[open-government] map + calendar

Thu Nov 25 23:00:39 UTC 2010

hey

i joined this list only recently. i didn't do enough background reading on
the wiki when i joined. i didn't see the mapping project underway on OKF's
wiki. in the last few days i threw up some ideas for "mapping the open data
commons" on the Open Data Day wiki. the page is viewable at:

http://www.opendataday.org/wiki/Mapping_the_Open_Data_Commons

after visiting the links provided by Daniel i'm confident that our playful
efforts in Ottawa to map this emerging commons on Open Data Day will
compliment the more standardized, reference-worthy information that will be
compiled on the OKF wiki and elsewhere as things evolve.

one-line explanation of "mapping the open data commons" project for Open
Data Day:
- using a free concept mapping tool (Cmap Tools) and other ways of recording
"triplet" relationships (CSV, etc.), we'll do a big "brain dump" and see
what comes out

--- in addition: as the map is built on Dec. 4th, it will save to a public
server and be viewable in all browsers as a "dynamic image"
----- dynamic image : each node can "house" links to webpages or documents
related to the node's title, a small "resources" image appears and is
clickable by the viewer

> by also experimenting with an OWL authoring version of Cmap Tools (COE) on
Open Data Day, we'll see if we can render this map into other useful, more
high-powered formats

The Calendar:

i sent a brief email earlier suggesting that the Elmcity Project be
considered as an effective "calendering" tool

reasons to use elmcity:
- it uses delicious to aggregate calendar feeds
- calendar curators can use the same delicious account to "bookmark" the URL
of calendars
- the azure-hosted elm city service processes all bookmarked feeds and spits
out the calendar in a number of useful formats
- it's pretty easy to use
- URL: http://elmcity.cloudapp.net/

other points about elmcity:
- it doesn't solve the problem of how to add individual items to the
stream/feed
- possible "solve": anyone can make a public google calendar and suggest it
be added to the unified stream

I've probably missed a few things.

If anyone has specific questions or ideas about the mapping we'll be
initiating in Ottawa, please email me or get in contact over twitter (
@mpeers ). it'd be super helpful if others can generously do brain dumps as
well. we recognize that downloading additional software just to
collaboratively map is a lot to ask and in some cases may not be possible.
we're confident that we can have a few work arounds, including the idea to
use a shared or public spreadsheet on Open Data Day. the benefit of joining
us in the use of Cmap Tools will be a shared, real-time "infinite" white
space where we can collectively map and comment.

at minimum, Cmap Tools exports into Text Propositions and XML. so regardless
the map can live on.

i reiterate the sentiments expressed several days ago by other newcomers to
the list. rich discussion. glad to benefit from it.

cheers,
morgen

On Thu, Nov 25, 2010 at 5:06 PM, Julian Tait <julian at futureeverything.org>wrote:

> Hi Daniel,
>
> I think that the map and calendar are great, is the information collated or
> can people edit it themselves?
>
> Ideally it would be good to see.
> 'WHERE?' The map does this but having a list view would also be useful
> "WHEN?' the calendar already does this although I can imagine that many
> local events like the Manchester and Sheffield are repeating so might get
> very busy.
> 'WHAT?' What form the event takes.
> 'WHO?' Contact details of the main contact or contacts
> 'WHY?' Context as to why the events are run and link
>
> Sorry for all the 'Ws'. Potentially there could be a lot of information for
> one person to deal with so for groups to be able to edit it themselves would
> be useful.
>
> I think the mapping project is essential as it could give an indication as
> to the health and spread of the Open Data Community.
>
> Cheers
>
> Julian
>
>
>
>
>
> On 25 Nov 2010, at 20:26, Daniel Dietrich wrote:
>
> > Hi Jonathan and others,
> >
> > I think we ll agree that the ogd community needs to share information
> about events. With the ogd mapping* project we discussed some of this
> earlier here on the list. For the idea of the ogd mapping project I created
> this wikipage.
> >
> > http://wiki.okfn.org/wg/government/mapping
> >
> > Back to the calendar:
> >
> > As a start I just used Ton's great google calendar of ogd events and put
> it online here
> >
> > http://opengovernmentdata.org/calendar/
> >
> > this is - of course - far a way from a good solution.
> >
> > I would recommend to keep things simple. So I opt to start with a single
> calendar (we can still separate into different calendars later) and to use a
> simple technology that a lot of people are familiar with, such as google
> calendar.
> >
> > If people agree I would propose we use Ton's calendar as a starting
> point. I think Jonathan's proposal is good to try to find one or more
> persons that would take care of adding and updating events from their
> countries / regions.
> >
> > So we would need this calendar to become editable for more people. @Ton
> whats your opinion on this?
> >
> > And: what do others think? Also about the mapping project itself?
> >
> > Best regards
> > Daniel
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> open-government mailing list
> open-government at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
>
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