Entrevista
Interview with Wendy Carrara, project manager of the European Data Portal of the European Commission.
What role does the European Commission, especially DG CONNECT, play in the promotion of openness and re-use of public sector information?
The European Commission has been supporting accessibility and re-use of public sector information for quite some time now. Public sector information is data collected by governments. Most of which can be released openly without infringing any privacy concerns. The revised public sector information directive that had to be transposed into National legislation by July 2015 further underlines the ambition to systematically publish data for free or a marginal cost. Now looking at DG CONNECT, it is at the forefront in contributing to the Digital Single Market. The Digital aspect is something that we tend to take for granted as we have gotten used to browsing the Internet for pretty much everything and anything. It’s a natural step for the European Single market to make the best out of the digital world to drive its economy and society. The Digital Agenda for Europe, as well as previous initiatives and now all the activities launched in the context of the Digital Single Market are clear illustrations of this ambition.
As part of the Action Plan of the European Commission in favor of data economy, the European Data Portal (EDP) launched its final version last February. We would like you to explain us the mid-term roadmap of EDP, which are the next steps of this European initiative?
The EDP is currently collecting information about the data – so called metadata – made available by national portals across Europe. Currently we are harvesting data from over 70 different catalogues all over Europe covering 34 European countries, for a total of close to 600,000 data sets. Our next steps consist of enhancing the portal by making the data easier to find and follow. We have recently added a registration feature enabling users to save their SPARQL queries as well as follow specific data sets and catalogues. Users can therefore access specific data sets more easily. RSS feeds also enable users to receive notifications if the data sets are updated. Small enhancements are also being made to make the user interface increasingly user friendly, such as adding pictograms and flags to give more information about the data at first glance. Another series of updates consist of adding a calendar listing events organized in different countries that address open data directly or indirectly. We will also have a dashboard showing how countries are doing in the field of open data, the maturity of their open data policy, as well as how developed their portals are. Both the dashboard and the calendar will be released for the International Open Data Conference taking place in Madid in October.
Currently we are harvesting data from over 70 different catalogues all over Europe covering 34 European countries, for a total of close to 600,000 data sets.
In addition, there are many ongoing updates such as the addition of use cases to the library section. The Portal is also multilingual. Currently it is available in 12 languages and we will be having all 24 languages by the end of this year. It’s not just the user interface that is translated. We use one of the European Commission tools to translate metadata from all data sets into all official EU languages. This way, data can be found from any country and whatever the language. In our featured data section on the Portal, we regularly publish insight and compare data from one country to another, that’s a practical illustration of how it easy it can become to use open data.
We use one of the European Commission tools to translate metadata from all data sets into all official EU languages.
To ensure more data is published by countries and easy to discover, we will continue promoting the DCAT-Application Profile which is a very practical standard to ensure all data sets have high quality metadata. It’s a bit like the ID card of the dataset.
As Project Manager for the implementation and launch of the European Data Portal, which were the biggest challenges managing this project?
That’s a very interesting question! One of the biggest challenges lies in presenting everything we want to share in a meaningful manner. The data, the training, the studies, and all the resources we have to share. Open data isn’t just something for the techies, it is something that everyone can benefit from if they have a good understanding of what open data can do for them. Policy makers, managers, data publishers and of course the technical people, citizens, businesses, civil society, etc, all have a part to play. The idea was to convey the relevant messages to each of these persona and make sure they could visit the portal and find what they were most interested in. With that in mind, the next challenge is of course how to structure the data. Finding a meaningful way to take into consideration the diversity of working with 28 plus countries can be a challenge. Our technical architecture is therefore quite complex! Add to that the multilingual aspect where we had to make sure that names and labels were equivalent from one language to the next. Here several European thesauri exist, such as Eurovoc, mapping equivalences in all official EU languages. This was very helpful. Alongside, we have contributed to the DCAT-AP developments mentioned above. We are also working closely with the countries on checking mappings we have made from the data their portal have to the data categories of the DCAT-AP. All this takes time but the countries are very cooperative.
Open data isn’t just something for the techies, it is something that everyone can benefit from if they have a good understanding of what open data can do for them.
How does the EDP help to open data movement in Europe?
The European Data Portal is all about making data accessible across Europe. Imagine the diversity of data sets being published across Europe, add to that the different languages they are published in. The EDP brings information about all this data together and provides it in a multilingual fashion. Anyone using any European language can search through the data made available. Imagine you’re looking for a list of cycling paths in the Netherlands but you want to be able to search for this data in Spanish.
