Page 73 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Executive Summary

3 Conclusions

Through the Seoul Open Data Plaza, SMG has learned that public data generates more value when it is open
and shared with the public. It was noted that sustaining such a portal required strong leadership, sound policy
frameworks, and active engagement with citizens. Additionally, it was realized that it is not the amount of
data but the quality of data that matters to the citizens.

Some of the critical factors that contributed to the success of the Seoul Open Data Plaza are as follows:
1 The consistent policy direction of the national government, SMG, and the district governments;
2 The SMG-enacted ordinances and the creation of a division to implement the project;
3 The development and promotion of the Seoul Open Data Plaza as an integrated open data system;
to increase user efficiency, transparency and accountability of SMG.
4 The disclosure and promotion of useful data which are closely related to improving quality of
citizens’ lives
In order to further improve the Seoul Open Data Plaza and promote inclusion, SMG will organize a Citizen
Action Team that will be involved in the planning and evaluation of the Seoul Open Data Plaza. Together with
the Citizen Action Team, which consists of civil society and data experts, SMG will change the way Seoul Open
Data Plaza is operated and will make it more citizen-centric. In 2017, SMG plans to convert the commercial
software-based platform into an open-sourced system to reduce the cost of maintenance and promote open-
source culture. It will also facilitate active communication with developers through GitHub, an open source
community, to help them create solutions for urban problems by using public data. Moving forward, the
portal will also begin to include geo-spatial data and will integrate statistics into the system, which will help
people utilise the system in various capacities.

A References

Seoul Open Data Plaza: http://data.seoul.go.kr
Korea Public Data Portal: http://data.go.kr

Seoul Digital 2020 (Digital Masterplan): http://digital.seoul.go.kr/eng
Seoul Big Data Campus: https://bigdata.seoul.go.kr/
This case study has been authored by Mr. Younghoon Choi, Chief Information Officer, Seoul Metropolitan
Government (SMG)

Mr. Jeongjun Ahn, Director, Data & Statistics Division, Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG)
Mr. Gyeonggeun Ma, Assistant Director, Data & Statistics Division, Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG)

Mr. Younghyun Cho, Officer, Data & Statistics Division, Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG)
Ms. Jihyun Kim, Officer, Information Planning Division, Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG)
Mr. Earl Burgos, Program Officer, World e-Governments Organization of Cities and Local Governments
(WeGO)

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