Sébastien Martin et al.
In Berlin and Rennes, a dialogue has been formalized with groups of re‐users( e. g., La Cantine numérique 8. It can always be strengthened through events dedicated to Open Data( e. g., Berlin Open Data day 2012 9). However, for both Rennes and Berlin, there is no focus on the data update and the new datasets to be released.
Table 1: Summary of risks related to governance Identified risk
Contingency actions
Reluctance of civil servants
Engage in the early mobilization of internal and external stakeholders, and of civil society organizations; ask officials to identify specific issues that explain their reluctance.
Inconsistency of public policies Favour a cultural shift in the administrations
The relevant administrative level
Find a balance in the intervention of different political levels
Lack of dialogue between data providers and re‐users Encourage regular meetings between providers and reusers. Dedicate a specific page for the announcement of updates and future openings, and allow re‐users to give their opinions.
4. Risks related to economic issues: costs and return on investment
Despite the proliferation of studies on the benefits that can bring Open Data, few assess the costs and benefits of each type of data, as it was attempted by the study led by the University of Victoria( Australia) for the various impacts of spatial data and hydrological data( Houghton, 2012). The lack of common standards to assess both the cost and benefits of opening data puts the sustainability of Open Data initiatives at risk.
4.1 The cost of opening data
Implementation costs include hardware, software and human resources. To overcome the costs of opening |
data, small communities can mutualize their expenses or rely on national infrastructures. The UK has increased |
its expenses in December 2012 with the provision of a potential credit of £ 8 million for the public bodies that |
have not yet met their objectives 10. Table 2 shows an estimate of the costs incurred for several platforms. |
Table 2: Cost comparison of Open Data platforms |
Platform |
Country |
Scope |
Scale |
Cost assessment |
data. gov |
USA |
General |
National |
Around $ 10 million / year |
data. gov. uk |
UK |
General |
National |
2010‐2011: £ 1,2 million 2011‐2012: £ 2 million per year 11 |
Etalab |
France |
General |
National |
€ 5 million / year 12 |
Nantes Métropole |
France |
General |
Local |
€ 100 000( cost of the Portal) |
PortalU |
Germany |
Environment |
National |
€ 750 000 / year |
4.2 Benefits and return on investment
The way in which it is possible to demonstrate a return on investment is debated. The uncertainty on the extent and nature of the return on investment represents a clear risk for the sustainability of Open Data initiatives. Optimistic calculations advanced by the organizers of the Apps for democracy contest 13 only take into consideration a limited number of parameters: the contest itself deemed the value drawn by the applications worth $ 2.000.000. The return on investment should take into consideration such heterogeneous benefits as an increased service quality, transparency and trust by citizens, active citizenship through a higher participation in political and public debates, as well as actual cost savings, and the generation of economic activities.
8 http:// www. lacantine‐rennes. net / accessed June 10 2012 9 http:// berlin. opendataday. de / ueber / accessed December 18 2012 10 http:// news. bis. gov. uk / Press‐Releases / New‐funding‐to‐accelerate‐benefits‐of‐open‐data‐684c1. aspx 11 Retrieved from http:// www. w3. org / 2012 / 06 / pmod / pmod2012 _ submission _ 19. pdf 12 Retrieved from http:// ww w. journaldunet. com / ebusiness / le‐net / budget‐etalab‐1111. shtml 13 http:// www. govtech. com / e‐Government / Do‐Apps‐for‐Democracy‐and‐Other. html
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