Photo courtesy of the State Library of South Australia
It’s been a big year for the Open Knowledge movement in South Australia.
Adelaide played host to Dr Rufus Pollock, founder of the Open Knowledge Foundation at the end of August. In an action packed day Rufus spoke to the South Australian Executive Service and engaged in a public discussion on open knowledge hosted by Marcus Brownlow at the State Library of South Australia.
Hot on the heels of Rufus’ visit, in September Premier Jay Weatherill issued an open data declaration, requiring all South Australian government agencies to make data openly accessible.
South Australia is embracing open knowledge and 2014 is set to be a big year as well!
The Open Knowledge Foundation is now represented in SA by Ambassadors, based in Adelaide, and introduced below. We plan to coordinate between areas of open knowledge including open government, open data, open technology, open research, data journalism and more, in order to grow an understanding of open knowledge and what it can mean for South Australians.
You can contact us at adelaide.okfn@gmail.com.
Marcus Brownlow
He likes the stories that numbers can tell, and likes them more when they have a business or other relevance. Depending on the context, the stories can be about risk or opportunity, profit or loss, money or people, business or society. Open Data and Open Knowledge are increasingly important components in this data-driven story telling.
He presents regularly at industry and other seminars on analytics and data visualisation topics and has helped to establish the SA Chapter of the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia.
He is a Fellow of the Governor’s Leadership Foundation and holds a PhD from The University of Adelaide.
Carolyn Anderson
Carolyn Anderson is an experienced Executive and Public Policy expert who has advised on and influenced many public policy areas including technology, innovation, digital economy, science and research, skills and education, industry development and community capacity building.
Carolyn is currently working as a Strategist with Explor – Digital Futures, a national consultancy specializing in assisting governments, councils, institutions, communities and organisations to realize the benefits of a digitally enabled and pervasively connected world.
As a South Australian Government Executive for 14 years Carolyn led the development of South Australia’s efforts to become a high skilled, high value add economy through the support and application of science, technology and innovation. Her team was responsible for the provision of broadband infrastructure in regional and metropolitan areas in areas of market failure and which had demonstrably contributed to the economic performance in areas enabled by broadband. She was also responsible for the digital literacy resource Forward IT that has been identified nationally and internationally as best practice.
She is an experienced commercial lawyer having worked in both private practice and in the Crown Solicitor’s Office specializing in commercial, public administration, contract, and intellectual property law.
She holds a Masters of Laws and a Master of Business Administration. She also is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Director’s Diploma.
Carolyn has held many board positions and is currently a member of the Advisory Board for Fab Lab Adelaide, Australia’s first MIT endorsed digital fabrication laboratory and a Non Executive Director of The Australian Dance Theatre, Australia’s premier contemporary dance company.
Ben McNamara
Ben McNamara is a data geek. He is working as a business intelligence consultant, a DBA and a software developer for a number of clients.
With the vast amounts of data being collected today comes the opportunity to provide insight, knowledge and understanding. Ben would like to see currently siloed datasets released for the community to build bigger and better ideas upon. He has become involved with the Open Knowledge Foundation to help raise awareness regarding open knowledge, open data and open-ness in general.
Cathy Miller
Cathy Miller is a librarian whose career has led her to spend more time working outside of libraries than within them! Currently Research Data Librarian at the University of Adelaide, Cathy’s work focuses on research data management and supporting researchers to share and publish their datasets.
Cathy was drawn to working in the library and information management industry because of its underlying values in making information accessible. This same principle is what has lead her to become involved in the Open Knowledge Foundation.