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Happy New Data

As we approach the end of 2016 we’ve decided to ask all those working with data (or hoping to work with data) what happened during the year and how they could benefit from better use of data in 2017. If you want to share your thoughts we’ve put a short survey here, from which we’ll be […]

Rolling out the Data Loop

We took the Data Loop (a design-with-data tool) for a couple of outings last year, once at Blue Light Camp and once at a team meeting inside Devon County Council, and it continues to show its effectiveness. This time we took it to NotWestminster with the aim of running a workshop specifically around using the Data […]

Community projects in Exeter

Last week we got underway with another Open Data Forum in Exeter, and we were delighted to welcome Martin Parkes from Devon Communities Together to talk about an open data working group they’ve set up. Membership includes local government, academics, action groups, third sector and SMEs, meeting every few weeks to discuss possible joint projects, and […]

Playing with data at the Open Data Forum

Last week we had our first Devon Open Data Forum of the new year, hosted by ThinqTanq in Plymouth. While we’ll be setting up a programme of talks and demonstrations for 2016 this was a more relaxed evening – we wanted to get people together for a chat about what they’re working on, and maybe make […]

Autumn news round up

Last time we blogged, Lucy was just back from Hacklands – that time has gone by very fast and we’ve been very busy since then with getting our plans organised for the next six months. So, what have we been doing? Back in June, we travelled up to London for a week for the ODI Train […]

Hacklands – the great outdoors, only better …

Of the many myths about technical people , the idea that we all hate the outdoors is maybe the most mistaken. We don’t hate nature, we just think it could be vastly improved by power sockets in every third fence post, and a reliable wifi signal. Hardly seems like much to ask, and luckily the […]

Open Data Forum Plymouth July 2015

Last week we held our first Open Data Forum event in Plymouth, hosted by the excellent ThinqTanq work hub managed by Rob Wicks and Sabrina Simpson. After settling in with coffee and biscuits we got down to the business of the evening – getting to know the Plymouth attendees and finding out about what they’re […]

Launching Beyond

Following on from our launch conference, Beyond the Smart City, we’ve put together a website dedicated to taking the project forward. We’ll be working on Beyond over the next few months to build new partnerships around a more human, sustainable vision for smart technologies and data. This will lead to a second conference in 2016 […]

The national picture

Several of us were lucky enough to attend the Local Government Association ‘Making Transparency Work For You’ roadshows over the last couple of weeks; there’s a strong drive from central Government to motivate and support councils to get on with it, and these events were aimed at setting out what work is already being done. Rather than […]

Open Data Forum update

A big thank you to everyone who came along to the Open Data Forum this week; although we were only a small group, what with half term and other things popping up at the last minute, we had good representation of the different viewpoints we’re trying to bring together. Special mention and thanks to Exeter […]