This survey deals with open data and semantic metadata. It is funded by the DDI Alliance. If you use or provide open data (or might in the future), please complete this survey to share your perspectives. View important information about your consent to participate by clicking on the following link: Survey participant information and consent form (you are encouraged to save or print a copy of this document).
Please share the link to this survey with individuals and organizations in your networks. However, there is no obligation for you to pass along this invitation, and there will be no penalty to you if you do not share it. Estimated time to complete the survey is 15-20 minutes.
This survey has been approved by the Research Ethics Board at the University of Regina. By continuing, you confirm that you give your consent to participate and that understand what this consent entails.
The following questions ask for some information about you and your organization (if applicable). If you are affiliated with more than one organization, indicate the one where you are most involved with open data.
Please select the option that includes your age
Please indicate your gender
Please select the option that best describes the highest level of education that you have completed
Please select your country of residence from the dropdown
Please indicate your level of expertise with open data
Please indicate your level of expertise with semantic metadata standards (e.g. DDI, DCAT, Schema.org, Dublin Core)
Please choose the option that best describes your organization
Organization name
Organization website
Does your organization publish metadata that complies with FAIR or other open standards?
Does your organization use any metadata standards?
Please describe the metadata standards used by your organization
What tools, resources, or support would help your organization adopt metadata standards like DDI?
Open data is defined in the following way: “Data is open if it can be freely accessed, used, modified and shared by anyone for any purpose - subject only, at most, to requirements to provide attribution and/or share-alike.” The following questions ask about your experience with open data and your level of agreement with some statements about open data.
How frequently do you work with open data?
What fraction of the data with which you work is open data?
Have you ever encountered a lack of technical support while working with open data sources, tools, or platforms?
Please list the websites, email lists, groups, and professional societies that you access in your work with open data
Are you familiar with the 5 star scale for linked open data?
Are you familiar with the FAIR data principles?
Are you familiar with the Open Data Charter?
Are you familiar with the Sebastopol Open Government Data Principles?
Are you familiar with DDI or other metadata standards?
Please rate your agreement with the following statements
Open data should be freely accessible, in a machine-readable format, freely usable without licensing restrictions, and free of charge
Open data should be “AI-Ready”
Technical openness (standards and interfaces) is an important aspect of open data
Legal openness (copyright and licensing) is an important aspect of open data
Commercial openness (commercial use of data) is an important aspect of open data
There is a place for non-open data that follows the FAIR principles, for example
Data sovereignty can be addressed within the context of open data
Open data increases government transparency
Open data enables economic growth and innovation
More public awareness about open data is needed
Open data contributes to democratization of data
It is possible for open data providers to have a say in the use of their data in AI or IoT (Internet of Things) applications
It is possible to prevent misuse of open data by generative AI systems
Generative AI tools contribute to flooding the web with untrustworthy or misleading data
Open data is trustworthy
Non-open data is trustworthy
FAIR metadata standards like DDI, Schema.org, and DCAT improve trust in open data
The following question asks whether you use open data provided by others, provide open data to others, or both.
Please answer the following questions from your perspective as a user of open data
What fraction of your time is dedicated to using open data (finding, leveraging, visualizing, analyzing)?
Check all that are important to you when thinking about data quality
How do you describe the average quality of the open data that you have used?
Is the quality of the metadata a good indicator of the data quality?
Is the inclusion of valid emails and valid HTTP/HTTPS URLs for access and contact, a good indicator of the data quality?
Is the adherence to open data principles (open file format, open license, and machine readable) a good indicator of the data quality?
Have you ever encountered problems with data or metadata quality?
Have you ever encountered legal problems with respect to restrictive, unclear, or complex licenses?
Please answer the following questions about the open data source that you use most
Name or URL of your most-used source
What is your purpose for accessing your most-used source?
Which programming language do you use to access your most-used source?
Which frameworks or standards are used in your most-used source?
Are you able to use the data that you find at your most-used source?
Are you able to reuse the data that you find at your most-used source, in whole or in part?
Is it easy for you to access, use, and reuse the data that you find at your most-used source?
Please answer the following questions from your perspective as a provider of open data
What fraction of your time is dedicated to providing open data (creating, publishing, collecting, storing, stewarding)?
In which formats do you provide/publish open data?
Please specify in which other formats you publish open data
Have you ever encountered privacy or security concerns when deciding to provide open data?
Have you ever encountered problems related to strategic or business decisions when providing open data?
Have you ever encountered problems related to legal constraints when providing open data?
Have you ever encountered any technical barriers in providing open data?
Do you encounter challenges with interoperability in applying metadata standards?
Do you encounter challenges with tools when applying metadata standards?
How important is metadata interoperability for open data reuse?
The following questions relate to the FAIR data principles. For each principle, rate its importance and ease to accomplish
Metadata and data are assigned a globally unique and persistent identifier
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Data are described with rich metadata
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Metadata clearly and explicitly include the identifier of the data they describe
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Metadata and data are registered or indexed in a searchable resource
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Metadata and data are retrievable by their identifier using a standardised communications protocol
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
The protocol is open, free, and universally implementable
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
The protocol allows for an authentication and authorisation procedure, where necessary
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Metadata are accessible, even when the data are no longer available
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Metadata and data use a formal, accessible, shared, and broadly applicable language for knowledge representation
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Metadata and data use vocabularies that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Metadata and data include qualified references to other metadata and data
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Metadata and data are richly described with a plurality of accurate and relevant attributes
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Metadata and data are released with a clear and accessible data usage license
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Metadata and data are associated with detailed provenance
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Metadata and data meet domain-relevant community standards
Is this important?
Is this easy to accomplish?
Please answer the following questions about your most recent open data provision project
What is the name of your most-recent project?
Does your most-recent project have a URL? If so, please provide it here. If not, please provide a brief description of your project
When did your most-recent project begin?
When did your most-recent project end, or is it ongoing?
What was your goal in creating open data with semantic metadata in your most-recent project?
How did you evaluate the success of your most-recent project?
Which tools, standards, or frameworks (metadata and otherwise) were used in your most-recent project?
What advice would you have for others considering a project using open data?
Please describe any gaps that you perceive in policies or tools to support open data
What do you perceive as the biggest threat to quality data on the web and is there a way to mitigate it?
Would you like to communicate anything else?
You have reached the end of the survey. Please confirm your intent to submit your survey responses
Are you certain that you wish to withdraw?
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