Category Archives: People

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Meet a DMer: Dilip Damle

On the DataMeet list we have started referring to each other as DMers.  So I wanted to start highlighting people who are pretty interesting and have a great insights into open data.

Dilip has been a major contributor to the list for a few years. He is always sharing data, advise, and information. He has contributed to the pincode and shapefile conversations and it always a source of support.

Where are you from? What do you do? 

I am from India, born and studied in Goa. Presently (last 28 years) based in Delhi.

By qualification I am a Mechanical Engineer.
Presently I am a freelancer (worked as an employee between 1981 and 1992)  As a one man SOHO professional I provide services to different Private organisations for themselves and some  Private organisations in turn providing services to Government agencies. Area of specialisation is mainly application of computers to Engineering, CAD, Technical publications, Cartography, Data Maintenance,  MIS reports and custom software.

I am a part time hobby programmer and have been programming since 1983 for fun and to automate my own work– VB, VBA and Autolisp.

How did you find out about DataMeet? 

I wanted to make and publish editable version of Election maps and was looking for the source of updated maps after delimitation.  I bumped in to [Raphael] Susewind’s Blog and via that page came to know about Datameet.

Why are you interested in data?

Mainly to make editable maps in common software, which I have a plan to offer free. More recently I have been doing less work on CAD and more on databases. In the process I am also hooked to the beauty of clean data represented especially in Database as against Excel.

Do you believe in open data? and why?

Yes, At least the data that is relevant to society as a whole.

Reasons:

  1. Only open data can be that Single Truth. Otherwise multiple mismatching versions float around for commercial reasons.
  2. There are no unnecessary fights over wrong data.
    (The most classic example is the India’s Boundary map. In this world of computers we have not provided a “Correct” Boundary accessible to all in a digital format and and want to stop all “Incorrect” data freely available just by legislation and expecting everyone to hold a print in your hand and come to Dehradun for “approval”. It is ridiculous.)
  3. Let there be commercial exploitation by value addition like visualization, Web Access but raw data generated by agencies that run from taxpayer’s money should be available in the open. Except for security, military and personally identifiable data.

What do you hope to learn?

I hope to interact with varied people and know newer things and techniques  that I might not have even heard of before.

What is your impression of the DataMeet community?

Good people but It is too small, needs to be bigger.

What kind of civic projects do you work on? What kinds of civic projects are you interested in working on?

I have worked on Water Supply and  Sewer networks mainly the application of computers for several years. A little on Storm water.
In future I wold love to work on Transportation modeling.

Share a visualization that you saw recently that made a big impression?  Share an article you have read recently that made a big impression? (does not have to be data related)

Share a visualization that you saw recently that made a big impression? Share an article you have read recently that made a big impression? (does not have to be data related)

A visualisation about Evolution.Evo_large

Ahmedabad, Bangalore, City, Data, DataMeet-Up, Events, Hyderabad, People

Open Access Week 2015 India Events

It’s Open Access Week! This week there are events around the country to celebrate openness and explore how far we have to go.

MapBox is putting up an amazing Open Data Gallery Tuesday the 20th in Bangalore. Come and hangout look at incredible art and projects from around the country!

In celebration DataMeet is doing its first MULTI CITY EVENT!

Join us Saturday 24th at 6:30pm for talks from Data.Gov.In, Ahmedabad and Bangalore with livestreaming between the cities!

  • Data.Gov.In will talk about the latest updates to Open Data in India.
  • Bangalore will discuss open access in general and open data projects.
  • Ahmedabad will talk about the status of Open Access in their part of the world.
  • Srinivas Kodali will talk about releasing datasets.

Bangalore’s event will be at Centre for Internet and Society.

Ahmedabad will be at CEPT University. 

Please RSVP on Facebook or Meetup.

Let’s celebrate all we have been able to accomplish as a community and look forward to continuing to promote a culture of openness, sharing, learning and collaboration.

 

Bangalore, People

Meet a DMer: Siddharth Desai

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SidPhoto

Meet a DMer.

On the DataMeet list we have started referring to each other as DMers.  So I wanted to start highlighting people who are pretty interesting and have a great insights into open data.

Siddharth Desai is one of our super volunteers, he is steadfast in his commitment to helping out with Open Data  Camps and coming to any event in Bangalore that he can.  I was really happy to interview him and learn about why open data is such an interest to him.

Where are you from? What do you do?

I am from a town in Goa called Vasco-da-gama. Moved to Bangalore 10 years ago for professional reasons. Currently, I am working as a Software Architect with Nokia(formerly NSN). My job involves building solutions in the telecom domain. I do quite a bit of data analysis and visualization as part of my work. The type of data involved is mostly engineering and planning related data.

How did you find out about DataMeet?

I have been following the Open Data Movement for some time now. I realized there were some interesting things happening here in India when I saw the event notification for the first Open Data Camp in 2012. That’s when I heard about the DataMeet and have been on the list ever since.

Do you believe in open data? and why?

I believe in open data. It’s simply a great leveler. For most part of human history, the masses have been fooled and controlled because they didn’t have access to information that a select few did. Then came along Gutenberg who invented the printing press. Suddenly, knowledge could get out of the confines of a few and into the hands of many. And that empowered people and eventually led to greater equity.

The Internet and Wikipedia have done something similar in our times. The Open Data movement is another (huge) step forward in putting an end to all un-necessary information asymmetry.

What do you hope to learn? Contribute?

As part of my work, I have acquired the skills for making sense of complex data sets. I am hoping to put those skills to good use by contributing to any initiative that requires support.

Everytime I am at a data meet or data camp, I get to learn so much about life – about challenges in different non technical areas of data, like social and political contexts around data and information.

What is your impression of the datameet community?

Where else do people from such a diverse background meet. We have Academics and Hackers, NGOs and Bureaucrats, Journalists and Businessmen, Designers and more. With such an impressive line-up , there is huge potential to make an impact.

What kind of civic projects do you work on? What kinds of civic projects are you interested in working on?

Really anything that does good. Particularly, if anyone has any ideas in medical or healthcare spaces, I’d be glad to join. I’ve noticed during various illnesses in the family, that a lot of information on treatment efficacy, side effects, doctor/hospital failures, is shrouded in secrecy. This really needs to be available openly to all for closer scrutiny.

Share a visualization that you saw recently that made a big impression? Share an article you have read recently that made a big impression? (does not have to be data related)

There is this visualization by David McCandless that I love (partly because I enjoy sci-fi a lot).  It visualizes time travel in popular films and tv series. The approach to displaying a non-linear timeline is pretty creative.