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Journal ArticleDOI

Opening up government data for Big Data analysis and public benefit

01 Feb 2017-Computer Law & Security Review (Elsevier Advanced Technology)-Vol. 33, Iss: 1, pp 30-37
TL;DR: The Australian government has ambitious aims to release greater amounts of its data to the public, but is likely this task will prove difficult due to uncertainties surrounding the reliability of de-identification and the requirements of privacy law, as well as a public service culture which is yet to fully embrace the open data movement.
About: This article is published in Computer Law & Security Review.The article was published on 2017-02-01 and is currently open access. It has received 83 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Public service & Government.

Summary (2 min read)

1. Introduction

  • Open data is data which is accessible for free or at minimal cost, and which can be accessed by anybody and re-used for any purpose.
  • The Australian government aims to catch up with some of the world’s biggest producers of open data, including the United States.
  • Part 6 considers whether these barriers are likely to be overcome.

2. The Open Data movement and Big Data analysis

  • Increasingly, governments around the world are releasing the data their agencies collect through online portals.
  • In late 2015 the OGP published an International Open Data Charter, which at the time of writing had been signed by nine national governments, several other municipal governments, the World Bank, IBM and other organisations.
  • A key aim of this open data movement is to drive policy and business innovation,11 so open data must be understood alongside the phenomenon of Big Data.
  • The use of predictive analytics by private companies also raises significant concerns about privacy and overreach.
  • De-identification reduces these risks, although debates continue as to whether current techniques are sufficiently reliable to protect individuals from being re-identified from anonymised data.

3. Benefits and risks of releasing government data

  • There are three major benefits associated with the releasing of government data to the general public as open data.
  • First, open data is seen as key to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of government policy and services.
  • This will lead to economic benefits if governments can provide the same quality of services at lower cost.
  • Whilst debates continue over the reliability of de-identification,30 even a small risk of exposing individuals’ private details is a significant consideration for governments seeking to open up their data to the general public.

4. Australian government policy on open data

  • Both of the major political parties in Australia have taken important steps in line with the open data movement.
  • 32 The Gillard government also launched Australia’s online data portal: data.gov.au.
  • The new Communications Minister, replacing Turnbull, was bestowed with the additional title of ‘Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Government’.
  • 37 Australian Government, Open Government Partnership – Australia (2016) <https://ogpau.govspace.gov.au/>.

5. Barriers to releasing open data

  • As in other countries, there are good reasons why Australian government agencies do not release the sensitive data they collect.
  • It is these risks which drive the three main barriers to opening up Australian government data.
  • This not only places unrealistic expectations on agencies to appropriately de-identify and release their own data, but also poses significant risks to privacy if government data is de-identified without sufficient expertise.
  • Metadata in this context means a ‘structured description of the content, quality, condition or other characteristics of data’.
  • The Abbott government’s preference for maintaining secrecy of government information seemed to pervade the culture of its public service.

6. Future challenges for open data in Australia

  • These technical, legal and cultural hurdles will pose ongoing challenges for the Australian government in seeking to release greater amounts of its data as open data.
  • As for other countries seeking to open up greater amounts of their data, achieving sufficiently reliable de-identification procedures in Australia will take time – particularly for the cost of these techniques to reduce sufficiently so that all government agencies can apply them on a larger scale.
  • In terms of the cultural challenges, new initiatives like the Digital Transformation Office will help to drive a change in public service culture towards a more transparent, innovative government.
  • Then, it will likely take a significant time – certainly several terms of government and perhaps up to a decade or more – to achieve something resembling the open data ideal.

