we aim to draw a clear typology of challenges, risks, limitations, barriers, all terms used by the different stakeholders with diverse meanings and based on different motivations. Indeed the challenges and constraints faced by re‐users of public data differ from the ones encountered by the public data providers. Through the analysis of the experiences in opening data in the UK and in the cities of Rennes in France and Berlin in Germany, we attempt to identify how barriers were overcome and how risks were managed.
Beyond passionate debates in favor or against Open Data, we propose to consider the development of an Open Data initiative in terms of risks, contingency actions, and expected opportunities. We therefore present in the next sections the risks related to Open Data organized in 7 categories:
• governance,
• economic issues,
• licenses and legal frameworks,
• data characteristics,
• metadata,
• access, and
• skills.
1 http:// www. data. rennes‐metropole. fr / accessed May 18, 2012 2 http:// daten. berlin. de / accessed May 18, 2012 3 http:// data. gov. uk / accessed May 25, 2012
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