For many people, summer means the arrival of the vacations, a time to rest or disconnect. But those days off are also an opportunity to train in various areas and improve our competitive skills.

For those who want to take advantage of the next few weeks and acquire new knowledge, Spanish universities have a wide range of courses on a variety of subjects. In this article, we have compiled some examples of courses related to data training.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with QGIS. University of Alcalá de Henares (link not available).

The course aims to train students in basic GIS skills so that they can perform common processes such as creating maps for reports, downloading data from a GPS, performing spatial analysis, etc. Each student will have the possibility to develop their own GIS project with the help of the faculty. The course is aimed at university students of any discipline, as well as professionals interested in learning basic concepts to create their own maps or use geographic information systems in their activities.

• Date and place: June 27-28 and July 1-2 in online mode.

Citizen science applied to biodiversity studies: from the idea to the results. Pablo de Olavide University (Seville).

This course addresses all the necessary steps to design, implement and analyze a citizen science project: from the acquisition of basic knowledge to its applications in research and conservation projects. Among other issues, there will be a workshop on citizen science data management, focusing on platforms such as Observation.org y GBIF.  It will also teach how to use citizen science tools for the design of research projects. The course is aimed at a broad audience, especially researchers, conservation project managers and students.

• Date and place: From July 1 to 3, 2024 in online and on-site (Seville).

Big Data. Data analysis and machine learning with Python. Complutense University of Madrid.  

This course aims to provide students with an overview of the broad Big Data ecosystem, its challenges and applications, focusing on new ways of obtaining, managing and analyzing data. During the course, the Python language is presented, and different machine learning techniques are shown for the design of models that allow obtaining valuable information from a set of data. It is aimed at any university student, teacher, researcher, etc. with an interest in the subject, as no previous knowledge is required.

• Date and place: July 1 to 19, 2024 in Madrid.

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems with R. University of Santiago de Compostela.

Organized by the Working Group on Climate Change and Natural Hazards of the Spanish Association of Geography together with the Spanish Association of Climatology, this course will introduce the student to two major areas of great interest: 1) the handling of the R environment, showing the different ways of managing, manipulating and visualizing data. 2) spatial analysis, visualization and work with raster and vector files, addressing the main geostatistical interpolation methods. No previous knowledge of Geographic Information Systems or the R environment is required to participate.

• Date and place: July 2-5, 2024 in Santiago de Compostela

Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models: Operation, Key Components and Applications. University of Zaragoza.

Through this course, students will be able to understand the fundamentals and practical applications of artificial intelligence focused on Large Language Model (LLM). Students will be taught how to use specialized libraries and frameworks to work with LLM, and will be shown examples of use cases and applications through hands-on workshops. It is aimed at professionals and students in the information and communications technology sector.

• Date and place: July 3 to 5 in Zaragoza.

Deep into Data Science. University of Cantabria.

This course focuses on the study of big data using Python. The emphasis of the course is on Machine Learning, including sessions on artificial intelligence, neural networks or Cloud Computing. This is a technical course, which presupposes previous knowledge in science and programming with Python.

• Date and place: From July 15 to 19, 2024 in Torrelavega.

Data management for the use of artificial intelligence in tourist destinations. University of Alicante.  

This course approaches the concept of Smart Tourism Destination (ITD) and addresses the need to have an adequate technological infrastructure to ensure its sustainable development, as well as to carry out an adequate data management that allows the application of artificial intelligence techniques. During the course, open data and data spaces and their application in tourism will be discussed. It is aimed at all audiences with an interest in the use of emerging technologies in the field of tourism.

• Date and place: From July 22 to 26, 2024 in Torrevieja.

The challenges of digital transformation of productive sectors from the perspective of artificial intelligence and data processing technologies. University of Extremadura.

Now that the summer is over, we find this course where the fundamentals of digital transformation and its impact on productive sectors are addressed through the exploration of key data processing technologies, such as the Internet of Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, etc. During the sessions, case studies and implementation practices of these technologies in different industrial sectors will be analyzed. All this without leaving aside the ethical, legal and privacy challenges. It is aimed at anyone interested in the subject, without the need for prior knowledge.

• Date and place: From September 17 to 19, in Cáceres.

These courses are just examples that highlight the importance that data-related skills are acquiring in Spanish companies, and how this is reflected in university offerings. Do you know of any other courses offered by public universities? Let us know in comments.

The Provincial Council of Bizkaia the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the Bilbao City Council collaborate in the Bilbao Bizkaia Open Data Classroom an initiative that aims to develop the use of open data from the two Biscayan institutions (Provincial Council and City Council) for use in university projects. The ultimate goal is that, thanks to this re-use, public services can be improved and new knowledge can be generated to contribute to the resolution of social problems.

The initiative, aimed at university students as well as teaching and research staff, was born as a way to research staff, was born as a a collaboration agreement between the three administrations (Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Bilbao City Council and UPV/EHU). For this purpose, other agreements made with the Bilbao School of Engineering for the creation of Business Classrooms were taken as a reference, but in this case it will be an open data classroom, which will promote the opening of data generated and the reuse of public information.