7. Conclusion

  • In their day-to-day operations, government agencies produce a huge volume and variety of data about individuals and society.
  • The open data movement aims to release this information to the general public in order drive policy innovation and to improve transparency and accountability.
  • 64 then, equalling other countries’ commitment to the open data movement is likely to be a slow process.
  • It is encouraging that much of the Australian government’s concerns about releasing data to the public relate to protecting individual privacy.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This exhaustive literature review provides a concrete definition of Industry 4.0 and defines its six design principles such as interoperability, virtualization, local, real-time talent, service orientation and modularity.
Abstract: Manufacturing industry profoundly impact economic and societal progress. As being a commonly accepted term for research centers and universities, the Industry 4.0 initiative has received a splendid attention of the business and research community. Although the idea is not new and was on the agenda of academic research in many years with different perceptions, the term “Industry 4.0” is just launched and well accepted to some extend not only in academic life but also in the industrial society as well. While academic research focuses on understanding and defining the concept and trying to develop related systems, business models and respective methodologies, industry, on the other hand, focuses its attention on the change of industrial machine suits and intelligent products as well as potential customers on this progress. It is therefore important for the companies to primarily understand the features and content of the Industry 4.0 for potential transformation from machine dominant manufacturing to digital manufacturing. In order to achieve a successful transformation, they should clearly review their positions and respective potentials against basic requirements set forward for Industry 4.0 standard. This will allow them to generate a well-defined road map. There has been several approaches and discussions going on along this line, a several road maps are already proposed. Some of those are reviewed in this paper. However, the literature clearly indicates the lack of respective assessment methodologies. Since the implementation and applications of related theorems and definitions outlined for the 4th industrial revolution is not mature enough for most of the reel life implementations, a systematic approach for making respective assessments and evaluations seems to be urgently required for those who are intending to speed this transformation up. It is now main responsibility of the research community to developed technological infrastructure with physical systems, management models, business models as well as some well-defined Industry 4.0 scenarios in order to make the life for the practitioners easy. It is estimated by the experts that the Industry 4.0 and related progress along this line will have an enormous effect on social life. As outlined in the introduction, some social transformation is also expected. It is assumed that the robots will be more dominant in manufacturing, implanted technologies, cooperating and coordinating machines, self-decision-making systems, autonom problem solvers, learning machines, 3D printing etc. will dominate the production process. Wearable internet, big data analysis, sensor based life, smart city implementations or similar applications will be the main concern of the community. This social transformation will naturally trigger the manufacturing society to improve their manufacturing suits to cope with the customer requirements and sustain competitive advantage. A summary of the potential progress along this line is reviewed in introduction of the paper. It is so obvious that the future manufacturing systems will have a different vision composed of products, intelligence, communications and information network. This will bring about new business models to be dominant in industrial life. Another important issue to take into account is that the time span of this so-called revolution will be so short triggering a continues transformation process to yield some new industrial areas to emerge. This clearly puts a big pressure on manufacturers to learn, understand, design and implement the transformation process. Since the main motivation for finding the best way to follow this transformation, a comprehensive literature review will generate a remarkable support. This paper presents such a review for highlighting the progress and aims to help improve the awareness on the best experiences. It is intended to provide a clear idea for those wishing to generate a road map for digitizing the respective manufacturing suits. By presenting this review it is also intended to provide a hands-on library of Industry 4.0 to both academics as well as industrial practitioners. The top 100 headings, abstracts and key words (i.e. a total of 619 publications of any kind) for each search term were independently analyzed in order to ensure the reliability of the review process. Note that, this exhaustive literature review provides a concrete definition of Industry 4.0 and defines its six design principles such as interoperability, virtualization, local, real-time talent, service orientation and modularity. It seems that these principles have taken the attention of the scientists to carry out more variety of research on the subject and to develop implementable and appropriate scenarios. A comprehensive taxonomy of Industry 4.0 can also be developed through analyzing the results of this review.

1,011 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply a decomposition framework to clarify the determinants of AI technology invention and find that priority has shifted from biological and knowledge-based models to specific mathematical models and other AI technologies, particularly in the U.S. and Japan.

84 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the conceptual construction of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework is used to assess the behavioral intention to use and accept OGD.
Abstract: Purpose: This paper aims to examine the use and acceptance of open government data (OGD) of different stakeholder groups in India. Design/methodology/approach: Following an empirical investigation among 244 respondents in India, the paper deploys path analysis via LISREL. The conceptual construction of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework is used to assess the behavioral intention to use and accept OGD. Multiple regression analysis informs the relationship of demographic variables with the behavioral intention to use and accept OGD. Findings: Path analysis showed that there is an increased use and acceptance of OGD among the respondents. Multiple regression analysis shows that men are more likely to use open data sets than women. Individual differences are found among the respondents with regard to OGD usage. Thus, while men may tap open data sets in line with their purposes and professional backgrounds, women are likely to tap the data sets even for non-professional purposes. Furthermore, the respondents who are younger in age are more behaviorally inclined to accepting and using OGD than their older counterparts. Practical implications: The Indian government needs to popularize and familiarize OGD initiatives among the people to a greater extent. The utilitarian value of OGD may be provided when data sets are more user-friendly, frequently updated and accurate. This would facilitate in better provision of public services besides appreciating the public sentiment. Further, with increased interaction between citizens and the government, public accountability and transparency may be better realized. Social implications: The study shows that different groups of people are engaging in tapping information through government websites and related portals. Societal influence was found to be an important factor which predicts the acceptance and usage of OGD. An infrastructure can help to enable the use of OGD. Originality/value: Hitherto, studies have focused on OGD initiatives in the developed countries, but extant literature is scarce on developing countries. Therefore, this study seeks to fill the literature gap by probing OGD use and acceptance among different stakeholder groups in India.

70 citations


Cites background from "Opening up government data for Big ..."

