Blog

New open energy data portal set to spark innovation in energy efficiency solutions

Viderum spun off as a company from Open Knowledge International in 2016 with the aim to provide services and products to further expand the reach of open data around the world. Last week they made a great step in this direction by powering the launch of the Energy Data Service portal, which will make Denmark’s energy […]

Open Knowledge Festival comes to Thessaloniki in 2018

It seems a long time since the open knowledge community were last together at OKFest 2014 in Berlin but we are now excited to announce that, after a short spell of hibernation, OKFest 2018 will take place on 3-6 May 2018 in Thessaloniki, Greece. What is OKFest? The Open Knowledge Festival (known as OKFest) is […]

Open data quality – the next shift in open data?

This blog post is part of our Global Open Data Index blog series. It is a call to recalibrate our attention to the many different elements contributing to the ‘good quality’ of open data, the trade-offs between them and how they support data usability (see here some vital work by the World Wide Web Consortium). […]

Announcing the 2017 International Open Data Day Mini-Grant Winners!

This blog was co-written by Franka Vaughan and Mor Rubinstein, OKI Network team. This is the third year of the Open Knowledge International Open Data Day mini-grants scheme, our best one yet! Building on last year’s lessons from the scheme, and in the spirit of Open Data Day, we are trying to make the scheme […]

Open Knowledge International receives $1.5 million from Omidyar Network

We’ve recently received funding from Omidyar Network, which will allow us to further our commitment to civil society organisations! Open Knowledge International has received a two-year grant amounting to $1.5 million from Omidyar Network to support the development and implementation of our new civil society-focused strategy. Running until the end of December 2018, this grant […]

Danish Energinet.dk will use CKAN to launch Energy DataStore – a free and open portal for sharing energy data

For immediate release Open data service provider Viderum is working with Energinet.dk, the gas and electricity transmission system operator in Denmark, to provide near real-time access to Danish energy data. Using CKAN, an open-source platform for sharing data originally developed by Open Knowledge International, Energinet.dk’s Energy DataStore will provide easy and open access to large […]

OpenTrialsFDA presents prototype as finalist for the Open Science Prize

For immediate release Open Knowledge International is thrilled to announce that the OpenTrialsFDA team is presenting its prototype today at the BD2K Open Data Science Symposium in Washington, DC as finalist for the Open Science Prize. The Open Science Prize is a global science competition to make both the outputs from science and the research […]

Openbudgets.eu launches collection of fiscal transparency tools for journalists and civil society organisations.

Berlin, November 21, 2016 – Today, the beta version of OpenBudgets is officially released to the public. The Horizon 2020-funded project seeks to advance transparency and accountability in the fiscal domain by providing journalists, CSOs, NGOs, citizens and public administrations with state-of-the-art tools needed to effectively process and analyze financial data. For the beta version, […]

OpenTrials launches beta version today at the World Health Summit

For immediate release Open Knowledge International is delighted to announce the launch of the public preview beta version of OpenTrials at a panel session on ‘Fostering Open Science in Global Health’ at the World Health Summit today, 10 October 2016, the world’s foremost forum for strategic questions of Global Health.  OpenTrials is an open, online database […]

New Open Knowledge Network chapters launched in Japan and Sweden

This month sees the launch of two new Chapters at the Open Knowledge Network, a chapter for Japan and a chapter for Sweden. Chapters are the Open Knowledge Network’s most developed form, which have legal independence from the organisation and are affiliated by a Memorandum of Understanding. For a full list of our current chapters, […]

Registration to the Open Exchange for Social Change – IODC unconference is now open!

We are excited to announce that registration is open for ‘The Open Exchange for Social Change’. This event has been referred to in the past as ‘The Unconference’ during the flurry of pre-event IOCD Madrid announcements made over the past few weeks.   The response has already been amazing on social media, and we have received […]

Announcing IODC Unconference

We all know the feeling of the end of a conference, where after long days full of content, you leave with more unanswered questions. Conferences are a great place for networking, learning different topics and sharing achievements (and sometimes even failures), but in their nature, they are organised in a way that is less participatory […]

OpenSpending Next – Now available as Alpha version

We’re happy to announce that a new, improved version of OpenSpending is now being launched as an Alpha Version. OpenSpending Next provides a set of tools enabling users to visualise, analyse and publish budget and spending data – all based on the open Fiscal Data Package standard. OpenSpending Next is designed, developed and maintained by […]

Addressing Challenges in Opening Land Data – Resources Are Now Live

Earlier this year, Open Knowledge International announced a joint-initiative with Cadasta Foundation to explore open data in property rights with the ultimate goal of defining the land ownership dataset for the Global Open Data Index. Now, we are excited to share some initial, ground-breaking resources that showcase the complexity of working at the intersection of […]

Introducing: MyData

this post was written by the OK Finland team What is MyData? MyData is both an alternative vision and guiding technical principles for how we, as individuals, can have more control over the data trails we leave behind us in our everyday actions. The core idea is that we, you and I, should have an […]

Open Knowledge International – our new name!

