icegov2012 proceedings

Giving Kenya’s citizens greater access to government data
enables communities to mobilize and demand better services
based on evidence provided by open data. [1]
2.2 Importance of Open Data to Governance
Through continuous interaction and providing feedback on the
platform and its data sets, in the long term, open data promotes
not only transparency and accountability, but also democracy. As
previously highlighted, improved service delivery will be
promoted by the feedback loops that arise through frequent
querying of the open data by both citizens and government
agencies. For example, the resource allocations and government
expenditures could be queried and insights obtained by analyzing
the open data accessed. In this manner, open data will allow for a
paradigm shift from a centralized governance model to a citizencentric
governance model.
The government realizes these important values of the open data
platform and has been a strong advocate for the platform,
evangelizing about its potential and benefits at various events and
public functions. In return, many developers and journalists have
embraced the Open Data Portal with a number of applications that
query the database being developed. Examples of such
applications include: Huduma [10], MsemaKweli [12],
CountyScoreCard [5] and CDF Review [3]. Further, the
government has promoted interaction with these data sets by
providing grants of up to $30,000 for the development of
applications based on open data. [6]
The World Bank has also been instrumental in the education and
awareness campaigns on the importance and opportunities of the
open data portal by sending in their own open data evangelists and
members of the finances’ open data team to officiate at boot
camps with a focus on data journalism and open data
visualization.
Despite these numerous efforts, the potential of the open data
portal has only barely been realized.
3. OPEN DATA CONSUMPTION
3.1 Open Data Evangelism
The openness of the platform is subject to interpretation because,
though the data sets are available online, this does not necessarily
translate to the data being available to all Kenyan citizens. This is
because currently, the data is only available on a web or mobilebased
portal. Less-educated citizens may not be comfortable
accessing information through the Internet or mobile phones.
Alternatively, the less educated citizens may not be Englishliterate.
These less educated citizens may be the users who have
the most need for the open data information. Therefore, for the
portal to be a success, citizens, end users, and beneficiaries must
be made aware of what information lies on the data platform and
its relevance and usefulness. This awareness can be raised through
direct interpretation of the data on the portal, but perhaps more
importantly, from easily-digestible information created by
intermediary parties from analysis and visualization of the open
data.
These intermediary parties essentially interact directly with the
platform creating applications based on the data. To reap
maximum benefits from the open data sets, the applications
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created must address real needs and not just be fancy visuals with
no real value behind them.
Despite the many efforts discussed above, there has been no real
measurable engagement of industry and sector experts in these
open data conversations to date. These are important stakeholders
when it comes to formulate problem statements based on these
data sets and advice on the solution development [2]. While
software developers may create great visualization tools, great
value is derived from their engagement with industry experts who
together, will assist to build necessary service to serve the likes of
those who will not readily accept or understand the data on the
platform.
Figure 1: How different stakeholders engage with
opendata.go.ke
There is a need to bridge the gap between those who can make
sense of the data sets and interpret the seemingly random numbers
to software developers, in a manner that can then be easily
adapted and captured in innovative useful products and
applications. This research aims to test the hypothesis that the
realization of the full potential of open data will be achieved when
easily interpretable open data products are made for the general
public, the final end user of these data sets.
3.2 Design Thinking Approach
3.2.1 The Open Data Pre-Incubator
We are currently carrying out this research study around a sixmonth
experiment, a pre-incubator, which aims to accelerate the
ability for the public to make sense of open data in order to
increase their engagement around critical public issues: in the
sectors of Water, Education, Transport, and Local Counties. The
Pre-incubator experiment will test a model that will be put to use
in a broader two-year Incubator effort, endorsed and supported by
the highest levels of government, which will be led by public
mobilization agents with support from the technological
community.
In this Pre-Incubator, four Open Data Fellows have been
embedded in civil society and media organizations and are
working to build an application or service or platform around key
thematic issues. These host organizations and fellows are
conducting a close consultation process with issue expert working
groups who provide insight into specific use cases and technical