This year, on Saturday, the 5th of March, the fourth annual Open Data Day will take place. For us in Open Knowledge, Open Data Day is one of our favourite initiatives. This is a grassroot event that has no particular organisation behind it, and it is able to bring together people from all over the world to discuss, hack and promote open data. From Japan to Vancouver, Cape Town to Oslo, Brazil to Nepal, London and Greece, Open Data Day is a global celebration of openness. It helps us all raise awareness about openness of data in different fields across the world and It unites us once a year as a community.
Last year, Open Knowledge International started the mini grant scheme to support Open Data Day events across the world. As a volunteer based event, we know how a small chunk of money can make a great difference – from getting food to your hackathon to hiring a venue to whatever you need. In 2015, with the support of ILDA, Sunlight Foundation and the Caribbean Open Institute we were able to give 28 grants all over the world and to enrich Open Data Day.
This year We are happy to announce that we will keep giving mini grants to support Open Data Day around the world. Open Knowledge will be able distribute a total amount of $7500 USD between different groups around the world. The mini grants will be in the sum of $250-$350 USD each and will serve Open Data Day 2016 events only. The deadline to all applications is Sunday, 14/2/2016.
2015 Open Data Day participants in Indonesia
How to apply for the mini grants scheme?
First, add your event to the Open Data Day website and wiki. Then, fill out this FORM.
NOTICE: Events that are not be registered on the Open Data Day website will not be considered for the grant.
Who can apply for a mini grant?
Any civil society group from anywhere around the world. We will give preference to current groups and affiliates groups that already work as part of the Open Knowledge Network, but we will consider other groups as well.
Notice, we will not give this grant to governments.
Is there any topic that the event should focus on?
No, it can be Open Science, Open GLAM, Open Gov… As long has it has something to do with Open Data. :-)
Are there any geographical restrictions?
It doesn’t matter where your event is, you are welcome to apply. Please note that we will not fund two events in the same country, so we encourage groups to merge to one event as they can.
What is the catch? Do I have to do anything in return?
Yes there is a small catch, but only for the sake of knowledge sharing and smooth operations!
Since Open Data Day is really around the corner, we ask you to provide us all information for delivering your grant, within 3 working days after you have been notified you will get the grant.
We do ask you to write a blog post that describes your event and what the group learned from it. We believe that in this way the Open Knowledge Network can learn better from one another and make better connections between people and ideas.
If my application is successful, how are you going to transfer us the money?
If your application was successful, you will be required to immediately provide sufficient Bank information in order to make payment. All payments will either be made via Paypal, or direct to you bank account.
When will you announce if I got the mini grant?
We aim to notify all grant winners by Friday the 19/2/2016.
The deadline to all applications is Sunday, 14/2/2016.
For more information please ask in our forum, and one of us would be happy to assist. – https://discuss.okfn.org/c/network-and-community/open-data-day
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Talvez seja certo afirmar que 2015 foi um dos anos mais movimentados da breve história da Open Knowledge Brasil. Com um início de reformulações para a instituição, o ano acabou se tornando bastante movimentado a partir de julho. Separamos, aqui no blog, alguns momentos dignos de lembrança.
Logo no início de março, a plataforma virtual Eu Voto, iniciativa da Open Knowledge Brasil em parceria com a Fundação Avina, que permite à população votar em projetos de lei em tramitação na Câmara Municipal, foi lançada. No mesmo mês, houve um encontro visando discutir a governança da OKBr.
Já em abril, nos dias 6 e 10, houve a primeira edição de 2015 do curso “Introdução ao Jornalismo de Dados”, em São Paulo. Realizado anteriormente em Salvador e no Rio de Janeiro, esta edição foi oferecida pela Escola de Dados junto à Escola de Comunicação da Universidade de São Paulo (ECA/USP). O treinamento, gratuito, integrou o programa Partnership for Open Data (POD), uma parceria entre o Banco Mundial, o Open Data Institute e a Open Knowledge Internacional para acelerar a abertura de dados em países em desenvolvimento.