The Bilbao Bizkaia Open Data Classroom has been in operation since 2022 and its operation is similar to that of the twelve Business Classrooms that were already in operation at the Bilbao School of Engineering. These company classrooms are laboratory-classrooms within the school, created and financed by companies and institutions to promote their innovation activities. In this sense, as the organisers of the Aula state, "they are an effective instrument of collaboration between the Departments of the Bilbao School of Engineering and the business world, both in activities related to research, technological development and innovation and in everything related to training".

Open data for innovation in the classroom

 In addition to developing projects based on the reuse of open data that improve the services provided by the regional and municipal authorities, the Aula also creates data visualisations based on open information processing initiatives proposed by the university community with the aim of improving the welfare of citizens. Another of its areas of work is the implementation of training activities that contribute to the improvement of the digital skills of the university community.

During the first edition of the Bilbao-Bizkaia Open Data Classroom, in the 2022-2023 academic year, the students developed projects on the reuse of data on recycling or outdoor activities, among others. All of them were created using regional data. You can consult the projects here: https://sites.google.com/view/opendatabilbaobizkaia/home?authuser=0.

How can I join Aula Open Data Bilbao-Bizkaia?

The Aula Open data Bilbao Bizkaia has its own space in the headquarters of the Bilbao School of Engineering, in San Mamés. This space has been fitted out thanks to a grant awarded by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and the City Council of Bilbao, which also collaborate by financing the management costs of the classroom.

The programme is aimed at engineering bachelor's and master's degree students carrying out their bachelor's and master's degree final projects, respectively. However, it is not necessary to be in the final year of a Bachelor's or Master's degree to participate in the Aula. The initiative is open to anyone with an interest in data.

Training in Power BI and data analysis toolsis provided at the beginning of the course.

The programme is free of charge, and students working under the agreement are paid. The selection process is by CV.

In the following link you can find all the information about the Classroom.

https://www.aulaopendatabilbaobizkaia.eus/aula_es.html

EXTENDED: You can submit your project until September 20th!

The deadline to participate in the II edition of the Datathon UniversiData is now open. This competition recognises the value of projects that reuse open university data published on the portal UniversiDATA,a public-private initiative that was born at the end of 2020. Its aim was, and is, to promote open data in the Spanish higher education sector in a harmonised way.

UniversiDATA is currently made up of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, the Universidad de Valladolid and the Universidad de Huelva, in collaboration with the company DIMETRICAL, The Analytics Lab, S.L.

What is the UniversiDATA Datathon about?

As previously indicated, participants must submit an open data processing project using one or more of the datasets published in UniversiDATA. These data may be combined with other data sources, but always bearing in mind that their use should not be secondary or ancillary.

There are no limitations on the nature of the project, the technologies involved or the formats of presentatiing the results. You can compete with a mobile app, a web application, a data analysis in Jupyter or R-Markdown, etc.  Works already submitted to other competitions, as well as internships, master's or bachelor's degree theses or research articles  are also valid .

For inspiration, you can visit the "UniversiDATA-Lab" where examples of applications and data analysis are shown. You can also check out the winning projects of the first edition.

How does the competition unfold?

The competition is divided into two phases:

1. Knockout stage

Those interested in participating can submit their candidature from 6 March until September 20, using this form. In addition to the personal data, the following information must be provided in the application:

• Members of the project
• Project title
• Problem to be solved
• Proposed solution
• Identification of addressees
• Usefulness of the project
• Data sets to be used

All the projects submitted will be evaluated by a jury. The jury will select 10 finalists, who will go on to the final phase. The list of selected projects will be made public on September 27, 2024.

2. Final Phase

Once selected, the finalists will start preparing their projects for the presentation to the jury, which will take place during an online event on December 16. The projects will be presented by videoconference.

The winners will be announced on December 23.

Who can participate?

The competition is open to any natural person with tax residence in the European Union, whether they are students, working professionals or amateurs.

You can participate as a group or as an individual.

what are the prizes?

This year, the financial endowment has been increased to a total of €9,000, divided as follows:

• First prize: € 4,000
• Second prize: € 3,000
• Third prize: € 1,500

In addition to these general prizes, the aim is also to recognise the best university student project that has been a finalist but has not won a prize. A special prize of €500 has been created for this purpose.

In case of group participation, the prize will be divided among all members of the group.

Do you have any queries?

Before participating, it is necessary to download and read the specific rules of the competition. If you have any questions, you can contact the organisers through this form. You will also be informed of any new developments on the the UniversiDATA Twitter profile.

In addition, throughout the competition, a direct communication channel will be established with the participants for any questions that may arise, including those concerning the datasets to be used.

The II Datathon UniversiDATA arises as a result of the success achieved in its first edition. it is a very positive experience that offers participants, once again this year, the opportunity not only to win financial recognition, but also to gain visibility by showing their talent when it comes to processing data that can provide answers to various questions of social and economic interest.

Last November 2023, Crue Spanish Universities published the report TIC360 "Data Analytics in the University". The report is an initiative of the Crue-Digitalisation IT Management working group and aims to show how the optimisation of data extraction and processing processes is key to the generation of knowledge in Spanish public university environments. To this end, five chapters address certain aspects related to data holdings and the analytical capacities of universities to generate knowledge about their functioning.

