[@OKFNau] Announcing Open Knowledge Melbourne

Tue Jan 6 03:19:32 UTC 2015

Hi Rosie,

You raise a good point about the RHOK model. We hang out a bit with RHOK in
Melbourne, and do love their model. It's something we're thinking about for
getting some longevity into GovHack/ HealthHack projects. I think it's
important that all of us doing Open things (and not just open data) try to
support each other (or at least be aware of the landscape).

Great to hear about your meetup, too. Hope it goes really well!
Fiona

On 1 January 2015 at 16:55, Rosie Williams <budgetaus at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Lachlan & Keith,
>
> Given that for the past couple of years I have been working full time on
> open data projects for no remuneration, the issues you bring up are of
> great interest to me. The recently formed Open Data Australia meetup has
> members from all over Australia (and elsewhere)
> http://www.meetup.com/Australia-Open-Data/
>
> During the first meetup a couple of weeks ago one of the features for me
> was to be able to hear from people working in open data around Australia -
> I normally only interact with Sydney-siders. However we did not get much of
> a chance to talk about the problems faced by open data advocates and open
> data projects. I think this would be a good theme for a future meetup if
> people are interested. I'm co-organiser of the group so am open suggestions.
>
> I also participated in Random Hacks of Kindness here in Sydney recently
> and it is one hackathon where they do give support to teams (a meeting
> place) to continue the projects and problem owners/teams can also attend
> future RHOK's and get further input. It would be good to do collaborations
> with existing organisations like RHOK http://www.rhokaustralia.org/
>
> I see no reason why projects begun at other hackfests can't become RHOK
> projects.
>
> Rosie Williams BA (Sociology)
> ________________________________________
>
>  NoFibs.com.au <http://nofibs.com.au> - Open Data Reporter
>  InfoAus.net <http://infoaus.net> - Founder and Developer
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> From: keithamoss at gmail.com
> Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 09:05:22 +0000
> To: okfn-au at lists.okfn.org
> Subject: Re: [@OKFNau] Announcing Open Knowledge Melbourne
>
>
> Lachlan,
>
> I just wanted to pass on a belated thanks for this post of yours.
>
> It chimes with a fair bit of what I've been thinking about myself - and
> gives a good shape to some vague ideas we've had over here in Perth about
> the principles and structure of running open knowledge/data/government
> meetups effectively.
>
> Please keep us up-to-date with how Open Knowledge Melbourne is going :)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Keith
>
> On Sun Nov 30 2014 at 4:59:48 PM Lachlan Musicman <datakid at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I would like to announce the start of a weekly meet up called Open
> Knowledge Melbourne. It will be held on Wednesdays, currently we are
> planning on it being at ThoughtWorks, from 6pm-available. (Thanks TW!)
>
> http://www.meetup.com/Open-Knowledge-Melbourne/events/218919493/
>
> In some ways this is an extension or rebirth or rebrand of the
> #DataHack meet-up.
>
> Rationale
> ---------
>
> 1. The annual Hackathons are great events, but my personal experience
> was that we were unable to take up available funding to continue the
> projects because all participants had full time jobs or were otherwise
> engaged. This is a shame and a waste of good ideas and good work.
>
> 2. There seems to be uncertainty amongst the (perceived) natural
> constituency of IT types as to what a *Hack is.
>
> 3. Having now participated in Gov and HealthHack, most noticeable was
> the lack of non technical participants - designers and artists amongst
> others. In Skud's excellent critique* she also notes parents -
> something that we have discussed and are looking into being able to
> provide a space, food and care that are appropriate for children.
> This, unfortunately, will not be available immediately, but is next on
> the radar of "todos".
>
> 4. Open Data is new, and it is good. It will become an essential tool
> to democratic societies. Used well, we can keep government business
> transparent in a time of decreasing investigative journalism, help the
> government produce better services and to think outside the box, and
> develop a better understanding and language around data, it's uses and
> it's limitations.
>
> 5. Data is already being used by the Government and Business. It is
> important that civil society has access to that data, can have an
> authoritative voice in matters of individual privacy. Steve Bennett
> has been doing some excellent work to this end, but I fear he is the
> only one. His discoveries and networks need to be documented and
> worked with further.
>
> 6. Most important: If we don't use the data, it will stop coming out.
> The data needs to be used more often than annually. You cannot keep
> going to the Government and saying "open your data, you never know
> what might happen" if nothing ever happens.
>
> 7. Data analysis, data set analysis, data visualisation requires a lot
> of hard, boring work. Blue collar, dirty hands, mostly boring, work.
> The kind of work that is easier in groups, that takes time, effort, as
> wide a representation of society as possible.
>
> 8. The Open Knowledge movement should be looking to the Free, Libre
> and Open Source Software movement as an example - it can be built, it
> will be built, and we will build it.
>
> *9. Skud's critique -
> infotrope.net/2014/11/28/why-i-dont-like-hackathons-by-alex-
> bayley-aged-39-12
> - is valuable and well argued. But there is one thing that I take
> issue with, and Skud is not alone in making this mistake - we all
> have. A *athon *is* like a marathon. We should be running it all year,
> not just over a weekend. Marathon runners do not only run one weekend,
> one race. They are always preparing for the race. As we should be.
>
> 10. There are plenty of projects that could do with some of this type
> of love. Here is an incomplete short list:
>
>     a. OpenStreetMap eg, improving via changeset discussions
>     https://blog.openstreetmap.org/2014/11/02/introducing-change
> set-discussions
>     b. HipsterMap
>     c. All of Stevage's bike maps
>     d. the Melbourne LocalWiki project
>     e. Wikipedia
>     f. City of Melbourne, Victorian and National Government data -> either
> into
>         the above or just generally hacked
>     g. Growstuff
>     h. ???
>
> Endnote
> -------
>
> This is about Open Knowledge - there is no primacy given to data or
> computer scientists.
>
> This is about inclusion and democracy, and we will have to put in
> special effort to make sure that all people are welcome and able to
> come. Racism, sexism, gender or ability discrimination will be
> unwelcome and called out. Processes and services will be put into
> place to make sure that under represented groups feel able to attend.
> Most importantly outreach and dialogue should be entered into with as
> many groups as possible to make sure we do all we can to make the
> space as inclusive as possible.
>
> There will be a minimisation of speaker centric presentations. They
> will not be unwelcome, but I'm imagining a space where multiple groups
> are doing multiple things - some people are learning new software,
> others are working on particular projects, others are discussing
> results, or discussing the organisation of the night and the work that
> is done.
>
> So. That's my proposal. A small amount of discussion has happened
> between a handful of people to get to this point. I encourage you to
> get involved in any way you feel comfortable - all ideas, advice, and
> criticism is welcome.
>
> http://www.meetup.com/Open-Knowledge-Melbourne/events/218919493/
>
> Cheers
> Lachlan
>
> --
> You have to be really clever to come up with a genuinely dangerous
> thought. I am disheartened that people can be clever enough to do that
> and not clever enough to do the obvious thing and KEEP THEIR IDIOT
> MOUTHS SHUT about it, because it is much more important to sound
> intelligent when talking to your friends.
> This post was STUPID.
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------------------------------------
> The Most Terrifying Thought Experiment of All Time
> http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2014/07/rok
> o_s_basilisk_the_most_terrifying_thought_experiment_of_all_time.html
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