[open-development] OKFest: Open Development stream next steps

Fri Apr 27 16:31:44 UTC 2012

I saw my name mentioned, so I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents on some things.

First, I'm going to start by following Alan's lead and blow our own trumpets -- at the IDRC we've been thinking about these issues for a bit - starting under a very awkward term (open ict4d) and later transitioning to open development (some references: http://itidjournal.org/itid/issue/view/40
http://itidjournal.org/itid/article/view/489 & http://web.idrc.ca/uploads/user-S/12271304441Open_ICT4D_Draft.pdf.

Note that the position we take on Open Development differs from the WB's and others. The WB focuses mostly on opening up the data and processes of international development institutions, whereas our notion is broader looking at how 'openness' (open models) might play a role across a whole range of sectors, and not just in transforming the operating model of development institutions. Thus it allows for, as Duncan mentions, bringing in issues like open access and IP issues.

Second, I saw that Tim mentioned one keynote who might be able to bring together "Open Development, Open Economics and Open Government". If I may offer my unsolicited opinion on this... I would argue that there is a very important distinction, for example, between open development - and how it brings social value - and open markets. They should not be lumped under an all-inclusive moniker of 'openness'. Indeed, open models are often innovative fixes for market and public sector failures. So - my ears perked up when I saw that there was some discussion about linking open development and open economics - two things that are not only very different but can be antithetical at times. Linking the two through the common term 'open' obscures some of its key features that makes it so socially valuable. This conceptual slippage happens all the time. Recently I was asked to provide comments on a panel the WB put together on Open, smart and inclusive development, and the main speaker causally conflated open markets with open development. This is a big mistake, IMHO. Anyway - obviously a sensitive point for me, but I'm certainly open to discussion about it ;-)

Best to all!
Matthew

Matthew L. Smith, Ph.D.
+1 613 696 2303

From: open-development-bounces at lists.okfn.org [mailto:open-development-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of Duncan Edwards
Sent: April 27, 2012 12:10 PM
To: tim at timdavies.org.uk; Johns, Sarah
Cc: Raftree, Linda; Claudia Schwegmann; Välitalo, Mika; open-development at lists.okfn.org; Juha Huuskonen
Subject: Re: [open-development] OKFest: Open Development stream next steps

Hi Tim,

Apologies to be so late to the conversation!

I know some of you but as a quick intro - I work for the Institute of Development Studies looking at how to use new technology to get the findings of new development research into policy and practice. We've developed an Open API (http://api.ids.ac.uk ) to open up the dataset we use to run www.eldis.org<http://www.eldis.org> and bridge.ids.ac.uk<http://bridge.ids.ac.uk/>. We're also exploring linked open data and semantic approaches to add value to what we're doing and demonstrate to other knowledge intermediaries the value in open approaches. You might be interested to take a look at a Linked Data Wrapper VU-Amsterdam have written to our API (http://semweb4u.wordpress.com/tag/institute-of-development-studies/ ).

I'm wondering whether Laurent Elder or Matt Smith from IDRC might be good people to articulate the idea of Open Development. They were at ICTD 2010 at Royal Holloway and ran an interesting and nuanced session on Open Development.

Just a small bit of feedback on the topics within the open development stream, and apologies again for entering the conversation so late - much of the talk about Open Development focuses around aid flows and accountable governance but misses areas such as the potential of open development in the fields of knowledge management, research communications, and access to other forms of information/knowledge.  The Open Access debate seems to be really gathering momentum and media attention with the Wellcome Trust and DFID stipulating open access as a condition of funding, and the World Bank releasing their Open Knowledge platform. Do you have any thoughts on whether we could include something on these areas?

Best wishes,
Duncan
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From: open-development-bounces at lists.okfn.org<mailto:open-development-bounces at lists.okfn.org> [mailto:open-development-bounces at lists.okfn.org]<mailto:[mailto:open-development-bounces at lists.okfn.org]> On Behalf Of Tim Davies
Sent: 27 April 2012 15:15
To: Johns, Sarah
Cc: Raftree, Linda; Claudia Schwegmann; open-development at lists.okfn.org<mailto:open-development at lists.okfn.org>; Välitalo, Mika; Juha Huuskonen
Subject: Re: [open-development] OKFest: Open Development stream next steps

Hello Sarah,

Thanks for pulling these notes together and highlighting the key issues.

