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The purpose of this paper is to conduct a usability evaluation of governmental data portals and provide a list of best practices for improving stakeholders’ ability to discover, access, and reuse of these online information sources.

The developed methodology was based on the comprehensive literature review that resulted in a benchmarking framework of the most important criteria. A usability testing method was then applied with accordance to unique requirements of open data portals. This approach was demonstrated by using of a case study.

The main found weakness was a lack of support for active engagement of stakeholders. The list of best practices was introduced to improve the quality of these portals. This should help to improve the discoverability and facilitate the access to data sets in order to increase their reuse by stakeholders.

The creation of appropriate open data portals aims to fulfill the principles of open government, i.e., to promote transparency and openness through the publication of government data, enhance the accountability of public officials and encourage public participation, collaboration, and cooperation of involved stakeholders.

This paper proposed a new approach for the usability evaluation of open data portals on national level from an ordinary citizen’s point of view and provided important insights on improving their quality regarding data discoverability, accessibility, and reusability.

The purpose of this paper is to study the select Smart Cities of Czech and Indian counterparts and assess the extent to which open government data (OGD) standards are being adhered to using select indicators.

This study integrates the benchmarking frameworks provided in literature on OGD and apply them to evaluate the OGD standards of the Smart Cities’ websites.

Whereas the Czech Smart Cities are relatively more advanced in their OGD initiatives, the Indian counterpart is far lagging behind in their endeavors.

While there are many studies on OGD and Smart Cities, there has been no study which seeks to appreciate if the OGD initiatives are being adhered to by the Smart Cities.

Open government data (OGD) are considered as a technology capable of promoting transparency openness, and accountability, which in turn has a positive impact on innovation activities and creates responsive government, collaboration, cooperation, co-creation and participation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the adoption of OGD and open data portals among students, in an attempt to discover how governments can improve their actions in this respect.

This study develops a behavioural intention-based analysis using constructs from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, which is supplemented with additional constructs that meet the purpose of the study. In total, ten constructs divided into 33 items constituted the input for our study. Input data for the developed model have been collected through a structured questionnaire distributed between bachelor's and master's level students in three countries – the Czech Republic, India and Latvia. A structural equation modelling technique was used to analyse the relationships between variables of the model and test the nine hypothesis defined.

Six constructs have been identified to facilitate significant relationships with behavioural intention. The analysis of the results of the three countries allows us to draw more objective conclusions in respect to the aim of the study and to reveal country-specific aspects that need to be addressed in the future.

This study adds to the existing literature few theoretical and practical aspects. It highlights the role of open data portals as a central point of OGD infrastructures. It enables governments to understand the relationships among the related constructs, improving their actions and modifying their data infrastructures accordingly.

The purpose of this paper was to draw on evidence from computer-mediated transparency and examine the argument that open government data and national data infrastructures represented by open data portals can help in enhancing transparency by providing various relevant features and capabilities for stakeholders' interactions.

The developed methodology consisted of a two-step strategy to investigate research questions. First, a web content analysis was conducted to identify the most common features and capabilities provided by existing national open data portals. The second step involved performing the Delphi process by surveying domain experts to measure the diversity of their opinions on this topic.

Identified features and capabilities were classified into categories and ranked according to their importance. By formalizing these feature-related transparency mechanisms through which stakeholders work with data sets we provided recommendations on how to incorporate them into designing and developing open data portals.

The creation of appropriate open data portals aims to fulfil the principles of open government and enables stakeholders to effectively engage in the policy and decision-making processes.

By analyzing existing national open data portals and validating the feature-related transparency mechanisms, this paper fills this gap in existing literature on designing and developing open data portals for transparency efforts.

The purpose of this study is to explore open data portals as data literacy learning environments. The authors examined the obstacles faced and strategies used by university students as non-expert open data portal users with different levels of data literacy, to inform the design of portals intended to scaffold informal and situated learning.

The authors conducted an observational user study, in which 14 student participants grouped by self-reported data literacy measures carried out assigned tasks in an open data portal. Data were collected through screen capture, think-aloud protocols and post-session interviews.

Participants experienced numerous challenges in finding and using data, with some variation shown between the different literacy groups. The higher data literacy group primarily faced challenges using unfamiliar tools, which may be addressed by improving system usability, while the lower data literacy group struggled due to gaps in basic understanding, which may be addressed by increasing point of need instruction and guidance. Participants used several learning strategies but primarily relied upon trial and error, which was less effective for low data literacy users.

This study is unique in comparing open data portal use among adult students across data literacy levels through an empirical user study. It contributes methodologically by proposing an instrument for data literacy assessment. It offers a novel perspective on information systems as sites for informal learning and skills development, beyond the immediate goals of system use, and offers concrete suggestions for the future design of open data portals for students and non-expert, citizen users.

This study aimed to develop a taxonomy of research areas in open government data (OGD) through a bibliometric mapping tool and a qualitative analysis software.

