Open Data Institute Podcasts

Watch the lecture here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6vUe-ACaZ8&list=PL6DDzoHu1cx1ozmghXXCgzwHF8Ln8Tlv8 The ODI Labs team work hard to evolve and create state-of-the-art technology tools, standards and techniques to help people work better with open data. But who are they? What excites them? What weird and wonderful things to they get up to in their free time? During this geek fest of all geek fests, ODI Head of Robots Sam Pikesley will bring us lessons from a side-project involving a shed, a solar panel, a Raspberry Pi, an Arduino and a, in his own words, “massively over-engineered solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist”, and ODI Web Developer Stuart Harrison will show us how he’s created a ‘quantified son’, among other things. About Sam and Stuart Sam Pikesley has over 10 years’ experience as a Linux SysAdmin, and was doing DevOps before he even knew DevOps was a thing. Before becoming Head of Robots at the ODI, he worked for a number of startups including, most recently, Amee, where he helped open up a substantial chunk of environmental data. Stuart Harrison’s background is in local government and the public sector, training first as a journalist, and then working at Lichfield District Council as web developer. During his time at Lichfield, Stuart says he was “a leading light in the world of of open data, starting one of the first local authority data catalogues and building Ratemyplace, one of the first websites to publish local authority food safety inspections, and the first to offer an open API”.

A ‘register’ is an authoritative list of data you can trust. Government keeping and maintaining open registers can help us move beyond relying upon data which is published periodically to operating on data that is trustworthy, standardised and open. Used widely, registers will help the UK to build better services, more cheaply and quickly. In this talk, Paul Downey from the Government Digital Service will share his vision for what open registers can help achieve, and the characteristics an open register needs in order to appear on the new register.gov.uk domain. To demonstrate this, Paul will take a list of government data through the Register Design Authority process. About Paul Downey Paul works for the Government Digital Service (GDS), a part of the Cabinet Office whose job is the digital transformation of government. At GDS, Paul leads the Register Design Authority – a small team focused on building a service to help quickly establish open registers across government.

Is it possible there aren’t enough cats on the web? In this lecture, ODI’s Peter Wells explains how a bout of lunchtime whimsy led him to create an open data register of UK government cats. He talks about the tools he used to create the register and dashboard, how people can help collaboratively maintain them on the web and some of the lessons he learnt along the way. He also admits that it wasn’t all about cats and talks about how anyone can help strengthen data infrastructure. About Peter Wells Peter Wells is a open data policy expert and consultant at the ODI.

Watch the lecture here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl95fGey7SM PopChange is developing a new method to perform small area comparisons on Great British Census data from 1971 to 2011. This gives us unprecedented access to explore changes, divisions and inequalities across the UK with data ranging from ethnicity to tenure to Townsend deprivation score. In this lunchtime lecture Dr Nick Bearman will explain how his team took the disparate Census geographies of enumeration districts and output areas and transformed them into a 1km grid across Great Britain. Nick discusses how and why they implemented the project with a range of open methodologies, open source languages and resources, and licensing our outputs with open data and source code licenses. About Dr Nick Bearman Nick is Senior GIS Analyst and Course Director at Clear Mapping Co, an award winning international cartographic design and GIS training consultancy. We create beautiful maps to improve efficiency in the workplace with an inclusive and sustainable design focus. He is also an Honorary Lecturer at University of Liverpool and a Chartered Geographer and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Watch the lecture here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plMJR4I0uyk When data points are linked to one another, the whole generates more intelligence than the sum of its parts. From the social graph to the knowledge graph, the interest graph to the transactions graph, proprietary data networks drive the generation of new power and capital. Such graphs are used to make algorithmic predictions and optimisations about our future activities. Only those who can aggregate and hedge raw data emerge as the new power players. This situation creates a new imbalance of power, which can be understood with the concept of data asymmetry. In fact, mapping and analysing data networks provide immense opportunities to civil society. In this talk, Burak Arıkan will present the Graph Commons platform and how individuals and small organisations use it to transform their data into interactive maps and untangle complex relations that impact them and their communities. About Burak Arikan Burak Arikan is a New York and Istanbul-based artist working with complex networks. He takes the obvious social, economical and political issues as input and runs through an abstract machinery, which generates network maps and algorithmic interfaces, results in performances and procreates predictions to render inherent power relationships visible and discussable. Arikan’s software, prints, installations, and performances have been featured in numerous exhibitions internationally. Arikan is the founder of Graph Commons, a collaborative platform for network mapping, analysis and publishing.

watch the lunchtime lectures https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6DDzoHu1cx1ozmghXXCgzwHF8Ln8Tlv8 This lunchtime lecture will provide an overview of how the local authorities in Greater Manchester have used open data to map the city region’s infrastructure and to provide a city-wide tool to understand social and infrastructure needs to support growth and development. The session will cover how an idea for an online interactive map developed from ‘Just a map’ to an integral part of city planning in Greater Manchester. MappingGM has been developed over the last two years in-house by Greater Manchester and Salford City Council staff and has changed the way public sector staff use open geospatial data. MappingGM is also widely used by the development (physical as opposed web) industry and is continually being iterated by the small (2.5 people) MappingGM team. About Lucy Woodbine Lucy Woodbine leads the team that developed MappingGM, she is the Principal Researcher for Planning and Research for New Economy, Greater Manchester’s strategy and research arm. Lucy has worked for New Economy for two and half years; prior to this she worked for a number of national housing providers.