The following is a summary of the chapters, explaining to the reader what can be found in each chapter.

Why is data analytics important and what are the challenges?

In the introduction, the concept of data analytics is recalled as the extraction of knowledge from available data, highlighting its growing importance in the current era. Data analytics is the right tool to obtain the necessary information to support decision-making in different fields. Among other things, it helps to optimise management processes or improve the energy efficiency of the organisation, to give a few examples. While fundamental to all sectors, the paper focuses on the potential impact of data on the economy and education, emphasising the need for an ethical and responsible approach.

The report explores the accelerated development of this discipline, driven by the abundance of data and advanced computing power; however, it also warns about the inherent risks of tools based on techniques and algorithms that are still under development, and that may introduce biases based on age, background, gender, socio-economic status, etc.In this regard, it is important to bear in mind the importance of privacy, personal data protection, transparency and explainability, i.e. when an algorithm generates a result, it must be possible to explain how that result has been arrived at.

A good summary of this chapter is the following sentence by the author: "Good use of data will not lead us to paradise, but it can build a more sustainable, just and inclusive society. On the contrary, its misuse could bring us closer to a digital hell.

How would universities benefit from participating in Data Spaces?

The first chapter, starting from the premise that data is the main protagonist and the backbone asset of the digital transformation, addresses the concept of the Data Spacehighlighting its relevance in the European Commission's strategy as the most important asset of the data economy.

Highlighting the potential benefits of data sharing, the chapter highlights how the data economy, driven by a single market for shared data, can be aligned with European values and contribute to a fairer and more inclusive digital economy. Initiatives such as the Digital Spain Strategy 2026which highlights the role of data as a key asset in digital transformation.

There are many advantages to university participation in data spaces, such as sharing, accessing and reusing data resources generated by other university communities. This allows for faster progress in research, optimising the public resources previously dedicated to research. One initiative that demonstrates these benefits is the European Open Science Space (EOSC)which aims to link researchers and practitioners in science and technology in a virtual environment with open and seamless services for the storage, management, analysis and re-use of scientific data, across physical boundaries and scientific disciplines. The chapter also introduces different aspects related to data spaces such as guiding principles, legislation, participants and roles to be considered. It also highlights some issues related to the governance of data spaces and the technologies needed for their deployment.

What is the European Skill Data Space (ESDS)?

This second chapter explores the creation of a common European data space, with a focus on skills. This space aims to reduce the gap between educational skills and labour market needs, increasing productivity and competitiveness through cross-border access to key data for the creation of applications and other innovative uses. In this respect, it is essential to take into account the release of the version 3.1 of the European Learning Model (ELM)which is to be consolidated as the single European data model for all types of learning (formal, non-formal, informal) as the basis for the European Skills Data Space.

The report defines the key phases and elements for the creation and integration into the European Skills Data Space, highlighting what contributions the different roles (education and training provider, jobseeker, citizen, learner and employer) could make and expect.

what is the role of the Spanish university in the context of European Data Spaces?

This chapter focuses on the role of Spanish universities within European data spaces as a key agent for the country's digital transformation. To achieve these results and reap the benefits of data analytics and interaction with European data spaces, institutions must move from a static model, based on medium- and long-term planning criteria, to flexible models more suited to the liquid reality in which we live, so that data can be harnessed to improve education and research.

In this context, the importance of collaboration and data exchange at European level is crucial, but taking into account existing legislation, both generic and domain-specific.  In this sense, we are witnessing a revolution for which compliance and commitment on the part of the university organisation is crucial. There is a risk that organisations that are not able to comply with the regulatory block will not be able to generate high quality datasets.

Finally, the chapter offers a number of indications as to what kind of staff universities should have in order not to be deprived of creating a corps of analysts and computer experts, vital for the future.

What kind of certifications exist in the field of data?

In order to address the challenges introduced in the chapters of the report, universities need to have in place: (1) data with adequate standards; (2) good practices with regard to governance, management and quality; and (3) sufficiently qualified and skilled professionals to perform the different tasks. To convey confidence in these elements, this chapter justifies the importance of having certifications for the three elements presented:

• Data product quality level certifications such as ISO/IEC 25012, ISO/IEC 25024 and ISO/IEC 25040.
• Organisational maturity level certifications with respect to data governance, data management and data quality management, based on the MAMD model.
• Certifications of personal data competences, such as those related to technological skills or professional competence certifications, including those issued by CDMP or the CertGed Certification.

What is the state of the University in the data age?

Although progress has been made in this area, Spanish universities still have a long way to go to adapt and transform themselves into data-driven organisations in order to get the maximum benefit from data analytics. In this sense, it is necessary to update the way of operating in all the areas covered by the university, which requires acting and leading the necessary changes in order to be competitive in the new reality in which we are already living.

The aim is for analytics to have an impact on the improvement of university teaching, for which the digitisation of teaching and learning processesis fundamental. This will also generate benefits in the personalisation of learning and the optimisation of administrative and management processes.

