978-1-5090-1043-1/16 $31.00 © 2016 IEEE DOI 10.1109/CeDEM.2016.33 156 The influence of the transparency agenda on open government data in Chile Felipe González-Zapata Centre for Development Informatics University of Manchester Manchester, United Kingdom felipe.gonzalez@manchester.ac.uk; felipegonza@gmail.com Richard Heeks Centre for Development Informatics University of Manchester Manchester, United Kingdom richard.heeks@manchester.ac.uk Abstract— Open government data (OGD) can promote transparency and accountability. While OGD intervenes in political spaces and interests related to transparency agendas, little attention has been paid to the influence of existing transparency initiatives on the way OGD initiatives are designed and implemented. This paper analyzes the influence of the transparency agenda on OGD in order to understand how past decisions in transparency shape current OGD implementation. Based on the case of Chile, the paper follows a historical institutionalism approach: recent transparency-related institutions are analyzed through the lens of path dependence. The paper concludes that existing cultures around the transparency agenda in Chile have both an ideological and operational influence on the development of OGD, which have limited its institutionalization and appropriateness within the public sector to date. Keywords: open government data, transparency, path dependence, political institutions, Chile. I. INTRODUCTION There is a widely-recognized connection between open government data (OGD) and government transparency, with OGD often promoted as "transparency 2.0" [18],[19].There are technical views on the connection: seeing disclosure of public data in fully-open format as a central tool to deliver more transparent and accountable government [21],[29],[13]. And there are more political views, seeing OGD as a means to give fresh impetus to earlier right-to-information initiatives that deliver citizen participation and empowerment [14]. In all cases, the assumed directionality runs from OGD to transparency: open government data helps deepen and/or broaden the transparency agenda. Yet it also known that OGD design and implementation can be influenced by the existing and preceding political environment [12]. Part of that environment will be the transparency agenda and, hence, there is cause to investigate a topic to which little attention has so far been given: the opposite directionality of the way in which the transparency trajectory influences OGD. That is the aim of this paper, using historical institutionalism (HI) to analyze how OGD – as a current institution – can be explained by past political institutions and decisions; specifically those related to transparency [17]. In particular, path dependence analysis is undertaken as a method to study HI. Past decisions and their institutionalization create political routes [23]: trajectories with lock-in effects that make it hard to switch to a different trajectory; a path dependence created at critical junctures in a particular political history. This influence of prior transparency on OGD is examined through the case study of Chile. Returning to democracy in 1990, Chile has implemented a legal framework for transparency and accountability, including a Freedom of Information Act to frame passive and active transparency. Chile then created an OGD program and joined the Open Government Partnership during 2011. With an overall aim of analyzing the influence of the transparency agenda on OGD through path dependence analysis, the paper is organized as follows: section 2 provides a theoretical background on transparency and OGD, and path dependence theory; section 3 describes the research methodology; section 4 illustrates the findings of this research; and section 5 builds from this to a discussion and concluding reflections. II. RESEARCH BACKGROUND A. Transparency and open government data Although OGD has offered fresh impetus to the transparency advocacy community, the right to information (RTI) movement has been pushing for more and better access to information for a long time. This movement mainly focuses on two key aspects: (1) citizens and civil society have the right to access information produced by public agencies on request; and (2)