Transparency in Open Data Contest

This study measures the degree of innovation performance transparency and solution transparency to determine the effect of transparency on participation and innovation.

Transparency in Open Data Contest

Primary Research Questions:

• What are the effects of innovation performance transparency and solution transparency on participation and innovativeness of Open Data solutions in Open Data contests?
• How does transparency in open data contests affect civic participation?
• How does transparency influence the novelty, usefulness, and popularity of open data solutions?
• Are there differences in the way agencies and citizens evaluate the innovativeness of these solutions?

In a series of ‘first-of-its-kind’ 3 weeks fully virtual hacks known as “The Purdue IronHacks”, we explore transparency and participation in Open Data (OD) solutions in OD contests. The OD project introduces the concept of innovation performance transparency and solution transparency in OD contests. We draw upon the theory of private-collective innovation, self-organizing governance and our previous research in organizing innovation contests, collective action, and open public policy and problem solving. The goal of this project is to provide a new perspective on how to promote impact from governmental OD. Using machine readable open datasets from Data.gov focusing on the areas of: Health, Energy, Climate, Education, Finance, Public Safety, and Global Development, we conduct an empirical quantitative study to explain the effect of innovation performance transparency and solution transparency on governmental OD impact.

Following a data driven and computational research approach, in a series of quasi-experimental OD contests, several hundred citizens, developers, and students will participate in a ‘virtual’ lab environment. Non-expert citizens and developers will collaborate to identify problems, share different perspectives, critical decisions, and seek solutions. The degree of innovation performance transparency and solution transparency will be measured in order to determine the effect of transparency on participation and innovation. Findings from these experiments will be implemented in larger national OD contests, such as the National Day of Civic Hacking. In sum, this study will provide evidence-based guidelines for the design of OD contests and how to utilize transparency and knowledge sharing to increase the impact of governmental OD.

Duration: 24 months

Investigators: Sabine Brunswicker, Ann Majchrzak, Esteve Almirall.

Partners & Sponsorship

Partners: RedHat, Socrata, City of West Lafayette, & Purdue Hackers
Sponsor(s): NSF, Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSPI)