Assessing the performance of open data ecosystems: Access to Hospitals in Croatian towns

The assessment of the performance of open data ecosystems has gained significant interest of researchers worldwide (see Welle Donker & Van Loenen, 2016; Dodds and Newman, 2015; Capgemini Consulting, 2015; Public Sector Information (PSI) Scoreboard; Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM), 2015; World Wide Web Foundation, 2015; Open Knowledge International (OKI), 2014). These existing assessment methods focus on the status of the components of an ecosystem (is there an open data policy, does the data comply with open standards, is it available free of charge, etc). By applying an application/ user needs driven approach, this project implements a different assessment approach: open data as a means to assess (physical) access to hospital buildings. The extent to which such a simple but important societal question can be answered is regarded as a measure for the maturity of the open data ecosystem of a jurisdiction. We used the basic indicators for assessing the performance of an open data ecosystem, and complemented these with the result of the assessment of hospital accessibility. The results will provide insight in how the open data ecosystem is able to answer such a simple question and which steps have to be taken to improve the ecosystem. Adding such an user question driven approach to the portfolio of open data ecosystem assessment framework would be extremely beneficial for decision makers in specific domains to set priorities for releasing data as open data. The focus of the research is to detect available data sets in order to assess access to hospitals in three Croatian towns (Zagreb, Rijeka, Split). The research is based on existing open data, found on web portals, containing information on hospitals, emergency service, coronavirus screening clinics, public transport and stations (bus lines, tramways, bike routes), roads and car parking. Research method includes qualitative research on publicly available datasets. Methodology includes identification of portals, search for datasets, acquisition, data inspection, qualitative and quantitative analysis based on created model and reporting. The created framework entitled “Hospital Access Framework” consists of five domains: Supply side, Demand side (open data user skills), Demand side (end-user capabilities), Legal aspects and privacy, Impact. For each domain, several KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are suggested, using SMART (Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-bound) criteria. Qualitative analysis is performed on suggest eco-system framework, created for this research, while quantitative analysis includes Yes/Partly/No answers of suggested KPIs. Existing data sets are incomplete, missing, not in formats available for download, or generally, not of the sufficient quality and quantity. The aim was to interrelate data for several Croatian towns in order to assess access to hospitals by public and private transport and parking places. Although the suggested framework “Hospital Access Framework” is created as an ecosystem framework, it is not fully implemented. The framework is used at this stage only for assessment of (non)existence of available datasets needed to assess access to hospitals. The future challenge would be to create an online app as an eco-system, which would be updated through adding new data from interaction with users and by improving data quality and data quantity and to apply the framework “Hospital Access Framework” in its full potential.