Suchergebnisse

Tabular representation of three open data evaluation frameworks: (1) ODDC Open Data Ten-Point Evaluation, (2) Eight Principles of Open Government Data, (3) McKinsey (2013) ; Table also tracks principle associated lens for gauging impact (governance, transparency, etc.) and context in which data is used (developing countries, multiple domains at national level, etc.). Presented at ODDC Open Session at ICT4D 2013, Cape Town.

Cover -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Contents -- About this book -- 1. The state of open data and open data research -- Current trends and their implications for open data -- Understanding open data research -- Conclusion -- 2. The challenges of institutionalising open government data: A historical perspective of Chile's OGD initiative and digital government institutions -- Introduction -- Research background -- Methodology -- Findings -- Conclusion -- References -- 3. Beyond standards and regulations: Obstacles to local open government data initiatives in Italy and France -- Introduction -- Theoretical framework -- Methodology -- Findings -- Discussion -- Limitations -- Conclusions -- References -- 4. Governance of open spatial data infrastructures in Europe -- Introduction -- Towards open spatial data infrastructures -- Governance of open spatial data infrastructures -- Methodology and selected cases -- Analysis of the governance of open spatial data infrastructures -- Findings and discussion -- Conclusion -- References -- 5. Beyond mere advocacy: CSOs and the role of intermediaries in Nigeria's open data ecosystem -- Introduction -- What are CSOs? -- CSOs as intermediaries in the Nigerian context -- CSOs in Nigeria: Three case studies -- Conclusion -- References -- 6. Rethinking civil society organisations working in the freedom of information and open government data fields -- Introduction -- International NGOs -- Conceptual framework -- Applying the conceptual framework -- ICT as the factor of change -- Conclusion -- References -- 7. Open your data and will 'they' build it? A case of open data co-production in health service delivery -- Introduction -- Co-production and open data: Enabling a new type of co-production? -- On methods and case selection -- The co-production process of Atuservicio.uy

Introduction to the book The Social Dynamics of Open Data. ; Published by African Minds.

"From the early 2000s, a new discourse emerged, in Africa and the international donor community, that higher education was important for development in Africa. Within this 'zeitgeist' of converging interests, a range of agencies agreed that a different, collaborative approach to linking higher education to development was necessary. This led to the establishment of the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa (Herana) to concentrate on research and advocacy about the possible role and contribution of universities to development in Africa.
This book is the final publication to emerge from the Herana project. The project has also published more than 100 articles, chapters, reports, manuals and datasets, and many presentations have been delivered to share insights gained from the work done by Herana. Given its prolific dissemination, it seems reasonable to ask whether this fourth and final publication will offer the reader anything new.
This book is certainly different from previous publications in several respects. First, it is the only book to include an analysis of eight African universities based on the full 15 years of empirical data collected by the project. Second, previous books and reports were published mid-project. This book has benefited from an extended gestation period allowing the authors and contributors to reflect on the project without the distractions associated with managing and participating in a large-scale project. For the first time, some of those who have been involved in Herana since its inception have had the opportunity to at least make an attempt to see part of the wood for the trees.
Different does not necessarily mean new. An emphasis on the 'newness' of the data and perspectives presented in this book is important because it shows that it is more than a historical record of a donor-funded project. Rather, each chapter in this book brings, to a lesser or greater extent, something new to our understanding of universities, research and development in Africa."

"Tensions in South African universities have traditionally centred around equity (particularly access and affordability), historical legacies (such as apartheid and colonialism), and the shape and structure of the higher education system. What has not received sufficient attention, is the contribution of the university to place-based development.
This volume is the first in South Africa to engage seriously with the place-based developmental role of universities. In the international literature and policy there has been an increasing integration of the university with place-based development, especially in cities. This volume weighs in on the debate by drawing attention to the place-based roles and agency of South African universities in their local towns and cities. It acknowledges that universities were given specific development roles in regions, homelands and towns under apartheid, and comments on why sub-national, place-based development has not been a key theme in post-apartheid, higher education planning.
Given the developmental crisis in the country, universities could be expected to play a more constructive and meaningful role in the development of their own precincts, cities and regions. But what should that role be? Is there evidence that this is already occurring in South Africa, despite the lack of a national policy framework? What plans and programmes are in place, and what is needed to expand the development agency of universities at the local level? Who and what might be involved? Where should the focus lie, and who might benefit most, and why? Is there a need perhaps to approach the challenges of college towns, secondary cities and metropolitan centers differently?"

Final research report of the "Embedding open data practice: Developing indicators on the institutionalisation of open data practice in two African governments" project, which formed part of the World Wide Web Foundation's "Emerging Impacts of Open Data in Developing Countries" Phase 2 initiative. In order to address the principle question of whether open data practice is being embedded, the project undertook a comparison of government open data in South Africa and Kenya, with a particular focus on open licensing as a key indicator of openness.