We are also making a lot of learning resources accessible online. Anyone can follow the eLearning modules or run their own open data session using the material from the Training Companion. References are added on a regular basis to ensure these training features of the portal are up to date and relevant.
All in all, I would say that it’s not just data that we’re making accessible, it’s open data in general, by making it easier to understand and see what benefits it can deliver.
In your opinion... What measures would be needed to continue promoting the reuse of data within the EU?
There are a number of EU initiatives around promoting the Digital Single Market. The Free Flow of Data Initiative will be launched this autumn. It will include open data of course, as it is part of the broader data agenda.
Promoting the reuse of data is something that will continue of course. In November, the European Data Portal will release a study built on a survey of how businesses are making use of open data. This will help further communicate the benefits of open data to a broader audience.
Apart from the pan-european website, in which other initiatives is the European Commission working to encourage openness and re-use of data by the member states?
The European Commission is involved in supporting a large range of activities in the field of open data. To name a few projects, for the past 18 months, the Open Data Incubator for Europe has been distributing grants to small business making use of open data. Other projects funded under the Horizon 2020 funding programme or other programmes address how to make use of data. The Policy Compass is a very interesting example of how to aggregate and analyse data.
In addition, there have been two calls for funding that have been open since the beginning of the year to support cross-border harmonisation processes. The calls address the aggregation/harmonisation of datasets covering cross-border areas in priority domains. Of course the Free Flow of Data initiative will strengthen the policy ambition underpinning current and future actions.
Beyond the economic potential of the re-use of public sector information, how can open data help address the social challenges in the EU and what open data initiatives do you know whose goal is to improve the quality of life in European cities?
There are a number of other projects looking into the benefits of open data, supporting startups or combining open and big data together. When we were writing the report on open data and cities, it was amazing to see how many local initiatives have been taken at city-level to drive open data in the context of smart city-related activities. Our study showed that one of the most popular datasets are linked to mobility. Cities are close to the people and to the data. They can work on environmental issues as well as urban planning together for instance. It’s all about making better use of the evidence they have to govern their actions. It’s also about sharing the data with the community in order to improve existing activities and develop innovative services.
Most popular datasets are linked to mobility. Cities are close to the people and to the data.
Evento
From September 26th to October 5th the international workshop Visualizar'16 Open Cities will take place in the cultural space Medialab Prado (Madrid), an event dedicated to those cities in the world that are committed to openness of information, transparency and re-use of data to improve services provided for citizens.
On this occasion, two simultaneous calls are opened: one call for projects related to open cities and an application for collaborators. During the workshop a maximum of 8 proposals will be developed, selected among those submitted until August 14th and the final list will be published on August 25th. The project proposals may be submitted individually or collectively, but they must necessarily be open to other collaborators who can contribute to their development during the workshop.
Secondly, those interested in participating as collaborators may submit their request until next September 19th. The collaborators, led by the project leaders, will be part of the working groups, providing expertise and ideas in the development of the selected projects. As there will be no selection process, all applications will be accepted until full capacity. Moreover, working groups will be completely organized during the initial presentation of the projects.
Participants in the workshop may register through the online platform Community, an interactive network of Medialab Prado that allows collaborators to contact the project leaders and send questions, opinions or comments.
The projects developed during Visualizar'16 Open Cities will be presented at the Open Cities Summit, to be held in the same place in October 5th and included in the agenda of events before the International Open Data Conference. Once the summit is over, the work will be exposed in Medialab Prado until December 12th.
The aim of the Visualizar'16 workshop is to re-use the city open data in different fields such as environmental sustainability, infrastructure, citizenship or socio-cultural sector. The proposals may include visualization tools, mechanisms of participatory data collection, development of open hardware tools for information collection, open data initiatives ... or any idea to exploit the potential of this resource in urban environments.
During nine days, a solution prototype will be developed and tested through eight working groups that will be coordinated by each project leader. Projects will be developed with free software, open standards and under licenses that allow their re-use and redistribution.
This workshop is included within the Medialab Prado program, Visualizar, which organizes annual sessions on research processes related to theories, tools and data visualization strategies to improve their understanding and to use them for the general good.
Evento
Madrid City Council has announced the first edition of the Datathon and Data Journalism Awards, aimed at entrepreneurs, developers, designers, journalists and students interested in open data. The aim of this competition is to foster the re-use of public sector information, promote http://datos.madrid.es/ and convert it into, not only a point of access to local datasets, but into a tool to boost the development of innovative solutions based on open data.
