Data Connect 21: Practical Experiences in Connecting Government Data
Join us on 28th September, 9:30–11am (BST/UTC+1), as we host Practical experiences of connecting government data; an online webinar which is part of DataConnect21. Tickets are up on our Eventbrite page so get them while they’re hot!
What’s DataConnect21?
It’s …
A week of data-themed activities and events for people in the UK public sector. 27 Sept to 1 Oct 2021
… organised by the Data Standards Authority and the Government Data Quality Hub.
What’s our webinar about and who’s speaking?
In this 90 minute session, hear from teams from the Office for National Statistics; the Environment Agency and Swirrl as they discuss
- concrete problems ONS and EA are trying to solve by making data more connectable and how this contributes to the objectives of their organisations and programmes
- challenges around standardisation, managing reference data, harmonisation of data from different sources
- practical examples seen in the Integrated Data Programme work with ONS, and with the Environment Agency
- technical and organisational approaches taken, how these fit into the working processes of the organisations, illustrated with real examples
- how similar approaches could be adopted more broadly, in relation to the National Data Strategy
Who’s speaking?
The webinar will be hosted by Jamie Whyte, and our brilliant speakers include …
Darren Barnes
Darren Barnes has worked in ONS for thirty years and much of this time has been spent in digital transformation roles. Over the last few years his focus has been on what the Government Statistical Service (GSS) landscape looks like and how we can improve the situation for both statistical producers and users alike.
He leads the Integrated Data Programme Dissemination work, which is creating a 5* Linked Open Data repository for the GSS to support the aim of a better statistical landscape. He is also Head of Open Data publishing within Digital Publishing and is the co-chair of the GSS Open Data Subgroup.
Chris Jarvis
Chris Jarvis is Data Sharing and Access Manager at the Environment Agency. He is responsible for DEFRA’s Data Sharing Platform, which provides access to environmental data through real-time data feeds (via APIs and as Linked Data); as spatial data, and via a number of end user applications.
Chris will explain the ways that connecting data is helping the Environment Agency tackle its wide-ranging responsibilities for managing the environment, covering examples of the important problems to tackle and the challenges in making sure the right data is available to people who need it.
Bill Roberts
Bill Roberts is our CEO at Swirrl. Swirrl specialises in software for government organisations to publish their data in standards-based machine-readable ways. We work with the Office for National Statistics, Defra, MHCLG, the Scottish Government and others on ensuring open government data can have the maximum positive impact. Swirrl is a member of the W3C.
Following on from Chris’s overview of the objectives and challenges, Bill will talk about the technical approaches being taken as part of the Defra Data Services Platform to improve the connectedness of environmental data, including reference data management, data models, data standards, APIs and more.
Robin Gower
Robin dreams of a day when data scientists can focus on analysis instead spending most of their time preparing data! To this end, he works as a Data Designer at Swirrl helping publishers to express their datasets with linked-data. He draws on 15 years experience consulting as an economist and statistician for the UK public and social sectors. He’s a founding member of Open Data Manchester and wrote and maintains several open source software libraries. He now lives with his family in Berlin, tinkering with electronics and brewing English ale.
Who’s this event for?
Practical experiences in Connecting Government Data is for anyone working with data in the UK Public Sector. Register here for your ticket!