Watch the lecture here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3nAZCD_fj8 The principles of responsible data are that data and technology can play an important part in effective social change work, but they must be used with care. People’s rights to consent, privacy, security and ownership are important to keep in mind while collecting, analysing, storing, presenting and reusing data. With that in mind, why is responsible data important for the open data movement? How can the principles and practice of responsible data be incorporated into open data initiatives? Alix Dunn will talk about the foundations of the responsible data community, where it is headed and how responsible data tactics can inform considerations about what data is made available. She will take a look at how those decisions are made, and how intermediary organisations can help by building responsible data into their strategies. Alix will also look at different sectors that are struggling to understand the potential unintended harm that opening some data can have. About Alix Dunn Alix is the Executive Director and co-founder of The Engine Room, an international organisation that helps social change initiatives and other change agents make the most of data and technology to increase their impact. She is a recovering researcher with a passion for applying creative solutions to difficult problems. She works on identifying data and technology techniques and strategies that can empower social change initiatives around the world to maximise their impact and make the most of their resources. She sits on the board of HURIDOCS, the Technology Advisory Council of Amnesty International, and the Advisory Council of the Open Technology Fund.

ODI Writer / Editor Anna Scott speaks with Andy Hamflett and Simon Raper about how open data can help reduce food poverty. Andy and Simon have worked together to create the UK’s first dynamic visualisation tool for food poverty, by aligning the Trussell Trust Foodbank Network’s client and food bank location data with a range of open datasets. Find out more at http://theodi.org/blog/odi-podcast-fighting-hunger-with-data

The ‘Indices of Deprivation’ are used by central government, local government, charities and businesses to target a phenomenal amount of public spending each year. They are a valuable resource in ensuring services and funds are targeted towards the most vulnerable in society. Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion (OCSI) are the team behind the Indices of Deprivation 2015, a highly trusted, robust and accessible set of data that is used extensively. During this lunchtime lecture, you’ll hear the highs and lows of working with administrative data, and what it took to create the most downloaded dataset on data.gov.uk About the speaker Chief Executive and co-founder at OCSI, Tom Smith is a lifelong data addict with degrees in physics, artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience. Tom supports public sector organisations to use information effectively for policy and decision making, thus using better data for better decisions. He is Chair of the Environment Agency Data Advisory Group, and was project lead on UK government Indices of Deprivation.

The EveryPolitician project’s goal is ambitious: to collect, collate and share data on every politician in the world. Up until now, mySociety – the brains behind the project – have focused on national legislatures, but the team is now actively expanding the depth and width of the data (what is stored, and on whom). Hear about the joy and pain of working with politician’s data in this lively lunchtime lecture, in which Dave Whiteland will explain exactly what mySociety are doing, how they’re doing it and why. About the speaker Dave Whiteland joined mySociety as a developer over six years ago, and has cut code on a wide variety of projects including FixMyStreet and PledgeBank. Dave has spent much time encouraging local partners in countries as diverse as Uruguay, Uganda and Malaysia to set up and run projects based on mySociety’s platforms. Now he’s an active member of the EveryPolitician team, helping out with data, outreach and bot-wrangling.

More data is being produced than ever before, and more and more of it is becoming openly available. Open data has great potential to help drive poverty eradication and improve global development outcomes. Data usage, however, remains relatively low. In the UK, for instance, a third of the datasets found on the government’s online portal have never been used. One reason for this is because it is hard to join-up data relating to funding, people and outcomes since it is published in different formats, and to different standards. This means that potential users of the data can’t easily see how various bits of data relate to each other. The Joined-Up Data Standards project has been exploring how data standards can be joined-up, using linked data and semantic mapping. While it is technically possible to join-up data standards in this way, political will and cooperation are key to making it happen. In this lecture, Tom Orrell will explain the work of the Joined-Up Data Standards project and outline political solutions at the international level for more interoperability between data standards, with the ultimate aim of improving decision-making and accountability. About the speaker Tom Orrell is Publish What You Fund’s Senior Advocacy Advisor for the Joined-Up Data Standards project, run jointly by Publish What You Fund and Development Initiatives. Tom’s role is to highlight the value that joining up data standards can deliver for standard setters, data producers and users alike. Tom’s experience lies in the development and humanitarian, digital and data policy, and human rights sectors. He has previously worked as a consultant for UNICEF in Ethiopia and Togo, as a programme manager at Global Partners Digital, as a public law caseworker, and as a consultant for the Overseas Development Institute, Article 19, and others. Tom was Called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2011 and holds a BA in International Relations from Keele University. Find out more about the ODI Friday Lunchtime Lecture series http://theodi.org/lunchtime-lectures

