It was 20 years ago, April 30th 1993, that Tim Berners-Lee and the CERN Institute released the code for the World Wide Web. A week before, on April 22, the MOSAIC browser was released as version 1. I remember that … Continue reading
Last week I was in Tallinn, Estonia. Henri Laupmaa (of Let’s do it! World fame) had approached me a few months ago at conferences in Prague and in Warsaw, to come speak at TEDxTallinn. So I did, and got to … Continue reading
Katleen Janssen (University of Leuven) and I took a closer look at the content of the new PSI Directive, the EU regulation that covers open government data. It has now been published at the OKFN blog. (Update: also see the … Continue reading
Later this week I will drive up to Aarhus in Denmark, to participate in the Aarhus Data Drinks. As I started the Copenhagen Data Drinks last October, of which the Aarhus meet-up is a spin-off they kindly invited me over … Continue reading
The decision has been made, the question answered: Elmine and I will spend the entire month of August in Cambridge. Last year we worked and lived a month in Copenhagen. This year we’ll strike up camp in Cambridge (UK). Johnnie … Continue reading
My wife Elmine has given me a great gift. A day per week. In the past year if not two, if not longer, I have always filled my time with work. (My most recent ‘play’ projects seem to be from … Continue reading
We arranged a standing desk. As Elmine and I differ in height, and both want to use the standing desk, we got an electronic one so we can adjust the height with the touch of a finger tip. That even IKEA stocks these now is likely a sign that standing desks are on the rise.
Standing desk in lowest and highest position.
Below is the video of my recent TEDxZwolle talk on why using Open Data is important. (Slides and transcript here)
Open Data is a source of enormous potential both socially and economically.
There is also a much more compelling reason why we need Open Data.
First our global networked society needs openly shared things, such as data. Openness and sharing is what makes networks function. The important bit about Open Data, is the openness.
Second, our networked society also means increased complexity because of all the new connections and myriads of feedback loops. Open Data is useful here to spot patterns, to contextualize your everyday life, to find the stories that are invisible to the singular perspective. Open Data, as it’s available to all, enhances your singular perspective to better grasp the complexity of your world.
Without Open Data we are like ants, without a clue of how our behavior contributes to the complexity of the anthill. With Open Data we can understand the anthill and our role in it better.
Don’t be an ant. Understand the anthill. Use Open Data. Understand your world.
Last year Elmine and I lived and worked for a month in Copenhagen (see week 1 2 3 4). To experience a new environment, work with other people, and see what inspiration it could bring us. We’re thinking about repeating … Continue reading
Three weeks ago I and my colleague Frank Verschoor took about 30 civil servants from 10 countries through a workshop (in Warsaw) on seeing Open Data as a policy instrument that has value to the public sector itself. A lot … Continue reading