In terms of keynote speakers:

 *   One suggestion would be to invite Warren Krafchik, Director of International Budget Partnership (http://internationalbudget.org/who-we-are/staff/?staff=warren-krafchik) and recently made co-chair of the Open Government Partnership. This could provide for a keynote that can make the connection between Open Development, Open Economics and Open Government in a really positive way - and I'm sure Warren could then be invited to input into a number of other sessions.
 *   I've been trying to think who could keynote to really articulate the idea of 'open development' - but whilst lots of names come to mind of people who talk about elements of this - I've not yet hit upon one person who immediately come to mind as having articulated what open development is about.

It might be that (1) our challenge for Helsinki is to do some of the articulation so that someone can speak about it in future; (2) it might be (and is quite likely that) I'm forgetting someone here who should have immediately come to mind and who we could invite; or (3) it might be that we can think about putting together a 'collaborative keynote' with a few key people who can provide perspectives on what 'open development' is about...

I'm quite liking the idea of exploring (3), but open to (1)/(2) being the case.
All the best

Tim

On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 2:03 PM, Johns, Sarah <Sarah.Johns at plan-international.org<mailto:Sarah.Johns at plan-international.org>> wrote:
Adding to Mika's email below, there's three actions from the OKFest OpenDev planning session that we'd encourage you to comment on, either directly at http://opengovernmentdata.okfnpad.org/open-development-okfest2012
or by joining the next Skype session on either Fri 11th May 8:30 GMT or Tue 16th May 9 GMT depending on your votes: http://www.doodle.com/rdkraep9uwdm5cfc

1.       Topics within the stream - at the moment there are 3 identified topics and 2 side events. Is everyone ok with this?

a.       Open development and aid flow exploring developments in the International Aid Transparency Initiative, and tracking aid to developing countries.

b.      Open = accessible? What are the practical issues for citizens in developing countries accessing open information?

c.       Technologies for open development. What role do ICTs and open technologies such as FLOSS or open hardware play in open development?

d.      Plus two side events: 1 event for Finnish NGOs to come and learn more, and 2. A workshop/hackday or similar to take one specific sector (e.g. water, health) and practically work out how open data can make a difference.
The OKFest organisers will use these topics in the second call for proposals/papers, so it's important to get them right. Please note that our friends from the Open Economics e-list may also be joining us, so they may have additional topics.

2.       We need to decide a central theme (eg. Open Development - where next?) and book in some key note speakers.

3.       A proposal was made to create a central bursary in order to support delegates from Asia, Africa and the Americas. We need to know who's interested in supporting this proposal with funding, or if anyone has good ideas about trusts/foundations to approach.

BTW, I'm conscious that not everyone in the OpenDev e-list will be interested in preparations for the conference.  We'll  tag emails OKFest, you'll know you can hit delete ;O) I do think it's important to keep the discussion here though so that everyone can see what's going on.

Cheers,

Sarah

Sarah Johns

Publishing Team, Plan International
w: www.plan-international.org<http://www.plan-international.org>
a: Dukes Court, Duke Street, Woking, UK. GU21 5BH
s: sarah.johns.plan
t: @GeoGrr

From: Välitalo, Mika
Sent: 27 April 2012 13:35
To: Claudia Schwegmann; open-development at lists.okfn.org<mailto:open-development at lists.okfn.org>; Johns, Sarah; Tim Davies
Subject: Open Dev. Skype planning sessions

Hi everyone,

 Juha, Sarah, Tim, Siem and me had a good kick-off discussion today. You can read the minutes here: http://okfnpad.org/jW3lnOiStZ and catch-up on what's going on with Open Dev. Stream planning.

The next Skype session will be either Fri 11th May 8:30 GMT or Tue 16th May 9 GMT depending on your votes: http://www.doodle.com/rdkraep9uwdm5cfc

Cheers, Mika

pplanlana

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