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Announcing a Leadership Update at Open Knowledge
Today I would like to share some important organisational news. After 3 years with Open Knowledge, Laura James, our CEO, has decided to move on to new challenges. As a result of this change we will be seeking to recruit a new senior executive to lead Open Knowledge as it continues to evolve and grow. […]
Read moreLaunching a new collaboration in Macedonia with Metamorphosis and the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office
As part of the The Open Data Civil Society Network Project, School of Data Fellow, Dona Djambaska, who works with the local independent nonprofit, Metamorphosis, explains the value of the programme and what we hope to achieve over the next 24 months. “The concept of Open Data is still very fresh among Macedonians. Citizens, CSOs […]
Read moreOpen data for Development Training Starts Tomorrow!
This is a guest post written by Justyna Krol of the UNDP and originally posted on the UNDP blog. >> Is data literacy the key to citizen engagement in anti-corruption efforts? Access to open data is transforming the way we live of our lives, and the conversation in our region is just beginning. Governments are […]
Read moreMatchmakers in Action – Help Wanted
Do you have a skill to share? Want to host an online discussion/debate about an Open Knowledge-like topic? Have an idea for a skillshare or discussion, but need help making it happen? Some of you hosted or attended sessions at OKFest. Why not host one online? At OKFestival, we had an Open Matchmaker wall to […]
Read moreOKFestival 2014: we made it! A write-up & Thank You note
Open Knowledge Festival 2014! We built it, made it and ran it – it was a blast, thank you! 1056 participants from 60 countries 215 facilitators and moderators 17 Programme Team members 70 volunteers made it all happen. Who says that numbers are dry? Just by writing them down, our hearts are melting. Group work! […]
Read moreSeptember Community Summit On Air
We’re hosting a September Community Call. Join us to discuss a number of community programming ideas and help make a plan. All welcome. (Amazing drawing by Artepilpilean) What: September Community Summit On Air Date: Wednesday, September 10th Your Local time: 8:00 – 9:00 EDT, 13:00 – 14:00 BST, 14:00 – 15:00 CEST (Also see worldtimebuddy.com) […]
Read moreOpen Government countries ranking 2013 (based on OGP data)
This is a guest post by Alberto Abella, head of the Spanish Chapter of Open Knowledge, and originally appeared at gobernamos.com. Open Government (ogov) is possibly next democracy’s milestone. Should you care about open government? Possibly, because it guarantees transparency and accountability. But not only IMHO. In 2014 this passive role for the citizens is […]
Read moreRevisiting OKFestival 2014
Hard to believe that a full month has passed since the end of a fantastic OKFestival 2014. While our team is hard at work following up on all the great ideas and impulses from the event, and evaluating what we can learn, we would like to highlight some of the magnificent write-ups and other documentation […]
Read moreCode for Germany launched!
This is a guest blog post by Fiona Krakenbürger, research associate at Open Knowledge Foundation DE and Community Manager at Code for Germany In July 2014, the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany launched its program “Code for Germany! Prior to the OK Festival in Berlin, we presented the project to the media, international partners, city representatives, […]
Read more25 Countries in the Same Room: The OKFestival Community Summit
Photo by Heather Leson, CC-BY-SA Two weeks back, over 1,000 people gathered in Berlin to co-create the future of the open knowledge movement. Even before OKFestival had officially kicked off, over 50 people from over 25 countries piled into a crowded, hot room on a glorious Berlin afternoon, to work through the pressing issues, opportunities […]
Read moreThe state of Swedish digital policy: Open Knowledge Sweden at the annual Almedalen Political Summit
This is a guest blog post by Kristina Olausson, Blog writer and editor for Open Knowledge Sweden. You can see the Swedish version it is based on here. Photo by Socialdemokrater, CC-BY-ND Part of the team of Open Knowledge Sweden, Kristina Olausson and Mattias Axell, visited the annual politicians week – the Almedalen week at […]
Read moreThank you for joining us at Open Knowledge Festival 2014!
