Open Knowledge Philippines and Mapua students celebrates Open Data Day 2017
Joseph De Guia - April 10, 2017 in human rights, humanitarian data, Open Data Day

Joseph De Guia (left), Local ambassador of Open Knowledge Philippines with the Mapua SOIT Student Council officers who co-organized the International Open Data Day 2017

Event registration
Creating awareness about Open Data in the Philippines
The session was opened with a welcome and opening remark from Mr Joseph De Guia (local group ambassador of Open Knowledge Philippines) on the theme of the celebration: “Solving problems in the society”. Participants were then showed two videos: open data from Open Knowledge International and the School of Data Summer Camp to introduce them to the people working behind the scenes at Open Knowledge International and their advocacy work in “showing the value of open data for the work of civil society; how effectively use open data; and making government information systems responsive to civil society.”
Dr Lagmay presenting the portal of Project NOAH

Ms. Stepahine Azarias of Open Data Philippines team – DICT, DOST-iGovPhil during her talk.

Ms Gemma Mendoza of Rappler.com during her talk about social activism and using open data in journalism and reporting for social good.
Open Data Workshop
Part of the afternoon session was an opportunity for the students to be engaged in an open data workshop. The students were provided with a brief background about the open data sets to be used in the Project NOAH weather and disaster monitoring.
Joseph leading and facilitating the discussion during the “open data workshop.”
Learnings!
The speakers were given the opportunity to encourage students to take steps in open data movement and activism. They were also able to inspire the students, faculty members and other attendees of the event to take part in the open data education and use them to solve the problems in the society. The speakers were awarded a certificate of appreciation at the end of the event.
Awarding a token of appreciation to Dr Lagmay
According to a student participant:
The open data day celebration was a great avenue to learn the value of open data and the tools being used to solve problems in the society, such as disaster assessment through crowdsourcing and mapping, developing an open data portal, data journalism and a lot more.The Open Knowledge Philippines team is happy to have helped organise the open data day celebration and appreciative of the opportunity to show participants the value data can make in information systems and in effect help facilitate and solve problems in the society. We also had the chance to introduce participants to projects that are effectively using open data through the work of civil societies to push for better services from the government. The stickers, program and poster prints were sponsored by Open Knowledge International. The swags were provided by DOST-DICT iGovPhil Project and Open Data team. The snacks and lunch provided by the organiser – Open Knowledge Philippines. The event photos can be viewed on our Facebook community page – https://www.facebook.com/Open-Data-Day-2017 and facebook.com/groups/openknowledgeph, video documentation can be played here: The International Open Data Day 2017 was organised by Open Knowledge Philippines and with the help of the Mapua Institute of Technology Student Council, Makati campus. The event was sponsored by Open Knowledge International and supported by Project NOAH, University of the Philippines, Open Data Philippines – DICT and DOST, Drupal Pilipinas, and Rappler.com. Like and follow us on Facebook Open Knowledge Philippines and on Twitter @OpenKnowledgePH See you next year for another open data day celebration, and hopefully, we will be much better and present innovative solutions and create impact through open data!