Events

Hamilton Open Data Jam This Weekend

Open Data Jam is a three-day event bringing together government, developers and citizens to collaborate and accelerate Open Data efforts in Hamilton.

By Kevin Browne
Published November 18, 2014

this article has been updated

Open Data Jam 2014 (#ODJAM2014) is a three-day event bringing together government, developers and citizens to collaborate and accelerate Open Data efforts in Hamilton.

Governments and organizations have become some of our largest data collectors and the resource is often resting in silos untouched. Open Data is taking this valuable resource and giving it to people who can unlock its value - resulting in new economies, job creation and increased efficiencies in public services.

Friday

The first day of the event is a series of talks and panel discussions on open data and open government.

Richard Pietro (co-founder of CitizenBridge and Open Government Tour 2014) kicks things off with his talk, "Defining Open Data and Open Government". Learn about the differences between open data and open government and prepare yourself for upcoming conversations from thought leaders and experts in openness.

That is followed by an expert panel on the culture change required to be open. The moderator is Pietro and the panelists are David Wrate (Data BC) and David Rauch (City of Edmonton).

The panel discussion will cover how open data is being implemented in other cities and jurisdictions. Get perspectives from within government and citizens collaborating to improve their local area.

After a networking break, Lauren Archer (LRA Heritage Consultant and former City of Toronto Heritage Planner) is giving a talk titled, "Just Go To The Blog! Save time and improve internal communication with Open Data."

Lauren is a heritage planner, writer, and maker. She has worked for municipalities of Toronto, Vaughan, Oakville, and Peterborough. She is into old home restoration and sustainability, online public consultation, self-directed learning, bees (highly productive community gatherings), maps, and open data.

Jennifer Shen and Ankita Kulkarni share the BikeFinder story. BikeFinder is an SMS service designed for Bike Share Toronto that delivers realtime information about station locations and bike availability.

Open Hamilton representatives Anand Sinha and Matt Grande make a pledge for the community and City of Hamilton to work collaboratively on open data initiatives.

Jay Adams (City of Hamilton) takes a look into the service and business implications with Open Data - a winning scenario for everyone.

Other speakers include Daniel Fusca (City of Toronto Planning Division), Ashleigh Weeden (Grey County Community Engagement, Connected County Initiative)

Saturday

Saturday is Open Hamilton Jam Time! Together with McMaster Innovation Park, Innovation Factory, The City of Hamilton, and Microsoft, Open Hamilton is calling all developers, designers and problem-solvers to Open Data Jam 2014.

This is a chance to work with civic-minded developers to create compelling applications using Hamilton's Open Data. Hear about local success stories. Have a chance in determining how the City of Hamilton creates open-data sets, and help prioritize the next sets of open data.

Collaborate with other developers, and city officials to create applications that make a difference in our daily lives.

Be a part of the Open Data/Open Government movement in Hamilton. Help make collaboration and co-operation a key cog in the economic growth of Hamiltonians.


Update: This article originally stated that David Wrate is with Open Data BC. He is actually with DataBC. RTH regrets the error. You can jump to the changed paragraph.

Kevin Browne organizes events to connect and help grow Hamilton's technology community such as DemoCampHamilton and StartupDrinks. He is currently a PhD Candidate in computer science at McMaster University researching user interface design for educational tablet software.

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