The Open Data Effect: Creating Optimistic Radicals At OKFest

I am Stephen Davenport, Director of Innovation at Development Gateway, and recently I attended my first Open Knowledge event, the OKFestival in Helsinki Finland. As a development professional with a technology background I am often skeptical of such events as too soft a subject. What is knowledge anyway? It’s too generic. It’s too easy to immerse yourself in the theoretical and loose sight of the practical.

However, it seems I am behind the times. The discussions of the ideological, the political, and the practical created a compelling mix at the University Aalto University School of Arts, Design, and Architecture. I was able to participate on two panels:

• The Future of Open Government Bar
• The Challenges of Crowdsourcing Data