Module 3.1 Activities
Activity 1: Identifying a Local Data Portal and Understanding its Scope
Overview: In this activity, you will build an understanding of the scope and administration of an example civic open data portal. Identify a local open data portal and “look under its hood,” exploring who is behind the portal, what data is shared, and how a data creator (like a library!) can get started as a data publisher.
This activity can be done individually or in pairs.
Supplies: A computer or Internet-connected device
Time: 20-30 minutes
Activity:
Choose a city, town, or region– either your own or another! Imagine that you are interested in sharing your library’s Wi-Fi data through an open data portal.
What is the city, town, or region?
Is there an open data portal in the city, town, or region? If you’re unsure, begin by doing a search of https://dataportals.org/
What is the name and link to the portal?
2. Review the description of the portal (this may be located on an About page).
Who manages the portal?
What data is published on the portal (the scope of the portal)?
Does the portal publish government data? Data created by other community organizations?
3. Explore the data currently published on the portal.
Is there library data available on the portal?
Based on the described scope of the data portal, would library Wi-Fi data be publishable?
Does the site provide information about how a new publisher can make data available through the portal?
What guidance is available about the publishing process? About what data to share through the portal?
What would next steps be for your library if you wanted to move forward with data publication?
4. If completing this activity in a group, debrief about your observations! What did you learn about the management and scope of a civic data portal?
Activity Files
Activity 2: Evaluating Data Portal through User-Focused Criteria
Overview: Open data portals facilitate access to and reuse of government and community datasets. In this exercise, choose an open data portal to review and evaluate the data portal from a user perspective.
This activity can be done individually or in pairs.
Supplies:
A computer or Internet-connected device
Pen or pencil
Paper for note taking
Time: 30 minutes
Activity:
Individually or in pairs, examine a civic open data portal from the perspective of a user. This can be the same one that you reviewed in Module 3.1 Activity 1 [Identifying a Local Data Portal and Understanding its Scope] or another one of your selection.
Review the portal, considering the following [1]:
Data organization and search functionalities
Can users browse data sets by categories?
Can users see a list of all available datasets?
Can users filter and/or sort these datasets?
Can users search for datasets?
Does the portal provide advanced search options (for instance, Boolean, field search, results filtering, and/or results sorting)?
What is effective about the organization and search functionalities? What can be improved?
User support considerations and app showcase
Is help information/FAQ available on the portal?
Are there tasks that a user may need additional support to achieve? Consider, for example:
Searching/Browsing Understanding what data is (or is not) available
Contacting a portal manager and/or data creator
Downloading a dataset
Finding license information for a dataset
Are there applications, visualizations or maps available that allow users to interact with civic data (for example, an interactive map of public WiFi networks or bike lanes?)
Are there available educational opportunities (webinars, events)? What do they cover?
Participation considerations
Are there tools available for the community to share datasets?
Can the community comment/discuss/rate data sets?
Does the portal ask users to suggest changes to existing data sets and/or suggest new datasets?
2. Reflect on the user experience
If in a group setting, come together to discuss the user experience, considering in particular whether a “data novice” would be supported in finding, understanding, and using data? Are there supports or functionalities that were effective? Are there ways that the portal can be improved for the user?
If working as an individual, reflect on these questions in a “one minute paper.”
[1]These questions are drawn from: Zhu, Xiaohua and Mark Antony Freeman. “An evaluation of U.S. municipal open data portals: A user interaction framework.” JASIST 70, no. 1 (2019): 27-37. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24081
Activity Files
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