Round up from Data, Mashups and APIs
by Chris Unitt on August 20th, 2009 in After the event | 6 Comments
Last night’s event at Fazeley Studios, looking at the many, varied and increasingly important uses of data went very well, thanks to a great turnout and some fantastic talks.
The talks
Dave Harte opened proceedings. Here are the slides from his talk ‘Timely Information to Citizens‘
Dave Harte at #dmapi by chrisunitt
Michael Brunton-Spall spoke about ‘Mashing up The Guardian‘ (or their data, at least).
Michael Brunton-Spall at #dmapi by chrisunitt
Matthew Somerville covered his own and mySociety‘s dealings with data and mashups. He’s kindly uploaded his slides to his website too (featuring some lovely photos of Scotland).
Matthew Somerville at #dmapi by chrisunitt
Paul Bradshaw rounded the event off, speaking about the inspiration behind Help Me Investigate and his own thoughts on ‘database journalism’.
Paul Bradshaw at #dmapi by chrisunitt
Other media
Christian Payne was on hand to interview Michael Brunton-Spall and Matthew Somerville using Audioboo:
A few blog posts have been popping up:
- Stuart Harrison has written a great round-up of the evening and also put all the #dmapi-tagged tweets from the evening into a Google Docs spreadsheet
- Tom Graham from Jadu has posted a write-up too
- Paul Bradshaw on the Online Journalism Blog – The Guardian kicks off the local data landgrab
- Jamie Garner has rounded up his tweets
- Tom Martin liked the cupcakes
And here’s a Twitter search for #dmapi.
What next?
There certainly seems to be an appetite for similar events, hack days and the like. As I said when summing up, keep an eye on Multipack and the Birmingham Social Media Cafe for future events. For a digest of other digital events in the region visit Digital Brum.
Also, the West Midlands Regional Observatory have just announced an excellent looking event called Sharing Information Digitally, taking place at Millennium Point on 7 October. There’s further info on the event see the WMRO blog.
Thanks
I’m indebted to a number of people who helped the event run as smoothly as it did:
- The speakers – Dave Harte, Michael Brunton-Spall, Matthew Somerville and Paul Bradshaw
- The sponsors – The Guardian, Barefoot Wine and (ongoing supporters of the BSMC) Screen WM
- Kate Manion at Fazeley Studios for providing the excellent surroundings and catering
- Will Perrin (of Talk About Local) for the initial introduction to the Guardian team
Thanks to everyone who attended too.
The Birmingham Social Media Cafe returns to Coffee Lounge on Friday 28 August, 10am to midday. I hope to see you there.
August 24th, 2009 at 3:23 pm (#)
Hey Guys
This was my first BSMC event. I had a great evening learning all about the exciting and slightly daunting world of mashups. Thanks to everyone for making me feel so welcome and not being too judgmental about my absolute lack of knowledge (which is increasing quickly!)
Look forward to seeing you all again next time.
Rebecca (from The Producers Forum)
August 24th, 2009 at 3:27 pm (#)
It’s fair to say you’re not the only one who finds data a little daunting! Glad you enjoyed it and hopefully see you again soon.
August 24th, 2009 at 3:44 pm (#)
[...] summarise the whole event. A huge amount of material was covered and Chris Unitt has already posted this very detailed round up pulling together all of the talks and [...]
August 24th, 2009 at 9:40 pm (#)
[...] So, the event came and went, my headspace was truly challenged, and I met some great people again. I started thinking, how do I collate all I’ve learned, to apply it to future projects. I need not have worried. That fine chap, @ChrisUnitt has done all the hard work for us all, right here http://www.birminghamsmc.com/2009/08/20/round-up-from-data-mashups-and-apis/ [...]
September 1st, 2009 at 7:05 pm (#)
[...] organised an extra BSMC event, sponsored by The Guardian and catchily titled ‘Data, Mashups and APIs‘. If the level of discussion it provoked is any indication it’d be fair to say it was a [...]
September 14th, 2009 at 1:29 pm (#)
[...] Round up from Data, Mashups and APIs | Birmingham Social Media Cafe – [...]