This is a guestblog by Josje Spierings. She is project assistant at Akvo.
It’s been almost two weeks since the Open Data for Development Camp (ODDC) 2012 took place in Nairobi and Amsterdam. With over 250 participants in Nairobi and 125 in Amsterdam, it exceeded our expectations.
The event kicked of on the 27th of June in Nairobi. The day started with keynote presentations about open data and open development. Bart Lacroix, founder of the 1%CLUB, made everybody shout out: “We want Open Data Now!” As a call to all organisations to open up their data and work on open development.
The first day ended with Ignite Talks. During this session seven Ignite Speakers provided five Ignite Talks. To clarify this, the speakers scattered around the room, and five minutes after they started their talk a buzzer went off, whereupon the audience continued to the next talk. The idea was for the speakers to keep their inspiring stories at a high energy level. In addition, it was a nice way to network and share experiences. If you want to view highlights of the ODDC 2012, watch the following video thich the 1%CLUB has made.
At the start of the two-day camp, we challenged the visitors to share their ideas on open data. Forms were handed out on which people could fill in their ideas. By the end of the first day, we had received over 60 forms, of which we selected nine ideas. Visitors were able to pitch their ideas at the end of the second day. Out of those pitches, one was selected as “the winner” and received a ticket to attend and speak at the Open Knowledge Festival in Helsinki. The winner of the ‘Pitch Your Idea’ was chosen by a jury consisting of: Pieter Dorst (Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Sam Gichuru (NaiLab), and Caroline Kitenge (Microsoft).
Dr. Edward Omete won this challenge. He pitched about eliminating wastage of public resources in hospitals and improving accuracy of medical data via smart phones, tablets and/or PCs, thereby reducing the work burden of health workers.
Another ticket was handed out to someone from a Co-Creation group. Co-Creation is an open innovation methodology that brings together professionals from different organisations/companies from various sectors in order to reach creative solutions that would never have been created without the Co-Creation. In a set time period they worked in multi-disciplinary groups to come up with a creative solution for a challenge. During this session there were four challenges, focussed on open data in different thematic areas: 1.Water 2.Health 3.Education 4.IFMIS (a county perspective).
After a difficult deliberation the jury decided that the Health Co-Creation group had the best idea and presentation. The group chose Janet Maranga to represent their group in Helsinki.
In addition to a ticket to Helsinki, the winners received a towel to attend the “Open Sauna” Session at OKFestival. After the award ceremony there were drinks and cake to celebrate the first year anniversary of the Kenya Open Data Initiative.
The event was a big success, with over 250 participants connecting and exchanging ideas and knowledge.
Photos can be found on Flickr.
Hope to see you at the next ODDC!
