Transparency-by-design: What is the role of open data portals?

Transparency in the public sector is one of the most important topics of the current debates on accountable, participatory, and responsive governance. An open government addresses these major topics and aims to encourage the relationships and flows of information between involved stakeholders. This article explores the role of open data portals in supporting these efforts and provides findings regarding the features in the design of these data infrastructures. On the basis of evidence from the concept of transparency-by-design, we argue that transparency is facilitated by open data portals and their features enabling to work with datasets. We therefore propose the list of the categories and corresponding features of open data portals that should constitute the checklist of the portal aiming to achieve the highest level of transparency. The mapping of existing features found in literature to the phases of the transparency cycle demonstrates that open data portals meet the transparency requirements.     

Beyond the supply side: Use and impact of municipal open data in the U.S

While the number of open government data initiatives has increased considerably over the past decade, the impact of these initiatives remains uncertain. Recent studies have been critical of the “bias toward the supply side” and lack of “sufficient attention to the user perspective” in the way that open government data initiatives are implemented. This article asks: (1) who is using municipal open government data resources and for what purposes? and (2) what impact are municipal open government data having in cities where they have been implemented? We performed a qualitative analysis of 26 semi-structured telephone interviews conducted with government staff, civic technologists, and private sector stakeholders in nine cities around the United States. Each of these 30 to 45-minute telephone interviews were transcribed and analyzed to distill insights regarding the use and impact of municipal open government data in the nine cities considered. We find that the array of actors within open government data ecosystems at the local level is expanding as distinctions between the public and private sectors becomes increasingly blurred and that the demands of managing and sustaining these initiatives has led to changes in the services offered by local government, as well as in the duties of government staff. The impact of these data resources has been primarily felt within local government itself, although the lack of monitoring mechanisms makes it difficult to systematically evaluate their broader effects. We conclude that open government data initiatives should be coordinated and better integrated with digital equity and digital inclusion efforts in order to advance their political and social goals.     

政府数据治理服务模式探索

数字政府时代,政府部门对数据治理的需求不断增加,对数据治理的专业化、实时性、个性化要求越来越高,单纯的平台、工具建设成本高、操作难、效果微。从政府数据治理服务角度出发,提出一种基于政务数据资源体系的政府数据治理服务模式,能够快速、高效地响应政府数据治理差异化需求,助力政府业务流程和服务模式的数字化、智能化,并以济南市数据治理服务模式实践为例进行说明。     

Open government data portal usability: A user-centred usability analysis of 41 open government data portals

Open government data, as a phenomena, may be considered an important and influential innovation that has the potential to drive the creation of public value via enabling the prevention of corruption, increase in accountability and transparency, and driving the co-creation of new and innovative services. However, in order for open government data to be fully taken advantage of, it must be found, understood, and used. Though many countries maintain open government data portals, the usability of said portals can vary greatly; this is important to understand as the usability of a portal likely impacts the eventual reuse of the data made available there. Acknowledging the importance of portal usability to the data reuse process, this paper helps to elucidate some initial insights by asking two questions: “How can the usability of open government data portals be evaluated and compared across contexts?” and “What are the most commonly missing usability aspects from open government data portals?”. In order to answer these research questions, a subset of 41 national open government data portals were selected for an in-depth usability analysis drawing on the feedback from 40 individual users. As a result of this analysis, the paper is able to make three primary contributions: (1) the validation of a framework for open government data portal usability analysis, (2) develops an initial comparative international ranking of open government data portal usability, and (3) identifies commonly occurring portal usability strengths and weaknesses across contexts.     

Grievances,resources, or values? Predicting online citizen-initiated government contacts in China

The development of information technology not only allows people to contact government more easily, but also provides researchers with new opportunities to investigate the pattern of interaction between citizens and government. Using data spanning eight years from a Chinese nationwide political forum, we examined how citizens’ government contacting behavior relates to a series of theoretically relevant factors such as resources, social problems, and value systems. The data show a substantial increase in online citizen-initiated contacts in China from 2011 to 2018, with vast regional variation. In addition, we find that resources, social problems, and political value play important roles in explaining citizen contact frequency. More specifically, resource is positively associated with the number of citizen contact; high levels of social problem urge people to contact government; and people from provinces with more intense traditional political value are more likely to contact the government.     

