Sam Milsom

Watercooler Chats

If like us at Open Data Mancheser you’re working from home or in self-isolation, join us for a twice-weekly online ‘watercooler chat’ – a friendly and informal place to take a break and have a chinwag with us and the ODM community.

More of a casual social than a business meet. If you want to talk to us about something specific, we run monthly Open:Data:Surgeries. Head over to our events page for more info.

What: a friendly, informal chat for those in need of a break from WFH.
When: Every Monday and Thursday.
Time: 3-4pm. Feel free to drop in/out at any point during that time.
Where: Zoom, link to join below.

If you plan in joining us, please take a moment to read our code of conduct, and we look forward to chatting with you!

Julian, Sam and the ODM community.

> Click to join water cooler chat via Zoom <

Bus Fair? – Digging the Data

Tuesday 2nd July, 18.30 – 20.30
Federation House
Federation Street
Manchester M4 4BF.

Following a successful Freedom of Information request, Transport for Greater Manchester has released to Open Data Manchester the bus fare tables for 37 bus companies across the region.

Having all this data is great, but bus fare data lives in a world of its own, taking a bit of transformation to make it useful – there is also a lot of legacy information there.

We think that being able to understand the bus fare landscape is essential to keeping Greater Manchester moving, so if you – like us – like buses, and think that getting this information out there will benefit the residents and communities of Greater Manchester, come along, dive in and lets make this data useful.

Wiki-edit-a-thon with InnovateHer

Wednesday 24th July, 18.30 – 20.30
Federation House
Federation Street
Manchester M4 4BF.

In 2011 only 10% of wiki contributors were female and in 2018 only 17% of entries on the online encyclopedia were about women. It’s time we changed that together.

InnovateHer have teamed up with Open Data Manchester to organise a Wiki-edit-a-thon in July to address the diversity imbalance in Wikipedia entries.

During the edit-a-thon we’ll be working through a backlog of Wikipedia pages to help improve the coverage of women and diversity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) on Wikipedia.

Anyone can participate! We’re looking for experienced editors and those without editing experience who are enthusiastic about writing, fact-checking and tackling the diversity deficit in STEM.

What is this thing called ‘open data’?

Tuesday 25th June, 18.30 – 20.30
Federation House
Federation Street
Manchester M4 4BF.

We live in a world awash with data, much of it created for and about the communities in which we live, work and play. It’s a huge public resource that can enable greater understanding and more informed participation, create an environment for better public services and allow the development of new knowledge and innovation.

Open data has evolved and grown over the last ten years, with thousands of projects and services built upon it, and billions of users accessing it.

But what, exactly, is this thing called ‘open data’?

Join us on 25th June and we’ll explore just what open data is, why it’s important and how it can be used for good. We’ll explore:

What open data is.
What data can and can’t do.
How open data is of benefit and some examples of how it is used.
The history of open data, and what its future holds.
What you would like to see Open Data Manchester do about it.

Whether you’ve never heard of open data before, or you’re an open data wizard, we’d love to see you there.

Speakers include:

Hera Hussain from Open Contracting Partnership, who will tell us about how open data has saved countries billions all around the world.
Mor Rubinstein from 360 Giving, who will talk about ‘The State of Open Data – Histories and Horizon’, a new book that explores the history of open data.

Joy Diversion 6

Saturday 15th June, 11.00 – 16.00
Federation House
Federation Street
Manchester M4 4BF.

Join us for another day of exploring, mapping and meandering in Central Manchester and Salford. Starting with maps of Manchester and Salford from 150 years ago, we’ll propose expeditions to uncharted territories or revisiting previously explored places, strange meanderings and any other diversions that people fancy.

Often viewed as a functional place of work, retail and leisure, our city centre bounded by Trinity Way, Great Ancoats Street and the Mancunian Way is imbued with history, iniquity, celebration and endeavour. Whether you’re new to the city or you’re a life-long local, let us go out and find what’s out there, discover the forgotten spaces, create stories and map our city.

Adventurers will be split into parties and encouraged to map, photograph, document and bring back their findings to share with everyone.

You will need:

Yourself
Comfortable walking shoes or what ever you need to get around
Weather appropriate clothing (it’s Spring – bring your waterproofs just in case!)
A phone: with a camera would be advantageous
We recommend bringing some lunch, but there’s plenty of places around the city to grab something.

