It's no secret that I advocate Open Data, Open Content and Open Source, so it shouldn't be surprising that I'm trying to assist in getting the word out on this conference. Open equates to more raw material (data) to innovate with, to massage, to interpret and translate. In a world where businesses regularly get exclusive access to data from governments, open data means the potential for decreased cost for services while increasing the potential for more useful services. It also means that decisions based on data are more transparent - something of importance for Open Government.
'Open', despite its friendly connotations, almost always gets resistance. Why? It threatens business models based on strangling information - information that citizens of countries pay for becomes resold to them with claimed value added. Would that there were more information out in the open, available for people to legally use without complication. Civil Society in developed nations has been making inroads for some time in these areas but it has been an uphill battle - an uphill battle which continues to grow momentum.
Why am I helping get the word out? I like Open and I know some of the organizers, having had the pleasure of working with them in the past related to other conferences and initiatives. I regret being unable to participate more actively since I am no longer in Trinidad and Tobago; it would have been fun to participate in the code sprint. I may even post some hints on the Developing Caribbean Facebook Page about tools that can be used - and, if I do have some time, I may also hint at useful ways of using the data. Of course, this will be out in the open so everyone has a fair shake if they find merits in the hints.
The Conference
On the 26th and 27th of January, 2012, The Caribbean Open Data: "Developing The Caribbean Conference" will be taking place at locations in Jamaica, Republica Dominicana and Trinidad and Tobago (locations available through the links for each country).
There's a code sprint, in each country, for available data that has been sourced months prior with each nation addressing certain key areas. In Trinidad and Tobago, as an example, this information includes fisheries information: fish types, market prices, catch & net data, methods, landing sites, etc. There's a lot more data but I haven't had the time to look into what else is available - it's all held in Junar repositories The licensing for the data is the ODC Public Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL). The works of the code sprinters will be made available under the AGPLv3 GNU License.
Sponsors? Oh, yes, they have sponsors. Companies that support open data and open source initiatives are implicitly giving back to the communities in which they exist - and should be supported.