Thank you for joining us in Berlin and helping to shape OKFestival and the future of the open knowledge movement! We hope that the event provided you with the opportunity to learn, to share and to connect with open knowledge advocates from around the world. While we were excited and inspired by the collaborations and […]
Read moreOKFestival: Day Two Highlights & Wrap Up
What a Week! Between five incredible keynotes, 70+ participatory sessions, an unFestival and countless fringe events, not to mention informal strategizing in the courtyards of the Kulturbrauerei, I am sure that we are all still taking some time to process all the information. Last week, our incredible volunteers put together a Day 1 roundup, highlighting […]
Read moreOpen Knowledge Festival – the story so far…
It is hot hot hot here in Berlin, and the Festival is in full swing! In every corner, little groups are clustered, sharing ideas, plotting, and putting faces to profiles. From graffiti walls to linked budgets, from destroying printers to building a social contract for open data – the only problem is that you can’t […]
Read moreNew Local Groups in Cameroon, Guernsey, Kenya, Bermuda and New Zealand!
Once again we can proudly announce the establishment of a new round of Open Knowledge Local Groups, headed by community leaders around the world. This time we welcome Cameroon, Guernsey, Kenya, Bermuda and New Zealand to the family of Local Groups, which brings the global Open Knowledge community tally beyond the 50+ countries mark. In […]
Read moreOpenCorporates invites you to join the launch of #FlashHacks
This is a guest blog post by OpenCorporates. OpenCorporates is now 3 years old. Looking back our first blog on the Open Knowledge (Foundation) blog about reaching 20 million companies, it is heartening to see that we have come a long way. We now have over 70 million companies in 80 jurisdictions worldwide making us […]
Read more#OKStory
Everyone is a storyteller! Just one week away from the big Open Brain Party of OKFestival. We need all the storytelling help you can muster. Trust us, from photos to videos to art to blogs to tweets – share away. The Storytelling team is a community-driven project. We will work with all participants to decide […]
Read moreMake Some Story Noise
Stories wanted! We’re building a community storytelling team starting with OKFestival. Whether you are in Berlin for the big event or across the globe, our goal is to co-create and compile all the best OKFestival Stories. Many of you tell stories with video, photo, images and text. Some of you are master wordsmiths and aggregators. […]
Read moreWe are the Community: Join our OKFest community summit
This is a guest blog post by Kersti from Open Knowledge Netherlands and Rayna from Open Knowledge France/OpenMENA. Both are leading the organisation of the Open Knowledge Community Summit with the support of the Open Knowledge Central team. Less than two weeks to go until the global open community will meet in Berlin and at […]
Read moreOpen Knowledge Ireland celebrate FOI victory
Open Knowledge Ireland are this week celebrating partial victory in their campaign against application fees for FOI requests. Here is their press release. Open Knowledge Ireland welcomes Minister Howlin’s announcement that Government has approved the removal of an application fee for Freedom of Information Requests Open Knowledge Ireland welcomes the announcement by the Minister that […]
Read moreOpen Knowledge Festival streams, pt. 2: The Society Stream
This is a cross-post from the OKFestival blog, see the original here. Read also about the first stream we presented, the Knowledge Stream. In this 3-post series, we turn the spotlight to the the narrative streams of this year’s Open Knowledge Festival. We’ve already highlighted the Knowledge stream; today’s stream of choice is Society. This stream is […]
Read moreWhat has open data got to do with education?