  • ...While some of the researches are conceptual and descriptive in scope, others are empirical and provide aspects like socio-cultural, politico-legal, economic or infrastructural hindrances in OGD implementation (for instance, Evans and Campos, 2013; Hardy and Maurushat, 2017)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The aim of this review article was to provide a theoretical background of big and open linked data analytics ecosystem and its essential elements, and to propose a conceptual framework for this ecosystem.

48 citations

Posted ContentDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the findings of the analysis of the state of the art conducted as part of the JRC research on "Exploring Digital Government Transformation in the EU: understanding public sector innovation in a data-driven society" (DIGIGIGOV), within the framework of the European Location Interoperability Solutions for eGovernment (ELISE)" Action of the ISA2 Programme on interoperability solutions for public administrations, businesses and citizens, coordinated by DIGIT.
Abstract: This report presents the findings of the analysis of the state of the art conducted as part of the JRC research on "Exploring Digital Government Transformation in the EU: understanding public sector innovation in a data-driven society" (DIGIGOV), within the framework of the "European Location Interoperability Solutions for eGovernment (ELISE)" Action of the ISA2 Programme on Interoperability solutions for public administrations, businesses and citizens, coordinated by DIGIT. The results of the review of literature, based on almost 500 academic and grey literature sources, as well as the analysis of digital government policies in the EU Member States provide a synthetic overview of the main themes and topics of the digital government discourse. The report depicts the variety of existing conceptualisations and definitions of the digital government phenomenon, measured and expected effects of the application of more disruptive innovations and emerging technologies in government, as well as key drivers and barriers for transforming the public sector. Overall, the literature review shows that many sources appear overly optimistic with regard to the impact of digital government transformation, although the majority of them are based on normative views or expectations, rather than empirically tested insights. The authors therefore caution that digital government transformation should be researched empirically and with a due differentiation between evidence and hope. In this respect, the report paves the way to in-depth analysis of the effects that can be generated by digital innovation in public sector organisations. A digital transformation that implies the redesign of the tools and methods used in the machinery of government will require in fact a significant change in the institutional frameworks that regulate and help coordinate the governance systems in which such changing processes are implemented.

47 citations

Frequently Asked Questions (15)
Q1. What are the contributions mentioned in the paper "Opening up government data for big data analysis and public benefit author" ?

This article considers the benefits and risks of releasing government data as open data, and identifies the challenges the Australian government faces in releasing its data into the public domain. The Australian government has ambitious aims to release greater amounts of its data to the public. 

The important and difficult task for the future will be learning how to strike the right balance between releasing government data for public benefit whilst ensuring that this same level of concern for individual privacy is maintained. 

The other major hurdle to releasing government data is a public service culture which is yet to fully embrace the open data movement. 

Because of uncertainty over the reliability of de-identification, agencies remain reluctant to release the data they collect because it might be combined with other data sources to reveal private details about Australian citizens. 

The paper argues that the Australian government will likely face ongoing challenges in meeting its open data targets due to barriers that are technical, legal and cultural: namely, ongoing uncertainty as to the reliability of de-identification, broad protections for personal information in national privacy legislation, and a public service culture which continues to favour the secrecy of information over public release. 

It comprises six key principles, which state that data should be:(1) Open by default (2) Timely and comprehensive (3) Accessible and usable (4) Comparable and interoperable (5) For improved governance and citizen engagement (6) For inclusive development and innovation10Importantly, these principles do not include protecting individual privacy. 

It is encouraging that much of the Australian government’s concerns about releasing data to the public relate to protecting individual privacy. 

Reluctance to release data under the Privacy Act has become so common that the acronym ‘BOTPA’ (Because Of The Privacy Act) has become shorthand for agencies refusing to share their data, even with other government agencies and where disclosure would not actually breach the requirements of the Privacy Act.51The third major barrier to opening up government data is a public service culture which appears to favour secrecy of information as the default position. 

Despite the Australian government’s strong commitments to the open data movement, then, it will likely take a significant time – certainly several terms of government and perhaps up to a decade or more – to achieve something resembling the open data ideal. 

In one high-profile study, for example, two Netflix users were re-identified from anonymised data which was offered publicly by that company in order to improve its movie recommendation service. 

57 Reluctance to release such policy data appears to be driven to a large extent by concerns about protecting individual privacy. 

This is the purpose of the Australian Government Technical Interoperability Framework – which sets out national standards for consistently describing and encoding government data – but this framework is now more than a decade old and should be updated. 

41At the same time, there is a strong case for releasing much of the statistical and policy data produced by government agencies in order to drive innovation and improve transparency and accountability. 

As for other countries seeking to open up greater amounts of their data, achieving sufficiently reliable de-identification procedures in Australia will take time – particularly for the cost of these techniques to reduce sufficiently so that all government agencies can apply them on a larger scale. 

For this reason, these categories of data are subject to stringent privacy protections, including in some cases the possibility of criminal penalty for disclosure.