Deadline to submit your OKFestival 2014 session proposals extended to March 30!

Event: OKFestival – July 15-17, 2014. Berlin, Germany. Call for Proposals: Find the call, FAQs and the submission form here Deadline: Deadline extended! New deadline to submit your proposals is March 30, 2014. Tickets: Early Bird tickets are now on sale! This year’s OKFestival Call for Proposals was due to end on Sunday and our […]

OKFestival streams – concept and how to get help!

At the Open Knowledge Foundation, we aspire to create environments that connect diverse audiences, thus enabling a diverse groups of thinkers, makers and activists to come together and collaborate to effect change. This year, the Open Knowledge Festival is fuelled by our theory that change happens when you bring together knowledge – which informs change […]

Tips & Tricks – A Hangout for OKFestival Session Planners

The Open Knowledge Festival call for session proposals is now open! The better the proposals, the better the festival, so we’re inviting you to put on your thinking caps and come up with revolutionarily brilliant ideas for sessions at OKFestival 2014. We know you can do it, and we know you’ll make this festival a […]

The Open Knowledge Festival 2014 website is now live!

We know you’re as excited as we are about this year’s Open Knowledge Festival, which will be taking place in Berlin from 15th – 17th July. Today, we’re pleased to unveil the new website for the event which includes the festival ticket shop, details of how to contribute to the programme and other key information […]

PDF Liberation Hackathon – January 18-19

This guest blog post has been written by Marc Joffe, of Public Sector Credit Solutions. Open government data is valuable only to the extent that it can be used cost-effectively. When governments provide “open data” in the form of voluminous PDFs they offer the appearance of openness without its benefits. In this situation, the open […]

Open Data Day 2014 is Coming Feb 22 – Time to Join the Fun!

This guest blog post has been written by David Eaves, public policy entrepreneur, open government activist and one of the initiators of Open Data Day. It was originally published on David’s blog. So, with much help from various community members (who reminded me that we need to get this rolling – looking at you Heather […]

First impressions from the 1-day introduction to Open Data

Last week I gave the Open Knowledge Foundation’s first 1-day Introduction to Open Data training course. Participants from a diverse group of organisations joined me at Friends House in London for a day of presentations, discussions and workshops. The course course covers the basic concepts – what does it mean for data to be ‘open’? […]

A report from the Ibrahim Governance Weekend

Early last month I was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the Mo Ibrahim Foundation‘s annual governance weekend, including the celebrated Ibrahim Forum. The MIF, headed by the eponymous and irrepressible Mo, does amazing work promoting good governance in Africa. It’s perhaps best known for its incredibly comprehensive Governance Index. Despite the terrible score of his […]

Planning Your Open Data Day 2014

Open Data Day is coming! On February 22, 2014 in a timezone near you! What is it? Open Data Day is a global community initiative to make and spread open data. People from all around the world gather together online or in person to make things with and around open data. Anyone is invited to […]

Global Open Knowledge Festival Meetups – a warm-up in 3 steps

It was just last week that we invited the open communities to start collaborating and warming up for the upcoming Open Knowledge Festival. Today we can already share with you the learnings and outcomes of the first OKFestival Meetup (in Berlin) – as we would love to imagine it, this was just the first in […]

Dispatch: Crisismappers Community needs Data Makers

What does open data / open knowledge have to do with Crisismapping? Everything. In times of crisis, we live in open data / open government ecosystem. We seek, build and make it happen in real time – talk converts to action quickly. On Tuesday, November 19th, the School of Data hosted a full day pre-conference […]

Open Knowledge Festival Meetups all around the world – now!

We’re getting closer to the Open Knowledge Festival (Berlin, 15-18 July 2014 – save the date!) and it’s time to roll up our sleeves! OKFestival (as friends call it) will gather people from all the open movements, communities and projects of the world. Planning and making stuff all together will be awesome. So why should […]

Mozilla Festival – we came, we made, we hacked. Together.

