Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight
A cow with its tail to the west makes the weather best
Onion skins very thin, mild winter coming in

Humans have always wanted to know what the weather has in store for them, and have come up with a whole load of ways to predict what’s coming; some better than others.

Weather forecasting as we know it began in earnest in the nineteenth century, when the invention of the electric telegraph revolutionised long-distance communications and made it possible for information about incoming weather to travel faster than the weather itself. Since then weather forecasting has become ever-more accurate, with improvements in the technology of reporting and communicating, as well as in the predictive models, making it possible for us to know the future weather in greater detail than ever before.

The data collected by weather stations across the world is translated by algorithms into predictions about the weather which is coming. But while some raw data is freely available to those who wish to use it, other datasets are locked behind towering paywalls, and all output predictions are generally the closed property of big forecasting companies.

Two projects which have emerged recently to challenge this are OpenWeatherMap.org and OpenMeteoData.org. As Olga Ukolova from OpenWeatherMap explained:

“We believe that enthusiasts joined by one idea could achieve more than large companies. We believe that meteorological data must be available, free and easy-to-use.”

An open weather forecasting service has the ability to harness the input of enthusiasts around the world, to produce forecasts of greater precision and detail than can be achieved by monolithic companies. Inspired by the success of community-driven knowledge creation in cases like Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap, the guys at OpenWeatherMap are looking to improve the quality of available information, while at the same time wresting control from the hands of profit-driven corporations:

“The project attracts enthusiasts to the process of data collection and estimation of data preciseness that increases accuracy of weather forecasts. If you have a weather station you can connect it to OpenWeatherMap service. You will get a convenient interface for gathering and monitoring data from your weather station. And you can embed the weather station data into your home page.”

The results are available to developers openly and for free:

“Mobile apps developers can receive any weather data for their applications by using JSON / XML API. Lots of weather applications for Android and iOS use OpenWeatherMap as weather data source. By the way the data can be received from WMS server and can be embedded into any cartographic web-application.

Web-application developers that use cartographic services can easily add weather information to it. OpenWeatherMap provides libraries for OpenStreetMaps and Google map. Plug-ins for Drupal and other CMS are available too.”

Map from OpenWeatherMap.org

Later this week, Nicolas Baldeck from OpenMeteoData will tell us more about how he came to be interested in opening the weather, and what future he sees for the project.

Cross-posted from the OKCon Blog.

We received more than 300 proposals and selecting the submissions that we could fit in the 2-and-a-half-day schedule was a real challenge. We had to leave out several truly exciting applications and believe us, that wasn’t easy.

But today: here we are, ready to announce the list of selected proposals and our freshly updated programme! Please find them in our Call for Proposals and Schedule pages. Workshops, talks, lightning talks, panels, sessions and a selection of fine bars and clubs to bring on the conference discussions and working groups plans after dark.

Some highlights?

Monday:

• kick off afternoon with workshops – from Open Data Census to CKAN, a collaboration between The Engine Room and the Information Innovation Lab and a data viz hands-on session by Interactive Things
• Law Mining Hackathon, first day (the hackathon will end on Thursday, 19th September), run by Christian Laux and Jean-Henry Morin
• a selection of high-level Swiss speakers presenting the state of the art of open data in Switzerland
• a session of talks from our global community focussing on open government with projects and presentations from Nepal, US, North Africa, Asia, Europe & more
• launch of the Swiss Open Data Portal, a milestone for openness in Switzerland, and celebratory drinks

Tuesday:

• keynote lectures by Ellen Miller (Sunlight Foundation) and John Ellis (CERN)
• Open Data, Government and Governance session: with Kimberly Roberson (UNHCR), Chris Taggart (OpenCorporates), Amparo Ballivian (World Bank) among the others
• Technology, Tools and Business talks and panel: with speakers such as Francis Irving (ScraperWiki), Thomas Gauthier (Geneva School of Management/ Biometis), Khristine R. Custodio (GEF/UNEP/SEASTART IW:LEARN)
• Open Science and Research session: with Victoria Stodden (Columbia University), Ernst Hafen (ETH Zurich), Kaitlin Thaney (Mozilla Science Lab), Puneet Kishor (Creative Commons)
• LinkedUp Award Ceremony
• Urban Data Challenge exhibition and vernissage

