Felipe González-Zapata | The University of Manchester (original) (raw)

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Papers by Felipe González-Zapata

This paper aims at discussing the interdependency of data governance and open government data. It... more This paper aims at discussing the interdependency of data governance and open government data. It draws upon evidence on the application of open government data policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, the OECD model for data governance in the public sector, and the OECD's general work on data-and open government data policies.

Open government data (OGD) can promote transparency and accountability. While OGD intervenes in p... more Open government data (OGD) can promote transparency and accountability. While OGD intervenes in political spaces and interests related to transparency agendas, little attention has been paid to the influence of existing transparency initiatives on the way OGD initiatives are designed and implemented. This paper analyzes the influence of the transparency agenda on OGD in order to understand how past decisions in transparency shape current OGD implementation. Based on the case of Chile, the paper follows a historical institutionalism approach: recent transparency-related institutions are analyzed through the lens of path dependence. The paper concludes that existing cultures around the transparency agenda in Chile have both an ideological and operational influence on the development of OGD, which have limited its institutionalization and appropriateness within the public sector to date.

Open government data (OGD) has been promoted as an innovative ICT-related policy that can help ac... more Open government data (OGD) has been promoted as an innovative ICT-related policy that can help accomplish political, social and economic development goals, especially in developing countries. However, this paper argues that barriers emerging between governments and civil society in these nations – digital divide, data absence, lack of data quality, and lack of data provision – may impede OGD success. In order to overcome these barriers, new resources and capabilities need to be brought to the OGD arena, since governments often focus only on releasing raw data, and civil society is often unable to technically produce and disseminate information from datasets. Thus, “OGD intermediaries” are required to bridge the gap between these stakeholders by providing technical knowledge and resources that otherwise would be missed. This paper identifies five different roles that OGD intermediaries can play – acting as demanders, producers, validators, developers or communicators of data – and provides examples of these from the Latin American context. By recognizing the need for, and types of, OGD intermediary, it is hoped this paper will help improve both understanding and success of OGD initiatives.

As a field of practice and research that is fast-growing and a locus for much attention and activ... more As a field of practice and research that is fast-growing and a locus for much attention and activity, open government
data (OGD) has attracted stakeholders froma variety of origins. They bring with thema variety ofmeanings
for OGD. The purpose of this paper is to show how the different stakeholders and their different perspectives on
OGD can be analyzed in a given context. Taking Chile as an OGD exemplar, stakeholder analysis is used to identify
and categorize stakeholder groups in terms of their relative power and interest as either primary (in this case,
politicians, public officials, public sector practitioners, international organizations) or secondary (civil society activists,
funding donors, ICT providers, academics). Stakeholder groups sometimes associated with OGD but absent
from significant involvement in Chile – such as private sector- and citizen-users – are also identified.
Four different perspectives on open government data – bureaucratic, political, technological, and economic – are
identified from a literature review. Template analysis is used to analyze text – OGD-related reports, conference
presentations, and interviews in Chile – in terms of those perspectives. This shows bureaucratic and political perspectives
to be more dominant than the other two, and also some presence for a politico-economic perspective
not identified from the original literature review. The information value chain is used to identify a “missingmiddle”
in current Chilean OGD perspectives: a lack of connection between a reality of data provision and an aspiration
of developmental results. This pattern of perspectives can be explained by the capacities and interests of key
stakeholders, with those in turn being shaped by Chile's history, politics, and institutions.

Overall, stakeholder analysis and perspectives analysis are shown from this case to be workable techniques for
OGD that add value by exposing the identity, power, motivations, and worldview of key actors. They provide a
necessary foundation of knowledge for both researchers and practitioners who need to understand the different
meanings of OGD in any particular context.

Talks by Felipe González-Zapata

This presentation reflects on the presence of Path Dependency in Open Government Data (OGD) in Ch... more This presentation reflects on the presence of Path Dependency in Open Government Data (OGD) in Chile. It presents preliminary conclusions about the influence of several institutional trajectories on the current implementation and state of OGD in the country.