The event is open to all, although minors need to be accompanied.

If you would like to help out on the day, let us know.

Data For Communities – Manchester

Tuesday 18th June, 18.00 – 20.00
Manchester Central Library,
Saint Peter’s Square,
Manchester M2 5PD.

There is a wealth of data that is created for and about the communities in which we live. Although much of this data is available publically as open data it is often hard to locate with the tools and understanding needed to interpret it unduly difficult.

How can we find this data and use it for community benefit?

Consisting of a mixture of presentation and practical exercises, this workshop will try to demystify the world of data, highlight what data is and isn’t available, what it can be used for and some easy tools that can help.

Whether you are a councillor, community worker, activist or interested in how data can be used for good, this is for you. No previous experience is neccessary.

By the end of the workshop, you will:

Understand the basics of what data is
Be aware of what data can and cannot do
Have some hands-on experience of accessing online data portals and tools.

You don’t need a laptop or tablet to participate, but we recommend bringing it along if you have one. This workshop doesn’t use Excel, and there’s no need to download or install any software – everything we’ll be looking at is freely available on the internet.

Open:Data:Night – Data Viz Special

Old visualisaion of causes of mortality in the army

Tuesday 28th May, 18.30 – 20.30
Federation House
Federation Street
Manchester M4 4BF.

Open:Data:Night is an open session for anyone with an idea, project or interest related to open data and data practice.

Join us in May for a special visualisation-themed event.

We’ll have a couple of speakers presenting some interesting open data-based visualisations that they’ve created. If you have a project that you’d like to present, get in touch.

We’ll also have some quick-fire presentation slots available on the night too.

Further details and presenters to be announced soon.

Local Election Data Hack – what does the data say?

Rosary with the word 'vote' written on it

Tuesday 14th May, 18.30 – 20.30
Federation House
Federation Street
Manchester M4 4BF.

It is hard to not be distracted by what goes on in politics at a national level, but outside of the Westminster bubble good people are giving up their time to ensure their communities are represented in the development and scrutiny of how local authorities develop, manage and deliver services.

On the 2nd May approximately 270 councils across England will be holding local elections electing approximately 20,000 councilors. These council elections were last contested in 2015 on the same day as the general election and although local elections are fought primarily on a local agenda, they may be seen as a barometer of national political opinion.

These elections will create a wealth of fascinating data. for us to explore. Come on down, bring a computer, bring an idea or just bring yourself. We don’t know where we’re going, but we’ll sure have fun getting there.

Saving The Environment With Data

Tuesday 30th April, 18.30 – 20.30
Federation House
Federation Street
Manchester M4 4BF.

We are facing massive environmental crises that are intertwined with our current way of consumption and living. The complexity and scale of these problems can be disempowering, making individual positive action seem directionless and futile.

However, we can take appropriate action and measure the difference we make by using data to understand our environment, to help build evidence-based arguments for change and to hold people to account – whether it’s through seeing the impact of switching electrical devices off (and not leaving them on standby), understanding the air pollution around us so that we can make more environmentally sound choices, or by making sure our waste is recycled appropriately.

This month we’re showcasing initiatives that are using data to help the environment through tracking waste, energy monitoring and pollution, with presentations from:

If you have a data-enabled environmental project & would like to share it, then we’d love to hear from you. Send us an email.

Joy Diversion

Saturday 27th April, 11.00 – 16.00
Federation House
Federation Street
Manchester M4 4BF

Joy Diversion is back for 2019!

Join us for an day of exploring, mapping and wandering in Central Manchester and Salford. Starting with maps of Manchester and Salford from 150 years ago, we’ll propose expeditions to uncharted territories or revisiting previously explored places, strange meanderings and any other diversions that people fancy.

Often viewed as a functional place of work, retail and leisure, our city centre bounded by Trinity Way, Great Ancoats Street and the Mancunian Way is imbued with history, iniquity, celebration and endeavour. Let us go out and find what’s out there, discover the forgotten spaces, create stories and map our city.

Adventurers will be split into parties and encouraged to map, photograph, document and bring back their findings to share with everyone.

See a round up of the last Joy Diversion, which took place at ODCamp 6 in Aberdeen here.

The event is open to all, although minors need to be accompanied.

If you would like to help out on the day, let us know.