Wednesday:

• Open Development and Sustainability talks and panel: with Chris Vein (World Bank), Jack Townsend (University of Southampton), Florian Bauer (REEEP), Anahi Ayala Iacucci (Internews) and many more
• Evidence and Stories: with Justin Arenstein, Federico Ramírez Corona (Fundar), Eva Vozarova (Fair-Play Alliance), Julia Keserű (Sunlight Foundation) and further speakers to be announced
• Open Culture: with Anna Gold (Kennedy Library, California Polytechnic State University), Merete Sanderhoff (Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen), Building the Digital Commons Workshop team and the Open Humanities Award ceremony
• a booming closing party, of course!

Thursday, day dedicated to satellite events around town, like:

• Scholarly International Infrastructure Technical Summit
• KNOWeSCAPE workshop, by Christophe Gueret
• Is Open Source Drug Discovery Practical? Workshop run by Matthew Todd
• Build a Better Transparency Technology Project: Lessons from the TAI mentors: panel with Sarah Schacht, Lucy Chambers (Open Knowledge Foundation), Gabriela Lula and Miriam McCarthy (Transparency and Accountability Initiative)
• Law Mining Hackathon, final day and demos

Further details will come in the next few days and weeks, keep your eyes peeled!

Have you got your tickets yet? Now’s the time to buy, the Early Bird tickets are only on sale until 23rd June and after then the prices will rise.

We can’t wait to meet you all in Geneva, it’s going to be amazing!

This is cross-posted with permission from the Development Initiatives blog

“OGP will be real, only when it starts to make sense to the citizens out there” (Robert Hunja – World Bank)

The government of Kenya recently hosted the first ever OGP regional forum in Africa. The event aimed to establish guidelines for OGP activities for African countries; track and take stock of progress on the agenda to date and to think about how to Africanise the global OGP movement further. It attracted a range of delegates from across the continent involved and interested in the pursuit of open governance – government representatives, civil society actors, academia, the media, private sector, and multilateral institutions (see link for details).

Open governance is built on the principle of the universal right to access to information on the conduct of government and it places its value in enhancing effective public oversight. It aims to open up government affairs, (previously kept secret) to make it easier to scrutinise public officers and hold them to account. The argument is that access to government information enhances public participation and facilitates the audit of government actions. The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a new multilateral global governance and transparency initiative formed in 2011. It aims to secure commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. The OGP outlines a set of principles augmented by a declaration that form the basis of the open government. To date 45 countries (three African) have endorsed the declaration, 11 others (two African) are currently processing commitments and many more across the globe are working towards attaining eligibility.

At the heart of the event was the question of how different partners could together put in place a strategy to strengthen open governance in the continent and bring forth an African perspective to the global OGP movement. Participants shared their experiences on the push for open and transparent institutions, accountable to the people, and brainstormed ideas on how the global OGP could respond. Discussions focused on: the role of big data, public statistics, analytics and technology’s role in improving service delivery; managing extractive industries to ensure processes are open, transparent, participatory and accountable; and how to leverage technology and the media to bolster citizen engagement and enhance public integrity.

Key issues emerging from the discussions included:

• Inadequate understanding of the concept of open governance in Africa
• The absence of strong champions for the agenda;
• The impact of technocratic language used by OGP practitioners and how it fails to resonate with people at local level;
• The lack of engagement among African leaders/governments and failure to share experiences;
• The apparent overlap in governance monitoring mechanisms (OGP, African Union and United Nations, African Peer Review Mechanism etc ) and how this could be stifling progress
• The need to explore both supply and demand side issues in scaling up OGP
• The quality of information coming through existing open governance platforms
• The inadequate engagement of African legislatures and private sector who have great influence, political muscle and interest in good governance in the continent.