Understanding the actual use of open data: Levels of engagement and how they are related

Government agencies at the national, regional and local levels are proposing open data as a strategy to increase transparency, strengthen accountability, and promote economic development, among other goals. However, little is understood about the actual use of open data, particularly how open data portal users engage with open datasets. This study analyzes the actual use of open data with a focus on a specific type of use, namely engagement. It is based on a cross-sectional analysis of web analytic behavioral data, from New York State’s open health data portal, that quantifies users’ engagement with open datasets. Results of an exploratory factor analysis confirm the presence of distinct levels of users’ engagement with open datasets. In addition, a PLS-SEM analysis reveals significant positive relationships between lower and higher levels of engagement, suggesting users’ engagement with open datasets occurs along a continuum, with lower levels of engagement influencing higher levels. Theoretically, this study contributes a new sub-construct (“Engagement”) to the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) theoretical framework to facilitate a more nuanced understanding of actual open data use. Practically, this study contributes novel empirical evidence for users’ engagement with open datasets as well as reliable engagement measures. Insights from this study can inform improvements to open data strategies and portals to facilitate wider engagement with these valuable resources.     

Comparing open data benchmarks: Which metrics and methodologies determine countries’ positions in the ranking lists?

An understanding of the similar and divergent metrics and methodologies underlying open government data benchmarks can reduce the risks of the potential misinterpretation and misuse of benchmarking outcomes by policymakers, politicians, and researchers. Hence, this study aims to compare the metrics and methodologies used to measure, benchmark, and rank governments' progress in open government data initiatives. Using a critical meta-analysis approach, we compare nine benchmarks with reference to meta-data, meta-methods, and meta-theories. This study finds that both existing open government data benchmarks and academic open data progress models use a great variety of metrics and methodologies, although open data impact is not usually measured. While several benchmarks’ methods have changed over time, and variables measured have been adjusted, we did not identify a similar pattern for academic open data progress models. This study contributes to open data research in three ways: 1) it reveals the strengths and weaknesses of existing open government data benchmarks and academic open data progress models; 2) it reveals that the selected open data benchmarks employ relatively similar measures as the theoretical open data progress models; and 3) it provides an updated overview of the different approaches used to measure open government data initiatives’ progress. Finally, this study offers two practical contributions: 1) it provides the basis for combining the strengths of benchmarks to create more comprehensive approaches for measuring governments’ progress in open data initiatives; and 2) it explains why particular countries are ranked in a certain way. This information is essential for governments and researchers to identify and propose effective measures to improve their open data initiatives.     

简析大数据思维在政府网站建设和管理中的运用

政府网站作为人民群众了解政府日常工作行为;政府了解民生、解决人民群众难题的重要窗口,是人民群众与政府之间保持密切联系的重要,是政府进行公共服务和社会治理最为有效的工具。所以,必须加强政府网站建设,努力实现能够满足社会发展需要的平台内容,加强网站建设和管理,进一步提高政府网站功能作用,为人民群众提供个性化、综合化、多功能化的政府网站平台,在这其中,大数据思维将发挥出重要的引领性作用。将对政府网站功能进行解析,提出发达国家政府网站建设的经验启示,并结合我国政府工作特点提出如何在进行政府网站建设时实现大数据思维,希望能够为建设政府网站提供有用的建议。     

超大规模城市政务领域灾备中心网络建设研究

随着国内政务信息系统上云和信息化的推进,我国超大规模城市政务灾备中心建设也不断向云化数据中心形式演化。城市数字治理以数字化转型为基础推动,并以“一网通办,一网统管”为核心目标。一个好的城市级政务信息系统灾难备份体系的规划和建设,对于保证公共数据安全和政务业务连续性起着至关重要的作用。探讨了数据集中程度高、部门机构多的超大规模城市灾备中心网络建设的特点、模型、架构和关键点。     

大数据时代下社会信用治理的行政法研究

在社会迅速变化的时期,社会结构的分化和利益集团的重组在很大程度上造成了社会治理的混乱。面对日益复杂和困难的社会治理任务,传统治理方法的作用正在减弱,信用治理实践日益以市场监管和社会治理为基础。在理论和实践中,研究信用治理作为政府监管工具的行为,特别是运用行政法、制度风险和行政法管理的基本理论来讨论信用治理的法律属性。大数据是改变国家治理体系的工具,因此在全球化的背景下,政府专注于处理各级社会治理,改变各级社会治理的特征,在以创新为导向的政府职能转型过程中,在以创新为导向的社会发展治理过程中,不同的群体满足不同的需求,社会建设水平的提高是现代管理的坚实基础。     

云服务数据隔离技术

目前云计算服务商已经可以提供相当可靠稳定以及维护方便的主机服务,网络和数据资源开始往少数的云计算服务商集中,但数据与资源的集中会带来诸如和其他租户共享基础设施等问题,数据的安全和可靠性完全依赖于云服务商提供的基础设施,这些问题使得用户对采用以云为基础的各种服务有很大的担忧。要解决这个问题,云计算服务商必须提供足够有效的资源和数据隔离措施。通过分析上述问题,文中提出一个名为OmniSep的解决方案,方案包含了一系列针对云计算多租户环境增强数据隔离的技术。     

