Overview
Data providers should engage the users and collaborate with them throughout the lifecycle in order to be able to understand the demand for data, to obtain feedback on the published data and to keep the users informed.
Why
Engagement, communication and collaboration between the users and publishers in the early stages of the lifecycle helps the publishers to understand the demand for data and thus it might help to focus the publication of open data on the datasets with the high value for the end users. Later the feedback obtained on the published datasets, like the identified errors in data, might be utilized for the data quality improvements. At the end of the lifecycle communication with the users should ensure that the users are informed about the termination of datasets and, if applicable, about the new datasets that replace the terminated ones.
Intended outcome
Publishers should be able to prioritize datasets based on the demand.
Publishers should be able to improve quality of datasets based on the provided feedback.
Users should be informed about the planned termination of datasets early enough and thus the negative impacts of the dataset termination SHOULD be reduced.
Possible Approach
Examples of collaboration between the users and publishers and the user engagement by the lifecycle stage:
- Planning – understand what data is in demand, for example by obtaining suggestions from the potential users or letting them rate the datasets proposed for publication.
- Creation – e.g. user contributed transformations of data into various formats.
- Archiving – e.g. metadata enrichment performed by the users.
- Refinement – utilizing the user feedback for the data quality improvements.
- Publication and Access – informing the users about the availability of datasets, e.g. via RSS feeds, mailing lists etc.
- External use – facilitating re-use by competitions or hackathons.
- Feedback – obtaining feedback from the users.
- Termination – informing users about the terminated datasets and the new datasets that supersede the terminated ones.
How to Test
Users should be allowed to suggest new datasets to be published via some publicly accessible channel, e.g. contact email on the data portal.
Users should be allowed to provide feedback on the published datasets via some publicly accessible channel.
Providers should publicly announce changes in datasets like newly added datasets, changed/updated datasets and datasets planned to be terminated. If possible users should be allowed to subscribe to some designated news channel.
Evidence
Open Data Life Cycle and Infrastructure Bar Camp (PDF)
5 stars of Open Data engagement model (PDF)
Lifecycle Stage
Planning, Creation, Archiving, Refinement, Publication, Access, External use, Feedback, Termination
Audience
Project managers