The Civil Society/Government disconnect

Participants made the point that success of the OGP depends largely on trust and cooperation between government and civil society. Nonetheless, deliberations over the two day conference illustrated the clear tension between government and CSOs that must be addressed if we are to achieve meaningful progress.

There is currently a clear disconnect between the motivations, intentions and expectations of civil society and that of government, despite both working towards the common good of the citizen. Much work related to open governance appears to be taking place in silos with little coordination, mutual awareness and strategy. Though the need for effective partnerships between government and CSOs was emphasised, participants cautioned against very cosy relationships that create complacency and that could potentially jeopardise the watchdog role played by civil society.

“The era of sloganeering, CSO obstruction, political activism is gone [...] CSOs must reorient and repackage their engagement with government [... they] must begin to perceive themselves as partners with government”

– (Fred Matiang’i, Cabinet Secretary for ICT – Kenya)

It is our view that the African OGP steering committee must support states and civil society to collaborate with sufficient space for objective and constructive CSO monitoring and feedback in the role of ‘critical friend’. This will ensure better delivery and further progress in open governance.

Transforming commitments into action

It is encouraging that three African states are already members of the OGP, two others are processing commitments and a couple of others are eligible and looking to submit applications for membership. However, real success of the OGP will depend on implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the action plans developed by participating countries. Otherwise OGP membership risks being viewed as an end (utilised to score political mileage in the global political economy) rather than a means towards a greater goal of realising good governance and transparent and accountable government institutions.

We think that the OGP support unit must play an active role in monitoring participants to ensure they invest sufficiently in open governance, set realistic goals in their action plans, implement and accurately report on progress. Further, it must safeguard against monopolisation of the process by government (capable of overstating progress and being overambitious in planning) and minimising dialogue between CSOs and government The African experience must, in turn, inform the wider movement.

As you may have seen, open data and transparency is set to be a major topic of discussion at the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland next week.

We were pleased to see a joint statement from the G8 science ministers released yesterday – expressing a strong commitment to open data in science. The third section of the statement says:

Open Scientific Research Data

Open enquiry is at the heart of scientific endeavour, and rapid technological change has profound implications for the way that science is both conducted and its results communicated. It can provide society with the necessary information to solve global challenges. We are committed to openness in scientific research data to speed up the progress of scientific discovery, create innovation, ensure that the results of scientific research are as widely available as practical, enable transparency in science and engage the public in the scientific process. We have decided to support the set of principles for open scientific research data outlined below as a basis for further discussions.

i. To the greatest extent and with the fewest constraints possible publicly funded scientific research data should be open, while at the same time respecting concerns in relation to privacy, safety, security and commercial interests, whilst acknowledging the legitimate concerns of private partners.

ii. Open scientific research data should be easily discoverable, accessible, assessable, intelligible, useable, and wherever possible interoperable to specific quality standards.

iii. To maximise the value that can be realised from data, the mechanisms for delivering open scientific research data should be efficient and cost effective, and consistent with the potential benefits.

iv. To ensure successful adoption by scientific communities, open scientific research data principles will need to be underpinned by an appropriate policy environment, including recognition of researchers fulfilling these principles, and appropriate digital infrastructure.

We decide to build on the existing work to coordinate and enable international data collaboration.

It is encouraging to see such high level support for open access to scientific research and for open data in science. We hope that in the coming months this high level support translates into policies that mandate compliance with principles such as the Budapest Open Access Initiative 10 Year Recommendations and our own Panton Principles for Open Data in Science.

If you’d like to join discussion about open data in science you can sign up to our open-science mailing list:

PRESS RELEASE. Cambridge, UK, 14th June 2013.

Also available in Chinese, German, Russian, Spanish and other languages here.

Open data and transparency will be one of the three main topics at the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland next week. Today transparency campaigners released preview results from the global Open Data Census showing that G8 countries still have a long way to go in releasing essential information as open data.

