Open Knowledge Foundation

Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) is a global, non-profit

network that promotes and shares information at no charge, Open Knowledge
including both content and data.[1] It was founded by Rufus Foundation
Pollock on 20 May 2004[2] in Cambridge, UK. It is incorporated
in England and Wales as a private company limited by
guarantee.[1] Between May 2016 and May 2019 the organisation
was named Open Knowledge International,[3] but decided in May Abbreviation OKF
2019 to return to Open Knowledge Foundation.[4]
Formation 20 May 2004
Founder Rufus Pollock
Aims
Type Nonprofit
The aims of Open Knowledge Foundation are:[1] organisation
Tax ID no. 05133759[1]
Promoting the idea of open knowledge, both what it is,
Focus Open knowledge
and why it is a good idea.
broadly, including
Running open knowledge events, such as OKCon.
open access, open
Working on open knowledge projects, such as Open
Economics or Open Shakespeare. content, open
Providing infrastructure, and potentially a home, for science and open
open knowledge projects, communities and resources. data
For example, the KnowledgeForge service and CKAN. Location 86-90 Paul Street,
Acting at UK, European and international levels on London, EC2A 4NE,
open knowledge issues.
United Kingdom
Area served International
People Key people Rufus Pollock,
Renata Ávila Pinto
Renata Ávila Pinto joined as the new Chief Executive Officer of
the Open Knowledge Foundation in October 2021.[5] From (CEO)
February 2019 to August 2020, Catherine Stihler served as CEO. Website okfn.org (http://okf
She left the Open Knowledge Foundation to become the CEO of n.org)
[6]
Creative Commons. Between 2015–2017 Pavel Richter took on
the role of CEO of Open Knowledge Foundation. Pavel was formerly Executive Director of Wikimedia
Deutschland.

The Open Knowledge Foundation Advisory Council includes people from the areas of open access, open
data, open content, open science, data visualization and digital rights. In 2015, it consisted of:[7]

Andrew Stott Denis Parfenov

Becky Hogge Peter Murray-Rust
Benjamin Mako Hill Sören Auer
Carolina Rossini Glyn Moody
Christopher Corbin Hannes Gassert
Daniel Dietrich Lynn M.Combs-Heard
 Jordan S. Hatcher Hans Rosling
Jo Walsh John Naughton
Mark Surman Nigel Shadbolt
Mayo Fuster Morell Panagiotis Bamidis
Nat Torkington Peter Suber
Pieter Colpaert Yasodara Cordova

Network
As of 2018, Open Knowledge Foundation has 11 official chapters and 38 groups in different countries.[8]
In November 2022, the Open Knowledge Network was relaunched with two new projects.[9]

It also supports 19 working groups.

Lobbying Transparency Open Humanities

Open Access Open Linguistics
Open Bibliography Open Product Data
Open Definition Open Science
Open Design & Hardware OpenSpending
Open Development Open Sustainability
Open Economics Open Transport (project)
Open Education Personal Data and Privacy
OpenGLAM Public Domain
Open Government Data

Operations
Many of Open Knowledge Foundation's projects are technical in
nature. Its most prominent project, CKAN, is used by many of the
world's governments to host open catalogues of data that their
countries possess.[11]

The organisation tends to support its aims by hosting infrastructure

for semi-independent projects to develop. This approach to Interview with Michael Bauer, Open
organising was hinted as one of its earliest projects was a project Knowledge Foundation former
management service called KnowledgeForge, which runs on the employee at Centre de Cultura
KForge platform. KnowledgeForge allows sectoral working groups Contemporània de Barcelona[10]
to have space to manage projects related to open knowledge. More
widely, the project infrastructure includes both technical and face-
to-face aspects. The organisation hosts several dozen mailing lists for virtual discussion, utilises IRC for
real-time communications and also hosts events.

Advocacy

Open Knowledge Foundation is an active partner with organisations working in similar areas, such as open
educational resources.[12]
Open Knowledge Foundation has produced the Open Knowledge Definition, an attempt to clarify some of
the ambiguity surrounding the terminology of openness,[13] as well as the Open Software Service
Definition.[14] It also supported the development of the Open Database License (ODbL).[15]

Outside of technology, Open Knowledge Foundation plays a role in advocating for openness broadly. This
includes supporting the drafting of reports, facilitating consultation[16][17] and producing guides.[18]

Rufus Pollock, one of Open Knowledge Foundation's founders, and current board secretary sits on the UK
government's Public Sector Transparency Board.[19]

Technical

The foundation places a

strong interest in the use of
open source technologies.
Its software projects are Banner for the Geodata project in Spanish
hosted on GitHub, which
utilises the Git version
control software. Some of the projects are listed below:[20]

