[okfn-za] OKF Ambassador

[Adi Eyal]

Hi All

Hopefully this email doesn't sound like an infomercial like the
previous one did. I'm still selling something though. I just met with
Rufus Pollock (in case you didn't know, he heads up OKF global). There
are some exciting movements taking place in the Open Data space in
South Africa (have a look at my overly long and somewhat obnoxious
signature). I've been an OKF ambassador and we would really love for
another person to become a lot more visible and start to take a much
more active role in this group as well as general community building
in South Africa.

I think this space is going to explode in the next 6 - 12 months and I
would love others to become more actively involved. If you're
interested, contact Rufus and myself. Also, take a look at this link
for more information: http://okfn.org/local/apply/

Adi

-- 
Adi Eyal
Director
Code for South Africa
phone: +27 78 014 2469
skype: adieyalcas
linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
web: http://www.code4sa.org
twitter: @soapsudtycoon

Below is a continuation of my signature, a waste of electrons I know
but hopefully useful if you would like a map of the sometimes
confusing state of the community in South Africa.

If you're interested in kick-starting the open data movement in South
Africa, below is some information for getting involved. Firstly,
subscribe to the mailing lists and keep an eye on the project pages.
Coming through to the meet-ups is also recommended so that you can
meet others like-minded people.

Send an empty email to addresses to subscribe:

code4sa-hackers+subscribe at googlegroups.com
odadi+subscribe at googlegroups.com
hackshackers-capetown+subscribe at googlegroups.com
hackshackers-johannesburg+subscribe at googlegroups.com

Browse here to subscribe to the Open Knowledge Foundation mailing list:
http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/admindb/okfn-za

The volume on the mailing lists is pretty low so it's worthwhile
subscribing to all of them.

If you would like to suggest a community project or join an existing
one, have a look at http://code4sa.hackdash.org/

If you're looking for data, a good place to start your search is at
http://africaopendata.org. We only have a few dozen datasets there at
the moment so feel free to add more. http://www.iec.org.za and
http://www.statssa.gov.za are also great sources of information. When
in doubt, ask on the mailing lists and you'll likely find your answers
there.

Finally please come through to the meet-ups to learn more about what
others are doing:
http://www.meetup.com/Code-for-South-Africa-Hackers
http://www.meetup.com/Hacks-Hackers-Cape-Town/
http://www.meetup.com/HacksHackersAfrica/

We plan to hold skills building workshops as well which will hopefully
give non-progammers a better understanding of how data projects work.

The Open Knowledge Foundation Cape Town chapter also meets
occasionally so it's worth watching the mailing list.

Finally, if you're not a programmer, you're in the right place. If you
are are programmer, we're glad you came. This community is about
making South Africa a better place to live and everyone has their part
to play.