政务数据资源共享是区块链技术自主创新的主战场

数字政府建设的重点和难点在于推进跨层级、跨地域、跨系统、跨部门、跨业务的政务数据有序共享和协同服务。区块链是一种分布式数据存储及处理技术,是密码技术与分布式技术的创新融合,以去中心化方式形成一种新的“信任”机制,基于密码技术解决身份和数据可信,基于分布式技术解决多方协同,从而打破数据流通和业务协作壁垒。以数字政府建设为契机,推动政务服务领域区块链应用,有效解决数据有序共享、安全交互、可信协同、依法监管等问题;同时,政务服务领域可为区块链技术自主创新提供初始市场和先验机会,通过政务领域区块链规模应用,加速区块链技术迭代创新,助力推动信息领域关键核心技术突破。密码技术是区块链技术的核心基础支撑,要加强政务服务领域区块链密码应用与安全性评估,确保密码应用合规正确有效。政务服务领域不能一个应用建一条链,防止形成新的“区块链信息孤岛”。     

浅谈大数据时代政府网络舆情管理策略

21世纪是信息技术飞速发展的时代,人们的生产生活中越发依赖信息技术,信息技术提高了生产效率、提升了生活质量,为人们带来了诸多便捷。但信息技术的运用也存在许多问题,人们对于互联网的应用越发广泛,同时也会接触多元化的信息,易受网络环境的影响,此时应发挥政府网络舆情管理的作用,减少网络舆情所带来的负面影响,保证社会发展的稳定性。文章主要针对大数据时代政府网络舆情管理的相关内容进行分析,作出了如下阐述。     

中国电信业对外开放应解决的三个问题

世纪之交的世界电信全球化趋势日益明显,中国电信业务市场对外开放成为必然。本文分析了电信业务市场外资介入及经营将带来的国家经济安全,外资介入方式和国民待遇等三个问题,并提出了相应的解决措施和政策性建议。     

Policy implications of market segmentation as a determinant of fixed-mobile service substitution: What it means for carriers and policy makers

The determination whether mobile and fixed telecommunications services operate in the same market not only affects business decision of service providers, but also has wide implications on public policy decisions pertaining to the means by which they should be regulated in the United States. This study conducts a two-stage cluster analysis implementing the American Customer Satisfaction Model on two datasets of 3251 and 5060 data points pertaining to mobile and fixed-line phone services, respectively, collected by the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan in order to determine whether the way consumers perceive these services can indicate as to their levels of substitutability. It concludes that different types of customers with different needs consume these products and offers policy makers some insight on how to further the penetration of mobile services.     

政府数据治理体系研究

在提倡数据开放共享、数据资源梳理整合的契机下,面对政府部门日益严重“数据壁垒”、数据不一致等问题,本文基于数据标准管理、数据质量管理、元数据管理、数据安全管理等关键技术,结合政府部门的管理能力,建立政府数据治理体系,通过管理和技术相结合的方式,为提高政府内部管理、科学决策和社会治理能力等提供有力支撑。     

智慧政府框架下的政务系统云迁移策略推导

近年来智慧政府建设蓬勃发展,其政务协同、数据共享的发展理念对政务系统整合提出了明确需求。本文以系统云迁移实践为基础,对政务系统特点和属性与系统云迁移策略之间的内在联系进行探究,创造性的提出了一套基于系统属性参量选择适用云迁移策略的推导规则,并将这套规则应用于实际的政务系统云迁移方案制定中。     

政府网站建设的思考和探索

政府网站是利用互联网和现代信息技术建立的一个公众交流平台。随着信息技术的发展,越来越多的人选择从政府网站上获取所需的信息,因此政府网站的建设需要更加贴近民生,方便公众参与。本文首先介绍政府网站建设情况,其次,详细分析办事指南和互动服务两个栏目的主要做法和特点,最后,总结网站这些栏目的建设取得的成效并得出政府网站建设的启示。     

新型智慧城市下政务数据安全管理的研究

新型智慧城市的建设对于提升政府治理能力、提高群众获得感与幸福感、推动数字经济发展具有重要意义,但数据安全问题的凸显目前正成为新型智慧城市建设的瓶颈。分析了新型智慧城市建设中政务数据共享开放存在的数据安全问题,并针对这些问题,梳理了各地政府在数据安全上采取的各类安全管理措施,从共享开放模式、数据质量管控、责任边界划定、分级分类管理、技术保障、安全风险评估以及监督管理机制上对管理措施提出了若干建议,以期全方位保障政务数据共享开放安全,促进新型智慧城市建设。     

大数据时代下政府网站电子政务建设发展现状及问题分析

在大数据时代,为了提升政府职能水平,要积极融合网络运营技术,打造更加便利的网站电子政务运行体系,从而满足人们的需求。不仅要强化基础设施建设水平,还要积极推动信息资源的处理和汇总管控,从数据运维、技术运维、网络运维三个层面推动大数据时代背景下政府网站电子政务建设发展的综合进程。