The Open Data Census is run by the Open Knowledge Foundation, with the help of a network of local data experts around the globe. It measures the openness of data in ten key areas including those essential for transparency and accountability (such as election results and government spending data), and those vital for providing critical services to citizens (such as maps and transport timetables). Full results for the 2013 Open Data Census will be released later this year.

The preview results show that while both the UK and the US (who top the table of G8 countries) have made significant progress towards opening up key datasets, both countries still have work to do. Postcode data, which is required for almost all location-based applications and services, remains a major issue for all G8 countries except Germany. No G8 country scored the top mark for company registry data. Russia is the only G8 country not to have published any of the information included in the census as open data. The full results for G8 countries are online at: http://census.okfn.org/g8/

Rufus Pollock, Founder of the Open Knowledge Foundation, said:

“We’re delighted that many G8 countries have indicated their support for open data but today’s results show that progress is lagging behind promise. We call upon them to make good on their commitments and take a leading role in opening up the world’s data, to enable real transparency and accountability.”

Andrew Stott, former UK government Director for Transparency and Digital Engagement, who currently sits on the UK’s Public Sector Transparency Board, said:

“This is excellent work by the Open Knowledge Foundation’s community on measuring the reality of open data for the most important datasets. It shows that good progress has been made in recent years. However it also shows that there is more for all countries to do in order to deliver the open data vision and it gives each country a clear agenda for further improvement.”

Chris Taggart of OpenCorporates, the largest openly licensed database of companies in the world, said:

“Company registers are the fundamental public record of the creation and existence of companies. Today we live in a world where large corporations can consist of opaque networks of thousands of interlinked companies, avoiding scrutiny and competition. Criminals, money launderers, corrupt officials and fraudsters routinely use networks of front companies to hide and move money. In this context it is essential that access to the statutory information is not just freely available, but available under an open licence and as machine-readable data. Today’s results from the Open Data Census show that this message hasn’t yet got through to many of the world’s largest nations.”

David Eaves, co-founder of Open Data Day – which this year saw participants in 100 cities – and Openness advisor to the Mayor of Vancouver, said:

At a moment when many G8 members are trying to find ways to make government data more accessible the G8 Open Data Census could not be more timely. As a tool it offers a simple, easy to understand and clear way of evaluating how the different G8 countries are performing. I hope the leaders of each of those countries look at the census and use it as a way to learn from their peers and drive further change within their own government.

Charles Arthur, co-founder of the Free Our Data campaign and technology editor at the Guardian newspaper said:

As co-founder of the Free Our Data campaign, I’d say that it’s more important than ever for governments to make data available to us all so that we can understand and improve the world around us.

ENDS

To join the conversation about the Open Data Census, sign up to the Open Data Census mailing list

CONTACT
For enquiries please contact: press@okfn.org / +44 (0) 7795 176976 The Open Knowledge Foundation, St John’s Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WS UK.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

• The G8 countries are meeting in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, UK, from June 17–18, 2013. The G8 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Open data and transparency are one of the three main topics for this year’s event. See: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/g8-2013

• The Open Knowledge Foundation is a global movement to open up the world’s data and see it used and useful, empowering citizens with new knowledge and insights, and enabling fair and sustainable societies. The Foundation catalyses activities which promote and build on freely reusable open data and open content – including public information, publicly funded research and public domain cultural content. See: http://okfn.org/

• The Open Data Census is coordinated by the Open Knowledge Foundation, using a network of local data experts around the globe to audit the levels of openness in each country. Full results for the 2013 Open Data Census will be released later this year. The datasets in the census are: Election Results; Company Register; National Map; Government Budget (by sector); Government Budget (transactional level data); Legislation; National Statistical Office Data (economic and demographic information); National Postcode/ZIP database; Public Transport Timetables; and Environmental Data on major sources of pollutants. For further information about the census, see this blog post. The preview results for the Open Data Census for G8 countries are available online at: http://census.okfn.org/g8/

