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Republic of Korea

Open Data (KR0044)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Republic of Korea Action Plan 2018-2020

Action Plan Cycle: 2018

Status:

Institutions

Lead Institution: ICT Management Division, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Support Institution(s): Public Data Policy Division, Ministry of the Interior and Safety - KCISA (Expert Org in Cultural Information) : Public organization under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism - Public-Private Partner Org. in disclosing and using Cultural Data : the KCISA will operate the Org

Policy Areas

Access to Information, Open Data

IRM Review

IRM Report: Republic of Korea Transitional Results Report 2018-2020, Republic of Korea Design Report 2018-2020

Early Results: No IRM Data

Design i

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to OGP Values: Yes

Ambition (see definition): Low

Implementation i

Completion:

Description

Open Data for Future Culture - and - Tourism Industries
Commitment Start and End Date
September 1, 2018 ~ August 31, 2020
Lead Implementing Agency/Actor
ICT Management Division, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
Commitment Description
What is the public problem that the commitment will address?
The number of foreign visitors to Korea has increased, but they have not been provided with sufficient information on culture and tourism, which led to growing visitor complaints. The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) does have quality content; yet, it is not equipped with proper information technologies to manage and use such content. Consequently, the KTO has focused on merely providing information without tapping into new technologies to provide cultural content. Meanwhile, the number of global companies providing the cultural content of Korea through their own platforms has been on the rise. That said, domestic start-ups have not been actively engaged in building content, and companies in the travel industry have not invested in developing new technologies
What is the commitment?
The purpose of this commitment is to further disclose the core data on culture, thereby supporting new industries. The scope of this initiative does not include the data made public through the Korea Tourism Organization and the National Museum of Korea. A relevant service platform will be established as a part of this commitment to provide services integrating local governments’ cultural data.
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
The detailed implementation methods are as follows: 1) to gather core data that could be used to support the VR, AR, AI and IoT industry and disclose them; to this end, a cooperation system to work with local governments should be built to mine core data at the local level; 2) to build a platform providing connected services that allows integrated collection, sharing and utilization of cultural data; the establishment of the platform involves the standardization of cultural information meta data, the establishment of the meta data management platform, the establishment of a system to use the external knowledge base (i. e. the Korean dictionary and the encyclopedia of Korean culture) and the establishment of a LOD-based cultural data base categorized by topic (i. e. traditional patterns, the Korean cuisine and Hangul).
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?
Transparency / Citizen Participation / Government Accountability
Exchange and Peer Learning
N/A
Additional Information
- Relevant Policy : policy to provide public data and encourage usage of the data - Relevant Project : building cultural information focused, multi-ministry connected service platform (2018 - 2021)
Milestone Activity with a Verifiable Deliverable
Disclosing more cultural data essential in new industries
Creating a Public-Private Partner entity in disclosing and using cultural data
Creating standards to share and connect cultural data
Building a platform connecting services provided by local governments
Contact Information
Name of Responsible Person from Implementing Agency
Taewook Kwon
Title, Division
Assistant Director in charge of Public Data, ICT Management Division
Email and Phone
tukwon@korea.kr, +82-44-203-2271
Other Actors Involved,
- Public Data Policy Division, Ministry of the Interior and Safety - KCISA (Expert Org in Cultural Information) : Public organization under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism - Public-Private Partner Org. in disclosing and using cultural data : the KCISA will operate the org

IRM Midterm Status Summary

8. Open Data for Future Culture and Tourism Industries

Commitment Text:

"Open Data for Future Culture and Tourism Industries"

The purpose of this commitment is to further disclose the core data on culture, thereby supporting new industries. The scope of this initiative does not include the data made public through the Korea Tourism Organization and the National Museum of Korea. A relevant service platform will be established as a part of this commitment to provide services integrating local governments' cultural data.

The detailed implementation methods are as follows:

1) to gather core data that could be used to support the VR, AR, AI and IoT industry and disclose them; to this end, a cooperation system to work with local governments should be built to mine core data at the local level;

2) to build a platform providing connected services that allows integrated collection, sharing and utilization of cultural data; the establishment of the platform involves the standardization of cultural information meta data, the establishment of the meta data management platform, the establishment of a system to use the external knowledge base (i. e. the Korean dictionary and the encyclopedia of Korean culture) and the establishment of a LOD-based cultural data base categorized by topic (i. e. traditional patterns, the Korean cuisine and Hangul).

Milestones:

  • Disclosing more cultural data essential in new industries
  • Creating a Public-Private Partner entity in disclosing and using cultural data
  • Creating standards to share and connect cultural data
  • Building a platform connecting services provided by local governments

Start Date: 1 September 2018 End Date: 31 August 2020

Editorial Note: For the full text of the commitment, please see Korea's 4th National Action Plan 2018-2020 at https://bit.ly/2JvQr98.