“What has open data got to do with education?” This was the question yesterday’s online community session attempted to unravel. During the session it was agreed that potential for open data in the education space is huge, with an increasing number of case-studies emerging and exciting data hackathons taking place. However there are also many […]
Read moreOKFestival Keynote Spotlight: Beatriz Busaniche
The Open Knowledge Festival team is thrilled to announce that Beatriz Busaniche will be joining us as a keynote speaker in Berlin this year. Beatriz Busaniche is a free software and culture expert and advocate, a board member of the Vía Libre Foundation in Argentina, a professor at the University of Buenos Aires, a core […]
Read moreGitLaw: How The Law Factory turns the French parliamentary process into 300 version-controlled Open Data visualizations
This is a guest blog post by the French NGO Regards Citoyens, which actively promotes public Open Data principles in France since 2009 and lobbying transparency since 2010. They create web projects using public data to provide tools for a better dialogue between citizens and representatives. Their most known initiative is a parliamentary monitoring website: […]
Read moreCapture your events
We’re on a skillshare craze leading up to OKFestival. A few weeks ago we hosted a session all about how to create great videos with our guest Sam Muirhead. This week we are inviting you to join a Photography Skillshare. Events is one of the top ways that you are involved in Open Knowledge. So, […]
Read moreThe Business Case for Open Data
Martin Tisné, Omidyar Network’s director, policy (UK) and Nicholas Gruen, economist and CEO of Lateral Economics, last week unveiled in Canberra the report, Open for Business. It is the first study to quantify and illustrate the potential of Open Data to help achieve the G20’s economic growth target. Martin makes the economic case for open […]
Read moreOKFestival Spotlight: Patrick Alley
This year, we have the great honour of welcoming Patrick Alley, co-founder and director of Global Witness, to the Open Knowledge Festival stage. Patrick Alley took part in the organisation’s first investigations into the Thai-Khmer Rouge timber trade in 1995 and has since participated in over fifty field investigations in South East Asia, Africa and […]
Read moreOpen Steps: Documenting open knowledge in South America
This is the fourth and (so far) final travel-guest blog post from Open Steps, an initiative by two young Berliners Alex (a software developer from Spain) and Margo (a graduate in European politics from France) who decided to leave their daily lives and travel around the world for one year to meet people and organizations […]
Read moreWhy are patents and locked-up science seen as the way forward for growth and innovation?
This is a translated and edited version of a blog post originally appearing on the Danish denfri.dk blog. See the original post here. These past few weeks have highlighted the crossroads that we as a society are facing: Whether non-open data, siloed knowledge and patented ideas make up the best way for growth and innovation? […]
Read moreOKFestival Keynote Spotlight: Neelie Kroes
We are pleased to announce that Neelie Kroes, the Vice President of the European Commission and a staunch supporter of open data, open government and open access, will join us in Berlin this year as a keynote speaker. Neelie Kroes is responsible for the Digital Agenda for Europe, one of seven flagship initiatives of Europe […]
Read moreThe OKFestival keynote excitement begins!
This is a cross-post from the OKFestival blog, see the original here The time is now. The time is today! If you haven’t already, it’s time to buy your tickets because today, we announce the names of our four amazing keynote speakers! This year, we have the pleasure of welcoming this stellar line-up of activists, […]
Read moreFinancial aid allocation completed for OKFestival 2014
This is a cross-post from the OKFestival blog, see the original here Thank you to everyone who applied for Financial Aid this year – we so appreciate your patience while we’ve worked hard with various partners and sponsors to allocate funding. Over the past few weeks we’ve been reaching out to successful applicants so while […]
Read moreBrazil’s Development Bank – The Elephant in the Stadium
This is a guest blog post by Andrew Simms analyst and campaigner at our StopSecretContracts.org coalition partner Global Witness. If you believe public contracts should be open contracts, sign our petition and let world leaders know. This article first appeared on Global Witness’s website. Symbolism doesn’t get much better than this – thousands of homeless […]
Read moreStop 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 […]
Read moreOpen Knowledge Festival streams, pt.1 – Knowledge
To create societies where everyone has both access to key information and the ability to use it to understand and shape their lives, we must build knowledge into the heart of all of our activities. This is a big task which requires not just a global shift in mindset, but also that we build the […]
Read moreCommunity Sessions: Video Skillshare and Open Education
Happy June! We have a few Community Sessions to announce. OKFestival is almost a month away. Videos are key for storytelling, so we are hosting a Video Skillshare to help us all learn. The Open Education Working Group will join us to talk about why open data matters in education. Join us for these two […]
Read moreEnergy Buildings Performance Scenarios as Linked Open Data
This is a blog post by Martin Kaltenböck & Anne-Claire Bellec, cross-posted from the Semantic Puzzle Blog. Anne-Claire Bellec is Communications Manager at the Global Buildings Performance Network (http://www.gbpn.org), located at GBPNs headquarters in Paris, France, and Martin Kaltenböck is the responsible for web-based data tools at Semantic Web Company, a Linked Open Data specialised […]
Read moreLet’s try something new: unFestival!