Something we’ve been talking about more and more often in the Open Knowledge Foundation and frequently together with friends from other open communities is: how to team up and make the most of each other’s experience to achieve our most ambitious shared goals of openness and inclusivity? We’re still working on the answer (with you!) […]

1-day Open Data training, London, 6 December

The Services team of the Open Knowledge Foundation will be running a public version of its one-day introductory training course on Open Data, on Friday, 6 December in central London. The course is open to anyone who has an interest in Open Data in a professional capacity, and wants an introduction from one of the […]

Come and meet us at the Open Government Partnership Summit in London!

The Open Knowledge Foundation is involved with a number of events at and around the Open Government Partnership Summit this week. If you’re coming to the summit or any of the events around it, here is where you can find us. Tuesday 29th October If you’re going to the Open Data Institute’s Annual Summit, you […]

Open Knowledge Foundation at Mozilla Festival – meet us!

At the Open Knowledge Foundation we love festivals – and attending is just half of the fun, we really like making things happen. So as soon as our friends over at Mozilla started building up their fabulous Mozilla Festival we decided to roll up our sleeves and join the party! Mozilla Festival will take place […]

OKFestival: what is it going to be?

We announced city and dates of our upcoming Open Knowledge Festival 2014 less than a month ago (Berlin, Germany! July 15th-18th!) and we’re pleased to start giving you more information about it. The Open Knowledge Festival in 2014 will be the biggest open data and open knowledge event the world has ever seen. We’ve taken […]

Civil Society Day and Unconference at the OGP

The Open Government Partnership Summit is the primary forum for the global community of openness reformers from all backgrounds – government, civil society and private sector – to come together and engage with each other. We’ve been helping organise the OGP Civil Society Day – the day before the Summit – which will provide an […]

Global events update: join the OKCon survey and get ready for OKFestival!

Picture by Libertic. Dear OKCon speakers, workshop organisers, participants, partners and supporters, OKCon was a fantastic event, spanning over a total of four days, spreading out all around Geneva, attended by more than 900 people from 55 countries on site and with many more joining us online (and we’re currently counting you too). And the […]

Investigate the Garment Factories: new Data Expedition

In May, the School of Data community got together in a Data Expedition to respond to the Rana Plaza catastrophe. They built a crowdsourced database on garment factories and used it to expose the bad safety standards and non-transparency that contributed to the disaster. Now we are taking the garment factory investigation to the next […]

Wrapping up OKCon

900 people, 55 countries, 2 full conference days plus 2 satellite days. OKCon convened our network and community in Geneva, Switzerland – at the largest Open Knowledge event. We share a common goal of knowledge being open. Across the movement (Open Science, Open Data, Open Government, Open Culture and many more), there were workshops, keynotes […]

Register now for the OGP Summit and Civil Society Day

This October, the Open Government Partnership Annual Summit is coming to London. We’re helping to organise the Civil Society Day, which will take place on the 30th October at University of London Union, followed on the 31st October and the 1st November by the main conference. The draft agendas for both the main Summit and […]

See you at OKFestival 2014

OKFestival is back! As the banners are rolled up and the lights turned off in Geneva, we are already looking forward to the next time we’ll all come together. We are super-excited to announce that OKFestival 2014 will take place on the 15-18 July in Berlin, Germany. OKFestival is the biggest gathering of the open […]

OKCon 2013 kicks off

The Open Knowledge Conference 2013 is go! Instagram: @nicolassierro, @okconstickers, @oliviertripet We come to you from the lovely shiny Centre International de Conferences Geneve. The first talks and workshops are already underway, and the lobby is filling with the buzz of greetings, reunions and introductions. Already we’ve seen the launch of a brand new portal […]

Get ready for the OKCon workshops!

Lovely attendees of OKCon, it’s time to make plans for the workshops you want to attend! Each workshop session now has detailed information about moderators and speakers, topics that will be covered, and practical information about capacity limits and where and when they will be taking place. There are three very easy steps to follow: […]

OKCon 2013 Guest Post: Is Open Source Drug Discovery Practical?

