#OpendataCH19 Forum – how the day will run

  • Forum

4 July is now a little less than a month away! In this post you will find out how we envisage the forum running and how you can contribute your topics and experience. You can register at opendata.ch/2019.

The organising team of Nikki Böhler, Rahel Ryf, Oleg Lavrovsky and Andreas Amsler has been working in weekly iterations since the beginning of March to prepare this year’s meeting of the Swiss open data community. This is what we have communicated so far:

We have been able to win over a well-connected and helpful host (thank you, SBB), generous supporters (thank you, Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA/Federal Statistical Office FSO, FAIRTIQ AG, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Federal Office of Transport FOT, Nine Internet Solutions AG and BEGASOFT AG) and competent communication partners (thank you, Digitale Gesellschaft, CH Open and STAATSLABOR) for our project.

We have visited the premises at SBB headquarters in Bern-Wankdorf (thank you, Rahel Ryf and Christian Trachsel) and are currently preparing everything needed to offer our participants an exciting experience on 4 July.

 

This “conference” is your conference

The participatory format of this year’s meeting was inspired by the #OneTeamGovGlobal Unconference in London eleven months ago, with more than 700 participants from all over the world. Three weeks ago, the second #OneTeamGovGlobal Unconference, with 250 participants in Victoria BC, Canada, was just as participatory and successful. On 4 July we expect between 150 and 200 participants at the #OpendataCH19 Forum .

The #OneTeamGov movement, which has grown strongly over the past 18 months, especially in the Anglo-Saxon and Nordic countries, is characterised by 7 fundamental principles (in English, French). The Swiss #OneTeamGov supporters will translate them into German in the coming months. We are organising the #OpendataCH19 Forum in the spirit of these principles.

We believe that the practical application of the principles can help us – the Swiss open data community – to bring the needs, experiences and expectations of the various members of our community into exchange with one another in a way that fosters understanding and is beneficial. This is new and, as far as we know, has not been done in this way in Switzerland before.

You are going to take part in this year’s forum – great! Here is what you need to know now:

 

How to get your topic on the agenda on 4 July

After a welcome from the president of the Opendata.ch association, Andreas Kellerhals, and an inspiring keynote by Charlotte Lindsey-Curtet of the ICRC, the ball is in your court at around 09:50:

  • If you could exchange ideas with others on just one topic, question, need or challenge today, what would it be?

Important: our participants are not looking for products or services; they want to clarify a question or a need together, or master a topic or a challenge.

This is how you prepare for this task, which we will set at the start for all participants:

  1. Think about what this topic, question, need or challenge is for you.
  2. Formulate it briefly yet comprehensibly (in a single sentence).

If you have a little more time and want to check how understandable your sentence is, give it (without any further explanation of its content) to someone else and ask that person to explain it to you. That way you will find out what is still not clear enough and what you should adjust.

All topics contributed on site by forum participants on 4 July are valuable. We will make them all – provided they are legible – publicly available as a list of contributed topics, without stating who wrote them. This list will influence the actions of the Swiss open data community for at least the next 12 months.

On 4 July itself we will have room and time to discuss around 16 of the topics you contribute. 45 minutes are planned per topic. At least four discussion rounds will take place in parallel each time. The participants on site decide which 16 topics groups of interested people will discuss, using a simple method that has been successfully tested with more than 700 participants. We won’t reveal any more today – you will enjoy the element of surprise.

 

How to put together your programme on 4 July

At around 10:15 the day’s programme – that is, at least the first four and second four parallel discussion rounds of the morning programme – will be available to you. Now you can choose which group you want to join.

The topics will meet with varying levels of interest among the participants, which need not be directly related to their importance for the subject of open data. But it can be an indication. The main thing is that we manage to bring together those who – possibly for different reasons – are interested in the same or a similar topic. That is our goal for the day.

You may leave a discussion round and switch to another, provided you do not disturb others. You are of course also free simply to take a break or to have an ad hoc exchange with someone. It is your conference. After past conferences we often heard that the programme was too packed. This year it won’t be – unless you want it to be.

 

How we support you when “your” topic is discussed on 4 July

We offer you and those interested in the same or a similar topic:

  • a room and 45 minutes (after that the discussion must be interrupted so that participants can take a break and move on to the next discussion round);
  • a minute-taker who notes the topic, the question and the points of discussion, in every case without naming the individual speakers (we will make these anonymous minutes publicly available after the forum; quoting participants publicly without their express consent is expressly prohibited, as it weakens the openness of the contributions they make to the discussion);
  • on request, we provide a moderator who leads the group discussion and makes sure that not only the bold and dominant get to speak, but also the cautious and quiet.

 

How to bring your questions, thoughts and experience into the discussions on 4 July

It sounds trite, but it’s true: every contribution counts! Participants have very different levels of knowledge on various aspects. But specialists and their expertise also benefit from simple questions, from needs formulated from one’s own perspective, and from challenges, obstacles and solutions described in generally understandable terms.

That is why: your contribution has value! If you feel you are not being treated appropriately in a discussion, let us know. We are on site – in the discussion rounds – or you can speak to a volunteer (T-shirt). They will take you to a member of the organising team.

 

What happens after 4 July

We at the Opendata.ch association aim to make the list of topics you contribute, like a needs analysis, our guiding priorities for at least the next 12 months. That is our ambition.

We will make the minutes of the anonymised discussion rounds available online to everyone. In this way, within a few hours, we will together create a small and, above all, up-to-date open data encyclopaedia, which we will make openly available to the public.

To participants in discussion rounds who wish it, we offer support for voluntarily staying in touch with one another afterwards. One possibility might be, for example, to form a working group on a topic and pursue it further in cooperation with an association board and other stakeholders.

 

Last but not least, the most important thing for us: your feedback

We still have some time to respond to your needs. However, we will no longer be able to make major changes.

What we definitely need from you now are your questions that remain open or have newly arisen after reading this long post. Please share them with us here in a comment.

Many thanks!