Commitment Overview

Verifiability

OGP Value Relevance (as written)

Potential Impact

Completion

Did It Open Government?

Not specific enough to be verifiable

Specific enough to be verifiable

Access to Information

Civic Participation

Public Accountability

Technology & Innovation for Transparency & Accountability

None

Minor

Moderate

Transformative

Not Started

Limited

Substantial

Completed

Worsened

Did Not Change

Marginal

Major

Outstanding

8. Overall

Assessed at the end of the action plan cycle.

Assessed at the end of the action plan cycle.

Context and Objectives

The purpose of this commitment is to increase disclosure of core data on culture and tourism and, in doing so, support the local tourist industry to develop innovative, technology-driven content. The commitment will create a new public-private partner organization, operated by the Korean Cultural Information Centre (KCSIA) [36], under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. The commitment will also establish a multi-ministry service platform which will integrate and publicly share cultural data from across the different levels of government, including local governments. [37]

This commitment is generally verifiable as it outlines a number of measurable milestones including the establishment of a public-private organization to lead the disclosure of core cultural data, the introduction of standards on the sharing of such data, and the creation of a service platform. While the commitment does not specify the channels through which the data will be published, GPS-based cultural information is generally shared via the online platform, http://www.culture.go.kr. The commitment also does not identify the new categories of information that will be made available, specify the composition of the proposed public-private organization, or describe its roles and functions.

This commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information as it entails increasing the disclosure of core tourism and cultural data for public use. The commitment is also relevant to the OGP value of technology and innovation for transparency as it aims to build an online service platform to integrate and publish this data.

This commitment stands to have minor potential impact on increasing the disclosure of cultural and tourism data to support content creation in the local tourist industry. The commitment will disclose new core data, and also aims to establish a new service platform to collect and integrate meta data from across local governments. National and local governments manage data in different formats, with data from local government often being more detailed. [38] This represents an opportunity for local tourism industries to develop new technology and upgrade information available for tourists.

However, according to the action plan, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and the National Museum of Korea already possessed quality content and were making some data public, such as the number of tourist arrivals [39] or the museum's collection of items, prior to this commitment. [40] These organizations lacked access to technology to manage and disseminate such data effectively. As it is unclear what new data will be disclosed, the full scope of this commitment is difficult to determine.

Next steps

Increasing disclosure of core cultural data will equip the local tourism industry, and related private-sector organizations, with the information necessary to develop and upgrade technology-driven cultural content. However, as the scope of added value of this commitment remains unclear, the IRM does not recommend that it is carried forward into the next action plan.

To increase the overall positive outcome of data disclosure initiatives in the culture sector, the IRM recommends the following:

  • Develop a user-friendly, interactive, and multilingual features on the online platform that consolidates cultural data and information from across South Korea.
  • Introduce a multilingual public feedback mechanism that collects and responds to requests for cultural information from domestic and international tourists to South Korea. This mechanism could be a feature of the online platform.
  • Publish and disseminate responses to frequently asked questions, obtained through the public feedback mechanism. These responses could also be featured on the online platform.
[36] The Korean Cultural Information Centre is available at: https://www.kcisa.kr/.
[37] Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, Cultural Data, "문화데이터" [Culture data] (accessed Jul. 2020), https://www.mcst.go.kr/kor/s_open/government/appCase.jsp; KCISA, "문화데이터 개방 및 이용활성화" [Opening and Activating Cultural Data] (accessed Jul. 2020), https://www.kcisa.kr/kr/contents/buss_data_open_4/view.do.
[38] Soohyang Kim (C.O.D.E. Korea), interview by IRM researcher, 3 Jun. 2020.
[39] Korea Tourism Organization, "Visitor Arrivals, Korean Departures, Int'l Tourism Receipts & Expenditures" (2015), http://kto.visitkorea.or.kr/eng/tourismStatics/keyFacts/visitorArrivals.kto.
[40] National Museum of Korea, "Collection Database" (accessed Jul. 2020), https://www.museum.go.kr/site/eng/relic/search/list.

IRM End of Term Status Summary

8. Open Data for Future Culture and Tourism Industries

Substantial:

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism adopted standardized metadata to publish cultural data. Outreach and awareness occurred to promote data publication and use at both the national and local level. The Open Data Forum [9] serves as the public-private partner for data utilization and includes participation from CSOs and government agencies.

[9] Open Data Forum Korea: http://odf.or.kr/.

Commitments

Open Government Partnership