Why can’t construction be as smart as other industries, like aerospace, renewable energies or IT? Will construction ever evolve, making the most of the opportunity offered by data science and IoT? Or will the sector be disrupted by a giant smart city data monopolist that manages to crack construction site robotics? Will construction workforces be able to re-skill and re-train, or will a generic, self-optimising, embodied AI replace all engineers, surveyors, site managers and eventually architects and designers? In this lecture, Antonio Pisano will shed some light on the future of construction in a data-driven future. Antonio Pisano is a designer, public speaker and writer. Co-founder of Marcel Mauer Architecture and Smart City strategist at CAIRE Consortium, he has curated events and campaigned with major UK Construction Industry Institutions such as BIS, Constructing Excellence, G4C, RIBA, RICS, CIC, BRE and the ODI, to raise awareness on sustainability, innovation and open data. What the video stream of the lecture here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skemHZcKARo Find out about future Friday Lunchtime Lectures here https://theodi.org/lunchtime-lectures

Friday lunchtime lectures are for everyone and are free to attend. You bring your lunch, we provide tea and coffee, an interesting talk, and enough time to get back to your desk. You can watch the lecture here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRA-SRLawoc The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a range of global objectives to improve the state of the world by 2030, from ending poverty to improving global health, tackling climate change to promoting sustainable economic growth Spearheaded by the UN, the SDGs offer specific targets and indicators for all organisations working to promote global development – from governments to charities, researchers to community groups – to work towards in order to help reach the goals by 2030. Data will be crucial to achieving and measuring progress towards the SDGs. In this lunchtime lecture we will hear from three open data leaders working to achieve SDGs in different contexts. In particular, their work supports Goal 17 and its sub-target to increase the availability of high-quality data in national contexts, and part of Goal 16, to provide access to justice for all. Linet Kwamboka Nyang’au As coordinator of Kenya’s Open Data Initiative, will reflect on experience she’s gained creating policies and partnerships to encourage government institutions to open their data, ensure government transparency and involve citizens in decision making. Sandra Elena As coordinator of the Open Justice Programme at Argentina’s Ministry of Justice, Sandra will share insights into what it takes to convene over 50 judicial institutions around a standardised regulatory framework for producing and publishing data, as well as engaging civil society and promoting new technologies as part of the Justice 2020 programme. Neil Hoorn As Open Data Project Manager in the municipal government of Cape Town, Neil has has been instrumental in the rapid development of the City of Cape Town’s Open Data Project. Neil will talk about how he managed the process, along with how he aligns open data policy and programmes with smart city goals. The panel will be at ODIHQ as part of the Open Data Leaders Network. The panel will be chaired by ODI Writer/Editor Anna Scott.

Friday lunchtime lectures are for everyone and are free to attend. You bring your lunch, we provide tea and coffee, an interesting talk, and enough time to get back to your desk. Code is all about pattern. Beyond computer programming, this means code can also be well-suited to creating musical patterns – not only in recordings, but also during live performances. In this lecture, algorage pioneer and ODI Sound Artist in Residence Alex McLean will talk about live coding of music and how it’s development over the past 16 years. He will relate this history to the open data movement, describing how live coders have opened up and shared the underlying structures of their music as free or open source software. Alex will wrap up with some thoughts and predictions around where he thinks live coding is going, both in terms of creative practice and its wider cultural influences. Alex McLean is a live coding musician and software artist based in Sheffield UK. He’s been making people dance to code since 2001 through a range of musical collaborations, including with Slub, Canute, xynaaxmue and aalleexx. He releases his “polyrhythmic and hyperreal strand of techno” (bleep.com) on Sheffield label Computer Club, in particular Peak Cut EP (2015) and his forthcoming album Spicule. Alex co-founded the Algorave and TOPLAP live coding movements, and the AlgoMech festival of algorithmic and mechanical movement, the first edition of which takes place 12-20 November 2016 in Sheffield. Alex works as a generalist as a member of FoAM Kernow. During 2016 he is Sound Artist in Residence at ODI HQ, supported by the Sound and Music national organisation for new music.

In 2012, the same year that CERN discovered the Higgs boson, another experiment was underway that crossed more than just scientific frontiers: Arts@CERN. Since 2011, when the first Collide residency awards were announced at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, there had not only been engineered collisions between protons at CERN, but also orchestrated collisions between artists and scientists. So what does a curator add to a highly scientific and technological environment? Why are they necessary to make creative collisions happen and matter? These and many more questions will be answered in this Friday lunchtime lecture by Ariane Koek, founder of Arts@CERN, who initiated, created and designed this extensive multi-stranded international arts programme.

This Friday lunchtime lecture features an impromptu discussion on the potential impact of the EU Referendum result on UK data policy, and open data more widely.

Humans use multiple senses to navigate their surroundings in day-to-day life. But data is largely confined to the realm of the visual; from the ways the systems that collect it are designed and programmed, to the spreadsheets and databases that analyse it, to the visualisations that help us make sense of it. But is this enough? ‘Data manifestation’ describes how we move data away from the screen and into physical and environmental forms, so we can use different senses to understand its meaning. Giles Lane will talk about the Lifestreams project – which works to express complex datasets into 3D forms to help people recognise patterns and understand meaning by using spatial and tactile senses – and hint at future possibilities. About Giles Lane Giles Lane is an artist, designer and the founder of creative studio Proboscis. He has led internationally acclaimed transdisciplinary projects such as Mapping Perception, Urban Tapestries and Navigating History, with a strong focus on research, public engagement and participation. Proboscis collaborates with research partners including UCL, the London School of Economics, the Institute of Child Health, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and Birkbeck College, and also with industrial companies including Orange, HP Labs, France Telecom R&D, Channel 4 and Ordnance Survey.