• The Open Definition sets out the principles which define “openness” in relation to data and content, to ensure that it can be freely used, reused and redistributed, and that it is interoperable with other open materials. Open materials must be freely usable and distributable by anyone, anywhere, for any purpose. To ensure this, the Open Definition requires that open material is accessible, in a suitable format, and has an appropriate open licence associated with it. See: http://opendefinition.org/

• The United Kingdom and the United States both say that open data is a priority issue for their countries and for the world. US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron have both made strong, explicit commitments to opening up official data. In May 2013 Obama released an Executive Order “making open and machine readable the new default for government information”, which was widely heralded as a major step. Over the past few years, the UK has released some of the most detailed spending information released by any government.

• The Open Government Partnership is an international initiative to gain multilateral action on government openness, founded in 2011. Fifty-nine countries have subscribed to the Partnership so far. Half of the G8 countries are members of the Open Government Partnership (Canada, Italy, UK, US) and half are currently not (France, Germany, Japan, Russian Federation). Russia withdrew from the Open Government Partnership in May. See: http://www.opengovpartnership.org/

The Open Knowledge Foundation is delighted to announce the launch of the new Panton Fellowships!

Funded this year by The Computer & Communications Industry Association, Panton Fellowships will be awarded to scientists who actively promote open data in science, as per the Panton Principles for Open Data in Science.

Visit the Panton Fellowships home page for more information including details of how to apply.

Further Details

We firmly believe that “open data means better science”. The Panton Fellowships have been created in order to support scientists – particularly graduate students and early-stage career scientists – to explore this idea, and to tackle those barriers which currently prevent science data from being made open.

Dr Cameron Neylon, Advocacy Director at PLOS, and one of the Panton Fellowships Advisory Board, commented on the ‘real potential’ of the Fellowships to influence practice surrounding open data in the scientific community:

‘Panton Fellowships will allow those who are still deeply involved in research to think closely about the policy and technical issues surrounding open data.’

By allowing scientists the scope both to explore the ‘big picture’ – gathering evidence to promote discussion throughout the community – and also to work on specific technical solutions to individual problems, the Panton Fellowship scheme has the potential to make a real impact upon the practice of open data in science.

Panton Fellows will have the freedom to undertake a range of activities, and prospective applicants are encouraged to formulate their own work plan. As Fellows will continue to be employed and/or study at their current institution, activities undertaken for the Panton Fellowship should ideally complement and enhance their existing work.

Fellowships will be held for one year, and will have a value of £8k p.a. For more details and information on how to apply, please visit http://pantonprinciples.org/panton-fellowships/. Read about the work of our previous Panton Fellows; Sophie Kershaw here (PDF), and Ross Mounce here.

Events have a significant role for the Open Knowledge Foundation. They focus attention on the key issues of the day, gather interested individuals and organisations around specific topics, and represent the public face of the open knowledge community and its many and various projects. They also provide occasions for open data enthusiasts to meet face-to-face, working and learning (and socialising) together.

The Open Knowledge Foundation runs a multitude of events every year, from major international events to local meetups, and supports events organised by others around open topics. Also, we are involved in many events at which our staff and community speak on the Foundation’s behalf.

So what are our main events – OKCon and OKFestival – and what’s coming up this year and next?

• OKCon A conference-style event, OKCon is primarily organised by Local Groups – an Initiative or Chapter – in collaboration with OKF Central. It can be more formal than OKFestival, with a centrally-planned 2-3 day conference format rather than a big multi-stream festival, and can have a specific focus (such as a topic or local emphasis). The programme may be topic and/or region specific. This year, OKCon in Geneva will be running over 3 days (16th-18th September) with a fantastic programme plus additional workshops and exhibitions. We’re currently working on how to develop the format for future events, in different countries and with variable frequency.
• OKFestival This is our major international event for the whole community, with an informal, relaxed and celebratory feel. Organised by OKF Central, it is a place for debate and networking where all elements of open knowledge are welcome. Offering a crowd-sourced multi-layered programme spanning about a week, it also includes lots of satellite events, workshops – and parties! Our next one will be in 2014 – just in time for the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Open Knowledge Foundation!

