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Wed Aug 29 10:23:01 UTC 2012
<div><br></div><div>The OKFN is a not-for-profit organisation =96 all our c=
ommunity services are provided openly and for free. We rely on the generosi=
ty of our institutional and individual supporters =96 and we need your help=
now more than ever. Please visit <a href=3D"http://okfn.org/support/" targ=
et=3D"_blank">http://okfn.org/support/</a> to find out more about becoming =
an Open Knowledge Foundation supporter.</div>
<div><br></div><div>You can read the nice shiny version of this Newsletter =
over on the <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/09/12/the-open-knowledge-f=
oundation-newsletter-july-august-2012/">blog</a>=A0- with pictures and stuf=
f!</div>
<div><br></div><div><font size=3D"4">OK Festival!!</font></div>
<div><br></div><div>It's literally days away now, and we can barely bel=
ieve how fast it's come around! Our bags are packed, and we're just=
about ready - are you? With over 600 people registered, OKFest is set to b=
e the world's biggest ever open knowledge event. In an era of global di=
gital communications, significant benefits are gained in all sectors of the=
society by opening up knowledge, including science, culture, governance an=
d economy. Next week will reveal what can happen when hundreds of community=
-builders, developers, scientists, academics, government and civil society =
representatives, teachers, students and open data experts come together to =
build new things and provoke positive change. It is a crucial moment in the=
open knowledge movement. Here's a little round up of what to expect...=
</div>
<div><br></div><div><ul><li>Over 13 different topic streams, from =93Transp=
arency and Accountability=94 to =93Openness in Sustainability=94 - you can =
get all the details through the <a href=3D"http://okfestival.org/onlinesche=
dule/#tue" target=3D"_blank">online Festival Schedule</a></li>
<li>Prestigious and inspiring <a href=3D"http://okfestival.org/guest-speake=
rs/" target=3D"_blank">keynote speakers</a>, from Hans Rosling to Anneli J=
=E4=E4tteenm=E4ki to Farida Vis to Carl-Christian Buhr to Carlos Rossel</li=
><li>Crowdsourced evening events including an <a href=3D"http://opensauna.o=
rg/" target=3D"_blank">Open Sauna</a>=A0evening, a Helsinki barhop, a serie=
s of Thematic Dinners based on the Harvard Berkman Centre model, and loads =
of other stuff to surprise and delight!=A0</li>
<li>Free Public Hackathons and Calls for Participation, including a <a href=
=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/09/04/hackday-for-news-apps-at-ok-fest/" targ=
et=3D"_blank">News App Hackday</a>=A0hosed by Helsingin Sanomat, <a href=3D=
"http://piratepad.net/TAKEACTION" target=3D"_blank">Take Action lightning t=
alks</a>=A0on gender equality and diversity hosted by Wikimedia, a <a href=
=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/09/10/okfestival-green-hackathon/" target=3D"=
_blank">Green Hackathon</a>=A0hosted by us, and much, much more!</li>
</ul></div><div><br></div><div>If you've (somehow) missed out on the ex=
citement until now, you have until September 16th to <a href=3D"http://okfe=
stival.org/early-bird-okfest-tickets/" target=3D"_blank">grab the last rema=
ining tickets</a>. We <b>really</b> can't wait to see you there!</div>
<div><br></div><div><font size=3D"4">(Some of) What we've been up to...=
</font></div><div><br></div><div><b>OKFN Labs</b></div><div><br></div><div>=
<a href=3D"http://okfnlabs.org/" target=3D"_blank">OKFN Labs</a>=A0is our (=
fairly) new home for experimental and prototype projects, and is generally =
a very cool place to hang out. Incorporating some of our more long term end=
eavours like <a href=3D"http://annotateit.org/" target=3D"_blank">Annotator=
</a>=A0and <a href=3D"http://yourtopia.net/" target=3D"_blank">YourTopia</a=
>, it's a veritable hotbed of new activity and development. One of our =
favourite projects at the moment is <a href=3D"http://pybossa.com/" target=
=3D"_blank">PyBossa</a>, a free, open-source crowd-sourcing and micro-taski=
