Aberdeen Data Meetup 04 March 2025

Aberdeen Data Meetup – Celebrating International Open Data Day 2025

Discover the power of open data: Learn, explore, connect

Join us this month for a special Aberdeen Data Meetup as we celebrate International Open Data Day 2025. Whether you're new to open data or already an advocate, this session will give you insights, practical skills, and a chance to connect with like-minded people who are shaping the future of open data in Scotland and beyond.Expect engaging talks, interactive sessions, and hands-on activities—so bring a laptop if you’d like to follow along!

➡️ What to Expect

 An introduction to open data – What is it? Why is it important? And how can you use it in both your professional and personal life?

 Open Data Scotland – Learn how to find and use open data in Scotland, support the Open Data Scotland platform, and explore how it’s making a difference.

 Wikidata: The world’s largest open data resource - Discover how you can use it to create and consume data.

We’ll kick things off with pizza, drinks, and networking from 6 PM for those joining us in person, before diving into the sessions at 6:30 PM.

➡️ Meet the Speakers

👨🏼‍🦳 Ian Watt

Ian is an advocate for open data and civic technology, based in Aberdeen. He co-founded Code The City, a charity which leverages technology and open data to address social issues. The organisation is known for organising hackathons, open data workshops, and the annual Scottish Open Data Unconference. Ian has also played a significant role in local and national efforts to promote open data, including contributing to the Scottish Government’s Open Data Strategy in 2015. Ian graduated with a MSc in Data Science.

Ian's career spans significant achievements in public sector technology, digital and data management. He has led large-scale digital projects and participated in EU-funded projects, and led an open data program for all seven of Scotland's cities. Beyond his work with Code The City, 

Ian is involved in running community-driven initiatives like the Aberdeen Data Meetup and the Aberdeen Python User Group. Additionally, is an approved volunteer trainer for Wikimedia UK, focusing on using Wikidata as a public repository for linked open data. He is an ambassador for Open UK, and was recently admitted as a Burgess of Guild of the City and Royal Burgh of Aberdeen, one of the oldest civic institutions of Scotland.

🧔🏻 Jack Gilmore

Jack is a full-stack software developer based in Scotland, with experience in both the public sector and academia. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Computing Science and Spanish from the University of Stirling in 2019. As an advocate for free and open-source software, many of his projects involve the consumption or production of open data.

In 2021, Jack co-founded Open Data Scotland, a crowdsourced open data portal that aggregates datasets across Scotland, making them searchable from a single reference point. The project aims to help users find data sources, understand the open data landscape in Scotland, showcase projects utilizing these data, and connect stakeholders in the open data ecosystem.

Jack's contributions to the open-source and open data community were recognized in November 2022 when he received the OpenUK award in the Young Person category. And in 2023, Open Data Scotland won the Belonging OpenUK Award.Beyond Open Data Scotland, Jack has worked on projects like OpenWasteMap, a web application that uses data from OpenStreetMap to display recycling center locations, their accepted materials, and opening hours.He has also shared his expertise at events such as the State of Open Conference in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

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This event is organised by a charity - Code The City.

CTC suggests a small donation to help with charity admin costs, but if this is a barrier please just change the ticket price to what you can afford. If that is still a barrier, just ask for a free ticket.

We are now established in our new premises, which is still a work in progress. That means that our disability access is not what we want it to be. If you are uncomfortable with, or unable to use stairs, please book an online ticket for the Zoom session. We are working to improve this but it will take a few months.

If you select a physical ticket and it happens that we cannot meet physically you will have to attend the Zoom session.

Those attending the physical space meetup should attend at 6pm for pizza and drinks. The talk will be from 6.30pm. Doors will be locked from 6.30pm.

**If tickets are sold out please do not attend as you will be refused entry without a ticket. **

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