In summary, data analytics is an area of great importance for improving the efficiency of the university sector, but to achieve its full benefits, further work is needed on both the development of data spaces and staff training. This report seeks to provide information to move the issue forward in both directions.

The document is publicly available for reading at: https://www.crue.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/TIC-360_2023_WEB.pdf  

Content prepared by Dr. Ismael Caballero, Full Professor at UCLM

The contents and points of view reflected in this publication are the sole responsibility of its author.

UniversiDATA organizes its first Datathon.

Are you interested in data analysis? If the answer is yes, you will be interested to know that UniversiDATA has launched a datathon to recognize open data processing projects based on the datasets available on its portal. 
This initiative seeks not only to reward talent, but also to promote the content offered and encourage its use, inspiring new projects through the dissemination of reference cases. It is also an opportunity to get to know their reusers and better understand their objectives, challenges and needs. This valuable information will be used to drive improvements to the platform.

Who can participate?

The call is open to any natural person of legal age with tax residence in the European Union. Students, developers, researchers or any citizen interested in data analysis can participate.

How does the competition take place?

The competition is structured in two phases:

Elimination phase 

A jury of experts will evaluate all the applications received on the basis of the project descriptions provided by the participants in the registration form. Four criteria detailed in the competition rules will be taken into account: impact, quality of the proposal, usability/presentation and reusability.
After the evaluation, a maximum of 10 finalists will pass to the next phase.

Final phase

The finalists will have to present their projects via videoconference to the members of the jury. 
After the presentation, the three winners will be announced.

What are the requirements for the projects submitted?

The submitted projects must fulfill three obligations:

• At least one dataset published on the open data portal UniversiDATA must be used. These datasets may be combined with secondary data from other sources.
• The use made of the UniversiDATA datasets must be essential to obtain the results of the analysis.
• The analysis of the data must have a clear purpose or utility. Generic data treatments will not be accepted. 

It should be noted that existing work, previously presented in other contexts, may be submitted. Furthermore, there are no limitations regarding the technology to be used for the analysis -each user may use the tools he/she considers appropriate- or regarding the format of the final result of the analysis. That is to say, you can compete with a mobile App, a web application, a data analysis in Jupyter or R-Markdown, etc...

What are the prizes?

The three winners will receive a total of €3,500, distributed as follows:

• First prize: €2,000 
• Second prize: 1,000 €. 
• Third prize: 500 €.

The other finalists will receive a diploma of recognition.

How can I participate?

The registration period is now open. The easiest way to participate is to fill out the form available at the end of the competition website before October 14, 2022.
Before registering, we recommend that you review all the complete information in the competition rules. If you have any questions, you can contact the organizers. Various channels will soon be available for participants to ask questions regarding not only the competition procedures, but also the platform's datasets.

Competition schedule

• Receipt of applications: until October 14, 2022
• Publication of the 10 finalists: November 14, 2022
• Communication of the three winners: December 16, 2022

Find out more about UniversiDATA

UniversiDATA was born at the end of 2020 with the aim of promoting open data in the higher education sector in Spain in a harmonized way. It is a public-private initiative that currently encompasses Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Universidad de Valladolid, Universidad de Huelva and "Dimetrical, The Analytics Lab", S.L.
In 2021 UniversiDATA won the First Prize of the III Desafío Aporta for its project UniversiDATA-Lab, a public portal for the advanced and automatic analysis of datasets published by universities. You can learn more about the project in this interview.

Spanish universities have numerous quality data that have great economic and social potential. For this reason, for some time now we have been witnessing a data opening movement by universities in our country, with the aim of promoting the use and reuse of the information they generate, as well as improving its transparency, among others.

As a result of this openness movement, open data portals linked to universities have emerged, many of which are federated with datos.gob.es, such as the University of Cantabria, the University of Extremadura or Pablo de Olavide University, although there are many more. There have even been collaborative initiatives such as UniversityDATA, which seeks to promote open data in the higher education sector in a harmonized way. UniversiData currently brings together 6 universities, but its intention is to continue growing and act as a single access point where the different universities can share their data in a simple way. Also noteworthy is the role of the Ministry of Universities, which currently offers thus 1,000 datasets through datos.gob.es.

Between the datasets shared by universities we find administrative data, on the profile of the students or the different academic itineraries, although they also have a relevant role in the publication of the data of their research groups.

But the role of universities in the open data ecosystem goes far beyond mere publishers, but also has a prominent role in promoting the opening of more data and its reuse.

Examples of open data groups linked to universities

The field of data in general, and that of open data in particular, has more and more weight and importance within the university environment, in academic matters but also in the area of ​​dissemination. As a consequence, today we find various examples of groups, chairs or professionals linked to higher education focused on promoting the use and reuse of academic data.

Next, we analyze some groups of open data linked to the field of higher education in our country:

Chair of Transparency and Open Data – Valencian Observatory of Open Data and Transparency

What is it and what is its purpose?

This organization has been created by the Valencian Generalitat and the Polytechnic University of Valencia, through its Higher School of Computer Engineering and the University Master's Degree in Information Management, to carry out activities related to transparency, participation and citizen access to public information in the Valencian Community.