We want to ensure all these events get excellent support and promotion, and for this reason we have strengthened our team in 2013:

• Beatrice Martini joined us in January as Events Coordinator. She kicked off her work developing how-to guides, encouraging our project managers and Local Groups to run great events for the organisation and community, both big and small, online and offline. While supporting events of all formats, from the global Open Data Day to a great School of Data workshop in Berlin, Beatrice has been working with our community and the Swiss Chapter on OKCon 2013 and is preparing a brand new Events page premiering soon on the Open Knowledge Foundation website.
• Elaine Shaughnessy joined the team as Marketing and Events Manager in May, and is working with Beatrice on the Foundation’s global events as well as with the Network Team on marketing activities.

(Want to know more about how we can support you locally in running open knowledge events? Apply to become a Local Group Ambassador today!).

We will keep you posted about all our events; in the meantime, keep yourself up-to-date following the OKCon Blog, join us in Geneva (Early Bird tickets are on sale until 23rd June!) and watch this space to be the first to know about the upcoming plans of our Events team. See you soon!

The Global Open Data Initiative (GODI) is a new initiative led by the Open Knowledge Foundation, Open Institute, Fundar, Sunlight Foundation and the World Wide Web Foundation. It mission is to share principles and resources for governments and societies on how to best harness the opportunities created by opening government data.

The initiative is intended to provide a roadmap of policies and institutions that countries can use to build meaningful new open data reforms and initiatives, informed by the successes of others. Through GODI and associated work, we intend to expand awareness of open data and related issues, stimulate the development of the global open data community, provide a leading vision for how governments approach open data – as well as gather, expand, and amplify the evidence base for open data in general. Specifically:

Serve as a global guiding voice on open data issues

Civil society groups who focus on open data have often been isolated to single national contexts, despite the similar challenges and opportunities repeating themselves in countries across the globe. GODI is intended to help share valuable resources, guidance and judgment, and to clarify the potential for government open data globally.

Provide a leading vision for how governments approach open data

Open data commitments are among the most popular commitments for countries participating in the Open Government Partnership. GODI recommendations and resources will help guide open data initiatives and others as they seek to design and implement strong, effective open data initiatives and policies. GODI resources will also help civil society actors who will be evaluating government initiatives.

Increase awareness of open data

GODI will work to advance the understanding of open data issues, challenges, and resources by promoting best practices, engaging in online and offline dialogue, and supporting networking between organizations both new and familiar to the open data arena.

Support the development of the global open data community

Civil society organizations (CSOs) have a key role to play as suppliers, intermediaries, and users of open data, though at present, few organizations are engaging with open data and the opportunities it can make available for their work. Most CSOs lack the awareness, skills and support needed to be active users and providers of open data in ways that can help them meet their goals. GODI intends to help CSOs to engage with open data and use it as a key tool of their strategic programmes and activities in addressing issues such as climate change, democratic rights, land governance or financial reform. In addition, we hope to integrate the work of those CSOs already engaged in open data issues and usage, and to provide a map of the landscape of these and related actors.

Amplify and broaden the evidence base for open data

While the broader community of open data experts has come a long way in developing a research agenda and related resources, there is still a significant gap between the questions that can empower an open data agenda and those with the capacity to help answer them. GODI will work to identify areas for further study and development and will help build evidence-based policies and resources. We will also examine how open data can inform and strengthen decision-making processes within government.

Gather and strengthen existing resources

Open data resources and analysis have been explored and prepared by a number of different organizations, though this work is often scattered across the Internet and difficult to find. GODI seeks to aggregate these existing resources for inclusion with the resources we, too, will develop to create a central point of reference for governments and CSOs interested in open government data.

Find out more

You can find out more about the Global Open Data Initiative on its website and you also sign you to the mailing list.

