Background  

In the past decade, a large diversity of policies made open and machine-readable data the new default for government information worldwide. And not only government are openly sharing their data. Companies, researchers and citizens increasingly share the data they have collected with others. 

Governments often justify their efforts to publish open datasets by various arguments ranging from economic effects to broader societal goals, including anecdotal best practice cases. Some countries mainly refer to value creation concerning public participation and co-creation, including Obama’s executive order from 2009. Others stress that opening government datasets is a double-edged sword with rising costs for publishing to be paid by the tax-payer, diminishing public authorities’ possibilities to sell data to generate profits and shift profits to global companies. Companies, researchers and citizens experience various other drivers for sharing their data, although these drivers may also overlap with each other and with those of governments. 

Now, more than ten years after the peak in attention for open data started, the scope of open data research has begun to shift more towards cases of open data use, implementation, and value creation and has slowly shifted towards co-creation and participation. However, much of this co-creation and participation research in the area of open data is anecdotal, and previous research limitedly addresses the topics of co-creation and public participation fueled by open data.  

Special Issue Objectives and Example Topics 

This special issue focuses on selected research that contributes to the theme “co-creation and participation fueled by open data” In this special issue, we consider that more impact can be realized with open data when multiple actors work together to create, provide, and use open data. Especially when the use of open data crosses domains and research disciplines, this might increase the impact of open data. For example, many global societal problems, such as climate change, migration, mobility, and energy transition, require the collaboration of various disciplines to develop appropriate solutions. By combining data derived from multiple thematic areas and combining skills and knowledge from various actors (e.g., researchers, citizens, entrepreneurs, and policymakers), new, innovative insights can be obtained. Examples of this co-creation and participation initiatives fueled by open data are hackathons, innovation contests or joined app development (e.g., Concilio, Molinari, & Morelli, 2017; Juell-Skielse, Hjalmarsson, Johannesson, & Rudmark, 2014; Purwanto, Zuiderwijk, & Janssen, 2019, 2020). 

The special issue will address a broad range of topics that should help readers better understand both the generic and specific aspects of co-creation and participation fueled by open data. It is not merely focused on open government data, but also covers research, business and citizen data. Within this scope, we invite original research papers and theoretical contributions that advance the field of research. We welcome qualitative and quantitative contributions, particularly such that combine rigor and relevance, including critical perspectives. 

Topics may include, but are not limited to: 

Participation and engagement of citizens, companies, and other actors in both open data provision and use; 
Collaborative forms of open data value creation, involving different actors (government, citizens, companies, NGOs, researchers, etc.);  
Governance issues for using open data to address societal problems that cross disciplinary boundaries; 
Quality issues of co-created open data or data collected by citizens; 
Evaluations, models, and frameworks of the political, social, environmental, or economic impact of open data; 
Promising directions and pathways for the improvement of public services utilizing open data through co-creation and participation; 
Evaluations, models, or frameworks addressing the re-usage of open data; 
Assessments of cross-border or cross-domain generic services based on different open data offers;
Best practices, evidence, showcases, and critique of the impact of open data;  
Benefits and challenges of using open data in public services co-creation processes. 

To build an evidence basis for open government data, we invite those interested in the field but unsure whether their work may align with this special issue’s goals to correspond with Anneke Zuiderwijk (a.m.g.zuiderwijk-vaneijk@tudelft.nl). 

Timeline 

August 1, 2021 – extended deadline for submissions  
November 15, 2021 – results from the first round of reviews &  decisions to the authors 
January 15, 2022 – deadline for resubmissions 
February 15, 2022 – edito