Understanding Transparency and Accountability in Open Government Ecosystems: The Case of Health Data Visualizations in a State Government

Many researchers of open government data raised the question as to whether transparency also promotes accountability. Concerning the unclear relationship between transparency and accountability, this case study first develops the conception of accountability in the context of open government and finds that accountability relates to the organizational need for an assessment of policy goals. This paper then examines the process in which a state health agency implements data visualization tools in an attempt to enhance the outcome of its open data policy goals. Drawing on the results from semi-structured interviews with a diverse set of internal users at the state agency, this case study provides some evidence as to how the gap between transparency and accountability can be closed at the organizational level. It also finds that data intermediaries can help government agencies overcome their resource constraints by critically assessing data usability while providing the technological expertise to align their open data policy goals with user expectations. Future research is necessary to examine the role of data intermediaries in wider open data ecosystems including multiple external stakeholders.