Archive for the ‘Free/Open Source’ Category
Where Does My Money Go? the beauty of open data
The good people of the open knowledge foundation have just released a prototype of their visualisation tool for UK gov spending. This on the same week that the gov announced radical plans for opening their data. Makes the heart soar.
Open data needs to be seen, not just done.
Open up!
Jonathan Gray’s been busy. Open Knowledge Foundation is hosting two THREE interesting events in November:
Workshop on Finding and Re-using Public Information
, Saturday 1st November 2008, 1030-1600, London Knowledge LabThe UK Government produces and distributes a vast amount of documents and datasets – from national statistics to environmental information, from socio-economic data to legal material. Recent technologies allow this information to be explored, built upon and made accessible in new ways – whether through visual representation, semantic interlinking, or through social media applications.
This informal, hands-on workshop will bring government information experts together with those who are interested in finding and re-using government information. In addition to focused discussions about legal and technological aspects of re-use, government information assets will be documented and tagged on CKAN, a registry of knowledge resources.
and
Open Everything, Thursday 6th November, 0900-1730, Chalk farm Roundhouse (London)
On 6 November 2008, London will host an Open Everything event, a global conversation about the art, science and spirit of ‘open’. The conversation will cover, well, everything. Qualifier: the ‘thing’ in question is built using openness, participation and self-organisation. There are people coming to talk about open technology, media, education, workplace design, philanthropy, public policy and even politics. These people want to tell you what they’re doing and find out what you’re up to. And they’d like to have lunch with you. That’s why they’re coming to Open Everything. For more on what we mean and why it matters, check out: http://www.openeverything.net.
and
Workshop on Finding and Re-using Open Scientific Resources, Nov. 8th, London Knowledge Lab
This informal, hands-on workshop will focus on finding and re-using open scientific resources – including open and public domain data, open access journal articles, and open educational materials. We will look at existing tools for discovering open material, metadata standards for relevant material in different domains, and how researchers go about looking for the material they need.
In addition to focused discussions about legal and technological aspects of re-use, open scientific resources will be documented and tagged on CKAN, a registry of knowledge resources.
they’re coming! they’re coming!
RepRap is an open-source self-replicating 3D printer.
Translation: a cheap machine that can build a copy of itself. Sorta. But it can make cute flip-flops.
Cameron Sinclair: we have an army of designers, and only 3 paid staff
Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity and recently the Open Architecture Network, was awarded the TED prize in 2006. In his acceptance speech, he talks about housing crisis, HIV/AIDS, natural catastrophes, and how solutions can be designed for saving lives and making them better. How? not by a centralized structure. By a global network of design innovation, based on an open source model.
interesting times in low-cost land
With Walter Bender’s resignation from OLPC and Microsoft’s announcement the low cost scene is becoming the best show in town.
Open source is about freedom of choice and ownership. If people are free to choose, they are also free to make bad choices – such as running windows on their nice little low cost laptop.
The other side of the equation is, of course, they should be free to run the copy of OS they bought on any hardware they choose. To be honest, I’m not worried: a) I doubt it will hold in court. b) even if it will, it won’t hold in real life. Vendors will simply make it easy to upgrade machines after purchase. The only snag is the touch screen.
But the main scoop here shouldn’t be lost in the flurry of gossip: OLPC won. Remember Negraponte and Papert’s original claim? For years, computers have been getting more expensive when they should have been moving in the opposite direction. This was driven by producer agenda, not by user’s needs. If we want children worldwide to be a part of the global conversation and have access to the canon of human knowledge, we need to reverse the trend. When OLPC started is was a crazy dream. Now its a thriving market. And the more competition, the more options, the more flavours of hardware and software – the better for all.