A huge study, organized by the inventor of the web, has ranked the world’s best nations at sharing their government data with citizens.
Does the United States top the list? Well, almost. It comes in a close second to the United Kingdom, in the list compiled by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the World Wide Web Foundation.
The US scores strongly in government budget and spending, maps and census data, legislation, health, education, crime statistics, election and contract data, but less so in land ownership and company register information. Overall, it scores a high 96/100 for readiness for open data, and 88/100 for actual implementation.
The report examines the transparency and availability of data as a crucial route for improving services, empowering citizens and cutting down on corruption. After the UK and US in the rankings is Sweden, followed by France and New Zealand in joint fourth place.
More To Be Done
The US has made dramatic strides in improving data, according to experts, though more needs to be done.
David Logsdon, senior director, federal civil, public sector, for technology trade association TechAmerica, tells Forbes that since 2013, when the Obama administration ordered federal agencies to make government data open and machine readable, “we’ve seen a multitude of data sets released to the general public. The use of this data has the potential to drive entrepreneurship, innovation, and scientific discovery.”
Scientific agencies have led the way, and other bodies will need to follow. “We have only begun to scratch the surface on our potential to utilize the data,” he explains. “The convergence of scientific and non-scientific data, used efficiently, has the potential to transform, even revolutionize the way we live.”
Washington has dramatically improved open data, but more is yet to be done. (Capitol photo and... [+]
Improving Services
Washington has been putting great effort into improving data, as citizen expectations increase, says Adelaide O’Brien, research director at IDC.
“eGovernment made great strides in providing information, but it failed to deliver on the most critical promise: using information to improve service delivery for constituents,” she explains.
“Today's emphasis on transparent and connected democracy, where government is using social networking such as Facebook, YouTube and
The government is working on making it easier for citizens to create and track claims, search for and share information, understand eligibility requirements, apply for grants and loans, and receive services.
One tactic of the government to improve digital services, she notes, is “recruiting digital talent from the private and public sectors”. Another is more open and transparent processes.
But in spite of strong intentions and better data, analysis, performance management and support, the government has more to do.
Linking Information
“With the paramount objective of delivering more effective citizen services, the transformation of government services will need systems and processes that are connected, not siloed as much of government data and applications are today,” says O’Brien.
Proper enterprise content management, record management, and process management infrastructure, “integrated by collaborative content management tools and policies, available 24/7 through multiple channels”, will make the difference, she says, as long as stakeholders have full visibility.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom topped the list, strongly boosted by its multibillion dollar .gov.uk portal, but it was criticized heavily for its postal code data remaining proprietary.
One of the strong areas for the UK was health data. Silvia Piai, research manager at IDC Health Insights, notes that the less siloed approach worked well, particularly for national health data.
“I think that the UK government has been quite successful in two use cases, making available prescriptions data, and empowering patient choice by making available information about doctor ratings, complaints to hospitals, and audits,” she says.
The report is very critical of many nations. In 90% of countries surveyed, it notes, data crucial to beating corruption and improving services was entirely locked away. Among the emerging market countries to rank relatively well were Brazil and Mexico, with developing countries led by Indonesia, India and Ghana.
