## 4 An Ecosystem as a Framework for an Open Government Research Agenda
### Data  
A second assumption at the heart of the open government movement is that the data itself is readily available and once made accessible, is fit for any use a citizen, entrepreneur, activist or government might make of it. Creating data that adheres to standards, has the appropriate metadata, is accessible outside of government, is fit for use by a wide range of potential users, and generates value through its reuse is not cheap. Each of these characteristics requires an investment of time, energy and effort on the part of many individuals along the workflow of defining data of interest, prioritizing data collection, conducting data collection, publishing the data, and then using it. Generally, workshop participants agreed that we have limited understanding of the economic implications of adopting open data as a new line of business for government and, as a consequence, it is not easy to publish or find and use \"trusted\" data. What does it cost to create and make available and then use trusted government data and who will pay? How can new knowledge about costs and value be used to incentivize governments and other key actors to enter the \"marketplace\"? Will a more robust data market create connections between suppliers and consumers and result in more informed investments--more targeted products--and lower the cost of entry for all? What does that market look like?There is also the assumption that other critical components of an open government ecosystem such as data governance models and data sharing capability are well-developed and in place. Unfortunately, this is not so in either case. Seemingly simple questions about data quality, formats, and standards plague efforts to share and integrate data. Making data accessible and fit for re-use are not insignificant challenges and raises a wide range of complex research questions, including issues about data sharing itself, for example, how and when sharing is appropriate. Questions ranged from how government data can be presented to facilitate a more open dialogue, to what new capabilities do government agencies need to have to increase openness in the interest of such a dialogue. Incentivizing communities across the sectors to care about and use government data may in part depend on having access to what is generally called \"high-value\" datasets. Again, calling attention to a set of unanswered questions about the governance issues around data release: who should decide what data is \"high value\" and how do they choose? How does a user know when data is fit for re-use, how does a user know what has been done to that data, and what restrictions govern its use? Workshop participants saw the ecosystem view as particularly useful here in that it provides a way to depoliticize the subject and support feedback between research and practice, arguing for and enabling an experimental \"sandbox\" that would support interdisciplinary teams with expertise in information and computer science, public policy and organizational theory, diffusion of innovation, and usability. Workshop participants recognized the increasing need for new data governance models to inform questions such as who should be the responsible party or parties in the creation of technical architecture, infrastructure, and policies and standards for open government data. New research on standards, in particular metadata standards, was called for. They urged the support of research that focuses on standards development and adoption; noting a fundamental disconnect between the recognition that standards are key to scale and use of data, and that resistance to standards use is prevalent across the sectors. As noted above, data and its associated storage and transmission technologies, in particular, demands short term, mid-range, and long view perspectives.