[foundation-board] CEO Update 10 / 2016
Pavel Richter
pavel.richter at okfn.org
Wed Oct 19 11:49:02 UTC 2016
Hi Helen,
thank you for that feedback. Answers are in-line:
On 19 October 2016 at 11:14, Helen Turvey (King) <
helen.turvey at shuttleworthfoundation.org> wrote:
> Thanks Pavel, great update as always.
>
> I would like to intro Viderum team to: http://openoil.net/ - I think
> there work would be of interest to each other, esp. now with contracts in
> the extractives industry.
>
May I suggest you take this on directly with Sebastian (
smoleski at viderum.com)?
>
> The work of the RTEI is really solid - esp. love the questions you pose,
> both practical and policy. I do find the name complicated, as the right to
> education is either there or not, if someone is fulfilling obligations is
> another matter. I know it is explained further down the site one drills,
> but wondered if it was deliberately so?
>
That is a good point; however, OKI was responsible only for the technical
side of the project. In fact, it was a commercial project, and the naming
was done by the client. So we had no word in this...
>
> Fingers crossed for Omidyar news!
>
Yes!
>
> HT
>
> Pavel
> On 18 October 2016 at 18:55, Karin Christiansen <
> karin at karinchristiansen.org> wrote:
>
>> Very helpful. Thank you.
>>
>> Karin
>>
>> On 18 Oct 2016 3:34 p.m., "Pavel Richter" <pavel.richter at okfn.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear all,
>>>
>>> please find below an overview of the highlights of the last month here
>>> at Open Knowledge International. As always, you can find the same text as a
>>> Google doc here
>>> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xtV7OXKbVeiK3IT3PIfiNCJNvpm7aLxd--kV-kQvJIs/edit?usp=sharing>
>>> .
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Pavel
>>> Highlights from Tech/ Projects
>>>
>>> -
>>>
>>> There has been solid progress on the technical and methodological
>>> aspects of the Global Open Data Index (GODI) platform. Data
>>> collection for GODI 2016 is scheduled to start on the first week of
>>> November.
>>> -
>>>
>>> Work on the new tooling of the OpenSpending platform is ongoing
>>> while the testing of the Fiscal Data Package specification continues after
>>> the launch of the pilot with the Mexican Government. Work is underway with
>>> Open Knowledge Germany on a project to collect all EU subsidy data and get
>>> it into OpenSpending, this is funded by Adessium
>>> -
>>>
>>> Regarding OpenTrials, the beta launch of the platform accompanied by
>>> a hackathon in Berlin and an announcement occurred at the World Health
>>> Summit on 10th October.
>>> -
>>>
>>> In Frictionless Data, the working group around the specs has kicked
>>> off with great success, and with a commitment made to get all
>>> specifications to v1 by end of 2016 with representatives across civic data,
>>> academic, and commercial solutions providers. Work on the Registry has
>>> begun and will be a key outcome of the project. Considerable interest was
>>> generated from International Data Week conferences and discussions and
>>> opportunities are underway with many new partners including the creation of
>>> new working groups and new areas of research - the first likely to be in
>>> Agricultural data
>>> -
>>>
>>> The FIWARE project came to an end in September following the
>>> update of the platform to the the new CKAN release 2.6. The project ended
>>> with a presentation from OKI on the work done as part of the project at
>>> CKANCon as part of IODC. The CKAN platform will continue to be promoted by
>>> FIWARE and supported by the community.
>>> -
>>>
>>> The Right to Education Index (RETI) has been published:
>>> http://www.rtei.org/en/
>>> -
>>>
>>> Work on the IBP tracker continues, ad is due to be completed in
>>> October
>>> -
>>>
>>> FutureTDM held its first high profile Workshop in Brussels with
>>> presentations and a keynote by Julia Reda. The event was sponsored and
>>> Chaired by the European Parliament Digital Agenda Intergroup.
>>> <http://digitalagendaintergroup.eu/> Attendees included EU policy
>>> shapers - advocacy organizations and representatives from the Parliament
>>> Commission and Council - alongside the broader TDM community that we have
>>> been engaging with for the past year. The FutureTDM project poster was
>>> selected to be presented at various events such as the GTM2016, University
>>> of Southampton IClick and at RDA Plenary, where we also took part in the
>>> IG session on education and formed a new working group on TDM.
>>> OKFN representing FTDM gave a presentation at Digital
>>> Infrastructures for Research.
>>> -
>>>
>>> Regarding School of Data (ScoDa), we're organising a special event
>>> during Abrelatam in Colombia, early next month. The event will be about
>>> connecting CSOs and newsrooms that are data driven for them to share common
>>> challenges and lessons learned.
>>> We organised a capacity building event in Madrid in partnership with
>>> MediaLab Prado and Open Knowledge Spain which sought to teach journalists
>>> data-skills. We also participated in IODC as Action Anchors, curating,
>>> moderating and reporting on panels on the capacity building track. Our
>>> contributions eventually made to the final report of the conference.
>>> -
>>>
>>> ROUTETOPA: Work started on piloting tools built by other partners in
>>> the consortium
>>>
>>> Viderum Updates
>>>
>>> -
>>>
>>> On business: We've started delivery on the new project with Shell.
>>> We also closed the renewal of the Birmingham hosting contract. While we
>>> still haven't closed on HPE, talks are now under way with Energinet, the
>>> Danish gas and electricity grid operator, to build an open data portal
>>> including near-real-time energy consumption data. Developer team size has
>>> grown again to 5 contractors in order to meet the demands of the ongoing
>>> projects.
