Open AccessTowards value-creating and sustainable open data ecosystems: A comparative case study and a research agenda
Author(s) -
B. van Loenen,
Anneke Zuiderwijk,
Glenn Vancauwenberghe,
Francisco J. López-Pellicer,
Ingrid Mulder,
Charalampos Alexopoulos,
Rikke Magnussen,
Mubashrah Saddiqa,
Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay,
Joep Crompvoets,
Andrea Polini,
Barbara Re,
César Casiano Flores
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ejournal of edemocracy and open government
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.135
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 2075-9517
DOI - 10.29379/jedem.v13i2.644
Subject(s) - open data , sustainability , sustainable value , citizen journalism , value (mathematics) , sustainable development , computer science , business , knowledge management , environmental resource management , ecology , economics , world wide web , machine learning , biology
Current open data systems lag behind in their promised value creation and sustainability. The objective of the current study is twofold: 1) to investigate whether existing open data systems meet the requirements of open data ecosystems, and 2) to develop a research agenda that discusses the gaps between current open data systems on the one hand and participatory, value-creating, sustainable open data ecosystems on the other hand. The literature reveals that the main characteristics of value-creating, sustainable open data ecosystems are user-drivenness, inclusiveness, circularity, and skill-based. Our comparative case study of five open data systems in various application domains and countries highlighted that none of these systems are real open data ecosystems: they often do not balance open data supply and demand, exclude specific user groups and domains, are linear, and lack skill-training. We elaborate on a research agenda that discusses how research should address the challenge of making open data ecosystems more value-generating and sustainable.