Open data have the potential to improve the governance of universities as public institutions. In addition, open data are likely to increase the quality, efficacy and efficiency of the research and analysis of higher education systems by providing a shared empirical base for critical interrogation and reinterpretation. Drawing on research conducted by the Emerging Impacts of Open Data in Developing Countries project, and using an ecosystems approach, this research paper considers the supply, demand and use of open data as well as the roles of intermediaries in the governance of South African public higher education. It shows that government's higher education database is a closed and isolated data source in the data ecosystem; and that the open data that are made available by government is inaccessible and rarely used. In contrast, government data made available by data intermediaries in the ecosystem are being used by key stakeholders. Intermediaries are found to play several important roles in the ecosystem: (i) they increase the accessibility and utility of data; (ii) they may assume the role of a "keystone species" in a data ecosystem; and (iii) they have the potential to democratize the impacts and use of open data. The article concludes that despite poor data provision by government, the public university governance open data ecosystem has evolved because intermediaries in the ecosystem have reduced the viscosity of government data. Further increasing the fluidity of government open data will improve access and ensure the sustainability of open data supply in the ecosystem.

Open data practice is gaining momentum in the public sector and civil society as an important mechanism for sharing information, aiding transparency, and promoting socio-economic development. Within this context, licensing is a key legal mechanism that enables re-use without sanction. However, there is evidence of a "licensing deficit" and this raises questions regarding best practice and sustainability in emerging African open data initiatives, particularly in the context of intermediaries being encouraged to exploit shared data for economic and social benefit. This article asks two main questions: (1) What is the current state of open licensing in two African open data initiatives; and (2) to what degree is it appropriate to focus on licensing as a key indicator of openness? Utilising a case study approach, the research explored licensing dynamics in the Kenya Open Data and the City of Cape Town Open Data initiatives, examining the contexts in which these initiatives were established and their resulting licensing frameworks. The cases reveal evidence of strategic engagement with content licensing, driven largely by the need for legal protection, adherence to international best practice and attraction of the user base required in order to ensure sustainability. The application of licensing systems in both contexts does, however, suggest an emerging system in which data providers are "learning by doing" and evolving their licensing practice as portals and their associated policy frameworks mature. The paper discusses the value of open data licensing as an indicator of organisational change and concomitant importance of taking into consideration the institutional dynamics when evaluating the organisational licensing frameworks of city, national and other governments.

Open data has the potential to improve the governance of universities as public institutions. In addition, open data is likely to increase the quality, efficacy and efficiency of the research and analysis of higher education systems by providing a shared empirical base for critical interrogation and reinterpretation. Drawing on research conducted by the Emerging Impacts of Open Data in Developing Countries project, and using an ecosystems approach, this research paper considers the supply, demand and use of open data as well as the roles of intermediaries in the governance of South African public higher education. It shows that government's higher education database is a closed and isolated data source in the data ecosystem; and that the open data that is made available by government is inaccessible and rarely used. In contrast, government data made available by data intermediaries in the ecosystem are being used by key stakeholders. Intermediaries are found to play several important roles in the ecosystem: (i) they increase the accessibility and utility of data; (ii) they may assume the role of a 'keystone species' in a data ecosystem; and (iii) they have the potential to democratise the impacts and use of open data. The article concludes that despite poor data provision by government, the public university governance open data ecosystem has evolved because intermediaries in the ecosystem have reduced the viscosity of government data. Further increasing the fluidity of government open data will improve access and ensure the sustainability of open data supply in the ecosystem.

The availability and accessibility of open data has the potential to increase transparency and accountability and, in turn, the potential to improve the governance of universities as public institutions. In addition, it is suggested that open data is likely to increase the quality, efficacy and efficiency of research and analysis of the national higher education system by providing a shared empirical base for critical interrogation and reinterpretation. The Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET) has developed an online, open data platform providing institutional-level data on South African higher education. However, other than anecdotal feedback, little is known about how the data is being used. Using CHET as a case study, this project studied the use of the CHET open data initiative by university planners as well as by higher education studies researchers. It did so by considering the supply of and demand for open data as well as the roles of intermediaries in the South African higher education governance ecosystem. The study found that (i) CHET's open data is being used by university planners and higher education studies researchers, albeit infrequently; (ii) the government's higher education database is a closed and isolated data source in the data ecosystem; (iii) there are concerns at both government and university levels about how data will be used and (mis)interpreted; (iv) open data intermediaries increase the accessibility and utility of data; (v) open data intermediaries provide both supply-side as well as demand- side value; (vi) intermediaries may assume the role of a 'keystone species' in a data ecosystem; (vii) intermediaries have the potential to democratise the impacts and use of open data – intermediaries play an important role in curtailing the 'de-ameliorating' effects of data-driven disciplinary surveillance. The report concludes as follows: (i) despite poor data provision by government, the public university governance open data ecosystem has evolved because of the presence of intermediaries in the ecosystem; (ii) by providing a richer information context and/or by making the data interoperable, government could improve the uptake of data by new users and intermediaries, as well as by the existing intermediaries; and (iii) increasing the fluidity of government open data could remove uncertainties around both the degree of access provided by intermediaries and the financial sustainability of the open platforms provided by intermediaries.

Castells in Africa: Universities and Development collects the papers produced by Manuel Castells on his visits to South Africa, and publishes them in a single volume for the first time. The book also publishes a series of empirically-based papers which together display the multi-faceted and far-sighted scope of his theoretical framework, and its fecundity for fine-grained, detailed empirical investigations on universities and development in Africa. Castells, in his afterword to this book, always looking forward, assesses the role of the university in the wake of the upheavals to the global economic order. He decides the university's function not only remains, but is more important than ever. This book will serve as an introduction to the relevance of his work for higher education in Africa for postgraduate students, reflective practitioners and researchers.