Open Government Data: A European Perspective - Information and Communication Technologies in Public Administration - page 3

movement is for democratic governments to become more transparent, facilitating
greater collaboration and participation among the administration, politicians, business
representatives, and the general public (Lathrop & Ruma, 2010).
One strategy applied to achieve these goals is known as Open Government Data
(OGD), which arises from the conjunction of open government and open data. The
latter concept refers to the dissemination of information that can be used, reused, and
redistributed by anyone, freely and without charge (Ayers, 2007; Bauer & Kaltenböck,
2011). Open Government Data is viewed as the availability of public sector information
(PSI) through web portals, permitting its use by the general public by means of open,
accessible, machine-readable formats (Alonso et al., 2009). The disclosure of data by
government organizations has opened up new possibilities in terms of greater trans-
parency, more extended reuse of government information, more efficient provision of
public services, and greater participation by the population (Bennet & Harvey, 2009).
National and international initiatives have been developed to make governments
more transparent and accountable to their citizens by making public data available and
enabling reuse of these data. In this respect, national governments have pursued vari-
ous strategies related to OGD; thus, the United States adopted the Open Government
Directive in 2009 (Orszag, 2009) and the United Kingdom published the document
“Power of Information Taskforce Report” (HM Government, 2009). In the interna-
tional context, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) was created in September
2011 by eight countries (a group that has now expanded to 63), the G8 approved
its Open Data Charter in June 2013 (OGP, 2014; Tinati, Halford, Carr, & Pope,
2012), and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Council
has recommended enhanced access to and more effective use of public information
(Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2008).
The European Union (EU) has, for some time, been aware of the benefits to
society of greater openness and reuse of public data. In 2003, it issued PSI Directive
2003/98/EC (EC, 2003), aimed at establishing a basic level of harmonization of
rules and procedures throughout the EU to facilitate the reuse of PSI. This idea was
reinforced in 2010 with the establishment of the European Digital Agenda, in the
context of Europe 2020. One year later, the EU published an official statement on
OGD, entitled “Open Data: An Engine for Innovation, Growth and Transparent
Governance” (EC, 2011). The 2003 Directive was recently revised and replaced by
Directive 2013/37/UE (European Parliament, 2013).
The fact that EU countries are subject only to undemanding, minimum stan-
dards with respect to OGD may influence the decisions taken in each case regard-
ing the disclosure of public data for reuse by society. A study conducted by the
Spanish Ministry of Finance and Public Administration (2012) showed that stake-
holders are calling for greater coordination with respect to the disclosure of PSI
and that little such information is currently provided. Therefore, the challenge to
be faced is that of ensuring the public the availability of the same type of infor-
mation, in the same format, and within a similar time frame, to enable its reuse
throughout the EU. The EU is aware of this lack of harmonization, and in response