This was our first ever Open Heroines event here in Belgrade and we’re excited to be a part of such a welcoming and inclusive initiative.
We got things started by creating this website publicising our event and making it clear from the get go what the participants could expect from the event (see the progremme below). The responses to the site were very positive and we were particularly bowled over by the wide range of backgrounds of the people wishing to attend. From economists to journalists, students to CEO’s, the desire to understand more about the power of data acted as the adhesive to the collective ensemble.
The workshop/event focussed on illustrating the process of the democratisation of open data. In the belief that we should use a topical subject for analysis, we looked at data related to air pollution in Belgrade (sourced from Vazduh Gradjanima) – a hot talking point within the city. We created R-Markdown reports where the participants created visual data reporting of the core issues connected to air pollution. There was an amazing response to everyone being able to learn how to interact with data, as if a new world was now available to them. In the spirit of transparency and reproducibility we uploaded our findings to the GitHub platform: https://tanjakec.github.io/OH_workshop/OHSA.html.
With such a disparate group of participants we wondered how interactive the workshop would turn out to be. No worries there, everyone entered into the spirit, eating pizza and cakes as they happily coded and helped each other out. The final section of the workshop was set aside for networking and chat.
The discussions were overwhelmingly centred on when they could do ‘this’ again; we took this as being a sign of a successful workshop. We’re now looking into how we can develop this initiative into a sustainable open data-training platform and looking forward to the next phase of its evolution.
PROGRAMME
SisterAnalyst is pleased to announce our Open Data Challenge Workshop, in partnership with the Open Heroines initiative - a visible platform for women to express their thoughts, ideas and critiques.
When: Monday, March 09, 2020; 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: AFA, Gospodar Jovanova 2, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
The event is free, but registration is required by filling in this form 👉📄
Our aim is to fully democratise Open Data. We believe that Open Data portals should not simply focus on just providing data. Ideally, they should serve as platforms that harvest open and available knowledge and additionally provide educational resources that enrich the potential of the available data.
Sister Analyst is delivering the Open Data Challenge workshop in Belgrade - a workshop which aims to provide an insightful overview of the data democracy process. Only by creating a working understanding of the processes and procedures involved with data analytics is it possible to create the objective of democratic data literacy. Through the use of free open source data analysis software packages such as R and GitHub it is possible to build an understanding of the systems involved in analysing data and the knowledge to make it usable.
Participants in the workshop will be introduced to different ways of accessing Open Data and will be able to engage in the necessary steps of wrangling and preparation of data for analysis. As such, they’ll be given the opportunity to familiarise themselves with typical tools used in data analysis processes. All of this will be illustrated through an example of working with air quality data, which has been a focal point of recent discussions of many Serbian citizens. The participants will also be able to learn how to communicate the results in a transparent and engaging way by creating dynamic documents and info graphics. Additionally, all the participants will be instructed to the Open Data Challenge platform where they can find the material and learn further to create a free hosting website for the resulting blog posts of their data analysis narratives using HUGO and blogdown.
Agenda:
- 5:00pm – Doors open and refreshments
- 5:15pm – Welcome to Open Data Challenge Workshop: Introduction, Announcements
- 5:20pm – Workshop: Air Quality Case Study
- 7:30pm – Hang around: drinks, pizza and a chance to chat
- 8:00pm – End
We would love you to come and join us, bring a friend or two and share your thoughts and experiences when working with Open Data.
All welcome!
We are looking forward to seeing you all…