[okfn-za] Open data scene in South Africa

[Adi Eyal]

Hi All

I recently realised that the open data scene in South Africa is pretty
confusing to newcomers. This is especially in part because of the many
mailing lists that we have.

I hope this email is not too annoying but I though that I would map
out all community (activity as far as I understand it).


-----

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.

-- 
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