ODI Writer / Editor Anna Scott speaks with Martin Vowels about his software company Plexus, which creates digital products to empower workplace wellbeing. Plexus has developed a knowledge base pooling diverse data from different platforms to help users understand mental health standards and services in their areas, from support networks to legal aid and job opportunities.

Plexus is a mental wellbeing startup that aims to support people in and out of work. In striving to reflect, review and help empower change in people’s daily lives, Plexus builds on the NHS 5 steps to wellbeing and government reports into digital empowerment in the workplace. Since winning the ODI Showcase in 2015, the first product that Plexus has produced is ‘Grace’, an AI bot. For five minutes each day, Grace asks users questions about their challenges, confidence, positivity and how useful they have felt the day has been. Users can then explore the data they record in weekly, customised emails and a personalisable online dashboard. Plexus also uses machine learning to direct users to its knowledge base, which aggregates data sourced from over 25 different government services, NGOs and charities including Mind, Martin Lewis’s Money Saving Expert and Shelter. Open data sits at the heart of this process, from supporting users learn to helping develop Grace’s ability to understand and predict. A primary goal for Plexus is to produce meaningful open datasets that have the power to shape service provision on a regional and national level. About Martin Vowles Martin Vowles is Creative Director & co-Founder of M/A and also CEO of Plexus. With a MA in Communication Art and Design from the Royal College of Art, in 2008 Martin co-founded digital design studio M/A, which has created digital and physical design products for Mind, NSPCC, Southbank Centre, Tommy’s, Visit Bankside, Headlong, Sam Mcknight and Kings College. Martin’s interests include Typography, civic tech, data visualisation and encrypted fabric printing and you can find him on twitter @martininma. Watch a video of the lecture here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkayFmLj9zk Find out more about ODI events here https://theodi.org/events

The cultural sector is one of the UK’s strongest assets. It encompasses world-leading broadcasters and some of the best museums and art galleries globally; their collections contain objects that are as important as anything in any other collection in the world. Most institutions are looking hard at how they open up access to these collections, but in an environment where nearly every public sector institution is facing substantial funding challenges are they getting enough support? Richard Leeming talks about the work of the Research and Education Space and suggests that open data could transform the galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) sector. About Richard Leeming Richard is the external relationship manager at the Research and Education Space, a three-way partnership between the BBC, Jisc and the British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC). He is building a Linked Open Data platform which will power better learning experiences and make it easier and more efficient for collection holders to enable access to their precious assets. Watch a video of the presentation here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pfo_sw_EQ0 find out more about ODI events here http://theodi.org/lunchtime-lectures

ODI Writer / Editor Anna Scott speaks with Lucy Crompton-Reid, CEO of Wikimedia UK, about addressing gender bias and promoting women’s participation in Wikipedia and other knowledge platforms

If achieved, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out by the UN could transform the world by 2030. But how can data help us to achieve these goals? Rupert Simons, Chief Executive of Publish What You Fund – an organisation that campaigns for aid transparency – will give insight into the state of data in international development, and what improvements need to be made. Rupert will also share the findings of the latest Aid Transparency Index. About Rupert Simons Rupert joined Publish What You Fund in January 2015. He is responsible for strategy and overall management of the organisation, and reports to the Chair and the Board of Trustees. He previously worked for the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative, where he was a country head. He has worked with Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to improve the management of her priority projects, helped set up the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency and a Situation Room for Sierra Leone’s National Ebola Response Centre.

Chief Executive of Wikimedia UK, Lucy Crompton-Reid talks about Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects in the context of the gender gap, discussing the impact of this on the production and consumption of open knowledge and what the charity is doing to help eradicate inequalities and bias on one of the leading sources of information in the world. About Lucy Crompton-Reid Lucy Crompton-Reid joined Wikimedia UK as the new Chief Executive in October 2015, and is working with the staff team, board of trustees and wider Wikimedia community to develop a new strategy and business plan for the charity and to help shape the work of the programmes team. She will also be driving forward the organisation’s advocacy, communications and fundraising activities, and engaging new strategic partners. Lucy has worked in the cultural, voluntary and public sectors for nearly two decades, with past experience including senior roles at Arts Council England, British Refugee Council and the House of Lords. Most recently, she was Chief Executive of the national literature charity Apples and Snakes, England’s leading organisation for performance poetry and spoken word. Throughout her career, Lucy has had a particular focus on widening participation, and brings a strong commitment to learning, public engagement and diversity in her role at Wikimedia UK. Watch Lucy's lecture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uooBImYrjk Find out more about the ODI's Friday Lunchtime Lectures here: https://theodi.org/lunchtime-lectures

