Open Tech Calendar

Note - we've moved this one to the second Tuesday in March to fall within #Datafest 2019.

6.30 for pizza and beers.

Talks start 7pm
******************************
Talk 1 "W3C Data Exchange Working Group - what we are doing, and how you can help" - Dr Peter Winstanley of Scottish Government, and co-Chair of the W3C Data Exchange Working Group

Talk 2 "Activating big data with spatial context to derive deeper insight in socioeconomic research" Dr. Obinna Anejionu, The Urban Big Data Centre.

========================

Talk 1: "W3C Data Exchange Working Group - what we are doing, and how you can help"

The W3C Data Enchange Working Group is re-designing the vocabulary for publishing data catalogues on the web [DCAT] and creating recommendations on profiles and on content negotiation by application profile. This talk describes the work of the group and the challenges and opportunities that exist for the group and those with an interest in the area of data exchange using internet technology.

Bio: Peter is the co-Chair of the W3C Data Exchange Working Group, a contributor to the "Data on the Web Best Practices" W3C Technical Recommendation, part of the EC Semantic Interoperabliity community, and is skilled at herding cats and wading through treacle.

Talk2 "Activating big data with spatial context to derive deeper insight in socioeconomic research"

The advent of big data analytics has uncovered previously hidden patterns, trends and correlations in various seemingly unrelated variables, leading to new insights. However, much deeper insights, knowledge and wisdom could be obtained from big data sources by activating spatial characteristics inherent in most big data streams and linking these to existing spatial datasets. This is particularly important for efficient management of various socioeconomic issues and challenges and in measuring the impacts of policies on prosperity and quality of life. In this talk, I will explore the strategic importance of spatially-enabled big data social and economic research. I will argue that the potential of big data currently being utilised in various analysis has largely remained unexplored or under-utilised and call for more vibrant deployment of spatial big data analytics in strategic management of the urban areas. I will also talk about what we are doing at the Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC) to achieve this. The UBDC, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, is a nationwide data service that provides access to urban data, sourced from a variety of public, private and internet sources to academic researchers, local governments and businesses.

Dr. Obinna Anejionu is a Scientific Computing Officer/Spatial Data Scientists at the Urban Big Data Centre, with his primary responsibility focusing on the development of the Spatial Urban Data System (SUDS). He obtained B.Sc in Geoinformatics and Surveying from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, M.Sc GIS and Remote Sensing from the University of Greenwich, London, and PhD in Geography (Remote Sensing and GIS applications in environmental monitoring) from the University of Lancaster.

Prior to his current role, he worked at various universities in the UK including Imperial College London as well as at the University of Nigeria. Obinna’s current research interest focuses on the integration of geospatial technologies (Geomatics, GIS and remote sensing), big data analytics and cloud technology in solving environmental, socio-political and socioeconomic challenges.

His career has progressed into diverse areas with spokes into GIS, Environmental Remote Sensing, Spatial Analytics, Web Mapping, Cloud Technology, Big Data, Data Science, Machine learning. He has published several findings of his research in various high impact international journals.

*****************************
Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash