Open Data Institute Podcasts

Friday Lunchtime Lectures at the Open Data Institute 21 June 2013 Thousands of people worldwide devote their lives to the somewhat obscure cause of 'open government', but so far they remain in the 'geek box', unable to break out into the mainstream and become a massive global movement on the scale of the environmental, human rights and other epoch-defining movements. Does open data lend itself better to global efforts? Can it bring open government into our everyday lives? Can data not only help us find better commuting routes but also decrease corruption and 'follow the money'? Or is it all just 'open-washing'? Martin Tisné of Omidyar Network will take us through some of these questions and ask whether we can genuinely drive social change via open data.

Friday lunchtime lectures at the Open Data Institute, 14 June 2013 Is being transparent something for business to fear or something to relish? CEO of CarbonCulture, Luke Nicholson, will take you through the commercial and political advantages brands and institutions are exploring in their use of open data and radical transparency.

Why data geeks don't make decisions: bridging the gap between information and influencers. Open data might be fuel, but fuel on its own doesn't get you anywhere. To improve public services you need to translate the raw data material into whatever helps people solve their problems. So, how do we bridge the gap from open data geeks to decision-makers? Tom Smith, founder and director of OCSI, helps public sector organisations use information effectively for policy and decision-making. He will bring in real world lessons of using open data to improve decisions, and more.

Tony White’s new novel Shackleton’s Man Goes South is published by the Science Museum as their Atmosphere commission 2013. The novel was inspired by Tony’s discovery in the archives of a little known science fiction story written in Antarctica in 1911 by Captain Scott’s surviving meteorologist George Clarke Simpson. Novelist Tony White gave a short reading from Shackleton’s Man Goes South, and explains how he used contemporary climate data and old polar archives to tell a new kind of climate change story. *Apologies for the slight glitches in this recording.

What has science fiction to say about our data future, and how is the future dreamed of by writers in the past already here? Is it all dystopian gloom with self-aware algorithms taking over the world, or is there plenty of room for hope? Hitch a ride with writer, technologist and artist, Richard Adams to discover.

The data of democracy and what we can learn from thirty thousand Poles standing in a field. Anthony Zacharzewski, founder of the Democratic Society, talks about the interface between open data and democratic decision-making, and what we can learn from thirty thousand Poles standing in a field.

On 23 April 2013 the W3C, Open Knowledge Foundation, Open Government Partnership met with and at the Open Data Institute to get to know one another. This is a recording of the speeches that took place that included: Nigel Shadbolt Gavin Starks Phil Archer Tom Scott

Friday Lunchtime Lectures at the Open Data Institute, 22 March 2013. Has most of government data released openly so far been flytipping, little used and of little value? David Mitton, of ListPoint, will discuss how more value from government data can be realised. Using the national police database as a case study, he will examine how this data was made more widely usable and how IT implementation costs were reduced by 20%, just by surfacing and mapping the data standards.

The National Pupil Database monitors over 400 variables, covering every year of a child’s education from nursery to A-levels. Anyone who attended state schooling in England since 1997 is included; data is taken automatically from school systems and is never deleted. The data is currently used to support decision-making, statistical analysis, targeted funding, performance monitoring and educational research.The government now proposes to 'widen access' to the NPD, making information it contains available to a range of of organisations including commercial enterprises and the media. Can such personal data be treated as open data? Phil Booth, former national coordinator of NO2ID and co-director of TRUTH2POWER, and Terri Dowty, former director of Action on Rights for Children and also a director of TRUTH2POWER will introduce you to the database, what data is collected and why everyone needs to know how it operates.

The Victorians built vast galleries and museums to house cultural and scientific collections; they were opened to the public and used for educational research. But what are their digital equivalents? Continuing our investigation into Data as Culture, Bill Thompson, technology writer and current head of partnership development for the BBC Archives, guides us through the BBC Archive and what it will take to build an open digital public space and ensure our digital cultural heritage.

When all around you seems to be going "open", what should you know and bear in mind to avoid a privacy debacle. Unless your data is solely about inanimate objects, there will be privacy considerations for your business or organisation. Done properly, suitable consideration may be trivial; done badly, it can be catastrophic, and hindsight is always better when the stories are about a different organisation. With kittens and hopefully some humour, Sam Smith of Privacy International covers how your organisation can avoid a future audience laughing (uncomfortably) at the privacy choices you should have made for your users, your customers and citizens.

This is the recording of a webinar run by Dr David Tarrant to introduce the ODI Postgraduate Certificate in Open Data Technologies with the University of Southampton. To view the corresponding slides mentioned in the webinar go to: To understand more about the course go to: http://theodi.org/excellence/pg_certificate or contact [email protected]

Friday Lunchtime Lectures at the Open Data Institute. 22 February, 2013 Chris Vein, former White House deputy CTO and now the World Bank's chief innovation officer, will take us through his experiences of working at the top level of government; and how at he is developing the World Bank's technology strategy to help developing countries build their communications and open government infrastructures.

Friday Lunchtime Lectures at the Open Data Institute. For our fourth lecture... How can open data revolutionise your rail travel? The release of open data on public transport over the last year has laid bare the the secrets of cheap fares, true timekeeping records and the best alternative routes the official journey planners don't tell you. Jonathan Raper, digital geographer and founder of Placr, will draw back the curtain on this new era and reveal how you can make the most of it.

Lunch time lectures at the Open Data Institute 8 February, 2013 The passion and excitement around Open Data is palpable across many sectors but what are the benefits and value for business? Jeni Tennison, Technical Director at the Open Data Institute, will discuss business models that support publishing open data and what further work is required.

Friday Lunchtime Lectures at the Open Data Institute: 25 January 2013. For our third lecture... Legislation as Data Legislation affects us all. Many of our most important rights, duties and obligations are set out in statute law. What does it mean to think of legislation as data and how might open data thinking help lead us to good law? John Sheridan, Head of Legislation Services at The National Archives, guides us through legislation.gov.uk. Explaining what aspects of legislation can be represented as data and why the statute book can perhaps be better presented, understood and managed starting from a data perspective. The slides for this lecture: http://www.scribd.com/doc/122989561/Friday-Lunchtime-Lectures-at-The-ODI-Legislation-as-Data