Open Knowledge Festival 2014

Event Details
Type: 
Conference
Date: 
July 15, 2014 (All day) - July 18, 2014 (All day)
Location: 
Berlin
Germany

The Open Knowledge Festival 2014 will be our biggest open data and open knowledge event to date. It will be global, inclusive and participatory. We expect it to create a significant local and international surge of innovation.

Organised by Open Knowledge and owned, in the broadest sense, by the open community, the Festival will bring together over 1,000 people from more than 60 countries to share their skills and experiences; encouraging them to work together to build the very tools and partnerships that will further the power of openness as a positive force for change. In addition, the festival will be a fantastic opportunity to celebrate all that the open movement has achieved so far, and an opportunity to plan and shape the landscape ahead.

So, we can expect lots to happen at the festival?

To create societies where everyone has both access to key information and the ability to use it to understand and shape their lives, we must build knowledge into the heart of all of our activities. This is a big task which requires not just a global shift in mindset, but also that we build the tools and communities to make such a society possible. We invite you to join us at OKFestival 2014 as we consider how to translate Open Minds to Open Action.

To inspire Open Minds, OKFestival 2014 will be a shared, immersive experience – you can learn, listen, brainstorm, make, hack, watch and explore. The festival aims to engage and inspire attendees, and in turn your active participation will shape the event and its outcomes. The festival is a place for learning and dialogue, and it is these conversations which will act as the catalysts that enable us to make progress together on the things we care about.

This translation of Open Minds to Open Action requires going beyond conversation. It means building solid partnerships, tools and projects which last beyond the festival. Let’s use this unique opportunity to bring together the open communities from around the world to map out the next steps of the open movement – defining solid goals which will be accomplished at the festival and beyond, co-creating a roadmap for the future. We hope you’ll add your voice and your enthusiasm to this exciting event!

Where is OKFestival 2014?

This year’s OKFestival is taking place in Berlin at the Kulturbrauerei, a large architectural complex originally built and operated as a brewery, with multiple brick buildings and courtyards. OKFestival will occupy one entire courtyard and the surrounding buildings to create a “city-within-the-city”, comprised of indoor and outdoor spaces. In our festival home, we’ll have the flexibility to arrange the areas to suit the programme – whether for discussions, workshops, brainstorming or demos. We’re looking forward to seeing the venue come alive!

Why Berlin?

For OKFestival we wanted to pick a city that would be as accessible as possible to everyone who’d like to attend. Berlin offers reasonably priced accommodation, vibrant local open and tech communities and a welcoming, friendly atmosphere.

Our venue – the Kulturbrauerei – is situated in the Prenzlauer Berg district, which hosts a multitude of cultural spaces to explore. Even in the GDR era students, artists and creative folks influenced the image of the neighbourhood. Then, after the fall of the Berlin wall, it became very hip and trendy. Prenzlauer Berg is known for its varied nightlife and the large number of bars, cafés, clubs, coffeehouses and restaurants.

Keynote Speakers

  • Neelie Kroes, Vice President & EU Commissioner for Digital Agenda, European Commission.
  • Patrick Alley, Founder of Global Witness and a member of the WEF Global Agenda Council for Conflict prevention.
  • Eric Hysen, Head of Politics & Elections at Google, leading Google’s elections and civic engagement products and programs.
  • Beatriz Busaniche, Founder of Wikimedia Argentina and key member of Argentina’s Fundacion  Via Libre.

Program Team

Our Program Team is a group of deeply respected leaders and members of the open community with strong understanding in one or more open knowledge practices. They will advise and provide input on the programme. They’ll be striving to diversify the cultural, geographic and disciplinary lenses of the festival so that we end up with a good balance of original content.

Program Team members can also ask for further advice to Program advisors of their choice for additional feedback.

Team members (by stream, in alphabetical order)

Knowledge

  • Jean Brice Tetka, Programmer and Activist, Social Innovation for Development Lab & Transparency International
  • Michelle Brook, Open Knowledge & Flossie
  • Milena Marin, Open Knowledge, School of Data
  • Rayna Stamboliyska, Researcher, Open Knowledge France, OpenMENA

Tools

  • Alessandro Contini, ToDo & OpenTechSchool & Physical Computing Club
  • Anahi Ayala Iacucci, Internews Center for Innovation & Learning & Crisis Mapper
  • Beatrice Martini, Open Knowledge
  • Diana Arce, Artist and Researcher, Artists w/o A Cause
  • Kat Braybrooke, Mozilla, Webmaker
  • Gabriela Rodriguez, DATA & OpenNews Fellow

Society

  • Duncan Edwards, Institute of Development Studies & Making All Voices Count
  • Hera Hussain, Open Corporates
  • Jane Park, Creative Commons, School of Open
  • Jessi Baker, Designer and Technologist, Provenance
  • Joris Pekel, Europeana
  • Katelyn Rogers, Open Knowledge
  • Renata Avila, Web We Want & Global Voices

Program Advisors (in alphabetical order)

Program Team members can independently decide to ask for advice from other relevant open community members who might provide specific knowledge and feedback to inform the program building work – the Program Advisors.

  • Anu Määttä, Aalto Fablab
  • Linda Raftree, Plan International USA
  • Michelle Thorne, Global Strategist, Mozilla Foundation
  • Peter Troxler, Researcher & Square One
  • Sam Smith, Researcher
  • Sarah Schacht, Transparency technology advisor and author

Program Lead Wrangler: Beatrice Martini, Open Knowledge

Production coordination: Megan McGrattan, Open Knowledge

Steering Committee representation: Zara Rahman, Open Knowledge, Open Development Toolkit