[open-economics] [Discussion] Projects

Sun Feb 1 16:01:20 UTC 2015

Hi Tim,

Thank you so much for replying to my previous message.
My answers are inline.

2015-02-01 13:07 GMT+00:00 Tim Martens <tmartens.econ at gmail.com>:

> Dear Gustavo,
>
> I am really happy that you take action to reanimate the Working Group. I
> am a big fan of this project.
>

So do I! I felt really sad when I found out the project was kind of
dormant. However, I believe there's a lot we can do for the society in
general, and thus applied for the coordinator role.

> However I am not sure if the current strategy is sustainable. I always
> have the feeling that the group has a number of small projects that will
> processed by few people. I have the feeling that many of these projects
> live and die with the participation of these people. Maybe it would be a
> better idea to think "big picture" and answer the questions "How can
> economics be improved by the WG" and "Where do we have an advantage to
> realise this project".
>

Well, I understand your concern. This role is new to me as well, and that
is why I'm asking for everybody's help. Some of you guys have already
contributed to the group in the past so you know how this works. My plans
are slightly different though. For now, however, yes, they stick to small
projects. The reason is our lack of people collaborating to the project.
If, for some reason, we get 10 people or more interested in developing
something interesting, then yes, I'll immediately start thinking of
something bigger.

> In my opinion there are two items that should be pushed 1) rule for
> transparent economic research and 2) access to open data.
>

Agree. This is something from the OE's principles and it is definitely
something that will remain from now on.

> For 1) I think the WG with its connection to various department could
> boost the release of codes and similar items.
>

With the new leadership, I am not sure if these connections will remain.
However, I am waiting for everybody's response to know who is onboard and
who isn't. We had a connection with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that was
funding the project. I am not sure how that worked and if it is still
available for ourselves. Nevertheless, I wish to create new connections in
a more convenient way for us.  In regard to the mentioned foundation, I
will email Rufus soon to ask for that.

For 2) I see a large demand for easy access of data. If I look for data I
> have to spend an significant amount to get this data. Google has a project
> that offers one page to extract all kinds of data (
> http://www.google.com/publicdata/directory), at the moment there is
> something similar going on at wikipedia. I think the WG could really
> support this project by using its ties to departments and other foundations
> like wikipedia. Maybe this is just my opinion but I think these are the
> areas where the WG can efficiently use its resources. Anyway I am glad that
> the group is reanimated.
>

Thank you for bringing this up. It is definitely something I will look
into since it does makes sense. However, I will not commit myself to that
before confirming we can deliver it - once again, matching resources with
our goals.

> Best Regards
> Tim Martens
>
> *Tim Martens | Doctoral Student in Accounting | Department of Economics
> and Business Administration*
> Goethe University Frankfurt
>
>
On a side note:
When I found out about OE and OK I felt immediately interested to get
involved. The principles the foundation and each WG go by are very
interesting and they definitely create an impact. However, I felt what OE
did was not enough to create an impact (not saying their job was bad - it
was actually amazing!). It seemed most of the efforts were channeled to the
creation of databases for different purposes - See that the Failed Bank
Tracker, MetaMetrik and Youtopia are just databases. That does not create
an impact as long as they are not used.
Our (OE in this case) ultimate goal is to use that sort of data (i.e. open
data) and create articles, documents, seminars, webinars and so on that
actually change people, regulators and companies. In that sense, I'm
looking more into the definition available on OK's website, under Work
Groups: "Identify standards and best practice for open economic data, and a
hub for projects and discussion." That is what I want to accomplish. Show
others, with Open Data, how can things be done. Show others that open data
is viable and should be accessible for anyone, and if it is accessible,
what can be done with it.
In my perspective, that is only achieved by showing others interesting
projects, articles (like this one
<http://openeconomics.net/2013/11/26/italy-must-expand-its-online-franchise/>
and
this one too
<http://openeconomics.net/2013/10/22/open-model-of-an-oil-contract/>),
seminars (like the Workshops the group has organized before) or webinars.
This creates a huge impact and awareness of our work group, of our cause
and of our foundation. That is my ultimate goal. How am I going to reach
this, is still up to discussion. However, embracing small projects is the
best path, in my opinion. Why? Simple: If we decide to do a series of
articles, sooner or later, we will need to discuss our needs to accomplish
such thing. If we need data in specific areas/fields that are not currently
available, then we do that first (more database, accessible and free for
everybody) and later we finish the task.

My side goal is to attract young people too. I noticed most of us are at
doctorate/master level, and we had professors contributing to the cause.
However, younger, graduate level, students have more free time and
willingness to develop a lot of things for us. This also allows us to
create potential partnerships with universities and related parties,
creating awareness of our cause in younger generations.

Sorry for the long email. Once again, I really appreciate your help and
suggestions! Debating this issues will be crucial to our success!

> 2015-02-01 2:41 GMT+01:00 Gustavo Silva <gustavosantaremsilva at gmail.com>:
>
>> Hi everybody,
>>
>> My plans to restart this work group consists in calling back some of the
>> guys that were once involved in the group and get new people involved. This
>> is a noble cause and it is not an easy task to get people involved. I'm
>> sure after we get enough resources (well, mostly human for now), projects
>> will start to flow naturally.
>>
>> Therefore, one of the best ways to get new people is by showing activity
>> and showing off great results. Unfortunately, we don't have enough
>> resources to fulfil some requests (for now, as far as I know) like this
>> one <http://discuss.okfn.org/t/idea-brainstorm/179/2>. Considering our
>> lack of resources, I believe our best bet is to try to get some of our old
>> projects updated and running.
>> Personally, I find the failed bank tracker the best fit because it is
>> simpler and I have already thought about what can we do about it
>> <http://discuss.okfn.org/t/project-failed-bank-tracker/155/1>. However,
>> apparently nobody is interested on that. Please let me know what you think
>> of my suggestions - either on the forums or by email.
>>
>> I also found out that, previously, the group has tried to develop a theoretical
>> model of an oil contract
>> <http://openeconomics.net/2013/10/22/open-model-of-an-oil-contract/>.
>> Seems that project didn't go very far. Do you think we could revive it?
>> Seems we have this  crisis in that industry so it looks like a great
>> opportunity.  It can be very troublesome, but if we have enough economists
>> in the group, I am pretty sure we can develop something very interesting,
>> under CC licenses, and prove it using open data. There are a lot of open
>> groups that can help us on that, like Open Oil. Open Data, Open Spending
>> and Open Government (just a few). The idea would be to try and explain how
>> these firms behave in their industry and what really counts when they
>> define their prices (or quantities). What are your thoughts?
>>
>> I also thought about using open data to investigate about the
>> effectiveness of the austerity measures the European Union has implemented
>> throughout time, since 2008. What do you guys think?
>>
>> I am running out of ideas for new projects. I would really appreciate
>> your help for the time being. Since I am still waiting to get access to our
>> social media channels (namely, our Twitter account)  and website, this is
>> the perfect time to develop a project and publish it, or even advertise it,
>> after I get access to the social media channels. How we will proceed in
>> regard to any project we decide to go for, we will discuss that in another
>> email. Let's focus on getting a project to get started and then we will
>> arrange our necessary conditions.
>> Feel free to brought to discuss ANY project you may have think of. Maybe
>> something in your daily job or something you can use to extend your
>> master's thesis/research paper.
>>
>> --
>> Best Regards / Obrigado e com os melhores cumprimentos,
>> Gustavo
>>
>>
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>>
>

-- 
Best Regards / Obrigado e com os melhores cumprimentos,
Gustavo
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