Presentation to Datafest Ottawa: Hacking Migration in the Capital on April 12, 2014. https://www.facebook.com/events/662157270515723

1. Datafest Ottawa: Hacking Migration in the Capital
April 12, 2014
Richard Akerman

2. Open Data - practically
 open data is behind the scenes of many
services you may use every day, such
as weather forecasts and bus arrival
times
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3. Open Data - practically
 NOT JUST APPS – can power websites,
voice response telephone systems and
text messages
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4. For Researchers and Journalists
 computer-assisted reporting
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5. Open Data - Technically
 data (e.g. temperature measurements,
bus times, immigrants per
neighbourhood)
 free to use, free to share, for any
purpose (including commercial)
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6. Open Data - technically
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http://data.ottawa.ca/en/dataset/2014-draft-budget-operating-summaries

7. Open Data - community
 Actually using Open Data, turning
spreadsheets into charts, maps,
websites, analysis – this is a group effort
 Many skillsets:
 coding
 storytelling
 visualization
 analysis
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8. Open Data Ottawa
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmacaulay/4562376940/

9. Hackathon
 A hackathon is an intense effort to think
about how the available data and tools
might produce interesting results, and do
quick demos
 Expect:
 discussions, brainstorming, creativity
 sketches, stories
 very basic proof-of-concept code (e.g. a web
page) experimenting with an idea
 making amazing connections for future projects
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10. Hackathon
 Don’t expect:
 free consultants
 production-ready, fully-completed, industrial-
strength complex software
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/steve_lynx/5454042231/

11. Pitch
 small problems with a compelling story
are best
 remember you’re trying to attract people
to volunteer to work on your idea – what
will motivate them?
 make it fun
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12. Copyright © 2014 Richard Akerman
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
License
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