Towards a knowledge society through the technologies we want

CEO Reflection Ahead of 2025 – We will continue to fight for a knowledge society rather than a surveillance society, one that benefits the many rather than the few and is built on the principles of collaboration rather than control, empowerment rather than exploitation, and sharing rather than monopoly.

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?

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.

Combining Data Skills, Knowledge, and Networks to Save our Planet

Originally published on: https://frictionlessdata.io/blog/2022/03/09/save-our-planet/ During these past tumultuous years, it has been striking to witness the role that information has played in furthering suffering: misinformation, lack of data transparency, and closed technology have worsened the pandemic, increased political strife, and hurt climate policy. Building on these observations, the team at Open Knowledge Foundation are refocusing […]

Data that empowers: LAC perspectives on data governance

A few weeks ago we had a conversation in the Statistical Conference of the Americas about Data Governance. This brief post is a follow up of some of the concepts and ideas that we shared in the panel. Transparency as a Holistic Approach As citizens and members of the Civil Society, a huge challenge we […]

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. […]

Thank you for Joining the Frictionless Data Hackathon

Last week people from around the world joined the Frictionless Data team for the world’s first Frictionless Data Hackathon. Find out what happened, and make sure you join the Frictionless Data Community to find out about upcoming events. Watch video here What’s this about? The team at Open Knowledge Foundation have lots of experience running […]

Launching the new website for The Justice Programme

Today we are excited to share with you the new website for The Justice Programme www.thejusticeprogramme.org. A few months ago we made the decision to build a dedicated website for the project because the range of activities and services has grown. We want our partners to easily find out what we are doing, and how […]

Join us in supporting the open data community in 37 countries around the world

Join us in Supporting the Open Data Community in over 37 Countries around the World Every year, the team at Open Knowledge Foundation works with the global open data community to deliver Open Data Day.  Open Data Day is an annual celebration. Groups around the world create local events to learn about open data, and […]

Thank you for your feedback about Open Data Day. Here’s what we learned.

Open Data Day is an annual celebration of open data all over the world facilitated by the Open Knowledge Foundation. Each year, groups from around the world create local events on the day where they will use open data in their communities. It is an opportunity to show the benefits of open data and encourage […]

MyData Online 2020

MyData Online 2020 (Dec 10-12) will gather 1000 personal data professionals and people interested in the data economy. They bring together business, legal, tech and societal perspectives to create sustainable, fair and prosperous digital society. The online conference will provide quality programme, networking opportunities and social connections. The conference is organised by the MyData Global – an […]

Tell us how you think we can better support Open Data Day

This year has been such an eventful year for all of us. As 2020 nears its end, here at Open Knowledge Foundation we are starting to think about Open Data Day 2021. I checked my calendar this morning – and it’s only 4 months away ! Open Data Day is such a great opportunity for […]

Do we trust the plane or the pilot? The problem with ‘trustworthy’ AI

On April 8th 2019, the High-Level Expert Group on AI, a committee set up by the European Commission, presented the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. It defines trustworthy AI through three principles and seven key requirements. Such AI should be: lawful, ethical and robust, and take into account the following principles: Human agency and […]

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 […]

Making remote working work for you and your organisation

 The coronavirus outbreak means that up to 20 per cent of the UK workforce could be off sick or self-isolating during the peak of an epidemic. Millions of people may not be ill, but they will be following expert advice to stay away from their workplace to help prevent the spread of the virus. […]

Tracking the Trade of Octopus (and Packaging the Data)

This blog is the fourth in a series done by the Frictionless Data Fellows, discussing how they created Frictionless Data Packages with their research data. Learn more about the Fellows Programme at fellows.frictionlessdata.io. By Lily Zhao Introduction When I started graduate school, I was shocked to learn that seafood is actually the most internationally traded […]

Celebrating the tenth Open Data Day on Saturday 7th March 2020

In Ghana, satellite and drone imagery is being used to track deforestation and water pollution in West Africa. In South Africa, the first map of minibus taxi routes in a township in Pretoria is being created. In the Philippines, a map is being designed to highlight HIV facilities and LGBT-friendly spaces, while a similar project […]

Breaking up big tech isn’t enough. We need to break them open

 From advocates, politicians and technologists, calls for doing something about big tech grow louder by the day. Yet concrete ideas are few or failing to reach the mainstream. This post covers what breaking up big tech would mean and why it’s not enough. I propose an open intervention that will give people a real […]

Combating other people’s data

This blog is the first in a series done by the Frictionless Data Fellows, discussing how they created Frictionless Data Packages with their research data. Learn more about the Fellows Programme here http://fellows.frictionlessdata.io/. By Monica Granados Follow the #otherpeoplesdata on Twitter and in it you will find a trove of data users trying to make […]

Frictionless Data Pipelines for Ocean Science

This blog post describes a Frictionless Data Pilot with the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Pilot projects are part of the Frictionless Data for Reproducible Research project. Written by the BCO-DMO team members Adam Shepherd, Amber York, Danie Kinkade, and development by Conrad Schloer. Scientific research is implicitly reliant upon the creation, […]