ng platform. It enables people to create and run projects that utilise onli=
ne assistance in performing tasks that require human cognition such as imag=
e classification, transcription, geocoding and more. <a href=3D"http://pybo=
ssa.com/app/" target=3D"_blank">Get involved!</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>Another nice little product was our <a href=3D"http://b=
log.okfn.org/2012/08/24/ending-secrecy-why-global-transparency-rules-matter=
/" target=3D"_blank">Ending Secrecy</a>=A0work with Global Witness, creatin=
g visualisations to explain why global transparency rules matter. And if yo=
u'd like to join in with our Labs work, why not come to a <a href=3D"ht=
tp://sprints.okfnlabs.org/" target=3D"_blank">Labs Sprint</a>? The <a href=
=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/07/25/okfn-energy-lab-call-for-partners/" tar=
get=3D"_blank">first will be focused on energy data</a>, in Berlin from the=
1st-8th October - do come along!</div>
<div><br></div><div><b>OKFN</b><b>=A0in India</b></div><div><br></div><div>=
The lovely Laura and Lucy from the OKFN community team went on a visit to I=
ndia (lucky for some!), sharing stories and experiences with the rapidly ex=
panding open data movement over there. You can read about their journey on =
the OKF blog, as they travelled from the Fifth Elephant Conference in <a hr=
ef=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/08/21/open-data-bangalore/" target=3D"_blan=
k">Bangalore</a>, onto <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/08/23/open-data=
-chennai/" target=3D"_blank">Chennai</a>=A0where they hooked up with locals=
Transparent Chennai, then organised their own workshop in <a href=3D"http:=
//blog.okfn.org/2012/08/28/open-data-mumbai/" target=3D"_blank">Mumbai</a>,=
=A0and finally arrived in <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/08/31/open-=
data-delhi/" target=3D"_blank">Delhi</a>, the "policy capital" of=
India. Phew!</div>
<div><br></div><div><b>Open Bibliography</b></div><div><br></div><div>The O=
pen Bibliography crew have been hard at work as ever, and July saw our bigg=
est ever celebration of Open Bibliographic Data, <a href=3D"http://blog.okf=
n.org/2012/07/09/bibliohack-ed/" target=3D"_blank">BiblioHack</a>. Work was=
begun on a "Bibliographic Toolkit," which would bring together O=
pen Knowledge Foundation projects like <a href=3D"http://textusproject.org/=
" target=3D"_blank">TEXTUS</a>=A0and <a href=3D"http://bibserver.org/" targ=
et=3D"_blank">BibServer</a>=A0with other tools available on the web. In Aug=
ust, the JISC Open Biblio 2 project was brought to a successful conclusion,=
after second year of development and advocacy - you can read the full repo=
rt <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/08/23/jisc-open-biblio-2-project-fi=
nal-report/" target=3D"_blank">here</a>. Keep up to date with all our bibli=
ographic work on the <a href=3D"http://openbiblio.net/" target=3D"_blank">W=
orking Group homepage</a>.</div>
<div><br></div><div><b>And some new members of the family...</b></div><div>=
<br></div><div><ul><li>Our new <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/07/17/d=
ata-protocols-community-based-light-weight-data-protocols-for-collaborative=
-distributed-work-with-data/" target=3D"_blank">Data Protocols</a>=A0projec=
t was launched, a community-driven effort to develop simple, light-weight p=
rotocols and formats for distributed and collaborative work with data.</li>
<li>The <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/07/10/announcing-linked-open-v=
ocabularies-lov-enabling-the-vocabulary-commons/" target=3D"_blank">Linked =
Open Vocabularies</a>=A0project officially joined the Open Knowledge Founda=
tion family, providing single-stop access to the Vocabulary Commons ecosyst=
em. =A0</li>
<li>And we got some real-life new members, in the shape of=A0<a href=3D"htt=
p://blog.okfn.org/2012/09/11/new-members-of-the-open-knowledge-foundation-b=
oard-jane-silber-and-gavin-starks/" target=3D"_blank">Jane Silber and Gavin=
Starks</a>, who have joined the OKFN Board!</li>
</ul></div><div>=A0</div><div><font size=3D"4">(A bit of) What you've b=
