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U.S. state and state capital open government data (OGD): A content examination and heuristic evaluation of data processing capabilities of OGD sites
Author(s) -
Tang Rong,
Gregg Will,
Hirsh Sandra,
Hall Elaine
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
proceedings of the association for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.193
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 2373-9231
DOI - 10.1002/pra2.20
Subject(s) - usability , computer science , documentation , flexibility (engineering) , raw data , heuristic , open data , filter (signal processing) , heuristic evaluation , visualization , state (computer science) , database , data mining , data science , world wide web , human–computer interaction , artificial intelligence , statistics , mathematics , algorithm , computer vision , programming language
This paper reports the results of a multi‐phased investigation into Open Government Data (OGD) sites in the United States. Upon searching and examining OGD sites by state and state capital, we outlined current OGD practice in the US. An inventory of data processing capabilities of 50 OGD sites uncovered the most frequently occurring data categories, search and filter options, raw datasets, data visualization displays, data extraction formats, interactive and map tools, and help functions provided through the OGD sites. Heuristic evaluation of 15 sites containing “Transportation” datasets revealed that main usability problems were violations to the principles of “Flexibility and Efficiency of Use,” “Help and Documentation,” and “Help users to recognize, diagnose and recover from errors.” Findings suggest that in order to sustain and achieve a good usage of OGD sites, a significantly better understanding of user populations, their data needs, and their data literacy levels is needed.