The first thing to know about unconferences is that there’s no agenda.
What happens is decided by the participants. People make a 30 second pitch for a session, and everyone votes for whether they want to go along. The campmakers keep track and use sticky-notes to draw up a grid of what is happening where.
Pitching for Open Data Camp 8 has just been taking place in the auditorium of the University of Wolverhampton’s Springfield Campus (described, fairly, by someone walking in as: “A lot posher than your average unconference.”
And… suggestions for the day have been:
- Open standards for data: how do we make more of them, useful ones that don’t annoy everyone?
- Data and representation: how do we capture people’s lived experience better, and create better data for policy making?
- More standards:there’s loads of them, but are there more things we should be doing?
- Data products are so hot right now… and open data is the OG of data products: so how do we hitch ourselves to this wagon and get back on the map?
- An open chatbot for WhatsApp: who wants to play and put it through its paces?
- Data assurance: would I trust you, what would make you trust me? Let’s sort it out and create a new standard.
- Licensing: great, but what else?
- There has to be a general election by 2025: but what could go in the manifestos that would get an excited cheer from everyone?
- And again: an election is coming: so what policy data strands would we like to see?
- Need help with open data: come and get it!
- The great hunt for open address data: who wants to come along and think about how to find it?
- Planning data: the planning system is notoriously boring, but it’s data isn’t, honest…
- Water data: what open data should Ofwat be asking for?
- Data platforms: how do we measure their value and impact?
- Gender data bias: with the growth of AI, it’s a hot topic, so let’s discuss it.
- Accuracy: we all know there’s loads of challenges, but how do we solve them?
- Healthcare data: the NHS could do with our help. Open data has done lots of good things, like Open Prescribing. But AI is coming. So how can we help?
- Creating a successful online open data community: how do we do it?
- Investment in open data infrastructure: how do we get it back on the agenda and make it happen?
- Publicly available algorithm registers: I don’t think they are useful, but what do you think?
- Let’s NOT talk about data: let’s talk about its importance instead (particularly to people who aren’t here).
- Publishing personal data in open data sets: ok, you’ve all gone ‘oohhh…’ but I think there are ways to do it in some cases.
- Open data in the West Midlands: who cares??!!!
- Digital public goods: how do we, as open data people, work with this expanding movement?
- OpenNetZero.org: what should be on it to help achieve net zero?
@ODcamp 8 well underway at the @WorldClassSoABE @WLV_Springfield campus #odcamp
Breakout sessions soon to start@paulineroche @AngharadStone @puntofisso pic.twitter.com/bZsapRoDrV— Paul Boden (@MrPaulBoden) July 1, 2023