Data Portal Explorer

Complex network graph showing interconnected data portals and open data initiatives. Large central nodes include "stats", "datastore", and government portals like "data.gov". Numerous smaller nodes in orange and purple represent various related services and platforms, all connected by a web of lines illustrating relationships between entities in the open data ecosystem.
A Network Visualization of Open Data Portals, by Jonathan Gray

The project explores “public datafication” and public “data worlds”, including comparative analyses of different ways of making public data (quantification and datafication of issues in the public sector) and different ways of making data public (forms and formats of public participation). It convened an international and interdisciplinary group of researchers to explore digital methods and approaches for studying data portals as online devices, including the development of a proof-of-concept toolkit – the “Data Portal Explorer” – for use in research, teaching and associated public interventions.

KDL set up the Data Portal Explorer which is a Python library, and command line tool, to harvest data from CKAN data repositories, using the ckanapi library.

Team