Is it time to move beyond shop window displays in open data portals and embrace data market places? What does a good data market place look like? Making data more discoverable, accessible and usable is a goal shared by government, businesses, sectors and non profits. How do we realise maximum value of the web of data? What kind of data infrastructure do we need for the discovery, collaboration on and exchanges of data? Join us for a thought debate about how we access, use and share data across organisations to maximise the value of the web of data. Speakers include Eddie Copeland, Director of Strategy at Nesta; Leigh Dodds, Chair of Bath: Hacked and ODI Associate; and Yodit Stanton, founder of Open Sensors. Watch the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDFFBPbSoFc or sign up for the next ODI Friday Lecture here https://theodi.org/lunchtime-lectures/friday-lunchtime-lecture-editing-out-the-gender-gap

The UK has led the way in publishing vast quantities of open data, but what’s stopping us from making better use of it? The biggest issue we now face is raising quality, not quantity. In this talk we’ll discuss what makes a good, quality dataset, and we’ll use automated data visualisation to illustrate their power and beauty. John Griffin is the founder of Atchai, a consultancy specialising in data-driven applications and developers of the interactive data visualisation platform, Dataseed. Follow the presentation via Scribd https://www.scribd.com/doc/310078987/Friday-lunchtime-lecture-The-beauty-of-quality-data or watch the video https://youtu.be/8iFomhTYgbE Friday lunchtime lectures are for everyone and are free to attend. You bring your lunch, we provide tea and coffee, an interesting talk, and enough time to get back to your desk. Reserve your free ticket here: http://theodi.org/lunchtime-lectures

In the first ODI Podcast, ODI Editor Anna Scott speaks with Malick Tapsoba from the Burkina Faso Open Data Initiative on transparency, how his team used open data to support democracy and lessons for other governments aspiring for open elections

What do the KLF, Alan Moore and Edmund Blackadder have to do with web design? Find out from Paul Rissen, Senior Data Architect at the BBC, with a deep dive into the structure of narrative and how data could unlock a new approach to creative expression. We’ll cover the BBC’s experiments in structured data for storytelling in drama and news, why we need the Internet of Fictional Things, and the alchemic secrets of the Web’s pioneers. Paul Rissen is a Project Manager of the RES project at the BBC, currently helping open the data held by the UK’s cultural institutions for use in education, via the RES Project (http://res.space). He pioneered the ‘storyline’ architecture that creates structured data from traditional narratives, allowing audiences and machines alike to explore networks of narrative using RESTful Web architecture. He developed this first in fictional environments – continuing dramas at the BBC including Doctor Who and Eastenders – and adapted it to news, where it has been the basis for new approaches to the presentation of news through the BBC’s website. This is a recording of the ODI Friday lunchtime lecture given on 15th April.

The Institute for Government’s Whitehall Monitor aims to chart government – literally. It analyses and visualises numbers from and about government – on everything from staff numbers to public perceptions – to help politicians, civil servants, civil society and the public better understand what central government looks like in the UK. The Whitehall Monitor 2015 annual report looks at what happened under the coalition government from 2010 to 2015. Gavin Freeguard, one of the authors, talks us through some of the highlights. Gavin Freeguard is a senior researcher at the Institute for Government. His work has focused on leading Whitehall Monitor and also involved transparency in government contracting and preparing politicians for government. He was previously political adviser on culture, media and sport to Harriet Harman MP and, before that, deputy director of the Orwell Prize and senior editor at the Media Standards Trust. He is a trustee of the Orwell Youth Prize, a member of the Young Policy Professionals core group, and edits a daily email on data visualisation, Warning: Graphic Content.

Paul Maltby, Director of Data at the Government Digital Service, outlines the new programme of work to improve the availability, quality and use of government data. As Director of Data, Paul leads teams in the Government Digital Service in the Cabinet Office responsible for making better use of data, data infrastructure and data policy and governance, supporting a cross-Government Data Programme. Paul was formerly Director of Open Data and Government Innovation leading both data-focussed teams such as Data Sharing, Data Science, Open Data and Transparency and policy innovation teams such as Analysis and Insight and the design-led Policy Lab. Prior to this, Paul was Director of Open Data and Transparency in the Cabinet Office, which worked to release government data that can be freely accessed by citizens and businesses to help drive the next generation of data-led economic growth, strengthen government accountability and improve public services.

At North Pole Incorporated, a data revolution is underway to modernise how Christmas gifts get to girls and boys around the world. For hundreds of years, North Pole Inc. and its global network of elvish subsidiaries have been gathering data on what children across the world want for Christmas, who has been naughty or nice and the latest toy trends. To meet children’s needs, North Pole Inc. relies on up-to-date information spanning delivery routes (by air, boat and donkey), building entrances and exits, fireplace hazards, stocking sizes, reindeer health, movement and feed. The problem is, the global population is expanding and companies like North Pole Inc. everywhere are being forced to find new, more efficient ways of delivering services. This year, a crack team at North Pole Inc. has been working on developing and implementing the data infrastructure that Christmas needs, to keep children happy for years to come.

“Open data” and “big data” are the current buzzwords, but does the public know what these terms really mean, or are they the preserve of nerds, developers and policy wonks? Jonathan Stoneman has spent the last six months analysing the impact of open data on journalism, and has written a working paper for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Even he was surprised by some of his findings. Jonathan is an Associate Trainer at the ODI. He was a journalist and editor as well as Head of Training at BBC World Service until 2010. As a freelance trainer and consultant he specialises in data journalism with open data. Jonathan is a contributor to the book “Data journalism: Mapping the Future”, which is being published on 4 November.

