[57north-discuss] Open Data ecosystem in Aberdeen? What can 57 North do to support this?

[Iain R. Learmonth]

On 10/03/14 17:22, Ian Watt wrote:
> I'd hoped that someone from 57 North would have been at the National Hack The Government Day at RGU at the weekend. I was there Saturday and Sunday but while there were lots of attendees for the Global Service Jam there were no hackers unfortunately.

This is not something I was aware of, not sure if other members were.

> I'd like to talk to a representative of your group around which of you members would be interested in hacking Open Data.

I would be interested in anything I can integrate into SpaceRDF[1] and
we have members that are interested in OpenStreetMap[2].

[1]: http://spacerdf.org/
[2]: http://www.openstreetmap.org/

> We've run several hacks in the last few years - including last year's culture hack - and my team's efforts meant that we were the first Scottish Local Authority to release Open Data.

Sounds good.

> We're now signed up to Code for Europe which is a massive step for Aberdeen as a city - and a significant  investment in terms of finance as well as time from ACC staff.
> 
> You can read more here on my personal blog:  http://10ml.com/2014/03/code-for-europe-comes-to-aberdeen-via-barcelona/  (plus the follow up article)

Being nearly time for bed I've only skimmed that but I do know someone
that did Code for America and they found it quite enjoyable.

> Please feel free to circulate this to interested members.

I will post your message to our mailing list[3]. You're welcome to
subscribe if you'd like to follow the conversation.

[3]: http://lists.57north.co/listinfo/57north-discuss

> I'd be happy to come along on Tuesday 18th in the evening to speak to your group if there will be members there with interests in this area. If you could encourage members with an interest in opendata-based app development that would be great.

You're welcome to come along. The 18th is our "Serious Business Meeting"
where we discuss important space matters, so it may not be very
interesting for a first-timer at the space. You'll still have a chance
to speak to people though.

> My aim is to first map out, then grow the Open Data ecosystem in Aberdeen through engagement, events, data releases and cross-working between institutions, informal groups and other bodies. It appears that the local linkages across sectors are not well developed yet, particularly compared to Amsterdam or Helsinki (with whom we will be working on this programme).

We would be interested in producing data as well as consuming it. I have
a background in wireless sensor networks and many of us have embedded
electronics experience. If the city council would like to give us an
endless supply of money, we could hack Aberdeen into the smartest
bankrupt city in the world.

> I hope that we can collaborate on this!

It could be interesting.

Iain.

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