What functions does it carry out?

The chair organizes and develops a series of activities related to the field of transparency and open data that can be classified into three different categories:

• Training activities: The chair collaborates in teaching activities, such as the Official University Master's Degree in Information Management; in the implementation of permanent training programs aimed at officials, local entities and associations; or the creation of scholarships and prizes for the best degree projects in the field of transparency for UPV students.
• Technical, technological and artistic dissemination activities: Through workshops, conferences and conferences, it seeks to promote both the publication and reuse of open data. They also develop work spaces together with the administration's technical staff, computer programmers and public managers.
• Research and development activities: From the chair they work on different lines of research, especially in the field of open data from the web GVAObert of the Generalitat. They also promote innovative technological solutions in terms of transparency, participation and access to public information.

Next steps

In addition to the Datathon, they also plan to hold an international conference with the collaboration of Open Knowledge Foundation, a series of news verification workshops through open data together with Newtral, various dissemination and training sessions with several business federations, or a workshop on open data from a gender perspective. Among his plans is also to create a directory of reusers of the Valencian Community.

Although work is being done on them, these events still do not have an official agenda and calendar.

Cajasiete Chair of Big Data, Open Data and Blockchain, University of La Laguna

What is it and what is its purpose?

The University of La Laguna and Cajasiete create last year the Big Data, Open Data and Blockchain Chair with the purpose of contributing to digital transformation and the development of a competitive economy in the Canary Islands, through research, training and dissemination in fields such as Big Data, Open Data or Blockchain. This Chair has in its Advisory Council a group of representatives of public and private entities of the archipelago, which are key players when it comes to promoting digital transformation and the development of public-private business models in the Canary Islands.

What functions does it carry out?

One of their most outstanding projects has been "Mapa BOB", where they analyzed in detail the situation of the Canarian entities in terms of digitization to take concrete actions that help fulfill their mission. After this analysis, from the chair they have focused on various initiatives with the aim of raising the level of digitization in the archipelago, many of which have been focused on open data:

• BOB Webinars: They have developed online seminars on specific topics to learn about and disseminate good practices in the field of technology and data.
• Meetings of Public Administrations: They have also set up spaces so that different AA.PP. Canary Islands can share experiences on specific issues related to data. In the last face-to-face edition there was a discussion table dedicated to the analysis of open data.
• Projects: Among the projects they have carried out, it stands out “Practical application of open data: update and prediction”. This is a Final Degree Project whose objective was based on defining a quality indicator to, based on open data related to COVID-19, make predictions of the evolution of the accumulated incidence.
• Training courses: Within the field of open data, it has organized different training courses, such as:

- Course on the CKAN platform for the Cabildo de Lanzarote.

- Masterclass on Open Data and Big Data for business students at the University of La Laguna.

- Open Data courses for Public Administrations within the initiative "Elements to modernize the Administration and improve the provision of public services in the current context" of the University of La Laguna.

- Python course, whose final project consisted of analyzing open tourism data on the island of Tenerife.

Next steps

Currently, the BOB Chair is collaborating in the initiative "DIGINNOVA”, a training program to train unemployed people in digitization matters specific to the needs of the islands. With regard to 2022, various dissemination, training and research activities have been planned with which they hope to continue growing and adding value, although at the moment none of them have been officially presented yet.

Hablando en data

What is it and what is its purpose?

It is a dissemination channel aimed at sharing information and knowledge of interest with the community of data scientists. In this space we can find interviews, review concepts, news or events on Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. In this case we are not talking about a project linked to a university, but to its professionals. This channel has been created by Abilio Romero Ramos and Ivan Robles Acute, two data scientists with extensive experience in the sector who dedicate part of their professional time to teaching subjects related to the field of data in different master's degrees at higher education centers such as the European University and CEU San Pablo University.

What functions does it carry out?

Their YouTube channel has become the central axis of its dissemination project. Through it they try to approach and explain in an entertaining and simple way various concepts necessary to take advantage of the value that is hidden in the data, especially in those that are available to the public.

On the other hand, in his web page they centralize and collect a multitude of content related to data science. In it we can identify some of the functions that this initiative carries out, such as:

• Divulgation: They have a section dedicated to the dissemination of blogs, websites and channels that have information of interest on this subject.
• Training: On its website we can find a section dedicated to disseminating training materials of interest on data science, either through free books, documentaries or online courses.
• Data science for school: an initiative that tries to bring data to the entire population, especially students. Here they share useful and fun resources to help young people get into the world of data science.

The collaboration that this initiative carries out with SoGoodData, an NGO that helps and supports social projects thanks to the combination of public information and that shared by collaborating companies.

Next steps

The closest future plans for this initiative are to continue disseminating knowledge about data science among its community and to continue taking advantage of the possibilities that this field offers. They will continue to spread the use and reuse of public data, not only from their YouTube channel but also from the masters in which they teach and through initiatives such as SoGoodData.

As we have seen, university entities and their professionals have acquired a relevant role in the open data sector in our country, as publishers, disseminators and reusers, although that is for another article.

