1. The Politics of Open Government Data
Emmy Chirchir & Prof. Norbert Kersting
Presented by Yimei Zhu
21 May - 23 May 2014
Krems, Austria
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2.  Introduction
 The challenge of measuring OGD – Open data index and open data
barometer
 OGD in developing countries
 The role of politics in government
 OGD without OG?
 Further discussion
 Collaboration and participation
 Public-private partnerships a solution?
 Conclusion
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3. Open Data Index (ODI)
•Data-centric measure
•Measures 10 datasets e.g.
financial and civic, transport,
legislative datasets and so on
•Datasets measured against 12
criteria (free, machine readable,
online, digital, updated and so
on)
•Shows how many datasets have
been made open and how open
they are
Open Data Barometer (ODB)
•Broader measure of OGD
•Measures OGD on 3 levels:
readiness, implementation and
impact
•Considers contextual factors such
as presence of Freedom of
information (FOI) or supporting
laws, demand for data, government
support to citizens and so on.
•Analysis the global trend,rank the
countries.
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4. • Both methods are complementary
but discussions are still open on
the best methodology for measuring
OGD
• Using the Kenyan example, both
scores indicate that there is a gap
between a country‘s readiness and
its attained impact.
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5. Kenya has the `basic ingredients' to get OGD off the ground
•Data – Data exists although some may be in non-digital formats
(Braunschhweig et al., 2012)
•Technology/platform – Kenya Open Data Platform exists
•Demand for data (Jesuit Hakimani,2013)
•Supply of data– government has made a committment to OGD as well
as Open government partinership (OGP)
So why is there not widespread uptake and use of OGD in Kenya?
Some reasons could be : socio-economic (digital and literacy gaps,
access challenges, distrust of government information, lack of
awareness )
Yet another possible reason could be the politics of open data, on the
supply side of open data
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OGD in Kenya

6. Role of government in OGD setting dynamic, crucial
•Supplier of data – collects, curates and publishes
•Formulation of laws and policies (policy-making is a political process)
•Financing OGD initiatives affecting implementation and prioritization of
specific datasets
•Facilitating participation and user uptake of OGD
•Users of OGD
Execution of these tasks depends on a number of factors:
•Relationship between government and other OGD actors inluding the
public
•Available resources and capacity – open data readiness
•System of government – level of openess
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Roles of Government

7. Open Government Data without Open Government?
An open government does not guarantee OGD success but it creates a more
conducive, supportive environenment for OGD and its users to operate
We propose that open government practices should be encouraged for
OGD’s sustainability.
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8. Neither the government nor the civil society nor the the private sector on their
own have the ability to fully take advantage of OGD
Civil society organisations (CSOs) and technology entreprenuers may have the
capacity (technology, knwo-how and motivation) to harness data for re-use.
CSOs and private sector add value to open data (Davies et al., 2013)
More diverse uses of OGD means we are close to realizing OGD goals as
opportunities for participation.
Are partnerships and collaborations the solution?
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The challenge remains …
The main challenge still remains in OGD initiatives realizing the
impact
The search for appropriate methodology for measuring OGD is still on
especially for measuring OGD use across diverse contexts and users
and measuring impacts of OGD

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Emmy Chirchir*, Norbert Kersting**
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
*Graduate School of Politics (GraSP);
e_chir01@uni-muenster.de
** Institute of Political Science ((IfPol); norbert.kersting@uni-
muenster.de
About the writers:

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Thank You!
Vielen Dank!

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References:
Braunschweig K., Eberius J., Thiele M., & Lehner W. (2012) The State of Open Data. Limits of current open data
platforms. Retrieved on November 30, 2013 from
http://www2012.wwwconference.org/proceedings/nocompanion/wwwwebsci2012_braunschweig.pdf Davies T.
(2013). Open Data Barometer. 2013 Global Report. Retrieved November 13, 2013
from http://www.opendataresearch.org/dl/odb2013/Open-Data-Barometer-2013-Global-
Report.pdf.
Davies T, Perini F., & Alonso J (2013). Researching the emerging impacts of open dat. ODDC Conceptual Framework.
Working paper. July ODDC Working Paper #1. Retrieved on July 22, 2013, from
http://www.opendataresearch.org/sites/default/files/posts/Researching%20the%20emerging%20impacts%20of%20
open%20data.pdf.
Rahemtulla H., Giger B., Cluster S., Kiess J. & Brigham C. (2011). Open Data Kenya. Case Study of the underlying
drivers, principal objectives and evoplution of one of the first open data initiatives in Africa. Long Version. Retrieved
May, 05, 2012 from http://de.scribd.com/doc/75642393/Open-Data-Kenya-Long-Version.
Open Knowledge Foundation - http://census.okfn.org.
Open Data Research - http://www.opendataresearch.org/barometer
Wojcik S. (2012). Open government and open data. In Kersting N. (ed.), Electronic Democracy (pp. 125-152). Opladen:
Barbara Budrich Publishers.
World Bank (2013). Open Data Readiness Assessment tool. Retrieved on December 1, 2013, from
http://data.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/1/od_readiness_-_revised_v2.pdf.

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Few datasets
fully open
Vital datasets
such as
government
spending are
not available
(0%)

14. 14
Few datasets
fully open
Vital datasets
such as
government
spending are
not available
(0%)

15. 15
Few datasets
fully open
Vital datasets
such as
government
spending are
not available
(0%)