In this talk the Open Banking Working Group team discuss their work to improve bank services for consumers, businesses and society by making better use of data from across the spectrum. They have been tasked with delivering a framework for an open API standard in UK banking by the end of the year. This will highlight how customers can have more control over their data, and how to create an environment that supports creating value from its usage. The team want to hear views from the audience so come armed with questions and ideas! About our Friday lunchtime lectures With a broad range of topics in open data such as tracking government expenditure, British landscape mapping and creating art, there’s bound to be something that interests you. The sessions run from 1pm to 1.45pm weekly during UK school term-times, with informal networking until 2pm. Each lecture lasts for around 20 minutes, leaving time for questions afterwards. The lectures don’t require any specialist knowledge, but are focused around communicating the meaning and impact of open data in all areas of life. Each week the lectures are streamed live on YouTube and then uploaded to our YouTube and Vimeo channels. You can also download the Friday lunchtime lectures as a podcast on iTunes. You can follow the lectures and contribute to the discussion using #ODIFridays on Twitter.

In February 2015 the UK government launched Contracts Finder, a portal that advertises open government-spending contract opportunities, allowing companies to easily and quickly bid for them. The UK spends £250 billion every year on public spending contracts, including vital public services like the NHS and it’s important that this money is spent as efficiently as possible. As part of an ASI fellowship, William Jones worked in collaboration with the UK Cabinet Office to increase the number of companies bidding on these contracts. He did this by automatically recommending them contracts which are available and relevant, using publicly accessible information from UK companies. The web application William built is called Contracts Recommender. His talk will explain the public sources of information he uses as well as how Contracts Recommender works. William Jones was recently awarded the MPhil in Advanced Computer Science from the Cambridge Computer Laboratory with Distinction. During the ASI fellowship he first worked on a deep learning image classification project with Tractable.io, using the convolutional neural network framework Caffe. Following this he joined a project with the Cabinet Office using natural language processing to automatically recommend relevant government procurement contracts to companies in the UK. He has just started a PhD in Mathematical Genomics at Cambridge.

Are physical and data infrastructures distinct? In this talk, Georgina Voss and Wesley Goatley present and discuss their infrastructure data artwork “Familiars”, which directly intercepted logistical radio signals broadcast by planes, ships, and trains, highlighting the material aspects of data infrastructures. In unpacking the research and development behind “Familiars”, they explore how access to forms of “open” data is mediated and who this data is really intended for. While the UK government is currently investing in the “best” ways to plan, create, and fund vital infrastructure projects, they argue that engaging with crucial questions around control, ownership and access to data requires an understanding of their physical components and context. Wesley Goatley is an artist and researcher. Georgina Voss is a technology anthropologist, writer, and co-founder of research co-operative “Strange Telemetry”.

Landscape Watch Hampshire is a new community project to characterise the county’s landscape in 2005 and 2013 by analysing aerial photos, held as open data by Hampshire County Council, and thereby identify the changes that have taken place over a period of eight years; the output from the project will be made available as open data via the Hampshire Hub as it becomes available. Hampshire County Council, on behalf of the Hampshire Hub Partnership, is collaborating with Remote Sensing Applications Consultants Ltd (RSAC) and the University of Portsmouth (UoP) on the Crowdsourcing Landscape Change project, co-funded by Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board). Our videos: bit.ly/odi_vimeo Our photos: bit.ly/odi_flickr Our audio: bit.ly/odi_soundcloud Our slides: bit.ly/odi_scribd Our tweets: bit.ly/ODIHQ_tweets Our website: theodi.org ODI Summit videos: bit.ly/odisummit_video What is open data?: bit.ly/what-is-open-data

Both the Freedom of Information (FOI) and open data schemes are well established but they don’t always work together to achieve a common aim of making information more accessible. Matt Burgess will examine how FOI and open data can be combined to enhance the UK’s openness. Drawing on real-world examples, he will suggest how those promoting transparency can identify ways of encouraging more important information to be published. Matt Burgess is a journalist and author, who has a special interest in the Freedom of Information Act. He has written the book, Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for Journalists, and runs the FOI Directory website.

2013 was a big year for open data. G8 leaders signed the Open Data Charter and the UK Government made a series 21 commitments in a National Action Plan for open government. It pledged to release more local open data, manage digital records better and develop a new anti-corruption strategy, among other initiatives to help it transition to ‘open by default’. How far have they been met, two years on? Politics expert Ben Worthy will reflect on findings from his new independent report on the action plan, followed by comments from Involve and the Cabinet Office. Ben Worthy is a lecturer in politics at Birkbeck College, University of London where he teaches Contemporary British Politics and Digital Politics. He has written extensively on issues around transparency, freedom of information and open data, looking particularly at the impact of the UK Government’s Transparency Agenda.

