Paper 7
Collaborative construction of an open Official GazetteAuthors: Gisele S. Craveiro, Jose P. Alcazar, and Andres M. R. Martano |
AbstractGiven the potential use of open data and the obstacles for implementing Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives, this paper aims at describing the strategies adopted for preparing the implementation of an open Ocial Gazette at the municipal level. It is important to emphasize the potential value of the Ocial Gazette as a source of information, since it is perhaps the most detailed and comprehensive report the society can have on government daily activities. However, the data are mostly unstructured, and this fact, combined with the size of the database, makes any attempt to analyze it a non-trivial matter. Publishing the Ocial Gazette as OGD certainly does not address all the problems related to its use, but hopefully barriers can be overcome to allow more groups to make use of it. In this paper, three research methods are combined; a bibliographical review, documentary research, and direct observation. This paper describes the strategies and activities put into e ect by a public body and an academic group in preparing the implementation of the open Ocial Gazette. It also analyses the outcomes of these strategies and activities by examining the tool implemented, the trac and the reported uses of the Open Gazette. The paper concludes by reflecting on the main challenges that are raised in implementing open data initiatives at a local level in a developing country, and proposing an agenda for future research. |