Ok go! This week 1000 people converge in Berlin for Okfestival with many more participating and observing online. We are here to instigate open action and open minds.
The Open Knowledge Festival 2014 will be our biggest open data and open knowledge event to date. It will be global, inclusive and participatory. We expect it to create a significant local and international surge of innovation.
Throughout the festival, I will be leading the Community storytelling team. I’ll mostly be using twitter and storify to curate stories. Also, expect pictures and maybe some videos with attendees. During this event, I am also running or assisting on a large number of sessions and side events, plus attending some key sessions.
Here’s my schedule for the following week. See some of you soon! And, for friends who aren’t here, see you online (all items are at the OKFEST venue unless stated otherwise):
Sunday, July 13th (completed)
Watch Germany win world cup, walk to celebration at Brandenburg Gate (checkmark)
Monday, July 14th (completed)
Hold informal #geobeers with mapper and activist friends in Berlin at Strandbar (so amazing, done-so)
OKfest Opening Day: Tuesday, July 15th
Open Knowledge Community Summit (13:00 – 16:00 CET)
This is a community-driven event to talk about the Open Knowledge community. See all the details. I’ll be hosting a sub-group to talk about the last 5 months of community programming and get input into the next steps.
Storytelling team meeting (17:00 CET)
Sharing stories, ideas and moments is such a big part of community events. I’ve had much practice curating and encouraging stories at large events. Join our Storytelling team and meet other digital curators. Look for folks with blue ribbons or tweet us at #okstory with blog links, videos, photos, headlines and key themes.
How to join: Review our Storytelling wiki page, add your name to our etherpad, tweet @heatherleson or with #okstory to meet team members. Our first meeting is at 5pm in the Media Hub room at the Okfest venue. We will have other informal meetings to be announced throughout the event. Stay tuned.
School of Data Table at the open night (18:00 – 21:00 CET)
Come meet the School of Data existing and new fellows, local partners and team. Ask questions, get involved.
Community Drinks (21:30 – on)
The Community team is hosting an informal drinks night. Join us for chats and connecting.
Location: Prater Garten
OkFest First day: Wednesday, July 16th
Storytelling Team meeting like at 8:30am at venue. TBD, see #okstory.
Sessions:
I’ll be attending all the morning sessions. Truly, super excited for Ory to talk plus graffiti activists!!
Open Coalition (12:00 – 13:00)
Help us build an Open Coalition across various open organizations and individuals. We have common missions and are stronger together.
Power, Politics, Inclusion and voice
“Data, information, knowledge is created in a political environment where power dynamics dictate who is/is not included in the creation process. Unless we consider who is involved in knowledge construction we run the risk of simply entrenching existing power structures. If open data is dominated by data produced in the Global North what chance do we have in redressing the balance of power for an equitable world? “
Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team Workshop (16:30 -17:30 CET)
Humanitarian OpenStreetMap team will share stories and do a demo with hands on support. Super excited to support Katie and other Hotties on this.
Open Mapping Party
Join the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, CartoDB, Development Seed, Zeit Online and Mapbox to talk open mapping strategies and tools over drinks. Heather Leson, Ian Schuler, Javier de la Torre, Alex Barth and Paul Blickle are in town and ready to connect over humanitarian response, data visualizations, OpenStreetMap and satellite imagery. We are inviting map nerds, enthusiasts and friends to join us for a mapper night. Sign up here.
Okfest Second day: Thursday, July 17th
Storytelling team – meeting tbd
Day 3 of Community Storytelling. Stay tuned for more highlights and a meeting
Crisis.net (12:00 – 13:00)
Crisis.net is a new open tool from the amazing Ushahidi folks. The team will share a demo and answer questions. I’m expecting many civil society and journalists to join in the conversations. Session details.
Low Tech Data : Storytelling and Storyfinding (14:00 – 15:00)
Rahul and Gabi will be a fantastic hosts for this session at the heart of every impact for civil society and activists. See more details:
Looking for creative ways to find and present data stories in low-tech settings? We will share our hands-on, participatory techniques for bringing people together around data to find and tell powerful stories without computers. You’ll walk away with skills and ideas to help the communities you work with!
Working with data can empower or disempower. Algorithms, technical language, unfamiliar processes – these all leave many communities incapable of working with data, or understanding data-driven discussions. Most folks don’t “speak data”.
How to Teach Open Data (15:30 – 16:30)
Join the School of Data and friends to learn best practices in teaching open data. (full details) We’ll have a world cafe to share
- How to organise tech and data workshops
- Building effective curriculum and accreditation
- Type of education activities: a blended offline, online
- Designing passion driven communities (I’ll be with Bekka from P2PU)
If I had more time or a time machine, I would attend these amazing sessions too!
- Defining and Designing Successful Data Journalism Initiatives in the Developing Countries (Wednesday)
- Transparent Cities (Wednesday)
- The problem of participation(Wednesday)
- Can Open Data go Wrong? (Open Data Oh NO) - Friends from the engine room will be hosting a fantastic session (Wednesday)
- Property Rights Partnerships (Wednesday)
- Peng Collective: Malarkey as a tactic for activism (Thursday)
- Tools, tools and more tools for building the data pipeline (Thursday)
- Sensors, Uncensored: Using Sensors to Enrich storytelling(Thursday)
School of Data Summer Camp (Potsdam) (invite only): Friday, July 18, 2014 – Monday July 21, 2014
School of Data is the division that I work in at Open Knowledge. This summer camp includes fellows, partners and local instances of School of Data. We will talk about strategies, share skills and develop plans for the upcoming year. I am specifically sharing community programming and community engagement best practices:
July 22nd, 2014
FALL OVER, Report back, sleep!!!
