Silviu Vert
Open Knowledge Foundation Network Ambassador for Romania
Timisoara, Romania
I am currently pursuing my PhD studies at the Politehnica University in Timisoara, exploring the potential of linked and open data in augmented reality scenarios. As such, Open Data is one of the main focus interests in my PhD work. Also, I work at the eLearning Center of the same university, whose activities include the research of Open Educational Resources. Besides, I am active in some non-profit organizations and networks that promote Open Knowledge and particularly Open Government Data.
In 2013 I co-founded the Smart City Association in my hometown, Timisoara. We engage with the local government authorities, tech communities, companies, universities and non-governmental organizations to open up the public data of the city and to build upon it useful services for the citizens.
In October 2013 we organized a workshop, hosted by the Politehnica University Timisoara, together with the central government department responsible for the Open Government Partnership, where representatives from the Timisoara City Hall took part, and where members of the Smart City Association presented the advantages and possible areas of application of open data. Photos here: http://bit.ly/1qmmrJM
With our help, Timisoara became the first city in Romania to publish open datasets, around the International Open Data Day (22 February 2014). More details here: http://bit.ly/1mrOrzJ
We have technical regular meetings with the City Hall to identify datasets that can be further published on the national open data portal.
In May 2014, I was appointed ambassador of the Open Knowledge Foundation for Romania and coordinator of the newly formed Open Knowledge local group. More details here: http://bit.ly/1Ag49Su Our first projects are the Country and City Open Data Censuses: http://ro-city.census.okfn.org/
The Smart City Association and the Open Knowledge Romania group are members of the recently established Open Data Coalition in Romania, which is comprised of organizations activating in the open data space from all over the country. The Coalition will organize in the next months several hackathons and trainings on open data in the major cities of Romania and also an Open Data Conference on the International Open Data Day in February 2015.
A major part of my research activity involves only me or colleagues from my university. As such, I am interested in attending OpenCon 2014 to meet other students and early career researchers that work on these issues, so we can collaborate and share projects and ideas, for the benefit of the movement towards greater openness.
Also, I want to learn more about Open Access, how to publish in open journals and how to promote Open Access in my university. I believe that the conference will provide us with concrete steps and advice on how to be more open in our research activities.
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