Do you know of any other initiative for the dissemination of open data in the university field? Leave us a comment or write us an email at dinamizacion@datos.gob.es and tell us. We will be happy to read you.

Publishing open data following the best practices of linked data allows to boost its reuse. Data and metadata are described using RDF standards that allow representing relationships between entities, properties and values. In this way, datasets are interconnected with each other, regardless of the digital repository where they are located, which facilitates their contextualization and exploitation.

If there is a field where this type of data is especially valued, it is research. It is therefore not surprising that more and more universities are beginning to use this technology. This is the case of the University of Extremadura (UEX), which has a research portal that automatically compiles the scientific production linked to the institution. Adolfo Lozano, Director of the Office of Transparency and Open Data at the University of Extremadura and collaborator in the preparation of the "Practical guide for the publication of linked data in RDF", tells us how this project was launched.

Full interview:

1. The research portal of the University of Extremadura is a pioneering initiative in our country. How did the project come about?

The research portal of the University of Extremadura has been launched about a year ago, and has had a magnificent reception among UEX researchers and external entities looking for the lines of work of our researchers.

But the UEX open data portal initiative started in 2015, applying the knowledge of our research group Quercus of the University of Extremadura on semantic representation, and with the experience we had in the open data portal of the City Council of Cáceres. The biggest boost came about 3 years ago when the Vice-Rectorate for Digital Transformation created the UEX Office of Transparency and Open Data.

From the beginning, we were clear that we wanted a portal with quality data, with the highest level of reusability, and where international standards would be applied. Although it was a considerable effort to publish all the datasets using ontological schemas, always representing the data in RDF, and linking the resources as usual practice, we can say that in the medium term the benefits of organizing the information in this way gives us great potential to extract and manage the information for multiple purposes.

We wanted a portal with quality data, with the highest level of reusability, and where international standards. [...] it was a considerable effort to publish all the datasets using ontological schemas, always representing the data in RDF, and linking the resources.

2. One of the first steps in a project of this type is to select vocabularies, that allow conceptualizing and establishing semantic relationships between data. Did you have a good starting point or did you need to develop a vocabulary ex-profeso for this context? Does the availability of reference vocabularies constitute a brake on the development of data interoperability?

One of the first steps in following ontology schemas in an open data portal is to identify the most appropriate terms to represent the classes, attributes and relationships that will configure the datasets. And it is also a practice that continues as new datasets are incorporated.

In our case, we have tried to reuse the most extended vocabularies as possible such as foaf, schema, dublin core and also some specific ones such as vibo or bibo. But in many cases we have had to define our own terms in our ontology because those components did not exist. In our opinion, when the CRUE-TIC Hercules project would be operational and the generic ontology schemas for universities would be defined, it will greatly improve the interoperability between our data, and above all it will encourage other universities to create their open data portals with these models.

One of the first steps in following ontology schemas in an open data portal is to identify the most appropriate terms to represent the classes, attributes and relationships that will configure the datasets.

3. How did you approach the development of this initiative, what difficulties did you encounter and what profiles are necessary to carry out a project of this type?

In our opinion, if you want to make a portal that is useful in the medium term, it is clear that an initial effort is required to organize the information. Perhaps the most complicated thing at the beginning is to collect the data that are scattered in different services of the University in multiple formats, understand what they consist of, find the best way to represent them, and then coordinate how to access them periodically for updates.

In our case, we have developed specific scripts for different data source formats, from different UEX Services (such as the IT Service, the Transfer Service, or from external publication servers) and that transform them into RDF representation. In this sense, it is essential to have Computer Engineers specialized in semantic representation and with extensive knowledge of RDF and SPARQL. In addition, of course, different services of the University must be involved to coordinate this information maintenance.

4. How do you assess the impact of the initiative? Can you tell us with some success stories of reuse of the provided datasets?

From the logs of queries, especially to the research portal, we see that many researchers use the portal as a data collection point that they use to prepare their resumes. In addition, we know that companies that need some specific development, use the portal to obtain the profile of our researchers.

But, on the other hand, it is common that some users (inside and outside the UEX) ask us for specific queries to the portal data. And curiously, in many cases, it is the University's own services that provide us with the data that ask us for specific lists or graphs where they are linked and crossed with other datasets of the portal.

By having the data linked, a UEX professor is linked to the subject he/she teaches, the area of knowledge, the department, the center, but also to his/her research group, to each of his/her publications, the projects in which he/she participates, the patents, etc. The publications are linked to journals and these in turn with their impact indexes.

On the other hand, the subjects are linked to the degrees where they are taught, the centers, and we also have the number of students enrolled in each subject, and quality and user satisfaction indexes. In this way, complex queries and reports can be made by handling all this information together.

As use cases, for example, we can mention that the Word documents of the 140 quality commissions of the degrees are automatically generated (including annual evolution graphs and lists) by means of queries to the opendata portal. This has saved dozens of hours of joint work for the members of these commissions.

Another example, which we have completed this year, is the annual research report, which has also been generated automatically through SPARQL queries. We are talking about more than 1,500 pages where all the scientific production and transfer of the UEX is exposed, grouped by research institutes, groups, centers and departments.