The awards are divided into two different categories; firstly a Datathon where participants will develop an innovative solution based on the re-use of local datasets such as a computer applications a websites or a data visualizations.
Individually or in groups, projects must be submitted under the AGPLv3 license and, in the case they include data from other sources, the participant must be entitled to use them in accordance with the regulations.
In parallel, the Data Journalism Awards presents two different categories; one for professionals, where newspaper articles written from 2015 to date will be assessed. And secondly, a category for students to award the best texts published in any type of media, or piece of work belonging to their studies. In both cases, the content must be related to the activity of the Madrid City Council, re-using the local open data.
To be eligible, the applicant have to submit his proposal according to the application form available on Madrid website or electronically on the website created for the Datathon and Data Journalism Awards. The deadline is 6th August.
Evento
On the occasion of the International Open Data Conference and included on the agenda of events before IODC 2016, the Open Cities Summit will take place on 5th October at Media-Lab Prado in Madrid.
This meeting will bring together international open data practitioners in order to show how open data is being used around the world to improve the lives of citizens at the city level, facilitate knowledge exchange around open cities, and ideate solutions to overcome identified challenges in creating open cities as regards four areas: management of an open data policy, urban planning, environment and competitiveness.
The Open Cities Summit is aimed at civil servants, journalists, civil society organizations, researchers and any citizen who believes in the potential of open data to improve the environments in which they live. Thus, the event will consist of workshops, lectures and round tables, which will be structured in three parts. Firstly, the experts will share policies of their open data cities and show how their open data policies are helping improve the lives of citizens. Secondly, participants will be working in groups to ideate solutions to overcome the four different challenges mentioned above and finally, there will be open space to discuss the challenges and opportunities of creating an open city.
The organizing committee has opened a Call for Actions for open data practitioners who can submit initiatives in the field, especially those that offer an answer to the problems of urban development, environment, competitiveness and management of open data policies. The aim is capture a representative sample of best practices and to enrich the debate on the potential of open data for subnational governments. The deadline for the proposals is 15th August.
Entrevista
Interview with Antonio Moneo, senior associate in the area of open knowledge at the Inter-American Development Bank.
Which is the role of the IDB in the open data ecosystem in Latin America and the Caribbean?
The Inter-American Development Bank is a multilateral organization that provides support to countries to finance major reforms of the administration and infrastructure. Through several departments, especially through the Division of Institutional Capacity of the State, the Bank has accompanied many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in the development of open government policies, training programs for civil servants, technological infrastructures for publishing open data and many activities to generate international and local commitment.
The IDB has always opened spaces and channels to share their knowledge with countries. In recent years it has significantly increased the scope of these efforts by creating a digital library of technical publications, a blog network, the open data portal "Números para el Desarrollo", offering massive online open courses (IDBx), and a working line to open knowledge where we include progressively open innovation methodologies that the Bank uses to articulate open ecosystems. Moreover, we are planning to continue expanding the number, quality and type of open knowledge products. Stay tuned to the following updates.
Which are the main objectives of your blog "Open to the public"? How does your blog contribute and help the open knowledge sector and community?
The blog was launched in 2014 as a space to learn about the evolution of open knowledge in Latin America and the Caribbean, which has been a pioneer at different times and in different cases. Open government policies as in the case of the city of Buenos Aires, or the Government of Chile, made us think of the potential of open knowledge to foster innovation in the public sector.
This approach has always led us to pay attention to the spillover effects of opening up knowledge, which often goes unnoticed. We saw that opening up knowledge helps governments be more transparent, but above all establish channels to improve the design of public policies. Thus, when we open up the knowledge we contribute to the dual goal of making administration more transparent and accelerate economic development in the region.
I think the biggest contribution of the blog has been serving as a repository of real examples, recommendations and methodologies on how open knowledge promotes the country development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our articles have let many people know specific examples which show that open knowledge is truly useful. To date, we have published more than 200 articles, many of them from external partners, and we have a community of 16,000 subscribers. We receive an average of thirty thousand visitors per month from all countries worldwide. We have almost a million visits in total.
“Opening up knowledge helps governments be more transparent, but above all establish channels to improve the design of public policies”.
You are a member of the Open Data Charter, which role does the Open Data Charter play? Which will be the next steps of this global initiative?
