Citizen-generated open data: An explorative analysis of 25 cases

Abstract

Citizen-generated open data is the data that individuals consciously generate and that are openly available for use in the public domain. The promise of citizen-generated data is that it generates a basis for public governance. We conducted an explorative comparative case study research of 25 cases in different countries to enhance our understanding of this multi-actor collaboration and mapped the variation in (1) citizen motivations to generate data, (2) the organization of data intermediaries and (3) influence on public governance. We found that citizen-generated data can indeed provide better information for public governance but, at the same time, citizen-generated data can also be used to challenge current positions and power structures. The contribution of citizen-generated data to public governance should thus be understood in terms of both collaboration and contestation.