Configuration processes in open data

Open data is an emerging challenge for public sector managers, and represents a relatively novel context for academic research. It has been highlighted as a priority for policy-makers, and there is an increasing need to understand it from both a practical and theoretical perspective. In a review of the open data literature we focus on the main management challenges and identify a number of "cross-cutting" issues: the conflict between protecting and revealing information, the need to reconcile diverse stakeholder perspectives, and the lack of mature processes for data release. In response to the dearth of theoretical analyses in this, we propose a novel approach based on modular systems theory. Drawing on the concept of IP modularity we suggest that open data can be considered as a form of "information governance modularity". Given that modular architectures are often defined by the configuration of components into modules, we examine the release of public sector information as a configuration process. Various definitions of configuration are examined, and conflicts between the product management and information systems perspective are critiqued. Three different models for configuration processes in open data are proposed. Opportunities for further research are highlighted in terms of improved understanding of effective management practices, the application of modular design to information governance, and the modeling of configuration processes in the context of open data.