>>> -
>>>
>>> On finance: As a result of increased business in the past two
>>> months, Viderum's financial situation has improved somewhat. Once billings
>>> from the Shell project turn into receipts (expected for November), things
>>> should clear up significantly.
>>> -
>>>
>>> On transition: Yesterday, the last customer moved onto our
>>> cloud-hosted infrastructure. With that, the transition project has come to
>>> its end.
>>>
>>> Operations Update
>>>
>>> -
>>>
>>> Pensions has been boarded as planned
>>> -
>>>
>>> Charity application on going
>>> -
>>>
>>> The reversals has been completed to minimise corporation tax exposure
>>> -
>>>
>>> We currently have the ability to board key team members who are
>>> based overseas; updates will presented at the next board meeting
>>> -
>>>
>>> Sanders reintegration to OKI planned for November.
>>> -
>>>
>>> The Year-End Accounts
>>> <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2rJgDegDOWdWGlNRGZ3RGttYVFfV3pTdHFiRlYzYThHZ0VJ/view?usp=sharing> has
>>> been finalised. Regarding the attached Accounts; you will notice that Part
>>> 3 is highlighted in yellow; so far we have reduced our corporation
>>> Tax exposure from £61,000 to £18,000. However, Mark is convinced
>>> this will come down, with the intention of zeroing it out or receiving an
>>> actual Tax return from the Revenue. Unfortunately, these figures cannot be
>>> confirmed to be 100% this week.
>>> -
>>>
>>> Please note that Buzzacott Auditors will be at the next Board Meeting
>>> to present the Accounts.
>>>
>>> Funding Omidyar Network
>>>
>>> Pavel, accompanied by Mark and Karin made a presentation
>>> <https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/186qFxn04POwov2YWSgpqogeAbQsp6HDwwMkT4wwTYwA/edit?ts=57fb8d2f#slide=id.p>
>>> to the Investment Committee of the Omidyar Network on 28th September. We
>>> are expecting feedback on the grant in the next few weeks.
>>> Sigrid Rausing
>>>
>>> In addition to the 2016 grant report, we submitted a new proposal
>>> requesting for a 3year general core grant.
>>>
>>> StaffLive vacancies
>>>
>>> There are currently no open positions at OKI.
>>> New Staff
>>>
>>> -
>>>
>>> Serah Rono, based in Nairobi, Kenya filled our Developer Advocate
>>> position. Serah comes to us from Code for Africa, and brings a wealth of
>>> knowledge to the role. Serah is focused on ROUTETOPA, and assists on
>>> Frictionless Data, and OK Labs.
>>> -
>>>
>>> Our Junior Designer position was filled by Ewelina Woloszyn. Ewelina
>>> will work with our Senior Designer Sam Smith, who is now part time.
>>> -
>>>
>>> Shireen Kovoor joined OKI on 3rd October as our HR Manager. Shireen
>>> has vast experience working in both the not-for-profit as well as the
>>> commercial sectors, having previously worked for the SSAT(The Schools
>>> Network), Heathrow Airport Holdings (formerly BAA), Balfour Beatty, Dubai
>>> World Trade Centre and Tata Consultancy Services, in the UK, Dubai and
>>> India.
>>> -
>>>
>>> Nicky Trijssenaar will be joining OKI next week as a Project Manager
>>> for our NEXTGeoss project.
>>>
>>> Network
>>>
>>> We organized the Open Exchange for Social Change at the IODC16. It was
>>> successful and we got good end products from it, including discussions
>>> about open washing. Also, preparation for the Open Data Day with the
>>> community has started. Our last community call on the topic had 60
>>> participants.
>>>
>>> Regarding Research, we co-anchored the research track at IODC and
>>> started a new project with CIVICUS on the DataShift project.
>>> AOB
>>>
>>> The next in-person meeting of the Board is on 9th November, 2016 at
>>> 5:30pm. The venue is Canonical.
>>>
>>> OKI’s Autumn Summit is taking place on 21-23 November, 2016 in
>>> Thessaloniki, Greece.
>>>
>>> I will send the next CEO Update in the middle of December. Please do
>>> give feedback on these reports, so that I can provide you with the
>>> information that you require.
>>> What I have been thinking about / what’s concerning me this month
>>>
>>> A lot of time and effort went into the presentation for the Omidyar
>>> Network investment committee. We will hear from them any time soon, I hope.
>>>
>>> A real highlight was the International Open Data Conference in Madrid. I
>>> am usually not a big fan of these large conferences and find them not too
>>> helpful for me. But in Madrid it was different. This time, I found the
>>> panels very good, I found the networking very helpful (especially at the
>>> Omidyar meetup on Monday and Tuesday), and it was great to meet with a
>>> large part of our staff and see them “in action”.
>>>
>>> One thing that I am looking forward to is the project management
>>> training that all our project managers are undergoing in October in London.
>>> We are investing a lot of money and effort in this, but I am confident that
>>> we will see improved collaboration and planning coming to our projects.
>>>
>>> October and November are very intense, in terms of conferences and
>>> travel, and also for fundraising. But I found the last month to be very
>>> productive and interesting, and I really like it that talking about our new
>>> strategy, I get good feedback from people who know OKI for a long time.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Kind regards
>>>
>>> Pavel Richter
>>> CEO
>>> Open Knowledge International
>>>
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>>>
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>
>
> --
> Helen Turvey (King)
>
> CEO
> Shuttleworth Foundation
>
> website: www.shuttleworthfoundation.org
> twitter: @helenturvey
>
>
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>
--
Kind regards
Pavel Richter
CEO
Open Knowledge International
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