The following guest post is by Matthew Todd, Senior Lecturer at the School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney and Sydney Ambassador of the Open Knowledge Foundation. As part of OKCon 2013 Matthew will host a satellite event entitled ‘Is Open Source Drug Discovery Practical?’, taking place on on Thursday 19 September from 09:00 – 12:00 […]

OKCon 2013 Guest Post: Open Data Toolkits and Assessment Tools

The following guest post is by Iulian Pogor (World Bank), Meghan Cook (University at Albany) , Barbara Ubaldi (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development– OECD), and Ton Zijlstra (Open Knowledge Foundation) who are among the coordinators of the workshop Open Data Toolkits and Assessment Tools, which will take place at OKCon 2013, as part of the Open Development and Sustainability programme, on Tuesday […]

The first Open Knowledge Foundation Glasgow Meetup

The following guest post is by Lorna Campbell, former assistant director of the Centre for Educational Technology and Interoperability Standards (CETIS). It is cross-posted from her blog. Last night Sheila and I went along to the first meeting of the Open Knowledge Foundation in Glasgow. The meeting was hosted by the Electron Club and the […]

Open Education Working Group and Panel at OKCon 2013

Cross-posted from the OKCon Blog.   Discussions around open education tend to focus primarily on Open Educational Resources (OER) – freely accessible, openly licensed resources that are used for teaching, learning, educational, assessment and research purposes. However open education is a complex beast made up of many aspects, and the important elements of opening up […]

OKCon 2013 Accommodation Subsidy Programme launching today!

Cross-posted from the OKCon Blog. Event. OKCon 2013 – 16th-18th September 2013, Geneva, Switzerland. How to apply. Find the instructions and the submission form on the OKCon 2013 Accommodation Subsidies webpage. Deadline. The deadline to submit your application is Monday 12th August, 23:59:59 GMT. Questions? Feel welcome to contact financialaid@okcon.org We are glad to invite our attendees who haven’t been awarded a […]

OKCon 2013 Guest Post: Open Data Portal on Land Rights

Cross-posted from the OKCon Blog. Introducing a series of guest posts by OKCon 2013 speakers that we will publish over the coming weeks. This first post is by Laura Meggiolaro, Land Portal Coordinator, International Land Coalition, who will be speaking on the main stage during the Open Development and Sustainability session on Wednesday 18th September […]

City Spending Party around the world

Last weekend more than a hundred budget nerds and engaged citizens gathered at 20 spending data parties to open up city spending and budgets. From Lagos to Kathmandu groups dived into budget data across the OpenSpending community as part of this first global City Spending Data Party from July 19 to July 21. The spending parties helped […]

Save the Date – OGP Pre-Conference, London Wednesday 30th October

This Autumn the Open Government Partnership Annual Conference is coming to London and will place on the 31st October and 1st November. As a lead into the main event, OGP is planning a 1-day civil society Pre-Conference event on Wednesday 30th October and we here at the Open Knowledge Foundation will be collaborating with them […]

OKCon 2013 travel bursary programme launching today!

Cross-posted from the OKCon Blog. Event. OKCon 2013 – 16th-18th September 2013, Geneva, Switzerland. How to apply. Find the instructions and the submission form on the OKCon 2013 Travel Bursaries webpage. Deadline. The deadline to submit your application is Sunday 14th July, 23:59:59 GMT. Questions? Feel welcome to contact financialaid@okcon.org. OKCon 2013 is happy to announce that […]

OKCon 2013: selected proposals, updated programme and Early Bird tickets!

Cross-posted from the OKCon Blog. We received more than 300 proposals and selecting the submissions that we could fit in the 2-and-a-half-day schedule was a real challenge. We had to leave out several truly exciting applications and believe us, that wasn’t easy. But today: here we are, ready to announce the list of selected proposals […]

News from the Open Knowledge Foundation Events Team

Events have a significant role for the Open Knowledge Foundation. They focus attention on the key issues of the day, gather interested individuals and organisations around specific topics, and represent the public face of the open knowledge community and its many and various projects. They also provide occasions for open data enthusiasts to meet face-to-face, […]

Open knowledge at the Open Government Partnership conference in Mombasa, Africa

Last week, the Open Knowledge Foundation had the pleasure of attending the Open Government Partnership conference in Mombasa, Kenya. Participants from all over Africa as well as the rest of the world convened to discuss transparency, citizen engagement and open knowledge – including open data – in this inspiring event to set the course for […]

Second Open Economics International Workshop

Next week, on June 11-12, at the MIT Sloan School of Management, the Open Economics Working Group of the Open Knowledge Foundation will gather about 40 economics professors, social scientists, research data professionals, funders, publishers and journal editors for the second Open Economics International Workshop. The event will follow up on the first workshop held […]

OKCon 2013 Call for Proposals deadline extended to 31st May!

