[OKFN-IN] Invitation to Open Data Visualization Workshop in Chennai, 26th October 3-5pm

Thu Oct 24 01:39:24 UTC 2013

Dear fellows,

after three sucessfull events in north India, *Open Steps* is now pleased
to invite you to *its workshop in Chennai on the 26th October (3-5pm)*.

Open Steps <http://www.open-steps.org/> is an initiative from two young
berliners Alex (spanish, software developer) and Margo (french, european
politics) who decided to leave their daily lives and travel around the
world for one year. On this journey, they are meeting people and
organisations working actively in open knowledge related projects,
documenting them on their website. Also, open data is the area where their
both backgrounds converge and that's why they run a workshop entitled

“Visualising Open Data to bring out global
issues”<http://www.open-steps.org/workshop/>

on the way and research about the current situation of open data in the
countries they are visiting.

This event is organised with the support of
transparentchennai.com<http://www.transparentchennai.com/>and takes
place in their office,
*Transparent Chennai, IFMR, 24, Kothari Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai - 600034
*

For more information, visit www.open-steps.org/workshop.

We hope to see you among the audience on 26th October and are looking
forward to discussing with you about open cultures & open data in India!

Best regards,

Margo Thierry & Alex Corbi

-------------

WORKSHOP DETAILS:

"Visualizing open data to bring out global issues"

Thanks to the large amounts of open data being released for free on the
Internet, we can take a quick glimpse at current issues characterizing our
world. Although, this complex data is sometimes difficult to be understood
in its initial form.

By going from theory to practice, we will show where data can be quickly
gathered from, and by using open source technologies, put it in a visual
context to make relevant issues easy to understand. In addition, attendees
will be encouraged to discuss topics involving each of us.

The goal of this workshop is also to increase awareness of the importance
and benefits of making information available for everybody and how sharing
knowledge is one of the steps towards making our planet better.

Table of contents:

1. Introduction to Open Knowledge and Open Data

1.1 What are open knowledge and open data? Why do they matter?
1.2 Examples of administrations and organisations releasing information to
the public domain.
1.3 Transparency in politics as a way to achieve real democracy.

2. There is so much data out there, and its free!

2.1 Online sources where you can get open data.
2.2 World Bank as major data hub.

3. Why visualization matters

3.1 Understanding complex problems by looking at simple graphs.
3.2 Examples of data visualizations we have developed describing worldwide
issues in the fields of Politics, Environment, Education and Social
development.

4. Practical session

4.1 How to build a data visualization in 5 minutes using free online tools.
4.2. Technical questions related to the tools used.

5. Open debate

5.1 Which data would I like to visualize? Attendees have the opportunity to
propose topics and relevant data they would consider interesting to
explore. Everyone will be also encouraged to publish their own data
visualizations on our platform.

Target groups:

- individuals or collectives.
- interested in open source technologies and the philosophy behind open
knowledge.
- searching for data sources for research.
- working with visualizations.
- developing a conscious approach to global topics.
- having general interest in the topic.
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