Open Data

One of the mailing lists that I follow comes from ACSE, the Association for Computer Studies Educators.  Yesterday, there was a discussion chain that was particularly intriguing for me.

One of the list members had asked about access to Big Data databases for a project.  The responses that came in were terrific.

Some areas of exploration that fell from that discussion …

• Kaggle –

  Kaggle is the place to do data science projects

• Gapminder –
  List of indicators
• The Humanitarian Data Exchange –
  Find, share and use humanitarian data all in one place
• Open Government –
  Ontario’s Open Data Directive
• Canada’s Open Data Exchange –
  Turning open data into real wealth in smart cities across Canada.
• and there was much more.  I kept thinking – back away from the rabbit hole.

The big reminder is that there are plenty of sources very local to you – you just have to find them.  (and they’re easily findable – <your community> + Open + Data)

I can remember a time when “Big Data” meant rolling two dice a hundred times and recording the results!  How far we’ve come and what a great way to help students try to make sense of real things.

Around here, there’s a wonderful collection from the City of Windsor in its Open Data Catalogue.

ACSE is available on the internet here.  Members of the discussion group are treated to an interest collection of on topic discussions.  This is a must for Ontario Computer Studies teachers.