The Open Data Charter is an universal declaration aimed at standardizing the open data definition. Though its non-binding nature, it enjoys sufficient legitimacy to generate a shift globally. It is an essential tool to establish the framework for public discussion on open data, and it will be critical for governments and cities which are approving plans within the framework of the Alliance for Open Government. For me, it would be ideal that the countries in the region commit themselves to adopt and implement the Charter within its Action Plans in the Alliance for Open Government.
The Open Data Charter has been promoted by an international and interdisciplinary group now divided into five working groups. These working groups strive to collect examples of how open data are being used in cities and private sector; to develop tools for specific sectors or issues specially important such as the fight against corruption; to generate theoretical frameworks for analyzing the impact of open data and tools to facilitate the implementation of the Charter.
Since the IDB has organized several data hackathons, which barriers are found organizing such events?
Identifying the expectations is always a key issue. It is essential that the hackathon is seen as a milestone in an open innovation process, and not as a single event. At each hackathon we work for months to select challenges, create institutional partnerships, open databases and train those who will participate in the event. If the hackathon is assessed by the number of viable projects obtained, it is difficult to obtain good results, and indicators which are more important are also lost.
If expectations are well identified, obstacles can be reduced to mere milestones of a project. If the challenges are significant, it will not be difficult to find allies. If allies are strong, it will not be difficult to open up data. And if you know what your participants need, it will not be difficult to train them. It is a question of good expectations.
In your opinion, at what point of maturity is the open data sector and the re-use of public sector information in Latin America and the Caribbean?
Latin America and the Caribbean are experiencing a very interesting time. Fifteen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are attached to the Alliance for Open Government, and eleven of them were evaluated by the last Open Data Barometer. The trend is unequal and I think the conversation is more focused on the debate on the access to information, which is the basis to talk about re-use. There is much to do.
However, in regional forums such as the Regional Conference on Open Data, the Latin American Open Data Initiative or the regional summit of the Alliance for Open Government Partnership we see how the discussion about standards occupies growing space. For me, this is a sign that we are moving gradually towards a model of re-use of data. It is good news and I would like to see a law enacted on the re-use of data in the future.
“The trend is unequal and I think the conversation is more focused on the debate on the access to information, which is the basis to talk about re-use.”
What do you believe the main barriers are for open publication in Latin America and the Caribbean unlike other regions of the world?
The lack of regional integration is the main barrier. Latin America and the Caribbean need to institutionalize the regional debate on access and re-use of information. It is difficult to obtain sustainable results if there are no standards to standardize and link openness processes. In that sense, I think the debate on transparency should be extended to include the issue of technical interoperability. It is important that the information is public but also re-used, and, for that to happen, it is essential to publish it in a standardized way.
Nevertheless, the solution requires a greater effort to train civil servants. It is not just a technical problem. In fact, there are standards, but they are not properly implemented. It is necessary to train civil servants to understand how open data can help improve public policies. When the head of a department in a ministry understands the potential of the data, it is easier to address the issue of interoperability.
”The lack of regional integration is the main barrier. Latin America and the Caribbean need to institutionalize the regional debate on access and re-use of information.”
As a specialist consultant on open knowledge, what do you think the main differences are between Latin America and Spain as regards the focus on open data policies?
In the regulatory matter we can say that the European Union is a privileged environment which has facilitated many discussions. Directive 2003/98/EC on re-use of public sector information was the basis for further regulations on interoperability and the European statistical system upon which EUROSTAT relies. Spain adopted this directive in 2007 and, since then, it has been able to frontally address the problem of interoperability.
In Latin America and the Caribbean I see a high participation of civil society what I would like to see replicated in Europe. There is good coordination between organizations in different countries, and together they have played a very important role in the legislative development of open data. I find very interesting the emergence of government laboratories where is institutionalizing the relationship between government and civil society is being institutionalized in the field of re-use of data to improve public policy.
Evento
“Crowd-sourcing questions that if answered could radically increase our understanding of open data”
On October 5th, international researchers will gather at the second Open Data Research Symposium (ODRS); a pre-event to the International Open Data Conference to be held in Madrid. As in the previous edition, ODRS 16 will offer attendees the opportunity to reflect critically on the results of their investigations while cohesion is sought within the research community about the potential impacts of open data.
Though the ODRS call for proposals ended last May, the deadline has been extended to all members of the open data movement to help shape the program of the event, focusing on the most relevant aspects in the field. To do this, the organization has created a specific section on the Symposium website where users can submit questions for researchers to resolve their doubts about open data. Moreover, it is also possible to send the questions via Twitter using the hashtag #ODSR16. The deadline is July 1st.
