Analytical Report 19: Understanding supply and demand on the European
Data Portal
Publication Date/Time
2021-02-24T08:00:00+00:00
Country
Europe
The European Data Portal’s 19th analytical report pro-vides a
detailed analysis of the relationship between supply and demand of
datasets on the EDP
EDP PUBLISHES 19TH ANALYTICAL REPORT

The European Data Portal (EDP) just published the 19th analytical
report: “Understanding supply and demand on the European Data Portal
[/sites/default/files/analytical_report_19-understanding_data_supply_demand.pdf]”.
The report is prepared by the University of Southampton
[https://www.southampton.ac.uk/] and provides a detailed analysis of
the relationship between supply and demand of datasets on the EDP.
This report follows up on the research and findings of  Analytical
Report 18: “Characterising dataset search on the European Data
Portal
[/sites/default/files/analytical_report_18-characterising_data_search_edp.pdf]”,
which investigated how users search for datasets on the EDP. As there
is no direct measurement for this, the authors analysed proxies such
as downloads and go-to-source activities logged by the portal to
identify search sessions.

THE REPORT DELVES INTO USER’S NEEDS AND COVID-19 

The current analytical report dives deeper into user’s needs and
monitors the developments of those needs over time. To investigate
this, researchers analysed the interaction logs of the EDP from early
April 2018 to late October 2020. In doing so, they strove to discover
if there are datasets harvested by the portal that are consistently
demanded for over time, or to show if there is periodical / episodical
demand (i.e. demand goes up and down in cycles like elections or
result from specific events like natural disasters, or COVID-19).

The report is broken up into two parts. The first is an initial study
of datasets search through the lens of the digital traces collected
via web analytics tools. The second is a deep-dive into supply and
demand for COVID-19 data and the impact auxiliary content such as data
stories, topical articles, and promotion campaigns have on search
behaviour.

THE RESULTS PROVIDE SEVERAL INSIGHTS INTO GENERAL SUPPLY AND DEMAND

The initial study of the report provides answers to four questions:

 	* _Which categories of datasets are in high demand?_ 

From the results it appears that, transport, economy, environment, and
health are the datasets with the highest demand. Health became more
popular in March 2020 while transport declined. 

 	* _What datasets are most demanded by users?_

Pre-COVID-19, geospatial datasets were most demanded by users. After
April 2020, COVID-19 related datasets were the most downloaded,
especially updates published by the EU Centre for Disease Control.

 	* _What datasets are used together?_ 

There is enormous variation is this. For more details, consult the
analytical report. 

 	* _How do these dimensions vary over time?_ _Are there any
periodical or episodical effects in demand over time? Can we link the
latter to specific events?  _

Overall, dataset demand is relatively stable with only a few peaks and
declines (147 datasets showed a download up peak). For example, around
the winter holidays, the number of visits to the EDP visibly decline.
There are three events that have led to an increase in demand, i.e.
the launch of Google Dataset Search, the EU Datathon 2020, and the
inauguration of a Romanian war cemetery and memorial for fallen
soldiers.

THERE IS SOME EFFECT OF THE PANDEMIC

Zooming into the COVID-19 situation. Firstly, findings show that the
EDP was used 20% more during the pandemic, which can be attributed to
the dedicated COVID-19 section. Users found this section mostly
through search engines.

Secondly, the publication of COVID-19 data stories increased traffic
to the portal with five stories attracting over 5000 visits, and one
story on education attracting 14000 visits. Finally, regarding the
number of downloads, results showed that COVID-19 datasets were
downloaded more often and are in the top-10 overall most downloaded
datasets despite being available for a short period of time only.

AUTHORS PROPOSE FOUR RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings, and in order to retain and increase traffic to
the portal, the report recommends that dataset publishers and open
data platforms software:

 	* Create curated content about relevant datasets and showcase them
on a dedicated section of the site. For instance, a monthly article
that describes a current topic on the basis of a dataset.
 	* Design with user-journeys and information needs in mind. User
journeys that start on the portal vary widely from those that land on
the portal.
 	* Monitor regularly to discover the categories that are in demand.

Analytical report 19 gives us more detailed insights into common user
journeys in dataset discovery and into the information needs that EDP
should aim to meet. Interested to read the full methodology and
results? Explore the full article
[https://www.europeandataportal.eu/sites/default/files/analytical_report_19-understanding_data_supply_demand.pdf].

Keep an eye on our upcoming Featured Highlight on Data Talks and stay
tuned for more updates via  the EDP news archive
[/en/news-events/news], the events calendar [/en/news-events/events]
and follow us on Twitter [http://twitter.com/EU_DataPortal], Facebook
[http://www.facebook.com/EuropeanDataPortal] or LinkedIn
[https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-data-portal/].
