Usability of Open Data Datasets

‘Open data’ is the term used to describe the concept that data is available freely for anyone to use for analysis and research. Most democratic governments in the world have taken steps to publish public data under the ‘Open data’ umbrella. While it is a welcome step that can enable data analysis by citizen scientists, the quality and accessibility of open data datasets makes the process a bit challenging for those not trained in data management. Using concepts of structuredness of data, a dataset usability measurement is developed. Using a randomly selected set of datasets from a popular open data portal, an instrument is developed, validated, and applied. The paper ends with elaborating future research directions and listing recommendations for publishers of open data datasets.