Turkey's Open Data Policy

Introduction

Within the broadest term, the concept of Open Data which has frequently been encountered recently refers the data commonly and conveniently accessed, processed, altered and shared without interference of any intellectual property right by user. Inspite of the recent history of studies on open data across the world, significant steps have been taken in the world in terms of intensifying studies especially in the US. In relation with the economic significance of open data, it could be expected to maintain its prominence among other issues in global agenda. However, it is necessary to add the fact that there has been a controversy with the relavant concepts in the social sciences; and their context has eroded over the time.

Similar tendency has been observed with the numbers of concepts within Turkish public administration in the past as well. These developments were in theory eventhough they had certain practical impacts. For instance, when the concepts of transparency, openness, accountability, efficiency and productivity are considered, it could be seen that they have been contained abundantly in theoretical manuscriptions; and that utility of these concepts have been dragged into theoretical confusions sometime. In Turkey, just as numbers of concepts had been degraded and eroded within the public administration domain so far, now open data and open government concepts are being used with similar collousness by degrading their meaning. Today, it is rather difficult to observe the necessary intellectual awareness with the users of open data concepts when they remark the necessity of open data publicly in relation with its significance nested within social and economic development and transformation. For some how, it is rather possible to imply that we are not adequately comprehend the concept or to take necessary action in the light of “government is now an issue of data management”.

Data management refers collection, processing, utility of data for certain objective as well as making it usible for estimations. For instance from the the industrial perspective, both quality of the products made in factories and factory organization and operation are experiencing transformation. Moreover, the relationship between the manufacturing and service industries has intensified and depened. In this sense, from the perspective of public administration, or public sector, collection and utility of data are substatially important as well as processing data in order to make use of it in estimation purposes. This requires public sector to complete necessary transformation in its current hardware and software infrastructure. That is, this transformation experienced with the manufacturing industry is also expected to seen with the public sector. It is possible to see the transformation in quality of all goods and services manufactured by the government organizations as well as ways of organization and business of private sector. Again in parallel with the elevated interaction between manufacturing and service sectors, it is expected the relationship of the public sector with both private and third sectors to deepened further.

Public administration is required to cetered its focus on “data collection and data processing”. This means that public sector is destined to review its organization style and structure as a whole just like other sectors. The distance between the countries with greater capacity of manufacturing, data processing and relevant legal infrastructure and the ones without will extend dramatically. Practice of open data policy across public administrations is expected to yield outstanding benefits such as increasing efficiency of public services, more open, transparent and accountable administrative understanding, efficient utility of public resources, lowering administrative costs, increasing citizen participation, decresing bureaucratic complexity and bulkiness in public administration, and establishment of more robust public policy.