[Okfn-pk] Open Knowledge Pakistan

Tue Mar 10 03:23:14 UTC 2015

Thank you Rahma for sharing your work as well as projects. Here are my
views on those projects:-

Pakistan Data Portal i.e. data.org.pk is running on CKAN and datasets are
uploaded in machine readable formats enabling civic coders to built useful
apps upon those datasets. Whereas, Punjab IT Board have uploaded datasets
on an in-house built platform in .XLX (Microsoft Excel) format and at
present their is no API to access that data programmatically. Umar Cheema
has uploaded all the data in .pdf format. Same is the case with most of the
data available on Government websites as they usually provide data in .pdf
or closed file formats. Here
<http://opendatahandbook.org/en/appendices/file-formats.html> is the
overview of different file formats and their applicability in open data.

Now-a-days we are testing already available public data, staring
from budgetary and financial data, and the ways and means by which we can
make that data machine readable. Converting data from .pdf to .xls and then
in XML, JSON or CSV is a time consuming task and it also requires lot of
manual work. We are testing many methods to do so and will surely find out
the most suitable method soon.

On the side note, I have submitted the form to join Hack / Hackers Pakistan
and looking forward to the future events. It was a much-needed initiative
in Pakistan and I hope it will encourage data driven journalism and will
also provide coders a platform to play with data.

*Nouman Nazim*

Ambassador / Group Lead
Open Knowledge Pakistan
M: +92 336 5101166
*F <https://www.facebook.com/ch.nouman.pk>  T
<https://twitter.com/NoumanNazim>  G+
<http://plus.google.com/+NoumanNazim>  P
<http://www.pinterest.com/NoumanNazim>  L
<http://www.linkedin.com/in/noumannazim>*

On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 5:11 PM, Rahma Mian <rmian at icfj.org> wrote:

