Connect and Help Build the Global Open Data Index

Earlier this week we announced that October is the Global Open Data Index. Already people have added details about open data in Argentina, Colombia, and Chile! You can see all the collaborative work here in our change tracker. Each of you can make a difference to hold governments accountable for open data commitments plus create an easy way for civic technologies to analyze the state of open data around the world, hopefully with some shiny new data viz. Our goal at Open Knowledge is to help you shape the story of Open Data. We are hosting a number of community activities this month to help you learn and connect with each other. Most of all, it is our hope that you can help spread the word in your local language.

Choose your own adventure for the Global Open Data Index

We’ve added a number of ways that you can get involved to the OKFN Wiki. But, here are some more ways to learn and share:

Community Sessions – Let’s Learn Together

Join the Open Knowledge Team and Open Data Index Mentors for a session all about the Global Open Data Index. It is our goal to show open data around the world. We need your help to add data from your region and reach new people to add details about their country.

We will share some best practices on finding and adding open dataset content to the Open Data Index. And, we’ll answer questions about the use of the Index. There are timeslots to help people connect globally.

Thursday, October 9, 2014: You can build the Global Open Data Index! (Times: 16:00 BST / 11:00 EST / 17.00 CEST/18:00 EAT)

Monday, October 13, 2014: Help Create the Open Data Index (Times: 10:00 BST, 11.00 CEST, 16:00 WIB,, 17:00 HKT)

These will be recorded. But, we encourage you to join us on G+ /youtube and bring your ideas/questions. Stay tuned as we may add more online sessions.

Community Office Hours

Searching for datasets and using the Global Open Data Index tool is all the better with a little help from mentors and fellow community members. If you are a mentor, it would be great if you could join us on a Community Session or host some local office hours. Simply add your name and schedule here.

Mailing Lists and Twitter

The Open Data Index mailing list is the main communication channel for folks who have questions or want to get in touch: https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-data-census#sthash.HGagGu39.dpuf

For twitter, keep an eye on updates via #openindex14

Translation Help

What better way to help others get involved than to share in your own language. We could use your help. We have some folks translating content into Spanish. Other priority languages are Yours!, Arabic, Portuguese, French and Swahili. Here are some ways to help translate:

Small tasks – Translate and share Tweets/Facebook posts – (Add this to etherpad)
Small tasks – Translate the Open Data index blog post into your language – send to index at OKFN dot Org
Medium taks – Make a copy of the Open Data Index Tutorial and translate it into your language

Learn on your own

We know that you have limited time to contribute. We’ve created some FAQs and tips to help you add datasets on your own time. I personally like to think of it as a data expedition to check the quality of open data in many countries. Happy hunting and gathering! Last year I had fun reviewing data from around the world. But, what matters is that you have local context to review the language and data for your country. Here’s a quick screenshot of how to contribute: