German open data activist and data journalism trainer, Friedrich Lindenberg, has agreed to talk to the Cape Town chapter of HacksHackers at a meetup this week.
The man who leads the OpenSpending team within the Open Knowledge Foundation in Germany will share tips and tools “to help even non-techies stay ahead of the curve”, the organisers promise.
His background is that of a “media scientist turned coder” who works on open government and transparency initiatives. As a developer with the Open Knowledge Foundation, his work with OpenSpending revolves around creating tools for making financial data accessible. Its aim is to “track every government financial transaction across the world and present it in useful and engaging forms for everyone from a school-child to a data geek”.
Lindenberg is also the author of Adhocracy, a collaborative drafting software used by the Internet commission of the German Bundestag and several political parties and organisations to enable citizens to contribute to policy documents and to vote on them.
The DataLiberation meetup is taking place at Google’s new Umbono technology lab in Woodstock. The Umbono was designed to find the best start-up teams in Cape Town and provide them with top-tier resources to help drive their idea to market. It offers mentorship, a dynamic and inspiring work environment, internet access and seed capital. “Added to this, you will be surrounded by like-minded entrepreneurs all hoping to disrupt the internet ecosystem with their ideas,” its website promises.
Also at the meetup will be African News Innovation Challenge manager, Justin Arenstein, who will talk about the top 40 projects that have just been shortlisted for $1-million in seed funding. The finalists include a number of journalist-led projects from Cape Town, including a HacksHackers proposal to establish a ScrakerWiki helpdesk in the city to help journalists improve their investigative and analytical reporting.
Place: Umbono is on the 4th Floor, Woodstock Industrial Centre, 66 Albert Road Woodstock, Cape Town.
Time: 5.30 for 6, and it will be over by 8pm if you need to still get to somewhere else – or you can stay on and network with likeminded colleagues over a snack and a glass or three of wine.
All you need to do is to go here to sign up so the organisers can get an idea of attendance for catering and seating arrangements.
