Friday, March 5 all day, there is a fantastic conference at
Ottawa University for the inauguration of the
Centre for Law, Technology and Society:
Taking Stock of Tech: Reflections on Law, Technology and Society. The conference
Program is fantastic and includes some of the world’s foremost authorities on things law, infrastructure, data, socio-tehnology…
Thursday, March 4, Cambridge Room of the Holiday Inn, 111 Cooper Street in downtown Ottawa at 5:00 p.m., Lecture: Zeroing In: Infrastructure Ruins and Datalands in Afghanistan and Iraq by Dr. Lisa Parks, chair of film and media studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB)
Parks will analyze satellite images of declassified
pictures of bombed sites in Afghanistan and Iraq in the context of the
American policy that limits access to satellite images due to U.S.
national security interests, as well as discussing some of the
controversy surrounding the use of Google Earth..
Today, March 1, The City of Ottawa IT-Sub Committee meeting discussed Open Data.
3 Constituents spoke: Barry from Open StreetMap Ottawa, Hacktivist Edward Ocampo-Gooding and Tracey P. Lauriault.
I characterize the sentiment as cautious optimism, with concerns
regarding the private sector capitalizing on open data, cost recovery,
and cost priorities of the city. The argument was made that business
being innovative with data was good as they are our employers, our tax
payers and our revenue generators.
There was great support from Councilor Legendre,
Rideau-Rockliffe Ward, stating that the most dangerous argument being
made was for ‘democracy’. He was also very surprised that the City did
not already have such a an open data policy in place. The Chair of the
Committee, Councillor Wilkinson Kanata Ward, was very interested in different applications, while Councillors Chiarelli, College ward and Desroches
of Gloucester-South Nepean Ward, expressed concern for costs to
implement and the loss of potential revenue generating activities.
Bref
– The ideas of open data, open access or open government were new to
all the councillors and my take is much education is required to help
our representatives understand the issues.
City Staff did a great job putting together a presentation showcasing
other city initiatives, innovative applications, benefits to the city
and the demand for this by citizens.
--
Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
https://gcrc.carleton.ca/confluence/display/GCRCWEB/Lauriault
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