Frictionless Data Tool Fund update: Shelby Switzer and Greg Bloom, Open Referral

This blogpost is part of a series showcasing projects developed during the 2019 Frictionless Data Tool Fund. The 2019 Frictionless Data Tool Fund provided four mini-grants of $5,000 to support individuals or organisations in developing an open tool for reproducible research built using the Frictionless Data specifications and software. This fund is part of the […]

Neuroscience Experiments System Frictionless Tool

This blog is part of a series showcasing projects developed during the 2019 Frictionless Data Tool Fund.  The 2019 Frictionless Data Tool Fund provided four mini-grants of $5,000 to support individuals or organisations in developing an open tool for reproducible research built using the Frictionless Data specifications and software. This fund is part of the […]

Announcing Frictionless Data Joint Stewardship

We are pleased to announce joint stewardship of Frictionless Data between the Open Knowledge Foundation and Datopian. While this collaboration already exists informally, we are solidifying how we are leading together on future Frictionless Data projects and goals.   What does this mean for users of Frictionless Data software and specifications?   First, you will […]

Frictionless DarwinCore Tool by André Heughebaert

This blog is part of a series showcasing projects developed during the 2019 Frictionless Data Tool Fund.  The 2019 Frictionless Data Tool Fund provided four mini-grants of $5,000 to support individuals or organisations in developing an open tool for reproducible research built using the Frictionless Data specifications and software. This fund is part of the […]

Meet Monica Granados, one of our Frictionless Data for Reproducible Research Fellows

The Frictionless Data for Reproducible Research Fellows Programme is training early career researchers to become champions of the Frictionless Data tools and approaches in their field. Fellows will learn about Frictionless Data, including how to use Frictionless Data tools in their domains to improve reproducible research workflows, and how to advocate for open science. Working […]

Why greater tax transparency is needed to help fix the broken global tax system

Public CBCR by Financial Transparency Coalition is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 The international tax system is broken and in need of urgent updating to address issues which allow globalised businesses to move their profits and intellectual property around the world, often to locations where they pay the least tax. Indeed some economists estimate that “close to […]

Two years on, little action from the EU on public country-by-country reporting

Two years ago, members of the European Parliament voted to force large multinational corporations registered in Europe to reveal how much tax they pay, how many people they employ and what profits they make in every country where they work. The transparency measure – known as public country-by-country reporting (or public CBCR) – was first […]

Data-cards – a design pattern

Cross-posted on smth.uk It can be useful to recognise patterns in the challenges we face, and in our responses to those challenges. In doing this, we can build a library of solutions, a useful resource when similar challenges arise in the future. When working on innovative projects, as is often the case at Open Knowledge […]

New research: Understanding the drivers of license proliferation

Open licensing is still a major challenge for open data publication. In a recent blog post on the state of open licensing in 2017 Open Knowledge International identified that governments often decide to create custom licenses instead of using standard open licenses such as Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. This so-called license proliferation is problematic for […]

Why MyData 2017?

This is a guest post explaining the focus of the MyData conference in Tallinn and Helsinki later this month. By a famous writing tip, you should always start texts with ‘why?’. Here we are taking that tip, and we actually find many ways to answer the big Why. So, Why MyData 2017? Did you get […]

The state of open licensing in 2017

This blog post is part of our Global Open Data Index (GODI) blog series. Firstly, it discusses what open licensing is and why it is crucial for opening up data. Afterward, it outlines the most urgent issues around open licensing as identified in the latest edition of the Global Open Data Index and concludes with […]

Data Tables at csv,conf,v3

You may have heard that csv,conf,v3 is happening again this year, May 2nd and 3rd, in Portland, Oregon! We have a really great line-up of speakers from across the world on a set of topics ranging from the democratization of data analysis and election mapping to the very timely subject of emoji data science (?). […]

Global conference to explore parliaments, OGP, and trust in representative institutions. Registration deadline today!

This spring, 30 Open Government Partnership (OGP) member countries will develop National Action Plans. With international momentum growing and new rules on parliamentary participation in place, this cycle presents an opportunity to advance the legislative openness agenda by developing meaningful commitments and deepening the participation of parliaments in OGP. By sharing information, connecting legislative openness […]

Open Data got to Paraguay to stay – Open Data Day 2017

This blog is part of the event report series on International Open Data Day 2017. On Saturday 4 March, groups from around the world organised over 300 events to celebrate, promote and spread the use of open data. 44 events received additional support through the Open Knowledge International mini-grants scheme, funded by SPARC, the Open […]

Three ways ROUTETOPA promotes Transparency

Data sharing has come a long way over the years. With open source tools, improvements and new features are always quickly on the rise. Serah Rono looks at how ROUTETOPA, a Horizon2020 project advocate for transparency. From as far back as the age of enlightenment, the human race has worked hard to keep authorities accountable. […]