Turning Open Government Data into Public Value: Testing the COPS Framework for the Co-creation of OGD-Driven Public Services

This chapter aims to demonstrate and understand how open government data can generate public value by allowing any actor to co-create an open government data-driven public service. The chapter takes a holistic approach to understanding open government data-driven co-creation and follows a content-context-process approach for the framework development. The framework proposes a public service co-creation cycle based around the ideas of agile and lean development that should lead to increased usage of open government data. The co-creation cycle is made up of four parts: co-initiation, co-design, co-implementation, and co-evaluation. To test the propositions put forth by the framework, a multi-case study was conducted on five different pilot projects that aimed to use open government data in the co-creation of new public services. The pilots were conducted at different levels of government and across different public domains. The results of the study seem to support the propositions outlined by the framework, though it also emerged that the pilots that engaged in co-implementation had higher levels of user engagement and satisfaction with the service; this warrants future empirical research.