Panel: We are Making the Tech We Want

With the skills that the panellists have, it would be easier to work for the mainstream tech industry and just go with the flow. But they’ve all chosen a different path: making software that makes sense. In this conversation, we’ll share the trajectories of some open, free/libre, and alternative technologies, and discuss how to tip the scales in our favour amidst a solutionist discourse in an ultra-specialised industry.

Report: Open Movement’s Common(s) Causes

This report outlines a shared advocacy strategy for the Knowledge Commons, based on a mapping of opportunities and threats facing the open movement that took place at Common(s) Cause, a Wikimania 2024 side event.

Panel: The Tech We Want is Sustainable for People and the Planet

Eco, green, or simply sustainable technologies have several implicit meanings: long life, affordable maintenance, skilled people, resource-friendly, economical to use, renewable, regenerative, etc. In this panel, thinkers, practitioners and promoters of different aspects of software sustainability will discuss if and how it is possible to achieve a development model for people and the planet. Is there a way out of the disaster versus greenwashing narratives?

Panel: The Tech We Want is Built and Maintained with Care

Digital technologies need people to care for them and keep them alive. In a time of obsession for innovation and disruption, in this panel we will shine a light on the invisible but essential work of maintenance.

Open Knowledge Achieves US Charitable Organisations Equivalency Status

We’re thrilled to announce that the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) has achieved NGOsource Equivalency Determination (ED) certification, formally establishing our recognition as equivalent to a US public charity. This status represents a major milestone for OKFN and opens new avenues for partnerships and support from US-based donors and foundations.

Panel: The Tech We Want is Political

Since the Snowden revelations, citizen efforts have been focused in patching a broken system of surveillance, extractivism of people and the planet and rights erosion. This conversation will discuss the current state of the things and the viability of uniting technical and political efforts to move in a different direction.

The Tech We DON’T Want: Bring your scary tech story to our Halloween

Next Thursday, October 31st, 11:00 CEST, come celebrate Halloween – or Buggyween – at this open meeting with the Open Knowledge Foundation team.

The Tech We Want Summit: Review the recordings of what was a great community moment in 2024

The event brought together our beloved community of technologists, practitioners and creators for two days to show that a different technology stack is possible.

The Tech We Want Summit: Full Programme Announcement

The Tech We Want Summit is just around the corner. Today we are announcing the full programme for day one, Thursday 17 October, featuring 28 speakers from all around the world across 5 panels and 2 keynotes.

Are you a developer? Help us test the Open Data Editor!

The Open Knowledge Foundation is looking for four developers with Python and React JS skills to test the Open Data Editor (ODE) desktop application between October and November and help us improve its functionality.

Unlocking the Power of Data for Peace: Highlights from the Policy Driver Document for Data Accessibility and User-Friendliness in Peacebuilding

In July 2024, peacebuilders, activists, academics, third sector and staff from intergovernmental organisations such as the United Nations and the OSCE, came together for a policy hackathon at the Austrian Forum for Peace Conference in Burgenland near the Hungarian border.

Join us at The Tech We Want Summit and take a critical stand on today’s technologies

Today we are happy to announce The Tech We Want, a series of initiatives that we’ve been working on for a long time at the Open Knowledge Foundation and that has been guiding us in the way we develop software. In recent years, technology has adopted a complex, wasteful, and expensive approach to serving its […]

Bangladesh must immediately stop persecuting experts of the open movement

This week our thoughts are with the Open Knowledge community in Bangladesh, whose members have been deeply affected by internet shutdowns, curfews and arrests.

Follow us in Poland or online at Wikimania, the biggest gathering of the open community in 2024

It’s time to get together and unite. See the details of each session and come and say hello – in person or virtually.

The European Union must keep funding free software

Open Letter to the European Commission

Policy Brief: Governing Digital Public Infrastructure as a Commons

Policy Brief submitted by Open Knowledge Foundation, Center for Internet and Society and Research ICT Africa to T20, Engagement Group of G20 under Task Force T05 – Inclusive digital transformation

You are invited to OPEN GOES COP’s 2nd Webinar

We’re advocating for openness in the UN Climate Change Conferences. If you’re working at the intersection of openness and climate change, please come!

