Linked government data hub, an ontology agnostic data harvester and API

Openness and Transparency are important principles for citizens and therefore for eGovernment. Most government portals are designed in a way that finding relevant and up-to-date information requires time and effort. Data and information are scattered in different platforms in a non-collaborative way, leading to a labyrinth of redirections. Sharing of data and information is hindered by the lack of interoperability between the multiple vocabularies and formats (mostly proprietary). This paper attempts to bridge those systems by proposing at a national level a data hub model that aggregates and categorizes data from various services. Linked data and standardized vocabularies are used to gather information from multiple public sectors and services. The case study reuses some basic components of Joinup collaborative platform to provide aggregated up-to-date information on the portal of the Greek Public Administration Di@vgeia. The model has the potential of a wider application in different business domains and multiple Government levels.