Open data and distributed knowledge work in open government

This concept paper looks at the potential of open standards and web services as a basis for innovation. It illustrates the capabilities and characteristics of open data in a conceptual way, comparing hierarchies and heterarchies as coordination models. Moreover, it will seek to show that the Web 2.0 technologies basically follow the same principles and coordination structures as the social models of collaborative knowledge generation and innovation, using open data as a foundation. The point is to make clear to what extent and in what form open data, open standards, and distributed applications are effective as a starting point for ‘distributed knowledge work’