Thanks to user’s questions, it will be possible to identify the topics of interest to the international open data community, draft the ODRS program to ensure sessions are tailored to the needs of the participants, build a collaborative agenda and report efforts and collaborations that take place during the meeting.
More information about the pre-events to the annual open data meeting? Stay tuned to the website of the International Open Data Conference. See you in Madrid!
Evento
On 29th-30th June the European Data Forum will take place in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. Under the slogan "Scaling up the Data Economy in Europe", this event will bring together professionals, researchers, legislators and members of several initiatives to discuss about the challenges and opportunities arising from the data in the EU. Thus, during these two days, this forum will address all facets of data-driven innovators: big data, from infrastructure, tools, applications (including new products and multilingual services for different European audiences) as well as societal and economic impact.
This event is relevant for all stakeholders involved in the data value chain, they will be shown the cutting-edge innovative industrial applications of big data technologies to upcoming innovation breakthroughs. This forum is designed as a meeting point where participants will have the opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas, which will be used to find solutions to current challenges and to design EU policies in order to strengthen the European data economy while it becomes a global leader in this area.
The European Data Forum will consist of more than forty talks, an exhibition and the presentation of a set of posters selected by the organizing committee which belong to one of the following categories:
1. Posters with a practical, industry- or user-oriented focus by representatives of technology providers and organizations. Innovative data applications in different sectors of the European Economy: agro food, automotive, education and skills, healthcare, media, policy, smart industry, urban smart living, and others.
2. Posters with a technical focus reporting concrete experiences by representatives of academia and research centres. This category includes new data models and languages, optimized architectures, content analytics, data mining, predictive analytics, predictive models, semantic technologies, geospatial data techniques and systems for contextualization and personalization.
3. Posters with a specific focus on impact-creation activities including policy development, road-mapping, standardisation, exploitation and training, data-driven business models, data governance and open data.
The forum is expected to overcome the success recorded in the last edition, held in 2014, where more than 600 people from more than 360 organizations attended the event in Greece. The participants had the opportunity to attend for two days three panels related to NeSSI, big data, collaboration and interoperability; in addition, there were thirty talks organized in different networking sessions devoted to the following topics: open data, best practices, Horizon 2020 working program and data usage.
Thanks to the European Commission support and the large number of technological initiatives of big data, open data and linked data; data economy includes a large number of European stakeholders, interested in adding value to the information. In this context, the European Forum has established itself as an excellent opportunity to join synergies at European level to advance and achieve common solutions and strategies that position the EU as a leader in global data economy.
Noticia
On 5th April global open data community celebrated the International Open Data Day. With a common aim, several working groups, public administrations and civic organizations worked together to turn open data into the key player of the 262 events organized in the different regions of the Planet.
In this regard, Nigeria was one of the most active countries in the African continent. Under the global initiative Open Data Party, several master classes were held to show the attendees tools for data processing. In other countries, meeting and events were organized to develop solutions based on the re-use of local open data, as in the case of Burkina Faso; where a prototype and application were created to map water cuts in its capital.
In Europe, the initiative International Open Data Hackathon had its maximum impact in Germany, where five of its main cities held several hackathons in which developers, journalists, analysts, infomediaries and citizens met up to create data visualizations and analysis. Attention should also be drawn to the unconference sponsored by the Northern Ireland Open Government Network, which brought together ten experts belonging to public and private sector who not only showed what they are working on in open data but they also explained their ideas to boost the re-use of open data in the different industries of the region. This event became a space for dialogue, peer-to-peer learning, collaboration and creativity for Northern Irish community.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente -organization that promotes citizen participation through the use of ICT- organized one of the most original activities of Open Data Day in Latin America. Santiago de Chile was chosen to celebrate an edithon, an event in which, apart from explaining the positive impact of open data on society, participants created and edited Wikipedia articles about the history and present of the area.
In Mexico City more than 170 people met to participate in the workshops organized by 15 entities from civic society, technology, government and journalism. In those workshops, subjects as open access to information, uses and mistakes of big data and advanced visualization with 3D were discussed.
Travelling to northern half of the American continent, Canada led the day thanks to Vancouver Open Data Day Hackathon where assistants had a clear goal: create a meaningful open data app or visualization that citizens can use. Besides, a prototype had to be demoed at the end of the day, when a competition panel voted for the best solutions under six different categories. Simultaneously, the city of Toronto held its own hackathon to celebrate the global open data day, in which 112 participants collaborated in 9 challenges related to open data and open government.
