No subject

Sun Dec 12 18:29:16 GMT 2010

little knowledge of the local situation in Hungary - I don't think we
can thunder in and expect to change things in one day. For me this is
much more about meeting people, understanding what people are
interested in, hopefully meeting some good coders and researchers (and
perhaps some budding data journalists!), and getting the ball rolling
on some projects which may be of shared interest. Personally I'm
mainly interested in learning more about the experiences and interests
of others - and seeing if there's any way that the OKF can support the
open data community in Budapest, and in Hungary more generally.

Would you *really* prefer us to organise a 3 day conference on the
intricacies of PSI law and policy? If so have you seen the LAPSI or
Share PSI events later this month [3]? We were much more keen to meet
people and have a go at making stuff, as is generally the OKF's wont.
;-)

[3] see http://www.lapsi-project.eu/milan and http://share-psi.eu/cfp/

> So I hope you know what you're doing.

If you mean running a small open data event then 'yes'. If you mean
radically changing Hungarian information policy overnight then
definitely 'no'! :-)

>> small informal 'unconference' or
>> 'Barcamp' for developers, NGOs, journalists and others interested in
>> open government data in Hungary. We are going to see who is there on
>> the day and what they are interested in doing and making.
>
> We had recently a mass protest on the streets every week about various
> things, sometimes even famous people out there. Nothing's changed, not
> even a bit. Nobody gave a poo up there. I guess I just got tired to
> see those who's interested and cannot do a thing about it.
>
>> several people have requested information about an agenda, I thought
>> we could do a bit of planning in advance so we can hit the ground
>> running! :-)
>
> Now imagine my little insignificant myself. Sometimes people ask me to
> meet them, to go to events they nurture or worry about, and I have my
> family, job and pretty time consuming hobbies. I usually try to go out
> as few as possible because most of these events do not give me
> anything valuable, while they definitely take away my precious time.
> So when someone doesn't even tell me what it's about and I don't know
> why should I go there... what's the point? Only those will attend who
> have plenty of time, or like to go out and meet people no matter
> whether it's about the right to have sex for sweetwater fish or the
> coal mining association's annual meeting. I try to pick events I do
> care about and try to pick those which offer expected results for my
> time spent.
>
> This unconference or whatever you call it is a big, ugly black hole. I
> may go because I wonder who's there or rather in the hope that
> regardless of the lack of information and visible purpose it may
> actually be something useful. Or I'll sigh and say to myself "oh well,
> another wasted day, again".

Indeed - there aren't enough hours in the day! If you can make it I
look forward to meeting you. If not, then perhaps another time.

Regarding the lack of information do you have any *specific* questions
that I or others might be able to help answer? I can add more
information to the registration page if useful. Apologies if this
isn't enough to be informative. We've been very busy recently. We're
doing this because we thought it would be fun and possibly useful or
helpful. If you think it will be rubbish or pointless - then its
always useful to know about specific things we can improve!

>> This is not to be confused with the event the day before (on the 19th)
>> with Hungarian civil servants, representatives from the European
>> Commission and EU member states - which is a more structured, formal
>> affair with presentations and talks.
>
> This event is a fscking SECRET. Don't tell me it's not to be confused
> with because I do not even know about it. It has been mentioned as
> some great thing beyond the blue event horizon. Something which
> actually aim at being having some purpose. And I heard it's AFTER
> 20th. And that maybe 20th could provide INPUT to this secret useful
> event. But now I see it's about to be a complete waste, since key
> people are already done, and civil puppets' talk isn't good for
> anything. We can happily tell each other how great we are, how stupid
> the government is, and that better luck next time, insert coin.

Sorry - I had mentioned this to several people when I met them in
Budapest a little while ago. Shortly after we had that meeting, we set
up this mailing list!

It is a meeting for government officials from Hungary and other EU
member states to learn more about open government data initiatives
around Europe. Further details are available here:

http://lod2.okfn.org/2011/04/28/open-data-workshops-in-budapest-19-20th-may=
-2011/

I'll certainly report back here with more information.

Maybe see you in a few weeks!

Jonathan

> *shrug*
>
>> All the best,
>
> Indeed. Somehow.
>
> Have a nice day,
> Peter
>
> _______________________________________________
> okfn-hu mailing list
> okfn-hu at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-hu
>

--=20
Jonathan Gray

Community Coordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://blog.okfn.org

http://twitter.com/jwyg
http://identi.ca/jwyg