Making Government Data Accessible and Usable (KR0063)

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? Enhance government transparency by disclosing as much public data as possible to the public and meet public demand by enabling people to participate in solving social problems.

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? Korea has been actively disclosing public data to the extent that it ranked 1st in the OECD OURdata Index which assesses data availability, accessibility and government support for data utilization. However, compared to the vast amount of data disclosed thanks to the government’s efforts, public data utilization from the private and research sector to create value has fallen short. With Corona Map (a mobile application visualizing the travel routes of individuals who have tested positive) and the mask inventory application (a mobile application providing information on mask stock at governmentappointed outlets) which citizens and developers created using public data, playing a key role in flattening the COVID-19 curve, the importance of public data disclosure and utilization as a means of restoring the public’s trust in government and overcoming the COVID-19 crisis has been brought into sharp relief. The government needs to aggressively utilize the public’s ideas and technologies to overcome crises, achieve economic development and solve social problems.

What is the commitment? Based on the public demand-centered Public Data Disclosure 2.0 strategy, the government will spare no effort to take the lead in the Digital New Deal, Digital Government and Data Economy. The Public Data Disclosure 2.0 strategy will 1) disclose high-quality user-centered data, 2) provide various types of data in a convenient manner, and 3) work with the public to disclose and utilize public data to enable data utilization through public-private cooperation. 1) Reflecting the market’s demand for various types of data utilization, disclosure of National Core Data based on new industries such as autonomous driving, smart cities, health care and financial information will be promoted. Identification and disclosure of data on disaster and safety management and living environment that reflect current social issues will also be promoted and data related to solving social problems will be disclosed first. 2) Data that proves difficult to disclose directly will be disclosed in various ways so that the public can conveniently use public data. 3) The government will work with the public to generate and disclose data through public-private cooperation.

How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? 1) Disclosure of National Core Data will be expanded. Related plans will be renewed every year to reflect the demand for data closely related to new industries and people’s everyday lives. Data disclosure will be expanded reflecting each sector’s expert task force teams, data utilizing firms, technology development, readiness of organizations and system improvements. 2) Unstructured data (documents, images, videos, etc.) will be disclosed in phases. For data that poses disclosure difficulties, various means will be used such as verifying authenticity. 3) The government will collect, generate and disclose data with the public to provide highly sought after data based on the participation of citizen developers and the public (crowdsourcing).

Exchange and Peer Learning N/A

Additional Information N/A

Milestone Activity with a Verifiable Deliverable Start Date End Date 1. Disclosure of National Core Data 2020 2022 2-1. Phased disclosure of unstructured data 2020 2022 2-2. Providing data in various ways such as authenticity verification 2021 2022 3. Data collection, generation and disclosure based on crowdsourcing 2021 2022

Action Plan Review

Commitment 13. Make government data accessible and usable for citizens

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest

Results Report

Commitment 13. Make government data accessible and usable for the public

This commitment completed milestones aimed to continue phased release of government data based on the Open Government Data Master Plans and National Core Data Release Plans. National core data are bundles of data determined to be to be a public priority via a multistakeholder process. Since 2015, a total of 168 bundles of national core data have been released (33 in 2015–2016, 63 in 2017–2019, and 72 in 2020–2022 during the implementation period). [81] In addition to completing this milestone, the government also completed milestones to prepare a draft guide for the opening of unstructured public data in December 2022 and support the opening of sensitive data requiring authenticity verification. [82] The National Tax Service data and Korail’s SR railroad ticket data were opened in 2021 and 2022 respectively using authenticity verification. [83] The commitment’s final milestone continued public-private collaboration on open data. Through public contests and in collaboration with the private sector and civil society, the government supported data collection and curated release by citizen developers, social cooperatives, university students, and others. [84] Public-private data releases included availability of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, accessibility map and information for people with disabilities, and availability of renewable fuel. [85] While public-private open data initiatives represent a participatory way to tidy and curate data, open data advocates noted that it will not be sustainable without sufficient funding. [86] Overall, this commitment did not achieve notable early results as it did not go beyond continuing already existing open data practices.