CKAN, a tool that provides store for metadata. This

enables governments to quickly and cheaply provide a
catalogue of their data.[21]
Datahub,[22] a community-run catalogue of useful sets of
data on the Internet. Depending on the type of data (and
its conditions of use), Datahub may also be able to store
a copy of the data or host it in a database, and provide
some basic visualisation tools.
Frictionless Data,[23] a collection of standards and tools
for publishing data.
Open bibliography, broadly construed as efforts to
catalogue and build tools for working with and publishing
bibliographic resources,[24][25] with particular emphasis
on those works that are in the public domain and public
domain calculators. Examples include the
OpenGLAM logo
Bibliographica, Public Domain Works, Open
Shakespeare,[26] Open Text Book[27] and The Public
Domain Review[28] projects.
OpenGLAM,[29] an initiative that promotes free and open access to digital cultural heritage,
held by GLAMs: Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums.[30] OpenGLAM is co-funded by
the European Commission as part of the DM2E (Digitised Manuscripts to Europeana)
project.[31]
Open Economics[32]
Open Knowledge Forums[33]
Information Accessibility Initiative
Open geodata[34]
Guide to open data licensing
"Get the Data" — a web-site for questions and answer on how to get data sets.
 POD - Product Open Data

Events

Much of the collaboration with other related organisations occurs via events that the foundation hosts.[35]
Its premier event is the Open Knowledge Conference (OKCon), which has been held occasionally since
2007.[36] Other events have been organised within the areas of data visualisation[37] and free information
network infrastructure.[38]

Annually, Open Knowledge Foundation supports International Open Data Day

Panton Principles and Fellowships (Open data in Science)

The Panton Principles (for Open Data in Science) in 2010 had large contributions from Open Knowledge
people and in 2011 Jonathan Gray and Peter Murray-Rust successfully obtained funding from OSF for two
fellowships, held by Sophie Kershaw and Ross Mounce. In 2013 OKF obtained sponsorship from
CCIA[39] for 3 fellowships, which were awarded to Rosemarie Graves,[40] Sam Moore, and Peter
Kraker.[41]

Other

Open Knowledge Foundation also supports Apps for Europe,[42]

and D-CENT, a European project created to share and organise
data from seven countries, which ran from October 2013 to May
2016.[43]

See also
Access to Knowledge movement
Free Knowledge Foundation
Open Data Institute
Open education D-CENT logo
Tactical Technology Collective