Notice something a little different? We have had a change of name! As of today, we officially move from being called “Open Knowledge” to “Open Knowledge International (OKI)”. “Open Knowledge International” is the name by which the community groups have referred to us for a couple of years, conveying our role in supporting the groups […]

Global Open Data Index Insights – Open Data in the Arab world

This blog post was written by Riyadh Al Balushi from the Sultanate of Oman. I recently co-authored with Sadeek Hasna a report that looks at the status of open data in the Arab World and the extent to which governments succeed or fail in making their data available to the public in a useful manner. We […]

Sloan Foundation Funds Frictionless Data Tooling and Engagement at Open Knowledge

We are excited to announce that Open Knowledge International has received $700,000 in funding from The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation over two years to work on a broad range of activities to enable better research and more effective civic tech through our Frictionless Data initiative. The funding will target standards work, tooling, and infrastructure around […]

ILDA to join Open Data Day Mini grants!

This post was written by Fabrizio Scrollini We are happy to announce that The Latin American Open Data initiative (ILDA) is joining the global efforts to enrich Open Data Day mini aims to promote and support the engagement of the Latin American community on Open Data Day. Our support will go to Latin American individuals and […]

Introducing Viderum

Ten years ago, Rufus started CKAN as an “apt-get for data” in order to enable governments and corporations to provide their data as truly open data. Today, CKAN is used by countless open data publishers around the globe and has become the de facto standard. With CKAN as the technical foundation, Open Knowledge has offered […]

Google Funds Frictionless Data Initiative at Open Knowledge

We are delighted to announce that Open Knowledge has received funding from Google to work on tool integration for Data Packages as part of our broader work on Frictionless Data to support the open data community.   What are Data Packages? The funding will support a growing set of tooling around Data Packages.  Data Packages […]

Unlocking Election Results Data: Signs of Progress but Challenges Still Remain

This blog post was written by the NDI election team -Michael McNulty and Benjamin Mindes How “open” are election results data around the world? Answering that question just became much easier. For the first time, the Global Open Data Index 2015 assessed election results data based on whether the results are made available at the […]

Global Open Data Index 2015 – Taiwan Insight

** This insight was written by TH Schee OK Taiwan ambassador ** Taiwan has surprisingly topped the Global Open Data Index 2015, and it’s not without questions as how this could be have been achieved without further examination. Even though Taiwan has been very active and recognised as one of the hotspot of open data, […]

The State of Open Data in Southeast Asia

*** This blog post was written by Hazwany Jamaluddin from Sinar Project in Malaysia *** There are few countries in Southeast Asia region – Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Lao PDR, Singapore, East Timor and Malaysia – that are falling behind in the global open data movement, while others – Indonesia and Philippines – are advancing as […]

Global Open Data Index – Kosovo Insight

his post was written by Arianit Dobroshi Kosovo is ranked 35th in the 2015 Open Knowledge Global Open Data Index , down from 31st place in last year’s measurement and marked as 43% open. In South East Europe, Albania ranked 37th and Macedonia, 69th. Others, such as Serbia and Bosnia, have not been scored since they […]

Global Open Data Index 2015 – Rwanda insight

This post was written by Stephen Abbott Pugh from Code for Africa Rwanda’s jump in the Global Open Data index rankings from 74th to 44th comes at a time when the open data conversation is gathering pace in the country. As Rwanda’s cabinet prepares to debate the draft national open data policy in early 2016, […]

Global Open Data Index 2015 – Uruguay Insight

This post was written by Daniel Carranza from DataUY Uruguay has made headlines in the news lately. Mostly due to our unconventional former president José “Pepe” Mujica, and initiatives such as legalized abortion, regulated marijuana market and egalitarian marriage. It’s not the first time that our small country brings up innovative ideas ,as with divorce […]

Global Open Data Index 2015 – United Kingdom Insight

This post was written by Owen Boswarva For a third year running the United Kingdom has come out at or near the top of the Global Open Data Index. Unlike many of the countries that did well in previous years, the UK’s overall standing has not been greatly affected by the addition of five new […]

The Global Open Data Index 2015 is live – what is your country status?

We are excited to announce that we have published the third annual Global Open Data Index. This year’s Index showed impressive gains from non-OECD countries with Taiwan topping the Index and Colombia and Uruguay breaking into the top ten at four and seven respectively. Overall, the Index evaluated 122 places and 1586 datasets and determined […]

Government contracts: Still a long way from open

This blog post was written by Georg Neumann from Open Contracting Global Open Data Index: State of disclosure and data of government contracts For the first time ever, the Global Open Data Index is assessing open data on tenders and awards in this year’s index. This is crucial information. Government deals with companies amount to […]

Calling all Project Assistants: we need you!

