The Demand Side of Open Government Data: A Case Study of Kingdom of Bahrain

TL;DR

This study investigates citizen awareness, requirements, and challenges related to Open Government Data in Bahrain, highlighting the need for government efforts to enhance OGD implementation and reuse.

Contribution

It provides an empirical assessment of citizen demand and obstacles for OGD in Bahrain, a context with limited prior research on the demand side.

Findings

Low citizen awareness of OGD in Bahrain

Citizens require more accessible and relevant OGD

Government efforts are crucial for OGD progress

Abstract

Governments around the world have realized the importance of Open Government Data (OGD) as a new paradigm shift in government that focuses on making governments more service-oriented, transparent, and competent. However, as with many countries, the situation of the OGD initiative in the Kingdom of Bahrain is not promising as reflected by a number of assessments that measure the implementation and progress of OGD worldwide. The current research aims at investing in the local situation regarding consuming and reusing OGD in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Specifically, this research assesses the level of citizen awareness towards OGD, determines citizens requirements of OGD, and identifies the key challenges and obstacles in using/reusing OGD. A questionnaire was developed to investigate the demand side of OGD. The findings show that serious and responsible efforts from the publishers of OGD, namely: Government Organizations are believed to be a necessity in order to progress the implementation process of the OGD initiative in the Kingdom of Bahrain.