Availability of public sector information and transparency of public sector have been discussed in the Czech Republic for some time now. Although public sector organisations provide various datasets to the public they are often difficult to find and due to the lack of data formats standardisation attempts to reuse these datasets in useful applications may require significant effort. Open Data is an emerging trend in data provisioning and knowledge sharing. It can help public sector to become more transparent and to provide data that is easily accessible and better reusable.
In the Czech Republic Open Data is a relatively new phenomenon and public sector organisations are just starting to get aware of the concept of Open Data and its principles. In order to introduce this concept and the basic principles it is build upon and to show possible benefits of the open data to the public sector, the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Chamber of Deputies, the OpenData.cz initiative, and the Open Society Fund Prague, with support from the LOD2 project and the Open Knowledge Forum Austria (the Austrian Chapter of the OKF), organise the conference Open Data and Public Sector: applying Austrian experience in Czech Republic.
Both in Austrian municipalities and federal government the open data principles are applied systematically. This conference, which takes place on the February 28th 2012 on the premises of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Chamber of Deputies, is aimed at sharing practical experience from Austrian public sector. The invitation to the conference was kindly accepted by Daniel Medimorec (Austrian Federal Chancellery, Member of Digital Austria, Member of Cooperation Open Government Data Österreich), Stefan Pawel (project leader for Open Commons Region Linz), Marco Schreuder: Member of the Austrian Federal Council, Green Party Vienna, and Martin Kaltenböck (Managing Partner and CFO at Semantic Web Company, member of Open Knowledge Forum Österreich (OKFO) and Cooperation Open Government Data Österreich). Complementing the Austrian side, the ongoing open data activities in Czech Republic will by presented.
We hope that this conference will help to further develop the open data both in the Czech Republic and Austria, and we believe that it is a great opportunity to start cooperation between representatives of Czech and Austrian public sector organisations.
For the conference programme and additional information please visit the OpenData.cz website.