In this study, the authors extracted metadata of 442 documents from a bibliographic database. The authors used a bibliometric mapping tool for familiarization with the literature. After that, the authors used qualitative analysis software to develop taxonomy.

This paper developed taxonomy of OGD with three research areas: implementation and management, architecture, users and utilization. These research areas are further analyzed into seven topics and twenty-eight subtopics. The present study extends Charalabidis et al. (2016) taxonomy by adding two research topics, namely the adoption factors and barriers of OGD implementations and OGD ecosystems. Also, the authors include artificial intelligence in the taxonomy as an emerging research interest in the literature. The authors suggest four directions for future research: indigenous knowledge in open data, open data at local governments, development of OGD-specific theories and user studies in certain research themes.

Early career researchers and doctoral students can use the taxonomy to familiarize themselves with the literature. Also, established researchers can use the proposed taxonomy to inform future research. Taxonomy-building procedures in this study are applicable to other fields.

This study developed a novel taxonomy of research areas in OGD. Taxonomy building is significant because there is insufficient taxonomy of research areas in this discipline. Also, conceptual knowledge through taxonomy creation is a basis for theorizing and theory-building for future studies.

To gain an in-depth understanding and provide direction to governments on their quality measurement practices related to open government data (OGD), this paper aims to develop a common frame of reference for quality assessment of OGD.

Qualitative meta-synthesis was used to synthesize previous studies on the quality measurement of OGD. This paper applies a meta-synthesis approach to integrate 10 qualitative studies into a common frame of reference for quality assessment of OGD.

Based on a seven-step meta-synthesis, the paper proposes a common frame of reference for quality assessment of OGD, which includes six indicators, namely, accuracy, accessibility, completeness, timeliness, consistency and understandability.

A common frame of reference for quality assessment of OGD will help researchers better understand the quality assessment of OGD and government agencies to improve the quality of OGD that they publish.

The impact of innovative web portals on users, from access to application, is gaining interest as the global call for increased data availability gains momentum. This study reports on the perceptions of portal end users about usage and access to digital data across a range of fields of practice.

Data were collected and analysed from interviews (n = 132) and email feedback (n = 235) from end users of interoperable spatial knowledge web portals.

Data reveal that users attribute importance to ease of access and applicability, and to confidence and trust in data. The acquisition of data assists with reducing knowledge silos, facilitates knowledge sharing and decision-making. Digital data portals enable the building of stronger collaborations between different groups of individuals and communities leading to improved outcomes and more positive developments across varied discipline and practice areas.

Recommendations for developing online portals to optimise knowledge transfer and associated benefits, for users, are offered.

By collecting extensive qualitative data drawn from the experiences of end users of digital data portals, this paper provides new insights, thereby addressing a knowledge gap in the published literature about the use of technology uptake and the application of online data for practice and industry benefit.

Despite the potential benefits of open government data (OGD) and its recent adoption by many governments, little is known about monitoring its use by the public. This paper aims to address the knowledge gap by empirically examining OGD usage in Tanzania.

A field survey design was used to gather quantitative data from 288 people in seven regions of Tanzania to facilitate an analysis of the determinants of users’ behavioural intention and use behaviour of OGD. Guided by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, the study analysed the tendencies of these determinants on the use of the OGD portal.

The results show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions affect users’ acceptance and use of the OGD portal. The results suggest that OGD initiatives should focus more on their potential applications than publication. It is important to monitor and evaluate OGD use and the conditions that allow it to continue. By linking OGD with other government initiatives, governments can build strategies, capacity and social awareness. During the development of OGD platforms for extensive reuse, new data technologies like the semantic web should be considered.

Hitherto, research has underlined the significance of OGD initiatives at large and that studies in developing countries are scarce, especially that probe the uptake of the current efforts. The present study seeks to plug this research gap by examining the use of OGD in Tanzania’s context.

This paper aims to examine the process for estimation of efforts for software development and suggests a framework for estimating software development costs and ensuring quality of code in e-Government projects from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. With no established processes for estimation of efforts, the Government relied on open bids from the market to develop these e-Government applications.

The paper adopts an exploratory case study approach to analyze the e-Government applications in Andhra Pradesh. Using data from the information technology department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the paper evolves a framework to compute costs of software development, based on the software development life cycle.

The framework helps in arriving at a hurdle price before the tender process. The study has shown that an e-Government application in AP state would cost Rs. 224,000, or US$2,969.25, for a simple application, and Rs. 33,60,000, or US$44,538.71, for a complex application over a five-year period, depending on the complexity and size of the application. This information would be useful to the Government decision-makers for expanding e-Government.

Further research may assess the utility of this framework for e-Government support activities like automation of data centers, video conferencing facilities and ushering in financial technologies for encouraging cashless payments.

The paper provides information that could be of value at a national level (for India) and at the same time providing a guide for other countries that would like to adopt this framework.