Lastly, Japan gathered 70% of open data events organized in Asia; in fact, only in the capital, Tokyo, more than ten events were held. Nevertheless, special attention should be given to the workshop of Public Affairs Centre in India, where, based on governmental data, assistants created databases and defined analysis methodologies to engage citizens to participate in government processes.
Information about global events is available in a visualization made by Open Data Day initiative which localizes on a virtual map each activity held last Saturday. Next global open data appointment will take place by early October in Madrid, during the International Open Data Conference. A new opportunity to keep working together in the future of open publication of information.
Evento
Last Wednesday the conference Open Data for European Entrepreneurs was held in Pamplona gathering the FIWARE community. The event was organized by FINODEX accelerator that provides support services to European ICT industry building technological solutions re-using open data and making use of the open platform FIREWARE.
The roadshow was divided into different panels focussing on two main areas: FIWARE technology, a simple set of APIs that ease the development of smart applications in multiple vertical sectors, and open data entrepreneurship.
Based on both thematic lines, the fist panel offered to the assistants the opportunity to know real stories of entrepreneurs who, using the potential of open data, have developed innovative solutions such as the start-ups belonging to FINODEX Project. In fact, the three finalists of this program attended the event to share their experience with the public.
Linkovate, first finalist, has developed a search engine that helps manufacturing and R&D equipment in companies to find technologies and partners. The second prize went to Xpressomics, who has also created a seeker but, in this case, of genetic information aimed at pharmaceutical industry and medical researchers. Lastly, Geezar and its Fruitwatcher was also present with a device that monitors the conditions of fruit in trucks to guarantee it reaches its destinations in perfect conditions.
Later, it was accelerators’ turn, companies that provide financial support and advice to entrepreneurs on their way to success and, after this round table, the expert from FIREWARE Foundation, Juanjo Hierro gave a talk as well as the Executive Officer at CDTI who underlined the role of public sector in technological innovation.
Moreover, lastly the conference was attended by representatives of Iniciativa Aporta -public sector programme to promote the re-use of open data in Spain- who presented the global open data meeting: the International Open Data Conference, held in Madrid by early October. A new opportunity to know how open data can become the raw material for new products and services as those developed within FINODEX Project.
Noticia
A new year has just begun and the international open data community has to face new challenges regarding open data culture and the reuse of public sector information. The solutions to those defiances will be addressed in the different events organized during this year. At Aporta Iniciative we are committed to inform you about each of them.
In the first quarter of 2016, the ePSI Platform is hosting a free webinar on 21st January 2016 (16:00–18:00 CET) to introduce the new European Data Portal (EDP). The online conference showcases the main features and subjacent cutting-edge technologies of the portal, which went live on 16th November during the European Data Forum .
During the webinar, the EDP project team will present the potential the portal offers to member states and the society in general. Attendees will be able to interact with the experts regarding technical aspects, as well as share best practices in the field of publishing and re-using open data. If you need further information, the agenda in available on the ePSI Platform website where stakeholders can register for free fulfilling an online form.
The next Open Data Leaders Network will be held in London from 22nd to 26th February, the meeting of an international group formed by leaders of government open data initiatives supported by the OD4D network and the European Commission. This network is a space for discussing solutions for global open data challenges and learning from peers’ know-how and experiences.
The network offered up to new eight places for government leaders who has been selected on the basis of their responsibility for implementation their national open data initiatives, their innovative ideas and contribution to the international open data community.
Successful applicants were notified on 12th of January 2016 and they will be awarded during the next meeting in London, when they will join the current cohort formed by 14 members from countries including UK, Argentina, New Zealand and Malasya.
These two events are a good warming-up for the Open Data Day which will take place on Saturday, 6th March. To celebrate the Day, an international hackathon will be organized to support and encourage the local, regional and national governments to adopt open data policies. The global hackathon consists of several local hackathons where citizens can participate and hack on anything that involves open data (visualization, app, standards…). Each local hackathon should share its proposal with the members of a hackathon in at least one other city; making it work despite of the geographical, cultural or linguistics barriers.
Where will the local hackathons happen? For details of the future events check the wiki created by the organizators. Attendees will have the opportunity to broaden their PSI knowledge, know the latest policies and interact with open data experts. Stay tuned for more updates about Open Data Day via the community mailing list.