research-article

Understanding Transparency and Accountability in Open Government Ecosystems: The Case of Health Data Visualizations in a State Government

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J. Ramon Gil-GarciaAuthors Info & Claims

dg.o '17: Proceedings of the 18th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research

Pages 39 - 47

https://doi.org/10.1145/3085228.3085318

Published: 07 June 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Many researchers of open government data raised the question as to whether transparency also promotes accountability. Concerning the unclear relationship between transparency and accountability, this case study first develops the conception of accountability in the context of open government and finds that accountability relates to the organizational need for an assessment of policy goals. This paper then examines the process in which a state health agency implements data visualization tools in an attempt to enhance the outcome of its open data policy goals. Drawing on the results from semi-structured interviews with a diverse set of internal users at the state agency, this case study provides some evidence as to how the gap between transparency and accountability can be closed at the organizational level. It also finds that data intermediaries can help government agencies overcome their resource constraints by critically assessing data usability while providing the technological expertise to align their open data policy goals with user expectations. Future research is necessary to examine the role of data intermediaries in wider open data ecosystems including multiple external stakeholders.

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Cited By

Ekundayo TBhaumik AChinoperekweyi JKhan Z(2024)Examining the impact of national open data initiatives on human development: A comparative study between Latin America and AfricaRussian Journal of Economics10.32609/j.ruje.10.10750010:1(84-102)Online publication date: 29-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.32609/j.ruje.10.107500
Vasquez HPianarosa ESirbu RDiemert LCunningham HHarish VDonmez BRosella L(2024)Human factors methods in the design of digital decision support systems for population health: a scoping reviewBMC Public Health10.1186/s12889-024-19968-824:1Online publication date: 10-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19968-8
Sheoran SMohanasundaram SKasilingam RVij S(2023)Usability and Accessibility of Open Government Data Portals of Countries WorldwideInternational Journal of Electronic Government Research10.4018/IJEGR.32230719:1(1-25)Online publication date: 9-May-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.4018/IJEGR.322307
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Index Terms

Understanding Transparency and Accountability in Open Government Ecosystems: The Case of Health Data Visualizations in a State Government
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

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dg.o '17: Proceedings of the 18th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research

June 2017

639 pages

ISBN:9781450353175

DOI:10.1145/3085228

Copyright © 2017 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 07 June 2017

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dg.o '17

dg.o '17: 18th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research

June 7 - 9, 2017

NY, Staten Island, USA

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dg.o '17 Paper Acceptance Rate 66 of 114 submissions, 58%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 150 of 271 submissions, 55%

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Cited By

Ekundayo TBhaumik AChinoperekweyi JKhan Z(2024)Examining the impact of national open data initiatives on human development: A comparative study between Latin America and AfricaRussian Journal of Economics10.32609/j.ruje.10.10750010:1(84-102)Online publication date: 29-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.32609/j.ruje.10.107500
Vasquez HPianarosa ESirbu RDiemert LCunningham HHarish VDonmez BRosella L(2024)Human factors methods in the design of digital decision support systems for population health: a scoping reviewBMC Public Health10.1186/s12889-024-19968-824:1Online publication date: 10-Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19968-8
Sheoran SMohanasundaram SKasilingam RVij S(2023)Usability and Accessibility of Open Government Data Portals of Countries WorldwideInternational Journal of Electronic Government Research10.4018/IJEGR.32230719:1(1-25)Online publication date: 9-May-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.4018/IJEGR.322307
Oliveira RCappelli COliveira J(2023)A Guide to Plain Language Data Visualizations: Guidelines for More Understandable Chart DesignProceedings of the XI Latin American Conference on Human Computer Interaction10.1145/3630970.3630990(1-4)Online publication date: 30-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3630970.3630990
Oliveira RCappelli COliveira J(2023)Assessment of public information understanding using plain language and data visualizationProceedings of the 16th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance10.1145/3614321.3614353(228-234)Online publication date: 26-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3614321.3614353
Shaharudin Avan Loenen BJanssen M(2023)Towards a Common Definition of Open Data IntermediariesDigital Government: Research and Practice10.1145/35855374:2(1-21)Online publication date: 14-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3585537
Zhao LYe W(2022)Visualization as infrastructure: China’s data visualization politics during COVID-19 and their implications for public health emergenciesConvergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies10.1177/1354856521106987228:1(13-34)Online publication date: 10-Feb-2022
https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565211069872
Oliveira RCappelli COliveira J(2021)An indicator of inefficient visualizations: the challenge of transparency during the COVID-19 pandemic in BrazilProceedings of the XVII Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems10.1145/3466933.3466937(1-11)Online publication date: 7-Jun-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3466933.3466937
Gil-Garcia JGasco-Hernandez MPardo T(2020)Beyond Transparency, Participation, and Collaboration? A Reflection on the Dimensions of Open GovernmentPublic Performance & Management Review10.1080/15309576.2020.1734726(1-20)Online publication date: 13-Mar-2020
https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2020.1734726
Matheus RJanssen M(2019)A Systematic Literature Study to Unravel Transparency Enabled by Open Government Data: The Window TheoryPublic Performance & Management Review10.1080/15309576.2019.1691025(1-32)Online publication date: 4-Dec-2019
https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2019.1691025

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