References
1. Open Knowledge Foundation. "About Us" (http://okfn.org/about/). Retrieved 27 April 2011.
2. "Open Knowledge Foundation launched" (https://blog.okfn.org/2004/05/24/open-knowledge-
foundation-launched/). Open Knowledge Foundation Weblog. 24 May 2004. Retrieved
25 October 2015.
3. "Open Knowledge International – our new name!" (https://blog.okfn.org/2016/05/23/open-kn
owledge-international-our-new-name/). 23 May 2016.
4. "For a fair, free and open future: celebrating 15 years of the Open Knowledge Foundation" (h
ttps://blog.okfn.org/2019/05/20/for-a-fair-free-and-open-future-celebrating-15-years-of-the-op
en-knowledge-foundation/). 20 May 2019.
5. "A new CEO for Open Knowledge Foundation – Renata Ávila" (https://blog.okfn.org/2021/1
0/12/a-new-ceo-for-open-knowledge-foundation-renata-avila/). 12 October 2021.
 6. "Catherine Stihler to leave Open Knowledge Foundation to lead Creative Commons" (http
s://blog.okfn.org/2020/07/09/catherine-stihler-to-leave-open-knowledge-foundation-to-lead-c
reative-commons/). 9 July 2020.
7. "Open Knowledge: Advisory Council" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140714223530/https://
okfn.org/about/advisory-council/). okfn.org. Archived from the original (https://okfn.org/about/
advisory-council/) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
8. "Open Knowledge: The Global Network" (https://okfn.org/network/). okfn.org. Retrieved
7 April 2018.
9. "Better together than alone: say hello again to the Open Knowledge Network – Open
Knowledge Foundation blog" (https://blog.okfn.org/2022/11/28/better-together-than-alone-op
en-knowledge-network/). blog.okfn.org. 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
10. "Michael Bauer: "Necessitem periodistes per posar les dades en context" - Vídeo - CCCB
LAB" (http://blogs.cccb.org/lab/video_michael-bauer-necessitem-periodistes-per-posar-les-d
ades-en-context/). cccb.org. 3 June 2013.
11. data.gov.uk. "Project Info: Who is Involved with the project?" (http://data.gov.uk/about/). HM
Government. "These include the Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN):
CKAN stores the catalogue behind data.gov.uk and a growing number of open data
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12. Open Educational Resources Commons. "About" (http://www.oercommons.org/about).
Retrieved 1 November 2015. "Strategic Development and Outreach Partners ... Open
Knowledge Foundation"
13. "Open Definition" (http://opendefinition.org/). Open Definition. 17 June 2011. Retrieved
1 November 2015.
14. "Open Software Service Definition Launched" (https://blog.okfn.org/2008/07/14/open-softwar
e-service-definition-launched/). 14 July 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
15. Creative Commons (23 February 2009). "CC Salon Berlin and openeverything focus – Feb.
26" (https://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/12919). Retrieved 29 October 2015.
16. Open Society Foundations (September 2010). "Public Feedback Solicited on Access to
Information and Open Government Data" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110108145856/htt
p://www.soros.org/initiatives/information/focus/communication/news/access-consultation-20
100910). Archived from the original (http://www.soros.org/initiatives/information/focus/commu
nication/news/access-consultation-20100910) on 8 January 2011. Retrieved 1 November
2015. "Information Program grantee Access Info Europe, together with the Open Knowledge
Foundation, are holding a public consultation on open government data and the right of
access to information."
17. Electronic Frontier Foundation (23 March 2005). "Digital Rights Management: A failure in the
developed world, a danger to the developing world" (https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-rights-ma
nagement-failure-developed-world-danger-developing-world). Retrieved 1 November 2015.
18. Dietrich, Daniel. "Open Data Manual" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130827053435/http://o
pendatamanual.org/). Archived from the original (http://opendatamanual.org/) on 27 August
2013. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
19. data.govt.uk. "New Public Sector Transparency Board and Public Data Transparency
Principles" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110925185118/http://data.gov.uk/blog/new-public
-sector-transparency-board-and-public-data-transparency-principles). HM Government.
Archived from the original (http://data.gov.uk/blog/new-public-sector-transparency-board-and
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20. "projects - The Open Knowledge Foundation" (https://www.okfn.org/projects). Retrieved
1 November 2015. Open Knowledge Projects
21. "Feature Tour | ckan - The open source data portal software" (http://ckan.org/features/).
ckan.org. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
22. "datahub.io" (http://datahub.io/). datahub.io. 23 June 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
23. "Frictionless Data" (https://frictionlessdata.io/). Frictionless Data. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
24. "Open Bibliography" (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/inf11/jiscexpo/jiscopenbi
b.aspx). JISC. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
25. "Open bibliography and Open Bibliographic Data | Open Bibliographic Data Working Group
of the Open Knowledge Foundation" (http://openbiblio.net/). Openbiblio.net. Retrieved
1 November 2015.
26. "Open Shakespeare" (http://openshakespeare.org/). Open Shakespeare. 27 April 2012.
Retrieved 1 November 2015.
27. "Open Text Book" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150912064713/http://opentextbook.org/).
Archived from the original (http://www.opentextbook.org/) on 12 September 2015. Retrieved
1 November 2015.
28. "ABOUT" (http://publicdomainreview.org/about/). The Public Domain Review. Open
Knowledge Foundation. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
29. "The Open Definition - Open Definition - Defining Open in Open Data, Open Content and
Open Knowledge" (http://opendefinition.org). opendefinition.org. Retrieved 1 November
2015.
30. "Open Knowledge: Working Groups" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160514084626/https://o
kfn.org/get-involved/working-groups/). Archived from the original (https://okfn.org/get-involve
d/working-groups/) on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
31. "Workpackage 4: Community building" (http://dm2e.eu/community-building/). 31 January
2014.
32. "Open Economics" (http://openeconomics.net). openeconomics.net. Retrieved 1 November
2015.
33. "Open Knowledge Forums" (https://discuss.okfn.org). discuss.okfn.org. Retrieved
1 November 2015.
34. "Open Geodata Community | OSGeo.org" (http://www.osgeo.org/geodata/community).
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35. Holloway, Michael (March 2008). "PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION: OFFICIALLY
BETTER WHEN SHARED" (http://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2008/public-sector-inform
ation-officially-better-when-shared). Digital Rights Group. Retrieved 1 November 2015. "And
if you get excited by material that's free to access, reuse or re-distribute, then please come
down to tomorrow's OKCon, for a day of seminars and workshops around the theme of
'Applications, Tools and Services'."
36. Open Knowledge Foundation. "About" (http://okcon.org/about/). Retrieved 1 November
2015. "The Annual [sic] Open Knowledge Conference (OKCon)"
37. Gehelenborg, Nils. "Workshop on Open Visualization" (https://web.archive.org/web/2016030
4023413/http://network.nature.com/groups/scivis/forum/topics/1498). Nature Network.
Archived from the original (http://network.nature.com/groups/scivis/forum/topics/1498) on 4
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38. Doctorow, Cory (26 September 2005). "Free Information Infrastructure event in London next
weekend" (https://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/26/free-information-inf.html). Retrieved
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39. "ccianet.org" (http://www.ccianet.org/). ccianet.org. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
40. "Rosie Graves - University of Leicester" (http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/physics/research/
eos/rosie-graves). Retrieved 1 November 2015.
41. "Panton Principles: Panton Fellowships" (http://pantonprinciples.org/panton-fellowships/).
12 January 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
42. "Apps for Europe | turning data into business" (https://web.archive.org/web/2015101516084
5/http://www.appsforeurope.eu/). www.appsforeurope.eu. Archived from the original (http://w
ww.appsforeurope.eu/) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
43. "D-CENT" (http://dcentproject.eu). dcentproject.eu. Retrieved 29 October 2015.

External links
Media related to Open Knowledge at Wikimedia Commons
Official website (https://www.okfn.org/)
A self-published history of the Open Knowledge Foundation (http://timemapper.okfnlabs.org/
okfn/open-knowledge-foundation-history)

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