Monthly Archives: July 2017

The Data Place sponsors Open Data Camp

 

The Data Place is delighted to be a sponsor for Open Data Camp 5; democratising the publishing and use of open data is something we firmly believe in and there are few better ways to do that than by bringing people together to talk, experiment and collaborate.

Although we only formally launched a few months ago, we’ve spent over a year participating in data-focused events around the country to get a real understanding of what people need from data and how they can get the most from it.

Screenshot from The Data Place

We’ve seen at first hand the importance of data communities—intersecting interest groups who believe in the power of data to tackle problems, find new opportunities and hold those in power to account—and Open Data Camp has proved to be one of the most fertile grounds for their emergence and development.

So, as sponsors of the latest event we’re actively supporting the growth of this important forum, but we’re also being a little bit selfish: taking an active role allows us to benefit even more from the wisdom, ideas and needs that help us build a better product. And, of course, it’s a pretty fun weekend.

Announcing Open Data Camp 5

We are delighted to announce that Open Data Camp is returning once again. Open Data Camp 5 will be the weekend of 21/22 October at Queen’s University Belfast, in the Computer Science building

The Computer Science building at Queen’s University

We are really grateful to Queen’s University, and the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in particular,
for letting us use their magnificent Computer Science building, and to Suzanne and Cormac from OpenDataNI for making such a convincing case for Belfast to host our next event.

In case you’ve no idea what Open Data Camp is, here’s a quick recap:

Open

‘Open’ means that data has made available with little or no restriction on its use, as set out in a licence.

Data

‘Data’, refers to text, words, numbers, images, sound and video etc. (Hang on, what’s the difference between data and information? See this useful explanation.)

Camp

‘Camp’ is a term commonly used to refer to an ‘unconference’, which basically means it’s an event with no predefined agenda – instead, attendees ‘pitch’ session ideas to each other.

“Open data is data that anyone can access, use and share.”

More info to follow

We will let you have lots more information in the coming weeks, which will of course include details of ticketing, travel and accommodation.

Photo Credit

Cormac McConaghy