nerd nite wellington

Posts Tagged ‘Cam Findlay’

We’re baaaaack! And we have a super-special edition of Nerd Nite Wellington lined up for you.

Poster! Click to enlarge and print out for your school/workplace/laboratory/lair.

Ahead of NZ’s largest hackathon – focusing on open data and open government, no less – GovHack, and the Open Source//Open Society (un)conference and related events in July/August, we thought we’d dive into “open”. But what does it all mean?

We’ve got the brilliant Steven Price, Rochelle Stewart-Allen and Cam Findlay talking all things open government, open data and open source.

RSVP on Facebook by clicking on this link

We’ll be opening up at:

• Hotel Bristol (Cuba Street)
• 6pm (speakers to start at 6:30pm)
• Monday 18 July 2016.

It’s going to be AWESOME.

• Find out more about GovHack NZ (9 locations across NZ, free event, 29-31 July)
• Find out more about OS//OS (Wellington, multiple events in July/August)

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Lineup

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On Open Government (aka #opengov)
Steven Price, VUW

Steven will briefly describe the Open Government Partnership and outline his report on New Zealand’s first OGP action plan (it wasn’t complimentary). He’s also happy to take questions on our official information laws.

Steven Price is a Wellington barrister and adjunct lecturer in media law at Victoria University of Wellington. He’s the author of “Media Minefield: A Journalists’ Guide to Media Regulation in New Zealand”, and blogs at medialawjournal.co.nz. His biggest claim to fame is as Nicky Hager’s lawyer.

Steven is also the New Zealand reporter for the Open Government Partnership, an international initiative that promotes transparency, accountability and citizen participation in government.

On Open Data (aka #opendata)
Rochelle Stewart-Allen (@RStewartAllen)

The real value of open data comes when people outside those who collected it take those raw datasets and analyse them, visualise them, track trends, build new apps, or find new and innovative solutions to old problems. What makes open data significant is not that the data is available, it is that the raw material becomes a tool to engage people. It is a tool for participation. Rochelle will provide an overview of how open data is changing the world, where to find it, and ways the data is being used to drive new social and economic outcomes.

With a passion for transparency, accountability and justice, Rochelle has long been a firm believer in open government and open education. As Senior Advisor for the cross-government Open Government Information and Data Programme at Land Information NZ, Rochelle’s focus is on driving active engagement between government, business and civil society about open data.

On Open Source (aka #opensource) or, “Open source: More than just free code”
Cam Findlay, SilverStripe (@cameronfindlay)

Open source is sometimes misunderstood as a concept. While we often think of it as software and code, it’s a much wider topic. Open source extends into many areas of discussion. From peer production, copyright and licensing, communities to the failings of the English language and much more. This talk will introduce you to the multifaceted world of open source. You’ll pick up terminology, ideas and examples  to help you explore the open source concept as a part of an open culture.

Cam’s been working with open source software for over a decade across various technical projects and roles. He’s also recently been back to study the social aspects of the tech business and communities as social knowledge systems at Massey University. He describes himself as a socio-technologist, and his unique mix of technical-plus-people has seen him involved in online education ventures, open source community management at SilverStripe and advising the New Zealand Government on open source software policy.

Cam has a keen interest social learning, communities of practice and informal organisational structures that foster effective collaboration and peer production.

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