Event. OKCon 2013 – 17th-18th September 2013, Geneva, Switzerland. Call for Proposals. Find the call, FAQs and the submission form on the OKCon 2013 Call for Proposal webpage. Deadline. New deadline to submit your proposals is May 31st, 23:59:59 GMT. Results will be published by 17th June, 23:59:59 GMT. Tickets. Early Bird tickets are on sale […]

OKCon 2013 Invited Speakers: Ellen Miller

We’re glad to announce that Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, will be one of our keynote speakers at OKCon 2013. As co-founder and executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, Ellen Miller advocates the use of the internet to inspire greater openness and transparency in government. She founded two further organisations, the Center for Responsive […]

Data Expedition: Mapping the garment factories

The horrific factory collapse at Rana Plaza in Dhaka has brought the business practices of global garment brands, as well their thousands of suppliers, into the spotlight. At School of Data we noted that corrupt and missing data were part of the story. Data on building permits in Bangladesh is largely unavailable due to lack of state […]

re:publica roundup

Last week, the Open Knowledge community was out in force at Berlin’s re:publica conference, which brought together over 6,000 bloggers, internet activists, innovators and makers to meet in person, for three days. Here, we’ve collected a few of our personal highlights – let us know what yours were in the comments below! The event was […]

Volunteer at OKCon 2013!

What. Volunteering at OKCon 2013 When & where. 16th-18th September 2013, Geneva, Switzerland. How. Find the call and the submission form here Deadline. The deadline to submit your application is May 26th, 23:59:59 GMT. Are you a team player passionate about the power of open knowledge? Are you ready to make OKCon 2013 a unique […]

OKCon 2013 Call for Proposals – out now!

Event. OKCon 2013 – 17th-18th September 2013, Geneva, Switzerland. Call for Proposals. Find the call, FAQs and the submission form on the OKCon 2013 Call for Proposal webpage. Deadline. The deadline to submit your proposals is May 24th, 23:59:59 GMT. Results will be published by 17th June, 23:59:59 GMT. Tickets. Early Bird tickets are on […]

Open data highlights from European Data Forum 2013 in Dublin

  Europe’s data league convened in Dublin last week – Open Data increasingly taking the stage Over 500 data professionals gathered last week at European Data Forum conference in Dublin. This is the annual meeting place for industry, research, policy makers, and community initiatives to discuss the challenges and opportunities of Big Data in Europe. One of […]

Announcing the Open Knowledge Conference 2013: Open Data – Broad, Deep, Connected

The Open Knowledge Foundation is pleased to announce that the 2013 Open Knowledge Conference (OKCon) will take place in Geneva, Switzerland on 17th -18th September. The theme of this year’s edition will be Open Data – Broad, Deep, Connected. When: 17th – 18th September 2013 Where: Geneva, Switzerland at the CICG – Centre International de […]

Announcing the School of Data Journalism 2013 in Perugia

Update 21 March: To register for the School of Data Journalism workshops please fill in your name and email address in this form. <em> Cross-posted on<a href=”http://www.journalismfestival.com/”> journalismfestival.com</a> and the <a href=”http://www.okfn.org”>OKFN</a> blog.</em></p> The European Journalism Centre and the Open Knowledge Foundation are pleased to invite you to Europe’s biggest data journalism event, the School […]

Exploring ‘Openness’ Together: The Open Book to be Launched Friday at FutureEverything

From makerspaces to data wrangling schools to archives, the digital is being remixed by the open – and it is changing society as we know it. New concepts about public information, transparency and the Commons are combining in unprecedented ways, resulting in a breadth of transformative collaborations. Nations across the globe seek formal understandings of […]