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 […]

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

#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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

Our Open Future

A closed future where knowledge belongs to the few; or an open future where knowledge is shared and used by everyone so that we can live happier and healthier lives. Our work has never been more important. And we’d like you to join us. The Open Knowledge Foundation has launched a new campaign for Our Open […]

Catherine Stihler to leave Open Knowledge Foundation to lead Creative Commons

Our Chief Executive Catherine Stihler OBE has accepted a new opportunity and will soon be leaving the Open Knowledge Foundation. She goes with our very warmest wishes and we hope to continue a strong relationship with her in her new role as CEO of Creative Commons. Catherine joined the Open Knowledge Foundation in February 2019 […]

OpenSpending stewardship moving to Datopian

  OpenSpending is one of the longest running projects both at Open Knowledge Foundation and within the open data ecosystem in its entirety. Starting life in 2009 as Where Does my Money Go?, OpenSpending has played a vital role in the publication of open budget and spending data by governments world over.  Over the past […]

Lessons learned from organising the first ever virtual csv,conf

This blogpost was collaboratively written by the csv,conf organising team which includes Lilly Winfree and Jo Barratt from the Open Knowledge Foundation. csv,conf is supported by the Sloan Foundation as part of our Frictionless Data for Reproducible Research grant. The original post can be found here: https://csvconf.com/2020/going-online A brief history csv,conf is a community conference […]

Brits demand openness from government in tackling coronavirus

A new opinion poll has revealed that people across the UK want openness from the government as it tackles the coronavirus pandemic. The Survation poll for the Open Knowledge Foundation found that in response to COVID-19, people want data to be openly available for checking, they are more likely to listen to expert advice from […]

New opinion poll – UK contact-tracing app must take account of human rights

A new opinion poll has revealed that an overwhelming majority of Brits want any coronavirus contact-tracing app to take account of civil liberties and people’s privacy. The Survation poll for the Open Knowledge Foundation comes ahead of today’s evidence session at Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights on the human rights implications of COVID-19 tracing […]

Open Knowledge Foundation CEO Catherine Stihler awarded OBE

Our chief executive Catherine Stihler has been awarded an OBE by Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge. She was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for her service to politics. Yesterday, Catherine took part in the investiture at Buckingham Palace, watched on by her proud family. Catherine said: “It was an immense honour to receive […]

A recap of the 2019 eLife Innovation Sprint

Over 36 hours, Jo Barratt and Lilly Winfree from Open Knowledge Foundation’s Frictionless Data team joined 60 people from around the world to develop innovative solutions to open science obstacles at the 2019 eLife Innovation Sprint. This quick, collaborative event in Cambridge, UK, on September 4th and 5th brought together designers, scientists, coders, project managers, […]

Frictionless Data at the EPFL Open Science in Practice Summer School

In early September our Frictionless Data for Reproducible Research product manager, Lilly Winfree, presented a workshop at the Open Science in Practice Summer School at EPFL University in Lausanne, Switzerland.  Lilly’s workshop focused on teaching early career researchers about using Frictionless software and specs to make their research data more interoperable, shareable, and open. The […]

Women in data can help tackle gender inequality

Encouraging more women and girls to learn data skills can help tackle gender inequality and build a more diverse society, a conference will hear today. Speaking at the annual ‘Doing Data Right’ conference in Edinburgh, Open Knowledge Foundation chief executive Catherine Stihler will call on governments to do more to engage young women in data […]

World Library Congress – Closing Libraries is ‘short-sighted’

Closing down libraries to save money is ‘one of the most short-sighted decisions that public officials can make’, the World Library and Information Congress has heard. Speaking at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) annual congress in Athens, Open Knowledge Foundation chief executive Catherine Stihler said ‘libraries are too often seen as […]

EU must work harder to tackle disinformation

The European Union must work harder to tackle the spread of disinformation on the internet, the Open Knowledge Foundation has warned. In a letter to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, chief executive Catherine Stihler has called for action to be ‘prioritised’ regarding online platforms that fail to do enough to tackle disinformation or do not fulfil […]

New Open Knowledge Foundation board chair and vice-chair appointed

The Open Knowledge Foundation is delighted to announce that Vanessa Barnett has been appointed as the new Chair of the Board of Directors, and Helen Turvey has been appointed as Vice-Chair. Vanessa Barnett said: “It is a great honour to be appointed Chair of the Open Knowledge Foundation, at an incredibly exciting time for the organisation. […]

UK Health Secretary challenged to tackle access to medicines

The Open Knowledge Foundation has written to Westminster Health Secretary Matt Hancock to demand the UK Government plays its role in addressing the global lack of access to medicines. The challenge comes after the UK disassociated itself from an international agreement aimed at reducing the cost of drugs across the world. The resolution at the World […]

The Sum of Our Parts – Open Organisations

This post was originally published by Open Data Charter. The “open” sector, encompassing organisations working on transparency, civic participation, and open data, has grown fast in many countries in the past decade, aided by political champions and a generous funding environment. Today, there is a sense of waning political interest amongst previous high-level advocates and an […]

EU Council backs controversial copyright crackdown

The Council of the European Union today backed a controversial copyright crackdown in a ‘deeply disappointing’ vote that could impact on all internet users. Six countries voted against the proposal which has been opposed by 5million people through a Europe-wide petition – Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Finland and Sweden. Three more nations abstained, but the […]

New report: Data journalism in Tanzania

Open Knowledge International and the School of Data are excited to announce the publication of a new research report into the state of data journalism in Tanzania. Data-driven journalism is an important and disruptive change in contemporary journalism practice. It is not a panacea solution to the fake news era, but it is a piece […]

EU copyright vote a ‘massive blow’ for internet users

MEPs have today voted to press ahead with a controversial copyright crackdown in a ‘massive blow’ for all internet users. Despite a petition with over 5 million signatures and scores of protests across Europe attended by tens of thousands of people, MEPs voted by 348 to 274 in favour of the changes. It is expected […]

Final copyright vote: MEPs must choose to save the internet

MEPs will today vote on a controversial copyright crackdown that could restrict internet freedoms for millions of people. After years of negotiation, the final vote will be held on reforms that could result in automatic ‘upload filters’ which restrict what can be posted on social media platforms like YouTube. More than 5.1million people have signed a […]