[okfn-discuss] OKF website, about open knowledge/ open data

Javier Creus javicreus at ideasforchange.com
Tue Jun 18 13:24:18 UTC 2013


hello,

I agree with Gene, the Okfn web doesn't reflect properly the scope of the
Okfn foundation,
I we take a look at the program of last year's Okfn festival we will see
that the scope is much broader

Some of us started the Spanish chapter of okfn in Spain, and among multiple
working groups, less than a half  are open data centric,

1) Gobierno Abierto . Coord. Guzmán Garmendia.
Grupo global – Open Goverment Data <http://wiki.okfn.org/Wg/government>.
2) *Procomún, produccion colaborativa y ciudadanía activa. Coord. Mayo
Fuster*
*3) **Open Environmental Data. Coord: Félix Pedrera
*
*4) **Open Development.
*
Grupo Global : Open development <http://open-development.okfn.org/>
*5) **Ciencia, investigación y educación abiertas. Coord:Alberto Labarga
*
Grupo Global Open science <http://science.okfn.org/>
PAD del grupo <http://okfnpad.org/universidadabierta> (universidad abierta)
PAD del grupo <http://okfnpad.org/investigadores-ogob> (investigadores
academicos)
*6) **Periodismo de datos. Coord: Karma Peiró
*
*7) **Género, inclusión social y diversidad en procesos abiertos.
*
*8) **Open economics: business & sustainalibity models. Coord: Javier Creus*
*Grupo Global : Open Economics <http://economics.okfn.org/>
*
*9) **Open  Smart Cities & Internet of Things. Coord: Júlia López Ventura,
*
*10) **Open (technical) Standards.
*
*11) **Open data – Public Safety*


thanks,


javi


2013/6/18 Laura James <laura.james at okfn.org>

> Gene,
>
> That's a good point - I agree it's not very clear and we should work at
> improving the site, both in explaining the knowledge side, and also in
> providing some clearer examples from different domains as to how openness
> can help.
>
> However, I think the main thing is that for us, open knowledge isn't just
> open data+content, it's also the real reason why we do open data.  I
> blogged about this recently:
> http://blog.okfn.org/2013/05/01/open-knowledge-much-more-than-open-data/- excerpt: Open
> knowledge is what open data becomes when it’s useful, usable and used. At
> the Open Knowledge Foundation we believe in open knowledge: not just that
> data is open and can be freely used, but that it is made useful –
> accessible, understandable, meaningful, and able to help someone solve a
> real problem.
>
> Data is super useful because you can break it down into components, and
> reconnect it to find useful insights.  With content - when we talk about
> images, texts, audio and so on - that's still quite hard, compared to how
> easy it is to componentise data, and so it's harder to get the benefits of
> remixing etc. Rufus explains this well in this post from 2011:
> http://blog.okfn.org/2011/09/15/open-data-a-means-to-an-end-not-an-end-in-itself/ <http://blog.okfn.org/2011/09/15/open-data-a-means-to-an-end-not-an-end-in-itself/>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Laura
>
>
>
> --
>
>  Dr Laura James
>
> Co-Director  | skype: laura.james  |  @LaurieJ<https://twitter.com/LaurieJ>
>
> The Open Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org/>
>
> Empowering through Open Knowledge
> http://okfn.org/  |  @okfn <http://twitter.com/OKFN>  |  OKF on Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/OKFNetwork> |
> Blog <http://blog.okfn.org/>  |  Newsletter<http://okfn.org/about/newsletter>
>
>
> On 18 June 2013 12:12, Gene Shackman <eval_gene at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi folks
>>
>> I'm just starting to get into open knowledge and it is a very interesting
>> area. The Open Knowledge Foundation looks like a great place to start
>> learning about it. However, I had some questions about the home page
>>
>> http://okfn.org/
>>
>> From the viewpoint of a novice, it seems like a lot of the website seems
>> to be about open -data-.
>>
>> For example, there is the "learn about openness" box in the center. This
>> goes to a page "What is open data" http://okfn.org/opendata/  which says
>> “Open data is data that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by
>> anyone – subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and
>> sharealike.”
>>
>> The "about us" drop down header also has a link to the same page, with
>> the label "what is open data" (but no drop downs for what is open knowledge
>> or open research or open not data)
>>
>> The Projects drop down has "data journalism handbook", "open data
>> commons", "open data handbook"
>>
>> Down near the bottom, you have 4 image boxes, 2 of which are about data,
>> "school of data" and ckan, the open data platform.
>>
>> There ARE mentions of other open stuff, for example the "about us" page
>> does say "The Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) is a non-profit organization
>> founded in 2004 and dedicated to promoting open data and open content in
>> all their forms – including government data, publicly funded research and
>> public domain cultural content."
>>
>> But it seems to me, as a novice to the field, most of the info is about
>> data. Perhaps people who know this area would easily understand the non
>> data aspects, but I'm looking at it as someone who doesn't know much about
>> this open access stuff (yet).
>>
>> Maybe if you had something like your following about us statement
>> (modified) on the home page, where people first see the OKF without having
>> to click on anything, it would be more evident what open access is all about
>> "promoting open data and open content in all their forms – including
>> data, research, reports, papers, and cultural content."
>>
>> I hope that makes sense.
>>
>> Gene
>>
>>
>> Gene Shackman, Ph.D.
>> The Global Social Change Research Project
>> http://gsociology.icaap.org
>> Free Resources for Methods in Evaluation and Social Research
>> http://gsociology.icaap.org/methods
>> ----------
>> Applied Sociologist
>> ----------
>>
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