Comparative analysis of open government data topics and usability

Area of Science:

• Information Science
• Data Management
• Network Analysis

Background:

• Open public data is crucial for transparency and innovation.
• Understanding the characteristics and usability of public data is essential for effective utilization.
• Korean public data portals offer a wide range of datasets managed by various government levels.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze and compare the content and usability of open public data managed by different Korean government entities.
• To identify patterns in data topics and their accessibility across central government, local governments, public institutions, and offices of education.

Main Methods:

• Keyword network analysis using Pathfinder network analysis on 1,200 public data cases from Korean portals.
• Extraction and analysis of keywords assigned to data cases.
• Derivation of subject clusters for each government type and comparison of usability via download statistics.

Main Results:

• Eleven subject clusters for public institutions (e.g., Health care, Real estate) and 15 for central government (e.g., Crime, Safety policing).
• Local governments (16 clusters) and offices of education (11 clusters) focused on regional data (e.g., Local factories, Resident registration, Lifelong education).
• National-level data from public and central governments demonstrated higher usability than regional data, with specific clusters like Health care, Real estate, and Crime showing significant utility.

Conclusions:

• Significant differences exist in the content and usability of open public data based on the managing government entity in Korea.
• National-level specialized data, particularly in areas like healthcare, real estate, and crime, is more highly utilized than regional data.
• A considerable disparity in data utilization is observed due to the disproportionate popularity of certain datasets.