Open data needs explored: How open government data is linked with
science and education
This summer, we published a new report ‘Open data needs for
researchers and academics
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/report/Open%20data%20needs%20for%20researchers%20and%20academics.pdf]’.
This first in a series of reports explores the links between open
government data, open science, and education, this report aims to
provide a better understanding of these relationships. There seems to
be a disconnection between those worlds, and the reports can support
government officials in expanding awareness of developments and trends
in the research world. Moreover, the studies show how to increase the
use of open datasets in scientific and academic work. 

This first report characterises three types of (potential) users and
providers of open data, namely a climate change researcher, a lecturer
on data journalism, and an open data officer. These personas, which
are fictional characters, have been developed through interviews with
researchers and university academics. The interviews provided the
insights for the report that are turned into actionable
recommendations to improve the availability and quality of open
government data.  

The report gives insights into the motivations, goals, and
frustrations of open data users with an exhaustive description of each
of the personas. For example, the climate change researcher
‘Ingrid’ works to provide scientific support towards mitigating
climate change with an open-science approach. Her frustration,
however, is that the datasets that she needs are hard to find or not
at the appropriate level of granularity. This translates into one of
the recommendations for open data platforms to create a specific
searchable tag. 

With two more personas, the report provides a good start and a clear
overview of identifying open data needs that are expected from
researchers and academics. By reading the report, you will get a
better understanding of actions that can be taken to overcome
frustrations and how the open data landscape is changing.  

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Publication Date/Time
2024-10-07T08:00:00+00:00
Our report with persona insights to understand open data needs