Designing the UVA Open Data Initiative: Increasing Engagement for Students, Faculty, Staff Members, and Other Stakeholders

Open data, the distribution of universally available datasets, fosters transparency and accountability to serve the stakeholders of a community. Universities act as hubs of innovation and discovery where any individual can collaborate and freely explore new ideas in their endeavors to better the world. At many universities, including the University of Virginia (UVA), the incongruous communication of data between all stakeholders, and most especially its lack of clarity to students, contributes to student disengagement that threatens to compromise the vision of a transparent and effective university. Open data initiatives at colleges remain an underused tool to target campus improvement and to empower the next generation of civic-minded student leaders. This paper seeks to explore the strengths and needed improvements in current open data principles and projects throughout cities and colleges in the United States. Herein the authors will develop a framework for building an open data initiative at the University of Virginia through evaluating the best practices from similar projects. This research will directly lead into a student-led initiative to develop the Open Data Platform at UVA and will form the foundation of the principles and lessons to be applied at UVA and other similar open data projects elsewhere.