Big data analysis of local government 3.0: Focusing on Gyeongsangbuk-do in Korea

•We examine Government 3.0 as a new type of electronic government.•We conduct Big Data analysis for a structural understanding of Government 3.0.•We analyze data through semantic network analyses and online interviews.•We provide comparative results for the local government's website and portal sites.•We identify the major issues and discourses of local government.

In the era of Government 3.0, local governments focus on establishing, maintaining, and strengthening relationships with citizens to fulfill “service government”; they thus engage in administration customization. This research aims to provide a structural understanding of local Government 3.0 through network and semantic analyses of Big Data gathered from the homepage of Gyeongsangbuk-do, North Gyeongsang Province in Korea, and Naver and Daum, major Korean portals. Results show that information and opinions about future policies, issues, and plans, and about the vision of provincial government, are dominant on the portals, while the Gyeongsangbuk-do homepage mainly plays a role for communicating public grievances and requests. The portal sites are more suitable places for giving information about and discussing technologies and urban policies than the homepage is. This study contributes to the analysis of Government 3.0 on a local level. In addition, it can be used as a reference and comparison by other countries or local governments and scholars interested in the issue.