History – Canadian Open Data Society

History of the Canadian Open Data Society

The Canadian Open Data Summit (CODS), now evolving into the Canadian Open Data Society (any coincidence of acronyms is regretted!) has been the annual event where the most pressing challenges facing the open data community are addressed on a national stage. Advocates from all sectors have come together to share best practices and local experiences, learn from top international experts, and grow the community strategically and collaboratively.

CODS is one of a suite of strong open data events and organizations across Canada, all of which demonstrate that the Canadian Open community has been rapidly gaining momentum over the past year. Overlapping circles of passionate citizens across Canada meet regularly to create partnerships, among them advancing two exciting near-term deliverables:

the Open Hub, a web portal/clearinghouse for Open information in Canada, now in alpha, soon to be at http://ouropenhub.ca ; and
a non-profit member-based entity to steer future CODS.

In addition, GO Open Data (the Ontario Open Data annual summit) is in its seventh year, there are efforts to federate open portals such as that in Niagara, and in May Canada hosted the Global Summit of the Open Government Partnership and many sister events. These are exciting times for the open movement.

CODS has been and remains a grassroots, community-led event. It began in 2013 in British Columbia. The volunteer national organizing committee decided in 2019 to incorporate and co-found the Canadian Open Data Society,.

Timeline

February 19, 2013

B.C. Open Data Summit

The B.C. Open Data Summit was held at Simon Fraser University’s Segal Graduate School of Business in downtown Vancouver, founded and organized by Herb Lainchbury and the BC Open Data Society.

2014

First Canadian Open Data Summit

The First Canadian Open Data Summit was held in Vancouver.

May 25, 2015

Canadian Open Data Summit in Ottawa

CODS15 held outside BC for the first time, in Ottawa, to leverage the third International Open Data Conference, also taking place in Ottawa. CODS15 host was Open North. The Canadian Open Data Award was given to the City of Edmonton.

April 27-28, 2016

Canadian Open Data Summit in Saint John

Co-hosted by New Brunswick Social Policy Research Network and nb+, a collaboration between the Government of New Brunswick and IT industry group, TechImpact. Canadian Open Data Awards (full slate) created, leveraging CODS15’s categories for the original single award. New award for Canadian Open Data Leader of the Year, won by Dr Tracey Lauriault. There were sister events on open data for non-profits and a data visualization challenge. The City of Surrey, BC won both the Open Data for Democracy Award and the overall Canadian Open Data Excellence Award 2016. A good summary can be found at: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/data/2016/05/31/canadian-open-data-summit-2016-recap/

June 12-14, 2017

Canadian Open Data Summit in Edmonton

The Canadian Open Data Excellence Award 2018 went to Données Québec. Canadian Open Data Rising Star 2018 was the Skeena Knowledge Trust. The Summit concluded with a consensus that the stakeholders strongly desired a community of practice around Open Data.

June 12-14, 2017

Canadian Open Data Summit in Edmonton

2019-2020

A Busy Year for the Open Movement

CODS Governance Working Group struck
Recommendation accepted to form a non-profit membership based Canadian Open Data Society to replace the unincorporated volunteer committee that had been ensuring the Summit took place annually
Recommendation accepted to skip 2019 and hold the next CODS in 2020 (roughly 18 months after CODS18/Niagara), using the gap year to get the Society started, to set up a Board of Directors and membership, and to course-correct the Summit back to being a spring event.
August 2019: Board-to-be chosen
October 2019: First meeting of Board-to-be
Pandemic Pivot!
May 2020: Incorporation of Canadian Open Data Society
June 2020: First genuine Board meeting
2021: First CODS under the Society’s aegis, first AGM, election of next Board by member.

Democracy dies in darkness (Washington Post). But the better perspective is that democracy thrives in the open. The open movement is all about keeping our society and our government human-centred in the digital age - and about putting on our own tights and a cape, each of us, as citizens, to do our bit to fortify democracy.

History of the Canadian Open Data Society

Timeline

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