Three Types of Open Data and Related Privacy Issues

Three Data Types Which Are Considered For Analysis Are Education, Transport And Weather.

Identification And Explanation Of Three Types Of Open Data

Identification And Explanation Of Three Privacy Issues For The Col.lection And Distribution Of Open Data.

Open data refers to dataset that are publicly accessible. These data are provided by various sources. However, open data provided by government are one of the most significant OPEN data provided for public access and purpose for accessing these data depends on type of data and requirements as well (Vetrò et al., 2016). It analyses three types of OPEN data and provides a comprehensive idea regarding these data types in this context.

Data regarding student performance helps educational institutions in analysing student performance and identify issues that are affecting their performance. Therefore, it is easier for them to identify requirements for improving student performance and provide students required tools and strategies for improving their performance as well (Wang & Lo, 2016). Therefore, it is important to ensure that this data is publicly accessible which will help educational institutes in enhancing student performance and provide quality education as well.

In this digital era , it is now easier for people to identify information regarding public transports for example when a bus will arrive to the bus station, where is a public vehicle is at a specific time, what is the status of traffic at a specific place of interest and other transport information. It makes journey more informed and less hassle free as well (Zeleti et al., 2016). However, if transport data is not made available for public, accessing these data is not possible. Therefore, this data is important for enhancing quality of public transport as well.

It is now easier to obtain information regarding weather and all it is required is access to smart phone and access to internet. People get weather information for example if there is any possibility of rain, or amount of humidity, possibility of any thunderstorm and other important weather related information as well (Wang & Lo, 2016). It makes it easier for people to plan their activities, planning any trip to any particular destination and also make necessary arrangements according to requirements as well.

One of the most significant issues with open data is violation of privacy. When government makes some accessible for public, they do not provide personal information regarding any individual. However, if these data contain enough attributes which makes it possible to identify any individual, then it affects privacy as well (Vetrò et al., 2016). Although open data does not provide these information easily, but it is possible to connect data from different data sets that are available publicly and identify personal information. Although this process is not that easy, but people expert in data analytics are capable of doing this. Therefore, it is not possible to ensure that personal identity and therefore privacy is protected if proper strategies are considered as well.

When personal identity is accessed through open data, it breaches privacy. When government is not capable of protecting privacy of its citizens, it affects public trust in government (Wang & Lo, 2016). When people agrees to provide their personal data to government, they assumes that their data will be protected from illegal access and therefore, their personal identity will be protected as well. However, when they identifies that their data have been provided for open access and their privacy is not ensured, then they lose their trust in government and its laws and regulation as well.

Although proper attention is provided to ensure that data is accurate, if there is modification in data as this is openly accessible, then it will make data less effective and also affect decision of public (Ruijer et al., 2017). Therefore, if accuracy of data is not verified then it is not possible to ensure quality of data as well.

It provides three strategies which the legislators should consider requiring of state agencies when engaging in OPEN data initiatives as well.

These strategies are the followings (Okamoto, 2017):

It is required to implement risk-benefit analysis to identify if there is risk in sharing open data and if so they need to design proper strategies for ensuing that these data are secured and privacy is ensured as well

It is recommended to analyze privacy for each lifecycle of the dataset, not only when data is being released for enhancing privacy

It is recommended to design operational structures along with strategies for codifying privacy management as well

References

Okamoto, K. (2017). Introducing open government data. The Reference Librarian, 58(2), 111-123.

Ruijer, E., Grimmelikhuijsen, S., Hogan, M., Enzerink, S., Ojo, A., & Meijer, A. (2017). Connecting societal issues, users and data. Scenario-based design of open data platforms. Government Information Quarterly, 34(3), 470-480.

Vetrò, A., Canova, L., Torchiano, M., Minotas, C. O., Iemma, R., & Morando, F. (2016). Open data quality measurement framework: Definition and application to Open Government Data. Government Information Quarterly, 33(2), 325-337.

Wang, H. J., & Lo, J. (2016). Adoption of open government data among government agencies. Government Information Quarterly, 33(1), 80-88.

Zeleti, F. A., Ojo, A., & Curry, E. (2016). Exploring the economic value of open government data. Government Information Quarterly, 33(3), 535-551.