Em julho, a OKBr promoveu, junto ao Eu Voto, o debate “Democracia e Internet: Criando uma cultura de participação política no século XXI”, que tinha como objetivo propor uma discussão aprofundada sobre as ferramentas tecnológicas para o uso e acesso a dados, decisões e construção do que é público, assim como sobre as novas iniciativas de participação política pela internet que estão surgindo no Brasil e no mundo. O evento contou com a participação de Marina Silva (Rede), ex-Ministra do Meio Ambiente e presidenciável nas eleições de 2014 pelo Partido Verde, Milton Jung, jornalista, âncora da rádio CBN e implementador da plataforma Adote um vereador; e Santigo Siri, co-fundador do Partido de la Red na Argentina, além de Ariel Kogan, conselheiro deliberativo da OKBr e idealizador da plataforma Eu Voto, e Heloisa Pait, professora de sociologia da UNESP,especialista em sociologia dos meios de comunicação e conselheira consultiva da OKBr. O mês também marcou o início da coordenação da Escola de Dados por Natália Mazotte, dando fôlego a uma série de novas atividades para o projeto ligado à OKBr.
Agosto marcou o recebimento de um subsídio da Shuttleworth Foundation a nosso diretor executivo, para ajudar a conduzir a instituição. Também foi promovido um prêmio para um vídeo que explicasse a importância da Open Knowledge Brasil, que foi conquistado por Thiago Avila, pesquisador do Núcleo de Excelência em Tecnologias Sociais (NEES), Superintendente de Produção da Informação e do Conhecimento da Secretaria de Estado do Planejamento e Gestão de Alagoas. O mês teve uma agenda bastante movimentada, com a participação da organização em diversos eventos ligados ao conhecimento aberto, como Universidade Aberta, Inclusão Digital Aberta, Cidade Aberta, Paulista Aberta e Ciência Aberta. Este último tratou-se do lançamento do livro “Ciência Aberta, questões abertas”, que conta com capítulos escritos por colaboradores da OKBr e de atores ligados à nossa rede.
Em setembro, foi realizada a Con Datos e a desconferência AbreLatam. Alguns colaboradores da Open Knowledge Brasil participaram do evento e manifestaram suas impressões sobre as reuniões e sobre a comunidade de dados abertos, como Natália Mazotte e Marco Túlio Pires, da Escola de Dados, Thiago Rondon e Gisele Craveiro, assim como o diretor executivo da OKBr, Everton Zanella Alvarenga.
Foi também neste mês que a instituição se manifestou abertamente contra o PL espião, projeto de lei que ainda está para ser votado e ameaça a liberdade de expressão na internet no Brasil.
Ainda no dia 18 do mesmo mês, ocorreu o encontro Diálogos para Governo Aberto, organizado pela Controladoria Geral da União. A Open Knowledge Brasil foi uma das cinco organizações da sociedade civil escolhidas e subsidiadas para ir para Brasília. O principal objetivo do encontro foi fazer uma rodada de conversa sobre o Grupo de Trabalho da sociedade civil que participará da construção do 3º Plano de Ação do Brasil para a Parceria para Governo Aberto (Open Government Partnership – OGP).
Outubro, por sua vez, foi marcado por nosso posicionamento em relação ao acordo que a Câmara Municipal de São Paulo fechou com a plataforma Vote na Web, ferramenta de código proprietário, paga e que pretere a plataforma que desenvolvemos e pretendemos usar junto à CMSP, o EuVoto. Consideramos que a situação foi um reflexo da falta diálogo entre a população e o poder público e, sobretudo, pedimos que as instituições públicas adotem processos mais transparentes, claros e coerentes.
Ao final do ano, em novembro, a Open Knowledge Brasil participou do evento “Repensando as instituições e sistemas de participação no século XXI” no Columbia Global Center, no Rio de Janeiro. O movimento emergente do encontro se dedicará a pensar democracia digital e reformas estruturais no sistema político brasileiro. A reunião, realizada no dia 11/11, teve como um dos desdobramentos a conformação de um observatório em rede sobre democracia digital.
No mesmo mês, nosso diretor executivo também esteve presente no Open Development Camp, em Haia, no painel “Breaking through silos”, com especialistas em organizações de tecnologia cívica (Everton Zanella, OKBr) ONGs (David Saldivar, Oxfam USA) e financiadores (Lea Gimpel, GIZ.de) discutindo suas experiências na empreitada de falar para além de seus pares.
Como se nossa agenda já não estivesse cheia o suficiente, ainda em novembro, apoiamos o lançamento do Eu Voto Piracicaba, iniciativa conjunta do Observatório Cidadão de Piracicaba e da Rede Engajados. E fechamos uma parceria com a plataforma jornalística Aos Fatos, que produzirá histórias do orçamento para o projeto Gastos Abertos em troca do apoio que a Open Knowledge Brasil deu à sua campanha de crowdfunding.