As use cases, for example, we can mention that the Word documents of the 140 quality commissions of the degrees are automatically generated (including annual evolution graphs and lists) by means of queries to the opendata portal. This has saved dozens of hours of joint work for the members of these commissions.

5. What are the future plans of the University of Extremadura in terms of open data?

Much remains to be done. For now we are addressing first of all those topics that we have considered to be most useful for the university community, such as scientific production and transfer, and academic information of the UEX. But in the near future we want to develop datasets and applications related to economic issues (such as public contracts, evolution of expenditure, hiring tables) and administrative issues (such as the teaching organization plan, organization chart of Services, compositions of governing bodies, etc.) to improve the transparency of the institution.

On December 9, the Government of Navarra launches its new open data portal, and on this occasion, a conference will be held at the Public University of Navarra to present it.

Agenda

The event will start at 10 am and will be moderated by Carlos López Molina, Deputy Director of the School of Agricultural Engineering and Biosciences.

The conference will be structured in two parts, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. In the first, of a more institutional nature, the portal will be presented at both functional and technical level, while the second part will consist of a series of talks focused on open science and examples of reuse of open data.

This second part will include the presentation "Experiences in the use of open data", in which the Aporta Initiative, together with ASEDIE, will participate.  In this space, the services and materials offered to reusers by the Aporta Initiative will be presented and examples of business models generated from the reuse of open data will be shown. In this sense, attendees will be invited to participate in the IV Aporta Challenge, a competition that seeks to promote innovation based on data to generate improvements in the health and wellness sector.

You can see the complete agenda below:

PART ONE

• 10:00-10:15h: Open Government and Open Data. Joseba Asiain Albisu - General Director of Presidency and Open Government.
• 10:20h-11:50h: Open Data, what for? Alberto Ortiz de Zarate - Director of DesideDatum Consulting.
• 11:55h-11:30h: Open Data and its valuation dimensions. Ricardo Curto Rodríguez - Professor of Financial Economics and Accounting at the University of Oviedo.
• 11:30-12:00h: Coffee break.
• 12:00h-12:30h: Open Data in the Government of Navarra. Juan Carlos Lázaro - Head of the Transparency Section.
• 12:30h-13:00h: Open Data - CKAN. Toni Rubio Serrano - Technical Director DesideDatum.

Between the two parts there will be a lunch break from 13:00 to 16:00.

PART TWO

• 16:00h-16:30h: Open Access at UPNA, 10 years of Academia-e. Concha Guijarro, head of the Services Section and Carmen Echeverría, Director of the University Library.
• 16:30h-17:30h: Experiences in the use of open data. Olga Quirós, General Secretary of ASEDIE and Sonia Castro, Coordinator of the Aporta Initiative, Digital Public Services, Red.es.
• 17:30h-18:00h: Philosophy of open data. Javier Echeverría, Philosopher and member of Jakiunde.
• 18:00h: Round table: Open data.
  • Humberto Bustince - Professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at UPNA.
  • Alberto Ortiz de Zarate - Senior Manager DesideDatum.
  • Fernando Alonso-Pastor - Head of the Territorial Information Systems Section.
  • Pablo Cebrián - Director of the Navarre Institute of Statistics.

How can I attend the event?

The event, which is face-to-face, is open to anyone interested, both university students and citizens interested in the subject or reusers who want to learn more about the possibilities of open data.

It can also be followed in virtual format through this link.

This initiative is part of the strategy of the Government of Navarra to promote the reuse of open data. New conferences are scheduled for 2022: at the UNED, on the reuse of data for the generation of value-added applications and services, and at the University of Navarra on the reuse of open data in the journalism industry and its relationship with Transparency and Open Government. We will soon give more details of these appointments.

On April 27, the agreement was signed that gives rise to the new Càtedra Dades Obertes, also called CATEDRADES, whose objective is to offer data, information and open knowledge to civil society. Driven MESURA and ACICOM, this new chair becomes part of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) from the Higher Technical School of Computer Engineering, the Faculty of Business Administration and Management, and the Center for Quality and Change Management.

It is the first University Chair promoted by civil society associations. This is a great differentiating nuance, since the rest of the chairs are supported mainly by companies or Public Administrations, and in some cases by foundations.

What will be the work of CATEDRADES?

The purpose of the CATEDRADES Chair is the promotion and development of activities focused on obtaining and using data from public administrations and companies, as a basis for their transparency and accountability at the service of social transformation initiatives and social problems of interest to the citizenship. It seeks to build a space for exchange and technical collaboration aimed at improving the environment through:

• Support of data platforms
• The development of basic competencies for obtaining, managing and analyzing data in general and data generated by citizens (DGC) in particular, with actions aimed at all citizens and with a special focus on young people.
• The momentum of data journalism
• The design of indicators related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda from the perspective of citizens.

The activities of the new chair will be focused on environmental, health, sustainability, communication and citizen participation issues, always promoting the management of open knowledge and collective intelligence through the transfer of data, information and knowledge between civil society, public and private entities, the UPV and students. For this, the Learning-Service (ApS) methodology will be used: while learning, students also offer a service to society, thus promoting critical citizenship. On this post You can find some of the activities carried out and that continue to be carried out by the UPV following this methodology.

