Update

Hello, Open Data fans! If you’ve wondered “What is going on with PEI ODBC? “, you’re not alone. We are long overdue for an update. This post will quickly summarize the past year and discuss some challenges/changes.

2017 In Review

To be honest, there hasn’t been a lot of activity this year. On the plus side, Sean Whalley and others co-ordinated a hackathon for Open Data Day in March 2017 (recap here) on behalf of the parent group, PEI Developers. Also in March, members of the club attended a dialogue facilitated by Don Lenihan as part of Canada 2020’s Open Dialogue tour.

However, there have been no monthly meetings. This is due to funding issues for a meeting space, and a lack of data set suggestions. The ODBC has been dormant, and not in keeping with the original plan, but our members remain committed to dialogue (see below)!

Migration From MeetUp

Michael Easter (author of this post) had sponsored the MeetUp subscription but that expense is hard to justify as it stands. Especially, since there are other, free resources. So at the end of 2017, the MeetUp group will expire. However, to continue the conversation, please join one or more of the following:

• We have a Slack channel (#opendata) on the PEI Devs Slack team. To request an invite, please fill out this form
• Our Twitter account
• Our Facebook Page
• We check email bi-weekly at opendatapei @ gmail

The Road Ahead

We have a dedicated core of members who want to advocate Open Data on PEI. For example, we had good attendance for the hackathon and quickly recruited members for the Canada 2020 on super-short notice.

The ODBC is a spin-off from the PEI Devs MeetUp, which is primarily based on software development. PEI Devs is a very robust group that has been meeting regularly for over 5 years. Because of the overlap, we can likely have a “data set night” at PEI Devs.

So there is still a forum for meetings, when the opportunity arises! (We will eventually drop the “Book Club” from our online presence. It is painful to admit, but clearly we aren’t in keeping with the spirit of that movement/franchise).

Please join one of the links above and stay in touch! Thanks very much to everyone who has presented, attended, and sponsored since the first meeting on September 2015.