Join us for the Inaugural Webinar of OPEN GOES COP, a movement advocating for openness in the UN Climate Change Conferences

We aim to overcome the lack of discussion on the role of ‘openness’ as a necessary condition for addressing the climate crisis. If you’re working at the intersection of openness and climate change, please come!

We are telling G7 leaders that the AI infrastructure must be open

We are concerned about a closed digital future where only a few elites can seize the power of AI for private purposes. Our contribution to the Think7 Italy Summit (T7) is trying to change that.

Common(s) Cause: Towards a Shared Advocacy Strategy for the Knowledge Commons

Join us for a day-long side event to Wikimania 2024 in Katowice, Poland. Our goal is to design a shared advocacy vision for stronger, collaborative work for the Knowledge Commons.

Open Data Editor: meet the team behind the app

Join us on this learning journey and follow the details of the app’s development in this series of blogs.

Angela Oduor Lungati: ‘When embracing open source, one must be intentional about being inclusive’

The Executive Director of Ushahidi joins us for the ninth #OKFN100, a series of conversations about the challenges and opportunities facing the open movement.

Rebecca Firth: ‘A panacea of open data is needed to tackle climate-related disasters’

The Executive Director of Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team joins us for the eighth #OKFN100, a series of conversations about the challenges and opportunities facing the open movement.

Open Knowledge Network Regional Hubs Coordinators – Call for Applications

Are you a community practitioner or a researcher interested in international networks and the digital commons? This could be an interesting opportunity for you.

Announcement of strategic funding for the Open Data Editor

We are pleased to announce that the Open Knowledge Foundation has been selected as a grantee of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, marking a significant milestone for the development of the Open Data Editor (ODE) application, a tool that will unlock the power of data for key groups, including scientists, journalists and data activists.

New Release: Problematising Strategic Tension Lines in the Digital Commons

As a part of our exploration of the open movement, last May, we hosted a workshop with a small group of the movement’s leaders. It was co-organised by our partners at Open Future and Wikimedia Europe. The convening built up on what was found out in Shifting Tides – quality research about the state of the movement conducted […]

Urgent Call for Tech Companies to Respect Palestinian Digital Rights in Times of Crisis

We, a collective of human rights and civil society organizations, urge tech companies to immediately take strict measures to protect their users from harm in light of the escalating events in the region. These events have inevitably led to increased discrimination against Palestinian content and a rise in anti-Palestinian racism across various online platforms, and […]

Open Knowledge Foundation joins the Digital Public Goods Alliance

By uniting resources and expertise, OKFN and DPGA aim to harness the power of digital commons to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Introducing Open Data Editor (beta): Towards a No-Code Data App for Everyone

OKFN is thrilled to introduce the initial version of the Open Data Editor (beta) today. We hope it will become in the future a no-code, easy-to-use application to explore and publish all kinds of data.

Stefania Maurizi: ‘Secrets are the currency of power’

One of the most important investigative journalists working as a media partner of WikiLeaks joined us for the seventh #OKFN100, a series of conversations about the current challenges and the paths of action of the open movement

Data-driven Development in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Recap of the CKAN Workshop at Code4Dev

Watch the workshop recording and learn the basics about an open data portal implementation using CKAN. This training was offered by Open Knowledge in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank.

#OpenGovRetrospective – Get inspired by projects from our global Network

Latest update: August 21, 2023 The Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit 2023 is fast approaching. As we prepare to run an official side event, Open Knowledge Foundation has been reviewing all the open government projects we’ve launched or been involved with in recent years. As the projects list keeps growing, we decided to take […]

#OpenGovRetrospective – What we’ve done inspires what comes next

Join us in looking back on open government past projects and in re-igniting the conversations in such a challenging time for democracies.

CKAN is now a Digital Public Good

The Digital Public Good Alliance approved Open Knowledge’s application and has added it to the Digital Public Good Registry.

Civil Society Statement on democratic digital infrastructure

Together with 40 others, we’re calling on the EU to support open-by-design alternatives to commercial digital infrastructures & promote interoperable, transparent spaces that respect privacy, democratic values & net neutrality.

