In June I took part in two interesting panel discussions. One was part of the annual Internet Week Denmark conference, which ran for several days in Aarhus in the beginning of June - and the other was at the rapidly growing Folkemødet ("People's Meeting") festival for politics and societal debate.
For Internet Week I had been invited to an open data panel organized on the beautiful mainstage in Ridehuset by Open Data Aarhus and Aarhus Data Drinks. Under the "Data Drinks Exclusive" banner the organizers announced and launched the new open data portal Open Data DK, before we were asked to weigh in to discuss various topics including political transparency, open data pitfalls, how to overcome challenges and take next steps, etc.
The other panelists included Bo Fristed (Director for IT, Aarhus Municipality), Anne Nygaard (Vice mayor of city of Aarhus), Simon Bentholm (KL7) and Martin Brynskov (Chair of Connected Smart Cities). All in all a very knowledgable bunch, who brought forward many interesting points - and the only downside was the fact that we all were strong proponents of open data and therefore were very much in agreement on most things. So not a lot of heated debate, but instead lots of competent suggestions for overcoming challenges.
Here's a snapshot from the second the open data portal went live:
Later in June I had been invited to attend Folkemødet 2015, Denmark's biggest festival for the discussion of societal opportunities and challenges. It takes place in the very scenic coastal town of Allinge on the island of Bornholm and is a unique platform with open debates where politics meets citizens, business people and organisations under very informal conditions. Alongside government agencies, businesses and over 100,000 visiting citizens from all corners of the country, all the politicians from the Danish parliament are there to mingle for several days with the general public to talk, discuss and gain new perspectives. More over it's garnered with concerts, performances, lots of food, sunshine and, as the Danish tradition goes: Lots of beer as the day turns to night and the barbeques get lit up along the sea. Very pleasant all together.
Concretely I was there for two reasons: To take part in one of the 1,600 workshops and panels taking place during the 4 days - as well as to represent Danish Design Centre, where I started working a few weeks ago.
The presentation I gave and subsequent panel I participated in, representing Creative Commons Denmark, was part of a session titled "Sharing is Caring" organized by the Danish National Library and their offshoot Bibzonen. They had the most inspiring stall in a large tent structure right next to the sea:
The panel also included Berit Anne Larsen from Statens Museum for Kunst (Danish National Art Gallery) and Jeppe Bjørn from Lyngby-Taarsbæk Library – and was moderated by Michel Steen-Hansen, Director for the Danish Library Association. The overall topic discussed was the digitization of culture and the role of the library in future. Very interesting discussion indeed.
See the Bibzonen Storify from the event.
As mentioned I also co-represented Danish Design Centre, where we co-hosted another tent stage throughout the event in collaboration with Danish Architecture Centre, Bolius, Copenhagen Solutions Lab and Kraks Fond Byforskning. This included a long series of workshops, talks, debates and other interactions investigating future Danish prosperity in a design perspective.
See also the Danish Design Centre Storify from Folkemødet 2015.