MESURA and ACICOM: civil associations to promote open data

The MESURA and ACICOM entities bring together citizens, professionals and entities from different sectors and specialties united with a common goal: the defense of citizens' rights, especially those related to information and communication.

From MESURA and ACICOM, they promote different projects related to open data and that may also be treated in the CATEDRADES Chair, such as:

• Data Platform "Albufera Junts". Initiative to improve access to information and promote cooperation between entities that they intervene in the Albufera.
• Citizen Observatory "Nostre Aire". It brings together professionals and entities of different types with the purpose of building a space for exchange and technical collaboration oriented to the observation and generation of open data to improve the air quality of the Valencian Community.

They are also promoting data platforms on the impact of addiction to gambling and various substances or the urban toll.

In summary, the Chair will favor the making available to the public of data in general and OD4D in particular, presented in the most friendly way possible, using different elements that go from the data itself, to infographics, presentations or websites, etc. These data will facilitate awareness, analysis of complex reality, decision-making and positions, accountability or collaboration and governance, among others.

During the last few years, we have seen more and more Spanish universities betting on the opening of their data. With goals such as improving transparency and promoting the reuse of the information they generated and guarded, open data portals linked to higher education centers have been emerging, many of which have federated with data.gob.es.

These initiatives were individual projects, promoted by pioneering centers that saw in open data a way to share their information with society and promote greater knowledge, as well as the creation of new products and services of value based on their data. During these years, there have been some attempts at harmonization. For example, the Sectoral Commission on Information and Communication Technologies of the Conference of Spanish University Rectors (CRUE-TIC) prepared a manual to guide university entities on the path to open their data, but there was a lack of a joint framework among the universities themselves that would help unify criteria.

With this objective UniversiData was born.

What is UniversiData?

Universidata is a collaborative project oriented and driven by public universities that seeks to promote open data in the higher education sector in Spain in a harmonized way.

The initiative arises from a public-private collaboration between 3 universities (the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos), together with the company Dimetrical. The objective is twofold:

• On the one hand, to create a single access point where the different universities could share their data, facilitating the work of reusers and infomediaries.
• On the other hand, to facilitate the work of publishing data to the universities themselves. Through UniversiData they can publish their data without the need to create their own portal and share the processes of data generation and transformation, with the time and resource savings that this implies.

Universidata es un proyecto colaborativo orientado e impulsado por universidades públicas que busca fomentar los datos abiertos en el sector de la educación superior en España de una forma armonizada.

UniversiData as a single access point

Reusers can find in UniversiData homogeneous and documented contents, which follow the same specification, called "Common Core". Thanks to it, the datasets maintain a common structure, with homogenized metadata. The contents are offered following accepted standards, such as DCAT and DCMI (adopted by NTI RISP), and the most useful formats for reuse such as CSV, XLSX or JSON.

Users can access the data through a search engine. To facilitate their location, the datasets have been classified according to a series of topics. Each dataset can only belong to one category, even if it has different tags that limit the content.  In addition, a free API has been made available to users without the need for registration.

The topics currently available are as follows:

Finally, it should be noted that UniversiDATA includes a laboratory section with examples of analyses carried out with the data it offers, such as the analysis of interurban travel in students or retirement forecasts.

UniversiDATA for data publishers

UniversiData offers a comprehensive and standardized solution for the management, processing, enrichment, automated anonymization and publication of data sets, making it easier for publishers to do their job. The platform is based on open source DKAN. The publication in UniversiDATA helps Universities to comply with the requirements of the Transparency Law 19/2013 and other regional regulations such as the Law of the Community of Madrid 10/2019.

Apart from standardizing the datasets in general formats, UniversiDATA adheres -if they exist- to specific internationally accepted thematic standards, such as Open Fiscal Data Package for public budgets, which allows their integration in portals such as OpenSpending (http://openspending.org/s/?q=universidad), or Open Contracting Data Standard for public procurement processes, datasets in the process of definition by the working group at the time of writing.

A growing project that wants to listen to reusers

UniversiDATA takes its first step with 11 defined and published datasets from a target set of more than 40, and 3 universities actively publishing, making nearly 200 data resources available already at launch.

In its eagerness to grow, more publishing universities and new datasets are expected to be incorporated soon.

In order to continue developing the project, UniversiData considers it essential to listen to the reusers. Therefore, they have enabled different communication channels:

• Users can write comments on each dataset and rate them by "star marker", without the need for registration.
• Periodically, surveys are conducted to find out users' opinions about datasets that should be offered in open access.
• The link to the official information request point is provided on each university's page.
• Users can subscribe through a form on the home page to receive automatic notifications every time new content is published.

Finally, if you have any suggestions, the UniversiDATA team will listen and assist you at universidata@dimetrical.es.

In short, we are before a project that seeks to unify criteria and facilitate the opening of data from universities, and therefore responds to one of the key objectives of the European Data Strategy: the construction of common and interoperable data spaces in a key sector such as data from the university.