There’s lots of open data on local areas about, but it’s in hundreds of datasets in hundreds of places and hundreds of formats. So where should you begin? The Local Government Association (LGA) has developed LG Inform, an online data service to bring lots of this data together. Working with Porism, they have developed an API for developers and others to present the data in a variety of ways for wide audiences. Juliet Whitworth, research and information manager at the LGA, and Mike Thacker, founder of Porism, will take you through what’s possible, give a demo and answer your questions. You can also watch this talk and view the slides on the ODI website: http://theodi.org/lunchtime-lectures/whats-apining-in-your-local-area-revealing-places-with-open-data Our videos: bit.ly/odi_vimeo Our photos: bit.ly/odi_flickr Our audio: bit.ly/odi_soundcloud Our slides: bit.ly/odi_scribd Our tweets: bit.ly/ODIHQ_tweets Our website: theodi.org ODI Summit videos: bit.ly/odisummit_video What is open data?: bit.ly/what-is-open-data

As the growth in Open Data published by government continues to accelerate, the need to underpin this with high quality and maintained geospatial data has never been greater. In Great Britain, open geospatial data has been ubiquitously available from Ordnance Survey, the National Mapping Agency since 2010. For this talk a range of case studies will be presented that demonstrate the application of this open data in support of successful initiatives that deliver economic growth, increased public sector transparency and citizen inspired social good. David Henderson is the Head of Data Products at Ordnance Survey. He has worked across most of Ordnance Survey’s commercial and government customer groups before leading the management and future development of Ordnance Survey’s geospatial content and data products - including OS’s Open Data product portfolio. David is also the Chair of the Association of Geographic Information (AGI) and a regular speaker at industry events. Our videos: bit.ly/odi_vimeo Our photos: bit.ly/odi_flickr Our audio: bit.ly/odi_soundcloud Our slides: bit.ly/odi_scribd Our tweets: bit.ly/ODIHQ_tweets Our website: theodi.org ODI Summit videos: bit.ly/odisummit_video What is open data?: bit.ly/what-is-open-data

In May 2014 the Environment Agency publicly committed to becoming an Open Data organisation. This talk describes the journey that the organisation has been on so far and will look to where this journey may lead. Michael Rose has worked with Government data for over 15 years. Michael was part of the team that implemented intellectual property management into the Environment Agency and have been involved in many complex data licensing negotiations to enable wide sharing of our data and have been utilising this experience to help deliver our transition to an Open Data organisation.

Ubiquitous Commons is a philosophical and technological toolkit enabling citizens, institutions, organizations, enterprises, researchers and other stakeholders to become actively engaged in defining how the data and information they produce (through their bodies, expressions, movements, actions, gestures…) are used. A process that aims to ensure that their rights are protected and that ethical initiatives for science, civic action, social organization and coordination become possible.

Democracy Club is a group of volunteers that aims to increase the quantity, quality and accessibility of information on election candidates, politicians and democratic processes through digital tools, microvolunteering and collaboration with like-minded organisations. Web developer & designer Sym Roe talked about the story behind YourNextMP, who reused the data, as well as the other Democracy Club projects and where they’re heading in the future.

Ben Unsworth, Data Solutions Engineer at Socrata, explained how immersive user experience and machine learning can help governments engage users and drive better understanding from open data. Our videos: bit.ly/odi_vimeo Our photos: bit.ly/odi_flickr Our audio: bit.ly/odi_soundcloud Our slides: bit.ly/odi_scribd Our tweets: bit.ly/ODIHQ_tweets Our website: theodi.org ODI Summit videos: bit.ly/odisummit_video What is open data?: bit.ly/what-is-open-data The World of Data: bit.ly/worldofdata

What roles do artists play in raising questions about open data and technology? This lunchtime lecture we heard from ODI Associate Curator in Residence Hannah Redler, who reflected on the ODI’s art programme ‘Data as Culture’. Hannah also shared her insights gained over 20 years spent commissioning and curating artists working with technology in major museum environments. Our videos: bit.ly/odi_vimeo Our photos: bit.ly/odi_flickr Our audio: bit.ly/odi_soundcloud Our slides: bit.ly/odi_scribd Our tweets: bit.ly/ODIHQ_tweets Our website: theodi.org ODI Summit videos: bit.ly/odisummit_video What is open data?: bit.ly/what-is-open-data

The ODI, in partnership with Nesta, is running a series of Open Data Challenges. The Heritage + Culture Open Data Challenge invited people to use open data to create products or services that would engage more and more diverse people with UK heritage and culture. This lunchtime lecture we meet the three finalists: City Radar, Culture Everywhere and Rabble Days. They each give a short pitch about their products, their development so far, how they are using open data to innovate and what their plans are for the future. Find out more about the challenge process here: http://www.nesta.org.uk/closed-heritage-culture-open-data-challenge Our videos: bit.ly/odi_vimeo Our photos: bit.ly/odi_flickr Our audio: bit.ly/odi_soundcloud Our slides: bit.ly/odi_scribd Our tweets: bit.ly/ODIHQ_tweets Our website: theodi.org ODI Summit videos: bit.ly/odisummit_video What is open data?: bit.ly/what-is-open-data