The mission of Open Knowledge International is to open up all essential public interest information and see it utilized to create insight that drives change. To this end we work to create a global movement for open knowledge, supporting a network of leaders and local groups around the world; we facilitate coordination and knowledge sharing […]

Join the School of Data team: Technical Trainer wanted

Background The mission of Open Knowledge International is to open up all essential public interest information and see it utilized to create insight that drives change. To this end we work to create a global movement for open knowledge, supporting a network of leaders and local groups around the world; we facilitate coordination and knowledge […]

Introducing Portfolios, hiring Managers

The mission of Open Knowledge International is to open up all essential public interest information and see it utilized to create insight that drives change. To this end we work to create a global movement for open knowledge, supporting a network of leaders and local groups around the world; we facilitate coordination and knowledge sharing […]

Seeking a Chief Operating Officer

The mission of Open Knowledge International is to open up all essential public interest information and see it utilized to create insight that drives change. To this end we work to create a global movement for open knowledge, supporting a network of leaders and local groups around the world; we facilitate coordination and knowledge sharing […]

Open Knowledge Founder Rufus Pollock, Ashoka Fellow

Open Knowledge Founder Rufus Pollock was recently recognized as Ashoka UK’s fellow of the month. This brief video highlights his thoughts on open knowledge, and his vision for an information age grounded in openness, collaboration, sharing, and distributed power. Video produced and provided by Ashoka UK Ashoka builds networks of social innovators and selects high-impact […]

Open Knowledge International does IODC2015!

It’s that time of the year again. That time when the international open data community descends on an unsuspecting city for a jam packed week of camps, meet-ups, hacks and conference events. Next week, open data enthusiasts will be taking over Ottawa and Open Knowledge will be there in full force! As we don’t want […]

Announcing the new open data handbook

We are thrilled to announce that the Open Data Handbook, the premier guide for open data newcomers and veterans alike, has received a much needed update! The Open Data Handbook, originally published in 2012, has become the go to resource for the open data community. It was written by expert members of the open data […]

Open Trials: Open Knowledge Announce Plans for Open, Online Database of Clinical Trials

Open Knowledge today announced plans to develop Open Trials, an open, online database of information about the world’s clinical research trials funded by The Laura and John Arnold Foundation. The project, which is designed to increase transparency and improve access to research, will be directed by Dr. Ben Goldacre, an internationally known leader on clinical […]

Honouring the memory of leading Open Knowledge community member Subhajit Ganguly

It is with great sadness that we have learned that Mr. Subhajit Ganguly, an Open Knowledge Ambassador in India and a leading community member in the entire region, has suddenly and tragically passed away. Following a short period of illness Subhajit Ganguly, who was only 30 years old, passed away on the morning of April […]

The Global Open Data Index 2014 is now live!

The Global Open Data Index 2014 team is thrilled to announce that the Global Open Data Index 2014 is now live! We would not have arrived here without the incredible support from our network and the wider open knowledge community in making sure that so many countries/places are represented in the Index and that the […]

Stop the harassment of Hungarian NGOs by the government

The Hungarian government has started to target transparency and humanitarian NGOs. The political climate in Hungary has been deteriorating sharply since the re-election of the government led by Viktor Orban. The latest indication of a harsher political environment is the harassment of humanitarian and transparency NGOs. The Hungarian government accuses the targeted NGOs to be […]

Open Data professional services now available on G-Cloud 4

We are pleased to announce that the Open Knowledge Foundation are now an approved supplier on the G-Cloud 4 Services Framework. This means that it’s now even easier for UK government organisations to commission the Open Knowledge Foundation. We are offering a range of services via G-Cloud including setting up and deploying a CKAN open […]

Government data still not open enough – new survey on eve of London summit

In the week of a major international summit on government transparency in London, the Open Knowledge Foundation has published its 2013 Open Data Index, showing that governments are still not providing enough information in an accessible form to their citizens and businesses. The UK and US top the 2013 Index, which is a result of […]

Campaigners challenge Cameron to keep promise to tackle company secrecy

The UK government must use the Open Government Partnership summit in London next week to end the secrecy surrounding who really owns millions of UK companies, campaigners said today. Discussions are underway right now at the highest levels of government and campaigners are expecting a decision to be made by the end of this week. […]

New partnership to bring open data to developing countries

We are really excited to announce a new partnership between us, the World Bank and the ODI, which was announced at OKCon in Geneva today. This important joint venture aims to bring open data projects and engagement to developing countries. Here’s the press release. Left to right: Laura James and Rufus Pollock, the Open Knowledge […]