Opening Government Data Through Mediation: Exploring the Roles, Practices and Strategies of Data Intermediary Organisations in India

Abstract

The study explores the existing practices of accessing and using government data in India to understand what challenges the recently approved National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy and its implementation measures must overcome to actualise the open data agenda. It surveys selected non­governmental and non­commercial “data intermediary organisations,” across sectors, that enable other organisations to better work with (access, use, and share) government and non­government data. Interviewing representatives of these organisations and understanding their actual data practices, the study foregrounds three key topics of discussion: (1) the nature of “open data community” in India, (2) the many challenges of effectively opening up government data in India, and (3) the applications of and communities around Right to Information Act and National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy. The study analyses the first two issues, but a detailed discussion of the last one remains pending.

Keywords: Open Data, Open Government Data, India, Data Intermediary Organisation, Intermediary Organisation