The School of Data's Summer Camp - more awesome than the Avengers

Last month I was invited to Berlin, Germany, to attend the Open Knowledge Foundation’s annual OKFest. The event was a confluence of open data, science, technology, media, art … you name it; enthusiasts and organizations with the common goal of fostering a global open and free society.

Hot on OKFest’s tail was the School of Data’s Summer Camp in Potsdam that saw several fellows from countries as far as Peru, Indonesia, Nigeria and South Africa come together (for the first time in the history of the programme) to share and learn from each other before embarking on a journey to grow open data initiatives in their countries.

The experience was nothing short of awe-inspiring as I got to connect and discuss open data, data journalism and other intricacies of civic technologies from individuals whose situations were either fundamentally different or eerily similar to my own in South Africa. Collectively we found enough commonalities in our singular efforts back home to forge a strong bond among the fellows, mentors and alumni.

More than three weeks later the cogs are turning at full speed as the fellows begin connecting with our target organizations. (Whether they be newsrooms, NGOs, or civic organizations.) Our skills shares are up on a Wiki that was started shortly after the summer camp in late July; our fellowship charter has also been discussed in a community call extending from our time together; and data expeditions have been held in Mexico.

It truly is an exciting time to be a member of such a collective of Open Data enthusiasts. Soon us two South African fellows (Hannah Williams, based in Cape Town, and myself, based in Johannesburg) will be hosting our open data workshops with our chosen organizations and some amazing projects will come out of those events.

So for those who wonder what is going on with Open Data around the world, just know that a group of dedicated fellows are on the job … like the Avengers … but more awesome.