The 2015 general election is rapidly approaching. What will the UK Government look like after the 7 May 2015? What are the challenges that lay ahead? Gavin Freeguard from the Institute for Government uses open data charts from the Whitehall Monitor to pinpoint some of the pressures that could face a new government and discusses how the UK can continue to lead the open data agenda after the election. Gavin joined the Institute For Government in August 2013 and his work is currently focused on Whitehall Monitor and transparency in government contracts. He was previously political adviser on culture, media and sport to Harriet Harman MP and, before that, deputy director of the Orwell Prize and senior researcher at the Media Standards Trust. The slides to this talk can be found here - https://www.scribd.com/doc/258880858/Friday-lunchtime-lecture-When-the-dust-settles-open-data-and-the-2015-general-election Our videos: bit.ly/odi_vimeo Our photos: bit.ly/odi_flickr Our audio: bit.ly/odi_soundcloud Our slides: bit.ly/odi_scribd Our tweets: bit.ly/ODIHQ_tweets Our website: theodi.org ODI Summit videos: bit.ly/odisummit_video What is open data?: bit.ly/what-is-open-data

If you don’t know where your personalised data has gone, there’s no way to know whether your wishes are being respected. Mistakes that arise due to secrecy can be catastrophic to public trust in the handling of NHS patients’ data, and in other fields. How do we begin to understand and resolve these issues? What are the benefits of medical data in research studies and the development of new treatments? How do we open a window onto how our medical data is being used to benefit everyone? For this lunchtime lecture Sam Smith of medConfidential will walk us through the issues, solutions and benefits surrounding personal medical data. You can view the slides to this talk here [link to scribd] Our videos: bit.ly/odi_vimeo Our photos: bit.ly/odi_flickr Our audio: bit.ly/odi_soundcloud Our slides: bit.ly/odi_scribd Our tweets: bit.ly/ODIHQ_tweets Our website: theodi.org ODI Summit videos: bit.ly/odisummit_video What is open data?: bit.ly/what-is-open-data

The ODI released its ‘Open data roadmap for the UK’ in December 2014, with steps the next UK Government can take to continue to make progress on open data. As the General Election draws closer, we’re starting to dig into the details behind the roadmap and open it up for public consultation. What would a Chief Data Officer for the UK look like? How can we use the National Information Infrastructure to plan for the future? Listen back on this engaging and fun session exploring the drivers behind the roadmap and some of its key priorities. Ellen Broad is Policy Lead at the Open Data Institute, where her role is to distill knowledge and expertise from across the ODI’s team and help to influence government policy, advise government and the private sector on how to capitalise on open data, and engage wider communities on issues affecting access to and reuse of data. Our videos: bit.ly/odi_vimeo Our photos: bit.ly/odi_flickr Our audio: bit.ly/odi_soundcloud Our slides: bit.ly/odi_scribd Our tweets: bit.ly/ODIHQ_tweets Our website: theodi.org ODI Summit videos: bit.ly/odisummit_video What is open data?: bit.ly/what-is-open-data

Over the last two years the World Wide Web Foundation’s Open Data Barometer has surveyed the open data landscape in over 75 countries, building up a picture of progress, and pitfalls, on the road to ‘open by default’. The latest edition of the Barometer, launched in January 2015, shows a growing data divide. But it also points to areas where open data is having impact, and highlights factors that appear to contribute to greater political, economic and social outcomes from open data initiatives. Listen to the track to hear about the Barometer findings, dig deeper into the methodology, hear about how you can re-mix the data (all the underlying data is open data of course), and discuss the future of open data metrics and measurement. Speakers Tim Davies is a PhD candidate at the University of Southampton Web Science Doctoral Training Centre, and Affiliate at the Harvard Berkman Centre for Internet and Society. He was previously open data research coordinator at the World Wide Web Foundation, leading the development of the Open Data in Developing Countries project, and working on the research and write-up of the Open Data Barometer. He tweets as @timdavies. Dr Savita Bailur is open data research lead at the World Wide Web Foundation, working on the development of a new programme of open data action research in Africa and Asia, designed to discover context-appropriate ways of closing the data divide. You can reach her on Twitter @SavitaBailur. The Slides to this talk can be found on the link below https://www.scribd.com/doc/256380649/Friday-lunchtime-lecture-Exploring-the-Open-Data-Barometer-the-challenges-ahead-for-an-open-data-revolution Our videos: bit.ly/odi_vimeo Our photos: bit.ly/odi_flickr Our audio: bit.ly/odi_soundcloud Our slides: bit.ly/odi_scribd Our tweets: bit.ly/ODIHQ_tweets Our website: theodi.org ODI Summit videos: bit.ly/odisummit_video What is open data?: bit.ly/what-is-open-data

Open Data portals, smart city initiatives, data marketplaces, M2M (machine to machine), real-time monitoring… all important structures, but what are their real world implications? What are their tangible benefits? For this Friday lunchtime lecture, we explore actual use cases of open data to create innovative new services. Marie-Cécile Huet is Chief Marketing Officer of OpenDataSoft, a software company developing a Cloud-based turnkey platform for data publishing, sharing and reuse. Twitter: @mchuet / @opendatasoft. Our videos: bit.ly/odi_vimeo Our photos: bit.ly/odi_flickr Our audio: bit.ly/odi_soundcloud Our slides: bit.ly/odi_scribd Our tweets: bit.ly/ODIHQ_tweets Our website: theodi.org ODI Summit videos: bit.ly/odisummit_video What is open data?: bit.ly/what-is-open-data