> Thank you Nouman and Fouad,
>
> This is indeed a great way to keep up with open data work in Pakistan.
>
> Here are some projects that I have interacted with:
>
> data.org.pk An Alif Ailaan project, managed by SDPI
> odi.itu.edu.pk A Punjab IT Board project
> cirp.pk/about-Us.htm Journalist Umar Cheema's initiative. He has a lot of
> data on parliament and taxation.
> http://pakreport.org/ Faisal Chohan's project that works with crowd
> sourced data. Voter Turnout 2008 uses ECP data.
>
> Please do share if there are other projects.
>
> Re meetups: hacks/hackers Pakistan
> <https://www.facebook.com/HacksHackersPakistan> is a meet up group of
> technologists, social scientists, designers and journalists learning and
> collaborating with each other to create data-driven tools and media for
> Pakistan. We have had our first meet up in Karachi and are now expanding to
> Islamabad. Please join <http://hhpakistan.tumblr.com/join> the community,
> pitch sessions where you can demo your work, do a training and hopefully
> create and collaborate on projects.
>
> Thanks
> Rahma
>
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 3:57 PM, Fouad Bajwa <fouadbajwa at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Good to know that Noman pushed this bit for Pakistan. Rahma, we've
>> already met at that Fulbright event at FCC.
>>
>> As far as I know, anyone can do their own thing in open data and this
>> list is there to share out experiences. I've met some OKFN people in the
>> past that invited me to follow other lists where amazing stuff is happening.
>>
>> Anyone can deploy CKAN and I've got demo instances running and there are
>> other platforms for OD. The only govt body generating some form of OD or
>> OGD is PITB and the LUMS STI lab. Rahma may already know that and we should
>> all meet up as their lots of work that needs to be done.
>>
>> So far there are nearly a dozen activities going on in Lahore, Karachi
>> and Islamabad.
>>
>> OKFN lists and events are free for all to join and it's good to have one
>> in Pakistan.
>>
>> We have already launched an open data initiative that is publicly
>> available.
>>
>> Best
>>
>> Fouad
>>
>> On Monday, 9 March 2015, Nouman Nazim <nouman.nazim at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello Rahma,
>>>
>>> Thank you for reaching out to me regarding Open Knowledge Pakistan
>>> <http://pk.okfn.org>. I hope you are fine and doing great. It's good to
>>> know about you and your professional acquaintances.
>>>
>>> Well, I am based in Islamabad and will be visiting Lahore soon to attend
>>> a family gathering. I will be delighted to meet you there and discuss in
>>> detail about Open Knowledge Pakistan with you. Meanwhile, if you get to
>>> visit Islamabad then do ping me.
>>>
>>> At present, we are working on Pakistan Data Hub
>>> <http://pk.okfn.org/projects/> by deploying CKAN <http://ckan.org/> to
>>> collect and disseminate all available public data in Pakistan.
>>>
>>> You can subscribe to Open Knowledge Pakistan discussion list
>>> <https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-pk> to stay updated on
>>> all the proceedings of Open Knowledge Pakistan. To post a message to
>>> the list write to okfn-pk at lists.okfn.org. Don't forget to introduce
>>> yourself when you join the list so that we can say hello to you. It is also
>>> worth mentioning that we are discussing about initiatives, suggested by one
>>> of the members of the list, which are reproduced as under:-
>>>
>>> i) Ask corporations, specially dealing with food and health care
>>> products, to open their manufacturing & raw material policies [data] so
>>> that consumers can make rational choices rather than emotional following of
>>> brands under the influence of advertisement.
>>>
>>> ii) An online platform / forum / wiki to raise public awareness about
>>> how Government works in Pakistan and provide answers to frequently asked
>>> questions about Government functions / services.
>>>
>>>
>>> Your views as well as suggestions on the above mentioned initiatives
>>> proposed by Mr. Mohsin will be highly appreciated. You can give your views
>>> / suggestions on the discussion list by writing at
>>> okfn-pk at lists.okfn.org
>>>
>>> Thanking you in anticipation.
>>>
>>>
>>> *Nouman Nazim*
>>>
>>> Ambassador / Group Lead
>>> Open Knowledge Pakistan
>>> M: +92 336 5101166
>>> *F <https://www.facebook.com/ch.nouman.pk>  T
>>> <https://twitter.com/NoumanNazim>  G+
>>> <http://plus.google.com/+NoumanNazim>  P
>>> <http://www.pinterest.com/NoumanNazim>  L
>>> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/noumannazim>*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Mar 9, 2015 at 1:24 PM, Rahma Mian <rmian at icfj.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear Nouman,
>>>> Hope this note finds you well.
>>>>
>>>> I am working in Pakistan on a Knight International fellowship
>>>> <http://www.icfj.org/about/profiles/rahma-mian> creating partnerships
>>>> between the open data, technology and journalism communities. I am working
>>>> on various data-driven media projects and hacks/hackers Pakistan
>>>> <http://hhpakistan.tumblr.com/>.
>>>>
>>>> Got your email off Code for Pakistan who I partnered with on the
>>>> Islamabad Civic Hackathon for which OKFPakistan also partnered.
>>>>
>>>> Are you based in Lahore? Would like to meet and chat with you about
>>>> your plans for OKF's local chapter here.
>>>>
>>>> Please let me know,
>>>>
>>>> Rahma
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> *Rahma Muhammad Mian*
>>>> <http://www.icfj.org/about/profiles/rahma-muhammad-mian> – Knight
>>>> International Journalism Fellow
>>>> T +92 321 243 5057 | @rahmamian
>>>> www.icfj.org | @ICFJ | facebook.com/icfj.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *International Center for Journalists *Advancing Quality Journalism
>>>> Worldwide
>>>>
>>>>        Read IJNet.org <http://ijnet.org/> for the latest media trends
>>>> and opportunities.
>>>>
>>>>  This message is intended only for the named recipient. If you are not
>>>> the intended recipient, you are notified that disclosing,
>>>> copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of
>>>> this information is strictly prohibited.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Regards.
>> --------------------------
>> Fouad Bajwa
>> Public Policy Analyst
>> Follow my Tweets: http://twitter.com/fouadbajwa
>> My Blog: Internet's Governance: http://internetsgovernance.blogspot.com/
>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
> *Rahma Muhammad Mian*
> <http://www.icfj.org/about/profiles/rahma-muhammad-mian> – Knight
> International Journalism Fellow
> T +92 321 243 5057 | @rahmamian
> www.icfj.org | @ICFJ | facebook.com/icfj.org
>
>
> *International Center for Journalists *Advancing Quality Journalism
> Worldwide
>
>        Read IJNet.org <http://ijnet.org/> for the latest media trends and
> opportunities.
>
>  This message is intended only for the named recipient. If you are not
> the intended recipient, you are notified that disclosing,
> copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of
> this information is strictly prohibited.
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-pk/attachments/20150310/431a387a/attachment-0004.html>