Peter Murray-Rust: ‘The Global South is seen to be doing things better, it only lacks a unified critical mass’

A historic open science advocate and a member of the Open Definition Council joined us for the sixth #OKFN100, a series of conversations with more than 100 people about the current challenges and the paths of action of the open movement.

Beatriz Busaniche: ‘Hate speech is sustained by stereotypes, which are often driven by AI’

The director of Fundación Vía Libre joined us for the fifth #OKFN100, a series of conversations with more than 100 people about the current challenges and the paths of action of the open movement.

Debriefing the Open Definition workshop at MozFest

One week ago at MozFest, we began the process of rethinking and updating the Open Definition for today’s challenges and contexts. Here are the main takeaways.

David Eaves: ‘The open data battle now is to demonstrate value, and that’s hard to do’

The initiator of Open Data Day joined us for the fourth #OKFN100, a series of conversations with 100+ people about about the current challenges and paths of action of the open movement.

Thais Ruiz de Alda: ‘Social media platforms promote gender violence. Full stop.’

The executive director of DigitalFems joined us for the third #OKFN100, a series of conversations with 100+ people about about the current challenges and paths of action of the open movement.

Zoë Kooyman: ‘Today, the free software message is maybe more important than ever’

The executive director of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) joined us for the second #OKFN100, a series of conversations with 100+ people about about the current challenges and paths of action of the open movement.

Ready… Set… Register!

Registration for csv,conf,v7 in Buenos Aires, Argentina is now Open. The anticipation is over! No more guessing and waiting! The community conference for data makers everywhere, returns in person! Csv,conf,v7 will be in the beautiful Buenos Aires, Argentina April 19-20. It will not be a conference without YOU present! This is one of the events […]

Balázs Bodó: ‘Digital commons are actually reproducing existing power inequalities’

#OKFN100 is kicking off today, a series of conversations with 100+ people about how openness can strengthen the fights for the complex challenges of our times

Nine recommendations for civil servants to enhance national digital transformations

Many efforts are being obstructed by the lack of IT infrastructure investment, lack of available, accessible datasets and lack of mature data organisation, data management and data governance.

EITI Datathon: Innovative solutions for a data-driven energy transition – Send your proposals before July 31st

Open Knowledge Foundation is thrilled to announce the launch of a global open call for proposals as part of the EITI Datathon: Innovative solutions for a data-driven energy transition. The Datathon is organised by the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative, which partnered with OKF and Thibi to deliver the event. The applicants selected as part of […]

Microsoft to support Open Data Day 2022

Today, we are pleased to announce that Microsoft will once again be supporting Open Data Day by providing mini-grants to organisations to help them run events, the call will launch on Open Data Day 2022. Photo from Microsoft supported event on Open Data Day 2021, run by Riva Quiroga from Chile. Read their event report […]

An urgent call for peace and solidarity

At the Open Knowledge Foundation, we urge to ramp up all the diplomatic and political efforts for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and that ceasefire to extend to all the countries and regions in the World suffering the brutality of war. We strongly condemn the indiscriminate attacks and forced displacement that the Russian government is […]

Frictionless Planet – Save the Date

We believe that an ecosystem of organisations combining tools, techniques and strategies to transform datasets relevant to the climate crisis into applied knowledge and actionable campaigns can get us closer to the Paris agreement goals. Today, scientists, academics and activists are working against the clock to save us from the greatest catastrophe of our times. […]

100+ Conversations to inspire our new direction

It has been almost two decades since OKFN was founded. Back then, the open movement was navigating uncharted waters, with hope and optimism. We created new standards, engaged powerful actors and achieved change in government, science and access to knowledge and education, unleashing the power of openness, collaboration and community in the early digital days. […]

Working with UNHCR to better collect, archive and re-use data about some of the world’s most vulnerable people

Since 2018, the team at Open Knowledge Foundation has been working with the Raw Internal Data Library (RIDL) project team at UNHCR to build an internal library of data to support evidence-based decision making by UNHCR and its partners. What’s this about? The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a global organisation ‘dedicated […]

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