O início de dezembro marcou o começo do curso do projeto Gastos Abertos. No primeiro módulo das aulas, Pedro Marin explicou um pouco sobre orçamento público e Diego Rabatone falou sobre dados abertos e alguns conceitos importantes para jornalistas contarem suas histórias, como e o que é uma API. Já na segunda fase do curso, Natália Mazotte, coordenadora da Escola de Dados, apresentou os alunos a diferentes iniciativas de jornalismo de dados. Rodrigo Bugarelli ensinou os alunos a cruzarem dados, Marco Túlio Pires promoveu uma oficina sobre raspagem de dados e Natália Mazotte e Sérgio Spagnuolo mostraram aos jornalistas que participavam do curso ferramentas úteis para visualização de dados.
O ano foi fechado com chave de ouro com nossa celebração, no dia 9 de dezembro, de um Termo de Cooperação Técnica com a Câmara Municipal de São Paulo. A data simbólica, do dia internacional contra a corrupção, marcou a assinatura de um documento no qual as partes se comprometem a desenvolver um programa de cooperação por meio de projetos, cursos e eventos, aprimorando o uso das tecnologias da informação e comunicação com o objetivo de ampliar e qualificar os espaços de participação cívica e estimular a transparência das instituições públicas.
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After researching the definitions of data literacy, along with the methodologies and impact of data literacy efforts, we looked into the question of business models: are there sustainable business models that can support data literacy efforts in the long term? Along with looking at how data literacy efforts can support themselves financially, we also looked for opportunities for linkages with other efforts.
No clear business model for sustainability
Many of the School of Data local communities and external organisations that provide data literacy training are using a mix of foundational funding and fee for service to sustain themselves. The organisations using this model are opportunistic in getting organisations and individuals to pay for trainings when they can, but a lack of understanding about data processes among clients is often a problem. At this point, there is not a clear ‘sustainable business model’ that would direct data literacy organisations towards longevity. To understand better the business models of established organisations working at the intersection of technology and social change, we looked at a two of them: Aspiration and Tactical Collective.
Aspiration
Aspiration is a US-based NGO that operates globally, providing a range of services to build capacity and community around technology for social change. Over the last decade, under Allen Gunn’s (Gunner) leadership, Aspiration has gained a strong reputation for delivering trainings and events that focus on strategic and tangible outcomes while strengthening communities of practice. Aspiration has championed an approach known as participatory events, developing knowledge-sharing and leadership development methodologies that prioritize active dialog-based learning. The philosophy and design focus on maximizing interaction and peer learning while making spare use of one-to-many and several-to-many session formats such as presentations and panels. Aspiration has been able to scale their model across a range of meeting sizes and purposes, from smaller team strategy sessions and retreats to large-scale events, such as the Mozilla Festival, which brings together over 1,500 participants.
Aspiration’s services are in high demand, with clients ranging from both small civil society organisations to larger international NGO’s and foundations. They have seen a gradual reduction in reliance on grants, and now generate the majority of their funds through earned income from strategic consulting services, events, and trainings. In order to scale service delivery, program staff have all been trained in the unique skill sets required for delivering participatory events and providing strategic services within the Aspiration frame of analysis. The organization now has five full-time staff able to deliver both live events and strategic services.
Tactical Collective
Fee for service work on utilising data in social change has had an increased market in the civil society sector over the last five to seven years. However, many social change organisations have been unaware of the amount of resources and effort it takes to analyse and produce outputs such as data visualisations and info-graphics. A more mature organisation with experience in utilising information and technologies in activism, Tactical Technology Collective, attempted to better educate clients by engaging them in creation of design briefs. The unfortunate reality is that most advocacy and activist connected organisations look for low-cost solutions to their data problems. Often they will ask to get pointed to software that will enable them to do it themselves and for no cost.
Using collaborations and linkages to improve the understanding of data needs
A hopeful example in developing the capacity of organisations to understand the amount of resources needed to utilise data is in the School of Data’s Embedded Fellowship with Global Witness. Through a six-month engagement, the fellow, Sam Leon, was able to provide data trainings at all levels of the organisation – from senior management to the front line staff. This has helped the organisation, rather than just the individuals, to improve its data literacy. What this points to is a need to differentiate between individual data literacy and organisational data literacy. While the School of Data curriculum addresses individual data literacy, efforts like the fellowship programme, that have long term engagements succeed in building organisational capacities. Being more intentional in articulating both the difference and how they complement each other will likely lead to a greater ability to raise funds and develop deeper relationships with allies. Other potential areas for linkages and collaboration on the School of Data Curriculum that could lead to greater sustainablity for data literacy organisations:
Schools and universities who are interested in expanding their course offerings to better address data literacy amongst students. An opportunity for chapters is to work with local academia in adapting the School of Data curriculum to address the needs of students who will potentially be using open-data in their careers. Teachers are also in need of training on the pedagogy in regards to understanding data and it’s contexts, as opposed to understanding how to use tools. Academic grants and funding could support this adaptation.
Civil society efforts that are working towards the release of data, particularly by governments, for use in the public domain. One area that has a strong need for greater data literacy is the open governments, transparency and accountability movements, whose area of expertise is in pressuring governments through advocacy campaigns to release data. Many do not have capacity to provide training to those who might actually use the data. In this regard, a conclusion of the International Open Data Conference in 2015 (as stated in its final report) poses the need for work to identify and embed core competencies for working with open data within existing organizational training, formal education, and informal learning programs.
Development initiatives, particularly those that are focused on supporting an emerging private sector that will be inspired by data for use in innovation. Access and use-ability of open data could be exploited by the private sector in ways that could expand data literacy in emerging economies. Current development initiatives could greatly benefit from engaging with School of Data chapters and engaging with the curriculum.
In order to sustain a long term data literacy initiative, it is likely that funding will need to come from a mix of foundational funding and fee for service work through expanding the diversity of clients, collaborations and linkages. As open-data usability and access continues to improve, it will be critical that Data Literacy organisations stay on top of future trends and continue to shape their curriculum to meet the needs of the communities they aim to serve. Hopefully, funders and social change organisations will also continue to evolve in their understanding of the importance of data and the resources involved in making it useful to stakeholders. As a network, the School of Data local communities will need to share information about how they grow and evolve sustainable business models.
In our next blog post ‘Recommendations for Improving Data Literacy Efforts’ we will discuss the conclusions that we have made as a result of undertaking this research effort.
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The great inventor Thomas Edison tells a joke about a healthy liver, recorded on his Edison Blue Amberol cylinder. I guess you had to have been there...
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The great inventor Thomas Edison tells a joke about a healthy liver, recorded on his Edison Blue Amberol cylinder. I guess you had to have been there...
Comments Off on Thomas Edison Tells a Joke about a Liver (1906)
The Europeana Space project is exploring different ways of reusing digital cultural heritage by running pilots in six thematic areas (TV, Photography, Dance, Games, Open and Hybrid Publishing and Museums). On March 17-18, 2016 the Museums pilot invites everyone to Venice for the Hacking the Museum Experience, focused on creating disruptive solutions to enhance the museums’ visitors […]
Known for his debauched lifestyle, his flirtations with criminality, and the sheer volume of his literary output, the Elizabethan writer Robert Greene was a fascinating figure. Ed Simon explores the literary merits and bohemian traits of the man who penned the earliest known, and far from flattering, reference to Shakespeare as a playwright.
Popular CKAN extensions ‘Archiver’ and ‘QA’ have recently been significantly upgraded. Now it is relatively simple to add automatic broken link checking and 5 stars of openness grading to any CKAN site. At a time when many open data portals suffer from quality problems, adding these reports make it easy to identify the problems and get credit when they are resolved.
Whilst these extensions have been around for a few years, most of the development has been on forks, whilst the core has been languishing. In the past couple of months there has been a big push to merge all the efforts from US (data.gov), Finland, Greece, Slovakia and Netherlands, and particularly those from UK (data.gov.uk), into core. It’s been a big leap forward in functionality. Now installers no longer need to customize templates – you get details of broken links and 5 stars shown on every dataset simply by installing and configuring the extensions. And now we’re all on the same page, it means we can work together better from now on.
The Archiver Extension regularly tries out all datasets’ data links to see if they are still working. File URLs that do work are downloaded and the user is offered the ‘cached’ copy. Otherwise, URLs that are broken are marked in red and listed in a report. See more: ckanext-archiver repo, docs and demo images
The QA Extension analyses the data files that Archiver has downloaded to reliably determine their format – CSV, XLS, PDF, etc, rather than trusting the format that the publisher has said they are. This information is combined with the data license and whether the data is currently accessible to give a rating out of 5 according to Tim Berners-Lee’s 5 Stars of Openness. A file that has no open licence, or is not available gets 0 stars. If it passes those tests but is only a PDF then it gets 1 star. A machine-readable but proprietry format like XLS gets it 2 stars, and an open format like CSV gets it 3 stars. 4 and 5 star data is that which uses standard schemas and references other datasets, which tends to mean RDF. See ckanext-qa repo, docs and demo images
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