The first Central Asian Open Data Hackathon was held in Bishkek and Issyk-Kul on June 09-13.
The first Central Asian Open Data Hackathon was attended by 70 activists, journalists and programmers from throughout the region. Training sessions were delivered by open data experts from Russia, the US and Israel.
The main purpose of using open data is to bring solutions to actual problems by creating relevant problem-solving tools, which help improve access to services and information, and increase the transparency of government.
During the event, representatives of the media, civil society activists and programmers learned and worked together with open data. As a result, fourteen media materials and articles, 14 social projects, and 8 prototypes of software products were developed.
Short promovideo of the event
The best works were awarded with valuable prizes.
First place was taken by team ‘OpenEdu’ (Tajikistan).
Within the framework of the project “Open data of educational institutions in Dushanbe”, an electronic database of educational institutions, an electronic map of institutions and an on-line registration were implemented, and data visualized.
Participants:
1) Asom Sherali
2) Sukhorb Niyozov
3) Zevar Davlatmamadova
4) Komil Radzhabov
5) Bakhityor Bakhriddinov
6) Farishtamokh Gulova
Second place was taken by team ‘Rocket’ (Kyrgyzstan).
Project ‘OpenBilim’ aims to create a tool to improve the quality of education based on rating of educational institutions and test results provided by the National Testing Center of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Participants:
1) Aselya Omarkhanova
2) Almaz Chanachev
3) Elena Baranovski
4) Kanat Tabaldiyev
5) Zhenish Aidarov
6) Kairat Bekmambetov
§ Best software – project ‘Open Parliament’.
Information from the web-site of Jogorku Kenesh (www.kenesh.kg) on parliament members’ attendance and voting results were used as input data for the project.
Participants:
– Nikolai Pikhota (Kyrgyzstan)
– Anton Soroka (Kyrgyzstan)
§ Best social project among activists — Shamir Rayapov (Kyrgyzstan)
Using a special application to organize an efficient work of ambulance.
§ Best media material — Farishtamokh Gulova (Tajikistan)
Media material on girls’ education in Tajikistan was prepared on the basis of the information provided by the Department of Education, Dushanbe, the report by UNICEF and the Agency of Statistics under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan.
Consolation prizes:
Kairat Bekmambetov— the best infographics on education among journalists.
Damira Tilenova — the most interesting social initiative to organize blood collection without intermediaries.
Elena Baranovski — the best presentation of the project “Open Bilim”.
Prototypes of applications will be further elaborated and presented to the public during 2015.
“Today, when there is too much information, it must be clear, precise and brief to be presented to the public. Information intended for dissemination should be short, but impressive. A well-designed infographics makes it easy to represent large amounts of data in an accessible format. Tools designed for work with open data can easily bring to the surface information, hidden in huge tables and files, on aspects of government’s work, their decisions and expenditures”, says Lira Samykbaeva, Manager of the Freedom of Information Program of the Soros Foundation-Kyrgyzstan.
The event was organized by the Public Foundation IT Attractor with the support of the Soros Foundation-Kyrgyzstan and with the participation of the World Bank.
Hackathon is a developers’ forum for experts from different areas of software development (programmers, designers, managers) to work together to solve problems.
Within the framework of the Open Data Initiative, Soros Foundation-Kyrgyzstan supports the idea of free access to public information, open government, transparency and accountability. This Initiative allows monitoring and forecasting the level of corruption in any area of political, social and economic life of the country, if any such data are freely available.
Open Data is a global world movement aimed at social and economic development through the provision of access to information of public interest. Open data is information that anyone is free to use and distribute. The only acceptable requirement is to indicate the source of data and distribute them under the same conditions as the original.
For full photo report, please see the FB page on open data in Kyrgyzstan https://www.facebook.com/opendatakyrgyzstan