Kadri Keernik
Title: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NORTH AMERICAN AND ESTONIAN OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA ECOSYSTEMS AND LESSONS LEARNED FOR ESTONIA
Supervisor: Dr Ralf-Martin Soe, PhD
Opponent: Maarja Toots, MA
Defense: 22 January 2020
Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to understand similarities and differences between open government data ecosystems in the United States of America, Canada and Estonia, analyse what makes the first two advanced in world context and evaluate what Estonia could learn to improve its position. The hypothesis is that if Estonia could take over some of the professional procedures that are seen as effective in North America Estonia could also use similar methods. Comparative analysis is being used for evaluating current circumstances, to draw conclusions and find approaches that could be relevant in Estonia’s context. A part of the analysis is focused on understanding the evolvement process to ensure the applicability for the case of Estonia as context makes a great difference. Evaluation shows that the motivation to open up data has not been the same in areas under comparison, which results in dissimilar outcomes. Deriving from the analysis the thesis will bring out the conditions that have influenced the open government data (OGD) ecosystems’ development. Conclusion provides proposals for improving Estonia’s OGD ecosystem through various aspects on different levels. The data has been collected from academic journals, academic and government reports, government documents and business intelligence industry reports.
Keywords: open government data, digital government, e-government, open government data ecosystem.
