OKFestival Questions

1. What is the main venue of OKFestival?

OKFestival 2012 will be held at the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Helsinki, Finland. We also have photos and more information about the spaces here.

2. What is an OKFestival Topic Stream?

A Topic Stream is a package of programming that focuses on one specific topic, idea or theme. In our Call for Topic Streams we are looking for proposals related to specific open knowledge and open data topics, but also new viewpoints and cross-cutting issues which may help us to understand how open knowledge is working in our society. Examples of such topics are the well-being of communities, civil society and citizen empowerment, democracy, entrepreneurship, smart cities, sustainability etc. To get an idea of the topics already being discussed, please browse the Programme Planning Wiki.

All programming for Topic Streams will be planned by you as our Guest Programme Planners. This means you will have considerable autonomy in making programme decisions about your own stream in cooperation with OKFestival’s Core Organising Team, who will help you with scheduling, venue placement and other resources. As Guest Programme Planners, you will also be expected to collaborate with other Topic Streams, events and projects. We expect that approximately ⅓ of OKFestival’s final programme will be dedicated to this programming, with a focus on innovative and experimental event formats rooted in new forms of collaboration. We see this as a great opportunity for you to engage with other open knowledge practitioners from around the world, and look forward to the positive results of such cooperation.

Note: Before making detailed plans about programme formats for Topic Streams, it is recommended that you get in touch with the Core Organising Team at info @ okfestival.org to discuss possibilities and limitations.

3. What is an OKFestival Individual Submission?

In the Call for Individual Submissions you can make a proposal for a specific session such as a panel discussion, workshop, hackathon, coding jam or interactive session. This session may be about a project / research paper / tool / community / prototype / etc that you would like to see featured in OKFestival.

We also encourage you to propose different programme formats than ‘typical’ lectures and panel discussions. To get more ideas about interesting and emergent session formats, check out the Unconference page on Wikipedia. If you are unsure about what format would be best for your presentation, you are welcome to leave the decision to OKFestival organisers.

The Core Organising Team and Guest Programme Planners will go through the list of submissions on a regular basis and making programme decisions gradually during the coming weeks, based on capacity and content of proposed Topic Streams. We aim to have the majority of programme decisions done before the end of June.

4. Who are the Organisers of OKFestival?

OKFestival is a community-driven event focused on collaboration, with several groups and individuals working together around the globe to plan the week’s programme. Festival decisions are made openly whenever possible, through conversations between four Organising Partners and a dedicated Programme Committee, with regular updates to the Public Discussion List.

The OKFestival Programme Committee consists of three groups:

Core Organising Team
Guest Programme Planner
Advisory Board

The Organising Partners of OKFestival are The Open Knowledge Foundation (UK), The Finnish Institute in London (UK/Finland), Forum Virium (Finland), EIT ICT Labs Helsinki (Finland) and Aalto Media Factory (Finland).

The Core Organising Team, in alphabetical order, is Kat Braybrooke (Open Knowledge Foundation), Juha Huuskonen (The Finnish Institute In London), Petri Kola (Forum Virium & EIT ICT Labs Helsinki), Massimo Menichinelli (Aalto University), Jussi Nissilä (The Finnish Institute In London) and Antti Poikola (Otavan Opisto).

Advisory Board and Guest Programme Planners (such as the Aalto Service Factory) will be announced here in the near future.

5. What is the difference between OGDCamp and OKCon?

For the first time, Open Government Data Camp and Open Knowledge Conference are joining to form the Open Knowledge Festival as a week-long celebration of the themes of both events.

The focus of OGDCamp is open government and municipal data, while OKCon will deal with the wider domain of open knowledge and its effects on society. Additionally, OGDCamp will have an emphasis on workshops and other hands-on activities while OKCon will be focused on lectures, discussions, etc. If you are unsure about whether your proposal fits within the ethos of OGDCamp or OKCon, don’t worry – we will clarify the connections between the two as we finalise submissions.