It has become a tradition that OKFN Belgium plays a part in Random Hacks of Kindness: a weekend where programmers hack for a better world. OKFN Belgium will be present with a couple of Geospatial datasets from the Flemish provincial tourism organization. The datasets are on their way to be opened: all horseback riding paths [...]
Flanders has been working on their own Open Data Licenses. There are 2 open data licenses available in the guidelines: CC0 or an “Open Data License” which gives some rights which allow anyone else to reuse, remix and share. You can find the licenses over here (Dutch). These licenses are going to be used by Flemish government [...]
Good news for European Open Data enthousiasts: Member states of the European Union have endorsed new rules for opening up publicly-funded data to developers, businesses and citizens. The 27 countries agreed on the rule change on Wednesday, according to the European Commission, which is behind the proposed revision of a 2003 directive on public sector [...]
During the summer, a lot of companies hire students for a 1 month job. A student will work on a project that no one had time for before. Rumour has it that when you hire students, only 10 percent of the students are going to deliver something worthwhile. After the job, students go back to [...]
Apps for Ghent has been organised for the third time. It is the ideal moment for citizens of the city of Ghent to show that Open Government Data can make the life of citizens easier, better or more fun. This edition welcomed 15 teams. The teams invented concepts from a smarter government service, to participation and [...]
Communication is key in so many projects, and especially in community driven projects like The DataTank. That’s why in the past we have organized some meetings to see if our project was still aligned with the needs of our stakeholders. The feedback we’ve gotten from these meetings were picked up in our 2012 road map [...]
After two successful events in 2011 & 2012 in Ghent, the Summer of Code ‘13 this year will be simultaneously organized in Bruges & Ghent. During three weeks a group of student employees work on innovative software projects which are delivered by companies in the region. The students work from two central locations, what transfer [...]
On Saturday, the 2nd of March, Trissen, OKFN and Katholic University of Leuven organize a hackathon for IT students where they build applications that support the daily life of students. For this event, the initiating people behind Trissen opened their own data. Trissen.be is an information portal for students that serves as a digital one-stop-shop in [...]
We love transport data. Our Open Transport Working Group, iRail, has just netted a front-end engineering contract for SoLoMIDEM, a project to develop an identity manager for iRail.be. SoLoMIDEM stands for Social Location Mobile Identity Manager, and is part of an effort to create a privacy aware online identity. You will be able to use [...]
We’ve launched an exciting new working group, called “We Open Data.” The group is for freelancers who have knowledge about open data tools (such as CKAN and The DataTank). They give consulting under the name We Open Data to local governments, ICT departments, and so on. The group has already notched up a couple of [...]
We are really pleased to welcome three new colleagues, Michiel Vancoillie and Jan Vansteenlandt who join us as programmers, and Mathias Van Compernolle who is already coordinating Apps For X. Mathias is currently working for iDROPS that organizes innovation labs within the broad social sector and creative industries. He earlier got involved with OKFN BE [...]
ontoforce is a Belgian start-up founded in 2011, that has been actively promoting Open Knowledge. The aim of ontoforce is to use this technology in order to increase efficiency in global research into medicinal products. The start-up also offers consultancy services, and supports socially committed projects such as schoolKID, a working group within OKFN Belgium [...]
The Flemish Public Employment Service (VDAB) organizes a digital battle. The Public Employment Service in Flanders (VDAB) is organizing a ‘Digital Battle’ for IT students. Until January 31, students in Flanders can send in their idea of a innovative jobadvisor for young people. What’s the purpose? A digital jobadvisor for and made by young people. [...]
Apps For X is the working group led by Lieven Janssen which supports people who organise Apps For X events. With a bunch of volunteers he is setting up various events next year, including Apps For Ghent, Apps For Belgium, Apps For Students, Apps For Geo, Apps For Coast with Apps For Flanders, Apps For [...]
For the third time we organize Random Hacks of Kindness in Belgium. Random Hacks of Kindness is a rapidly growing global initiative encompassing a community of over 5,500 innovators in over 30 countries making the world a better place by developing practical, open source technology solutions to respond to some of the most complex challenges facing [...]
In September, the World Wide Web Foundation published the first version of the Open Data Index. It is part of the Web Index, which measures topics such as communications infrastructure, policy, content availability, use of social networks, business use, freedom of speech and e-participation, based on over 80 indicators. 14 of those 80 indicators look [...]
Recently someone pointed me towards a TED talk about “How the Internet will (one day) transform government“. In Clay Shirky’s talk, Clay is flirting with the idea that law makers would become digital natives and would use Github, a distributed and social version control website for software, for keeping track of their law changes. Very [...]
Open data is not for sprinters, says Andrea Mi Maio in a blogpost at Gartner’s. Open Data is the logical next big step for IT infrastructures at governments. To convince governments, the concept of open data is sometimes exaggerated to have an immediate impact and amazingly creative apps shall be created. This however is not a sprint, but it is [...]
It’s been almost half a year since we’ve decided to reboot the Belgian Creative Commons affiliate. During these last couple of months we’ve been busy to get organised, reconnect with the different communities and setting up this website. So now I’m pleased to announce that we are once again an official and fully operational Creative [...]
Antwerp launched its own Open Data Portal. The data is made available one month before Apps For Antwerp (8th of December). More information: http://opendata.antwerpen.be/
If you need another reason to open another bottle of champagne: as of the 21st of September, OKFN Belgium has changed from a local group to an official OKFN chapter. Since the foundation of the legal structure in February this year, we didn’t only had some community events (a general meeting and some Apps For [...]
The summer ended and like most children in Belgium, OKFN members are showing up with tons of fresh memories, but also questions about the coming year. I have just had my first post-summer meeting with a company active in the publishing area and the outcome was a question that was already keeping me busy for [...]
Dear students, researchers or just graduated techies, On Friday September 14th 2012 we are organising a Hackathon at the IBBT in Ghent. Are you someone who can’t help writing a couple of lines of code when you should actually be studying or sleeping? Are you someone who hates comic sans and wants every application to [...]
I’m happy to announce that from here on out Creative Commons Belgium will cluster with and be sited under the OKFN Belgium organization! Since the start of 2012 the Belgian Creative Commons affiliation has been reanimated by a brand new team. The new CC-BE team consists of both people from the former formation and [...]
Yesterday we had our first data discussion at the offices of Truvo. Truvo is the provider of the Print (pages d’or/gouden gids) in Belgium, but also the largest Internet agency in the country. It turned out to be a very inspiring meeting. Thanks to all attendees and Truvo for hosting. What data? Truvo distributes both [...]
Hi everyone, On Monday (the 14th of May) we’re organising an open data discussion with Truvo. Truvo is the company behind the Yellow Pages in Belgium. It’s an interesting opportunity to ask them about their data policy, technicalities, and so on. The discussion starts at 19:00 in the Gaston Crommenlaan 4 in Ghent (Truvo’s offices). [...]
Apps For Flanders is a new project by OKFN Belgium to support digital creativity concerning open knowledge in Flanders. It is a series of events to build a community. Local events will co-operate towards the creation of new applications -in the broad sense of the word- with Flanders as their goal audience. So let’s get [...]
Apps For Ghent is an event with students, hackers, professionals and policy makers. Together they discuss open data in their own way. Students and hackers get to participate in a hackaton with beautiful prices, professionals get to help and interview the students, the policy makers get to speak about their dos and don’ts, and so on. [...]
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