Image: open government data (scrabble) by justgrimes on flickr, CC-BY-SA

In February, 23 partners kicked off the LAPSI 2.0 thematic network on the legal aspects of public sector information in Leuven, Belgium. The network, consisting of academic institutions and stakeholders from 15 countries, will continue where the previous LAPSI network left off, and look at the remaining legal barriers hindering the full and open availability of public sector information in Europe. The network will enable knowledge exchange between stakeholders; showcase good practice on how Member States and public bodies deal with PSI issues; and provide policy recommendations on how the European legal framework can support open data.

This European legal framework is currently being challenged by the emerging open data ecosystem. PSI is gradually being replaced by open data in people’s minds, throwing up a lot of new questions. For instance, over the years, many efforts have been made by national policy makers and public authorities to create more transparency in licensing procedures and to develop standard licences (although more transparency would still be very welcome!). However, this has led – somewhat counter-productively – to a proliferation of licence models, even among the open licences. Therefore, the LAPSI 2.0 network is focusing its attention in the first year of activities on the ‘legal interoperability’ of licences. What strategies can help to prevent conflicting (open) standardised licensing models from arising, and how can existing problems due to a lack of interoperability be addressed?

Another layer of complication with licenses comes from the shift from the provision of data via bulk downloads to the creation of web services, requiring the combination of a data approach with what is traditionally known as terms of service or service level agreements. Moreover, the one-source, one-way delivery of information from the public sector to the users is increasingly being replaced by participatory data sharing, the introduction of feedback loops and the integration of PSI with user generated content. It is questionable if the current legal framework is ready for this.

The LAPSI 2.0 network will also be working hard to embed PSI and open data in the institutional culture of the public sector, and – if this does not work – on the enforcement of the rules on PSI and open data through efficient and effective redress mechanisms. While many public bodies have embraced open data, there are still many more that need to be convinced about the benefits for economic growth, participation and accountability.

Whatever LAPSI 2.0 recommends, it will have to function against the background of the new Directive on re-use of PSI, which is due this summer. While the new directive is definitely a step in the right direction, its exact impact can currently only be guessed at by the rumours that are seeping through about the trialogue process. We anxiously await the final version of the directive, and look forward to playing a role in the translation of the text into Member States’ domestic law.

Over the next two years, LAPSI 2.0, in cooperation with other projects and initiatives, will organise two conferences and a number of workshops on the legal aspects of PSI and open data. Our first conference is already planned: on October 24th, we hope to see you in Ljubljana for a great day on “The new PSI directive: what’s next?”. We are also planning workshops at the Samos Summit in July and you can find us at all the important open data events, including the OKCon in Geneva.

If you are interested in knowing more about the network and our activities, check out our website or register for the stakeholders newsletter.

Last week, the Open Knowledge Foundation had the pleasure of attending the Open Government Partnership conference in Mombasa, Kenya. Participants from all over Africa as well as the rest of the world convened to discuss transparency, citizen engagement and open knowledge – including open data – in this inspiring event to set the course for an open Africa.

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder coalition of leading governments and civil society organizations working to advance transparency and accountability in government with the goals of increasing the responsiveness of government to citizens, countering corruption, promoting economic efficiencies, harnessing innovation, and improving the delivery of services.

At the Open Knowledge Foundation we support these principles and attended the conference that attracted over 100 government and civil society leaders from Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Mozambique, Liberia, South Africa, Malawi, Tunisia and other countries. There was also representation from other agencies such as the OGP Support Unit, the Independent OGP Civil Society Coordinator, the World Bank Institute, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, UNESCO, APRM Support Unit and The World Bank.

The meeting secured agreement on several milestones, which are covered in detail in the summary on the Open Government Partnership blog, but most notably the event saw an increasingly visible and trustful relationship between government and civil society representatives – as well as the highlighting of open data in talks across several sessions as a central means to pursue the ideals and goals of the partnership.

To see a photo gallery from the event, visit the Kenya Open Data Facebook-page.