Cataloging Data Sets in State Institutions (MK0130)

Cataloging data sets in state institutions
Start and end date of the commitment: September 2018 – September 2020
Description of commitment
Status quo or problem addressed by the commitment
Institutions have no information on which open-source databases are available. Different institutions have different data sets format (eg financial data). When publishing these data by the institutions, it is difficult to analyze the data due to the different structure of the data sets. At the moment, awareness of open data, as well as the benefits resulting from this is at a very low level among institutions, citizens, the business community, the non-governmental sector, as well as all other stakeholders in the process of opening and re-utilizing open data. It is necessary to increase awareness of open data among all stakeholders in the process.
Main objective
Cataloging data in minimum 10 institutions. Publishing catalogs with data sets on the Open Data Portal. Publishing minimum 2 data sets from each institution for which a catalog of data sets has been made. Preparation of a data set proposal-structure in which institutions would publish the data. Better understanding of the open data concept by all stakeholders in the process, as well as increasing their awareness regarding the benefits resulting from open data.
Brief description of the commitment
In order to be able to open data in the institutions and to prioritize the opening of data sets, it is necessary to create a catalog of data sets in each institution that holds the data sets and that are open. Analysis of 1-2 same data sets of two or more institutions, consideration of the possibilities for their unification and submission of a proposal structure of the data set in which the institutions would publish these data. Increasing awareness of institutions, citizens, business community, nongovernmental sector, as well as all other stakeholders in the process of opening and reutilizing the open data, as well as the benefits that the citizens and small and medium enterprises can have from the data opening. Better visibility in the prioritization and opening of data sets, as well as possibility for analysis and comparison of same data sets from different institutions as well as greater awareness of open data: - Citizens require institutions to open data - Small, medium enterprises and universities create applications with open data that are used by citizens.
OGP challenge addressed by the commitment
- Public services improvement - Increasing public integrity
Additional information
Reference to activities in the Open Data Strategy Action Plan. It requires involvement and close cooperation by the institutions whose data sets will be classified. Reference to Global Sustainable Development Goals, related to Goal 16 "Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions", Target 16.10: To provide access to information and protection of fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements The measures of this commitment contribute to improving the access, application and monitoring of trends in relation to information and public data.
4.1.1. Cataloging and publishing catalogs with data sets on the open data portal from at least 10 institutions
4.1.2. Opening of at least 2 data sets per institution, for which data set cataloging has been made
4.1.3. Structure standardization of same data sets, based on analysis on 1-2 same data sets from different institutions
4.1.4. Structure proposal for publishing the data set and publication of standardized data sets from institutions which are part of the analysis.
4.1.5 Organizing workshops and prezentations involving the state administration authoritiers, non-governmental sector, universities, small and mediuim enterprizes (minimum 5 workshops)
4.1.6 Organizing hackatones
Contact information
Name of responsible person from implementing agency
Filip Manevski Nadica Josifovski
Title, Department
State Advisor for Information Systems and Technologies State Advisor for Information Systems and Technologies
Phone and e-mail
+389(0)2 320-0870 +389(0)2 320-0878 Filip.manevski@mioa.gov.mk Nadica.Josifovski@mioa.gov.mk
Other actors involved
Institutions whose data sets will be catalogued
Martin Todevski, Center for change management, martin.todevski@cup.org.mk Misha Popovikj, IDSCS, misha@idscs.org

Theme IV: Open Data

4.1. Cataloging data sets in state institutions

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan: [57]

“In order to be able to open data in the institutions and to prioritize the opening of data sets, it is necessary to create a catalog of data sets in each institution that holds the data sets and that are open. Analysis of 1-2 same data sets of two or more institutions, consideration of the possibilities for their unification and submission of a proposal structure of the data set in which the institutions would publish these data. Increasing awareness of institutions, citizens, business community, non-governmental sector, as well as all other stakeholders in the process of opening and reutilizing the open data, as well as the benefits that the citizens and small and medium enterprises can have from the data opening. Better visibility in the prioritization and opening of data sets, as well as possibility for analysis and comparison of same data sets from different institutions as well as greater awareness of open data: - Citizens require institutions to open data - Small, medium enterprises and universities create applications with open data that are used by citizens.”

