Open government data quality assessment in Western Balkan countries

Abstract

In recent years, open government data has gained attention among academics, practitioners, and policy analysts. One of the fundamental dimensions of open government data is its quality. Qualitative data are data that can be effectively used and reused for various purposes ranging from evidenced-based decision-making to the fight against corruption. Open government data initiatives are present in the Western Balkans, as well. The aim of this paper is to identify and assess the quality dimension of all open government data in Balkan countries. To reach the set goal, this paper employs the “5 star” methodology of Berners-Lee. First, the paper identifies all datasets available in open government portals in all six Balkan countries. Second, it analyses and classifies them employing the “5 Star” methodology. Third, it aims to find out the relation between the date the countries become members of open government partnership and their implementation scale. The results show that Balkan countries have 76-305 government datasets available online as part of the open government data framework. The assessment depicts that these data suffer from poor quality. This research does not observe any correlation between the year the country joined the OGP, the number of datasets available, and the quality of data. Overall, in practice, Balkan countries have still a long way to go to fully embrace the concept of open government data.