This is a guest blog post by the DATA (Datos Abiertos, Transparencia y Acceso a la información) Uruguay Team. This year’s OKFestival will play host to many new ideas, and this is one of them. We’ve created a space which allows “serendipity” to get to work, in contrast with the rest of the Festival; the […]
Read moreAll-star wrap-up of a month of Open Knowledge events all around the world – May 2014
Last month flew by! It’s already June and time to turn the spotlight on the Open Knowledge community’s events which rocked the month of May! Bikestorming goes Pecha Kucha in Argentina Bikestorming is a mobile app to grow urban cycling in cities around the world, developed by members of Open Knowledge Argentina’s community. Matías Kalwill […]
Read moreSave the date: OKFestival Community Session
Save the Date: We are thrilled to announce that the Open Knowledge community is organising a community session on Tuesday July 15th, 2014 from 1pm – 4pm, before the festival officially starts. This will be taking place at the OKFestival Venue, situated in the Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin. We are delighted that so many […]
Read moreNewsflash! OKFestival Programme Launches
At last, it’s here! Check out the details of the OKFestival 2014 programme – including session descriptions, times and facilitator bios here! We’re using a tool called Sched to display the programme this year and it has several great features. Firstly, it gives individual session organisers the ability to update the details on the session […]
Read moreIntroducing the new Open Development Toolkit site!
We’re very happy to launch today a new website for the Open Development Toolkit, which which includes a number of new features to help people make use of, and contribute to, the project. When the project began in early 2014, the project brief was fairly open; since then, after speaking to various members of the […]
Read moreOpening up governance: OpenMENA joins public consultation process in Tunisia
This is a cross-post from the OpenMENA blog. Find the original here. Civil society group OpenGovTN have asked our OpenMENA collaboration of Local Groups to join a forthcoming national public consultation in Tunesia. This aims to build an action plan which will bring greater openness and more collaborative governance to Tunisia, and the process, referred […]
Read moreAll-star wrap-up of a month of Open Knowledge events all around the world – April 2014
Last month we asked the Open knowledge community to start sharing more details about the events we all run, to discover how many people are rocking Open Knowledge events all around the world! The community has been great at responding the call and now we’re glad to feature some of the April events we got […]
Read moreMaking it Matter: open data, education and the developing world
What real-world problems are there related to education in the developing world that could potentially be solved by open data and technology solutions? How about: Insufficiently trained teachers, badly informed decision makers, lack of key data sets, the inferior quality of teaching resources and their poor discoverability, inadequate infrastructure meaning that education can rarely be […]
Read moreThe “right to be forgotten” – a threat to Transparency and Open Data?
A recent European Court Justice (ECJ) ruling may affect how privacy, transparency, and open data interact and has a direct relation with growing discussion about the “right to be forgotten”. Roughly summarized the ruling finds that organisations which publish information may be obliged to “take down” and remove information when an individual requests that removal […]
Read moreAnnouncing our newest round of Local Groups
It is with great excitement that we can announce the establishment of a new round of Open Knowledge Local Groups, headed by new Ambassadors around the world. This time we welcome El Salvador, Hungary, Iran, Malta, Paraguay, Philippines and Romania to the family of Local Groups, which now stretch over 45 countries worldwide. In this […]
Read moreOKFestival 2014 Provisional Programme is now live!
Over the last few months we have received hundreds of terrific proposals for this year’s Open Knowledge Festival programme. Thank you for your ideas and your input! There have been more sessions proposed than we could possibly accommodate and as a result, we’ve had the incredibly difficult task of whittling down all of those great […]
Read moreSecret oil contract loses Nigerian people $1.1 billion
Royal Dutch Shell and the Italian oil company, Eni, have been implicated in a secret oil deal that enriched the former Nigerian oil minister to a staggering degree, and lost the Nigerian state $1.1 billion that could have been spent on vital and much needed services. As shareholders and investors gather today at Shell’s Annual […]
Read moreBonding with Hong Kong and upcoming Open Spending
Learning and sharing across the global Open Knowledge community are the two core purposes of our regular Community Sessions. This week Mart van de Ven and Bastien Douglas joined us to share all about the Open Data Hong Kong community. Some of the key lessons they advised are: ask your community for help more, have […]
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