[okfn-coord] COMMUNIA catch-up

Wed Dec 10 21:12:05 UTC 2008

On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 1:31 PM, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:
> Just to say I think we should probably do individual invites before
> circulating more general announce. Perhaps this is already the plan.

Yep - certainly is! :-)

> Yes I am. I am not sure who to get from Eurostat as I now realize my
> info about this came from a presentation by Juan Pelegrin. Maybe we
> need to think about who else we invite here.

OK great. Any European projects that you think would be interesting to invite?

> Have we contacted Chris Corbin yet? He may have some good suggestions
> for people to invite from elsewhere in Europe (and the world).

Yep. I've pinged him. Will update when I hear.

> Can I suggest we draft a standard invite email (of course this will
> get customized)?

Yep, see below. I've been mostly writing individual messages but
generally including the same introductory paragraph.

> Also what shall we do regarding OKCon?

I'll ping the discuss list about this ASAP.

> I've updated this blurb somewhat on the wiki. See there for changes.

Great. Also note it should be 5th workshop, not 4th - as this is
apparently in January. (There was a lot of confusion about this.)

I've updated the wiki with the various responses I've had:

  http://okfn.org/board/wiki/CommuniaWorkshop

Rufus, it would be really helpful if you could invite:

 * Tom Watson
 * Javier Hernandez-Ros
 * Anyone else who jumps to mind who isn't on the list

Pro is meeting with Naomi from SCA on Monday. Pro, just a reminder
that you'd also volunteered to invite Jamie Love and Hugenholtz. Any
news on this front?

Best,

J.

----

Dear [so and so],

The Open Knowledge Foundation is currently organising the 5th COMMUNIA
Workshop, "Accessing, Using and Reusing Public Sector Content and
Data", which will take place at the London School of Economics on
26-27th March 2009. COMMUNIA is a EU funded thematic policy network on
the digital public domain. The event will bring together researchers,
policy-makers, stakeholders and representatives from across Europe for
2 days of presentations and discussions. Further details are below.

We would like to invite [you/peron/project] as [its so
great/appropriate for this reason]. [additional stuff of particular
relevance to invitee]

Please let me know whether you would be interested in participating!

Warm regards,

[name]
The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://blog.okfn.org

---

Subject: 5th COMMUNIA Workshop: Accessing, Using and Reusing Public
Sector Content and Data

when: 26-27th March 2009
where: New Academic Building, London School of Economics, London UK

Across the world there is a growing recognition of the social and
commercial value of public sector content and data: be that the text
of laws, the holdings of public museums, or the geospatial and
environmental information collected by government agencies. Moreover,
it is likely that better access to and use of such information is
central to improving governance and increasing democratic
participation.

This two day workshop will focus on how we can unlock the huge
potential of public sector material. It was also examine the current
obstacles to doing this -- legal, technological and social -- as well
as how they can be overcome. In particular, much of the value of
public sector material can only be realized if it is reused and
interlinked -- both activities that are currently difficult for a
variety of legal and technological reasons.

The workshop will bring together researchers, policy-makers,
stakeholders and representatives from across Europe for presentations
and discussions about projects, policies and practices aimed at
disseminating, connecting and building upon public sector material.

There will be four main sessions focusing on:

 * Social and economic value of public sector material
 * Getting the rights right: law and policy
 * Getting the right tools for the job: technology and communities
 * Exemplars and Obstacles: case studies

In addition, the workshop will include space for discussion of these
topics and related ones not specifically listed.