Milestones:

4.1.1. Cataloging and publishing catalogs with data sets on the open data portal from at least 10 institutions

4.1.2. Opening of at least 2 data sets per institution, for which data set cataloging has been made

4.1.3. Structure standardization of same data sets, based on analysis on 1-2 same data sets from different institutions

4.1.4. Structure proposal for publishing the data set and publication of standardized data sets from institutions which are part of the analysis.

4.1.5 Organizing workshops and prezentations involving the state administration authoritiers, non-governmental sector, universities, small and mediuim enterprizes (minimum 5 workshops)

4.1.6 Organizing hackatones

Start Date: September 2018

End Date: September 2020

Context and Objectives

This commitment aims to improve the open data infrastructure in North Macedonia and raise public awareness of the open data concept. The first four milestones mostly continue the unfinished activities from Commitment 2.4 from the country’s third action plan (2016-2018). [58] They call for the Ministry of Information Services (MISA) to:

• catalogue and publish datasets of at least 10 institutions on the new open data portal,
• open a minimum of two datasets per institution for which datasets have been catalogued,
• standardize the structure of datasets based on an analysis of similar datasets by different institutions, and
• draft a structure for publication of datasets and publication of standardized datasets by institutions that are part of the analysis.

Similarly, the final two milestones partially continue unfinished activities under Commitment 2.3 from the third action plan. Specifically, they call for MISA to popularize the open data concept by holding workshops with state institutions, CSOs, universities, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as through hackathons. The action plan highlights the lack of information on the availability of such databases and underlines the difficulty in analyzing the data due to the different structure of the datasets. [59]

The commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information as it covers measures to facilitate public access to government-held data. While cataloguing datasets could improve the convenience of accessing open data, it does not necessarily increase the amount of open data disclosed. At the time of writing this report, North Macedonia’s newly established open data portal contains 224 datasets from 50 public institutions and 27 catalogues. [60] It is unclear the extent to which opening 1-2 datasets per institution and cataloguing of datasets from 10 institutions represents a significant increase in existing available data. Overall, the proposed activities of this commitment could represent a moderate improvement to open data availability and accessibility. However, the ultimate significance of the activities will mostly depend on which 10 institutions are included and which datasets will be made available.

Next steps

To improve open data practices significantly, MISA could expand the number of institutions covered under this commitment. It could also involve relevant organizations and data users in identifying priority and high-value datasets that should be opened up and ensure standardization is applied to them.

[57] The texts for all the commitments are an abridged version of the commitment texts. For the full commitment texts, see the Republic of North Macedonia 2018-2020 National Action Plan, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Macedonia_Action-Plan_2018-2020_EN.pdf

[58] IRM, Republic of Macedonia End-of-Term Report 2016-2018, p 18-21, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Macedonia_End-of-Term_Report_2016-2018_EN.pdf

[59] OGP National Action Plan 2018-2020, p 42, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Macedonia_Action-Plan_2018-2020_EN.pdf

[60] As of December 2019, http://www.otvorenipodatoci.gov.mk/en/

Commitment 4.1 Cataloging data in state institutions

Substantial:

The Ministry of Information Society and Administration (MISA) published 28 data catalogs on the portal data.gov.mk. At the end of the action plan period, these catalogs included 251 datasets from 55 organizations using the portal. [56] MISA developed a proposal for standardizing the publication structure for identical datasets and published six datasets using this structure. [57] In cooperation with the Foundation Metamorphosis, MISA organized three workshops on open data attended by 63 participants from 28 state institutions. [58] However, the planned hackathon was postponed due to COVID-19. [59] Therefore, the IRM considers this commitment substantially implemented, even though the government considered it fully complete in its self-assessment report.