een up to...</font></div><div>=A0</div><div>And of course, you lot have bee=
n super busy too! Here are a few of your news highlights from the blog:</di=
v>
<div><ul><li><a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/09/04/opendatamx/" target=
=3D"_blank">OpenDataMX</a>=A0saw the production of some great new work in j=
ust 36 hours, based on public sector data.=A0</li><li>The <a href=3D"http:/=
/blog.okfn.org/2012/08/31/introducing-the-declaration-on-parliamentary-open=
ness/" target=3D"_blank">Declaration on Parliamentary Openness</a>=A0was la=
unched by the National Democratic Institute to promote legislative openness=
.=A0</li>
<li>The first <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/08/16/the-very-first-ope=
n-data-and-democracy-initiative-hackathon-south-africa/" target=3D"_blank">=
Open Data and Democracy Initiative Hackathon</a>=A0took place in Cape Town,=
South Africa, with results suggesting a bright future for the Open Data mo=
vement over there. =A0</li>
<li>We heard about <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/08/16/elva-texting-=
for-security/" target=3D"_blank">Elva</a>, a new crowdsourcing tool to help=
improve the security of communities in the turbulent Shida Kartli region o=
f Georgia.</li>
<li>
=A0Creative Commons <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/08/15/cc-license-v=
ersion-4-0-helping-meet-the-needs-of-open-data-publishers-and-users/" targe=
t=3D"_blank">brought out a new set of licenses</a>, v4.0, which aim to bett=
er meet the needs of open data publishers and users.=A0</li>
<li>And <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/08/10/call-for-research-propos=
als-open-data-in-developing-countries/" target=3D"_blank">Open Data Researc=
h are offering $25-75,000 to fund research</a>=A0projects into the impact o=
f open data initiatives in developing countries.=A0</li>
</ul></div><div>=A0</div><div><font size=3D"4">Musings</font></div><div>=A0=
</div><div>In case you missed it, here's some of the stuff we've be=
en thinking about on the blog - do <a href=3D"mailto:blog at okfn.org" target=
=3D"_blank">get in touch</a> if you have thoughts to share!</div>
<div><br></div><div><ul><li><b>Rufus Pollock</b> wrote a two part piece on =
"Managing Expectations", available <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.or=
g/2012/07/24/managing-expectations/" target=3D"_blank">here</a>=A0and <a hr=
ef=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/09/13/managing-expectations-ii-open-data-te=
chnology-and-government-2-0/" target=3D"_blank">here</a>, looking at the li=
mitations of open data and the strategies necessary to ensure it fulfills i=
ts potential, socially, culturally and economically.=A0</li>
<li>While <b>Jonathan Gray</b>'s post, <a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/=
2012/07/21/science-data-and-the-public/" target=3D"_blank">"Science, D=
ata and the Public"</a>=A0(also published by the Guardian), explored t=
he likely impact of developing EC policy on access to scientific informatio=
n on science and public engagement with science.=A0</li>
</ul></div><div><font size=3D"4">Dates for your diary</font></div><div><br>=
</div><div>There is life beyond OKFest - lots of it! Here are a few key dat=
es for your diaries, and remember to check <a href=3D"http://www.meetup.com=
/openknowledgefoundation/" target=3D"_blank">Meetups</a>=A0for details of O=
KFN stuff in your area</div>
<div><ul><li><a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/07/25/okfn-energy-lab-cal=
l-for-partners/" target=3D"_blank">OKFN Energy Lab Sprint</a>, 1st-8th Octo=
ber, Berlin</li><li><a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/09/10/openstreetma=
p-conference-2012-october-19th-20th-edinburgh/" target=3D"_blank">OpenStree=
tMap Conference</a>, 19th-20th October, Edinburgh</li>
<li><a href=3D"http://blog.okfn.org/2012/09/12/recycle-public-sector-data-w=
ith-the-big-clean-on-november-3rd-2012/" target=3D"_blank">The Big Clean</a=
>, 3rd November, Prague and everywhere</li></ul></div></div>
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