De Blasio Administration Kicks Off NYC Open Data Week 2019, Announces Open Data Advisory Council Members

Tomorrow through March 9 there will be more than 45 events in all five boroughs for New Yorkers to explore the use and power of NYC Open Data

February 28, 2019

NEW YORK - To celebrate the start of New York City’s third annual Open Data Week, the de Blasio Administration today announced the appointment of members to New York City’s first-ever Open Data Advisory Council. More than 20 community and civic technology leaders from academia, non-profits, civic technology companies, and City agencies will inform the vision and expansion of the City’s Open Data program, which allows New Yorkers to access over 2,300 free municipal datasets, ranging from 311 service requests to crime incidents by neighborhood to the location of every street tree in the City. Convened by the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics, the Council will advise on maximizing New Yorkers’ engagement with City data and help achieve Mayor de Blasio’s Open Data for All vision.

NYC Open Data Week 2019 (March 1-9) is a week-long celebration of the City’s public data across all five boroughs. New Yorkers are invited to experience more than 45 events, exhibits, panels, and workshops across the City that explore how open data is being used across New York City communities. MODA co-founded Open Data Week in 2017 with BetaNYC, a civic technology nonprofit, and is produced in collaboration with dozens of local partners annually.

“We are proud that New York City has the most robust municipal Open Data program in the country. The creation of the Open Data Advisory Council will further bolster our city’s commitment to transparency, and will help us continuously improve our data and processes,” said Jeff Thamkittikasem, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations. “Open Data Week is a time when we further engage with communities throughout NYC, and celebrate how data analysis can drive progress.”

“Seven years ago, New York City passed the most ambitious open data legislation in the country. This week, I am excited to celebrate with over 45 Open Data Week events and an Open Data Advisory Council that reflect the diversity of New Yorkers across all five boroughs. Whether you’re an app builder, building inspector, artist, or data scientist, there’s an Open Data Week event – and an NYC open data set – for you to explore. I look forward to working with the passionate leaders on the Open Data Advisory Council to craft an even more inclusive program in the years ahead,” said Chief Analytics Officer Kelly Jin.

“New York City’s open data offerings are among the greatest in North America, and are a huge part of what helps keep New York City transparent and efficient,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. “As the primary sponsor of the original open data bill, which passed in 2012, I am thrilled to see how much the open data movement has grown and look forward to participating in Open Data Week 2019.”

“Access to information is the key to maintaining the checks and balances of our Democracy, and New York City is a consistent innovator with NYC Open Data. As we celebrate NYC Open Data Week 2019, I encourage all New Yorkers to take advantage of the treasure trove of information at their fingertips, and help ensure our government is serving the people in the best way possible,” said Council Member Peter Koo, Chair of the Committee on Technology.

"Open Data Week is the best opportunity for New Yorkers to get involved and learn how the process of managing, collecting and understanding information is changing our government one data set at a time," said Council Member Ben Kallos. "Whether it is learning the basics of open data in the Open Data Sources and Tools workshop or experimenting at Data through Design, New Yorkers should take advantage of Open Data Week and learn how to unlock this treasure trove of information. Thank you to Mayor de Blasio and Chief Analytics Officer Kelly Jin for convening this third annual Open Data Week."    

“NYC Open Data yields incredible insights into how our city government operates and has proven to be an invaluable and resourceful tool used by New Yorkers everywhere,” said Samir Saini, Commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. “I am thrilled to see Open Data Week continue to evolve and gain momentum as we celebrate the new and innovative ways New Yorkers are tapping into the 2300+ datasets available on the open data portal.”

“When we first launched NYC Open Data Week, I could not have imagined that three years later, thousands of New Yorkers would turn up at dozens of events across all five boroughs. We measure our progress in not only being the country's largest municipal data service with over 2,300 open data sets, but also in the countless stories of passionate and civic-minded New Yorkers building insights and tools using NYC open data. I look forward to celebrating our progress at Open Data Week and convening the Open Data Advisory Council to fulfill our vision of Open Data for All," said Deputy Chief Analytics Officer Adrienne Schmoeker.

“Open Data empowers entrepreneurs, students, and innovators everywhere to build new applications and technologies for the benefit of all New Yorkers,” said Alby Bocanegra, City of New York interim Chief Technology Officer. “As a founding city of the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights, we believe in the transparency and accountability of data for all, and Open Data Week and the dedication of the Mayor’s Office of Data & Analytics is helping us achieve this vision.”

"We are beyond excited to celebrate International Open Data Day and kick off NYC Open Data Week with the fourth School of Data conference” said Noel Hidalgo, Executive Director of BetaNYC. In partnership with MODA, School of Data is larger than ever before. “Together, we’ve curated over 30 sessions and workshops to demystify technology, data, and design — half of which will feature representatives from government agencies. These conversations will power next year’s conversations to improve our communities, our data sets, and our city. Many thanks to the Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer for spearheading the City’s Open Data law and the countless advocates in and out of government working to improve our city and its data. See you Saturday!” 

Open Data Advisory Council Members:

Aileen Gemma Smith - CEO, Vizalytics

Andrew Rasiej - Founder, Civic Hall , Personal Democracy Forum Founder, NY Tech Alliance Chairman Emeritus, Mouse.org Founder

Asher Ross - Data Director, Mayor's Community Affairs Unit

Ben Wolcott - Manager of Evaluation and Research, Make the Road New York

Cea Weaver - Campaign Coordinator, NYS Tenants and Neighbors

Cynthia Nicklin - Director of Data Governance and Open Data Coordinator, NYC Department of Buildings

Clayton Banks - Co-founder and CEO, Silicon Harlem

Dan Kass - Co-Founder & Executive Director, JustFix.nyc and Steering Committee Member, Housing Data Coalition

Darren Bloch - Senior Advisor to the Mayor and Director of Mayor's Office of Strategic Partnerships

Faith Jaskowiak - Director of Marketing & Partnerships, CUNY Startups

Hadassah Damien - Design Thinking Facilitator, ConsenSys

Jerelyn Rodriguez - Co-founder and CEO, The Knowledge House

Jessie Braden - Co-founder and Director, Pratt Institute Spatial Analysis and Visualization Initiative (SAVI)

John Kaehny - Executive Director, Reinvent Albany

Kai Falkenberg - 1st Amendment lawyer, Lecturer in Law, Columbia, Former 1st Dep Comm'r, Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment

Kathy Zhang - Founder, Mobility Futures

Marc DaCosta - Co-founder and Chairman, Enigma

Noel Hidalgo - Executive Director, BetaNYC

Rachael Weiss Riley - Director, Two Sigma Data Clinic

Sarah Burd-Sharps - Director of Research, Everytown for Gun Safety and Former Co-Director at Measure of America

Sarah Rankin - Quantitative Data Analyst, New York Public Library

Sophia N. Halkitis - Data Analyst, Citizens Committee for Children of NY and Adjunct Lecturer, Queens College

Yale Fox - Founder and CEO, Rentlogic

Open Data Week Highlights:

Most Open Data Week events are free of charge and open to the public. Event schedules and details are available on open-data.nyc. 

March 1-9: Data Through Design (Register)
New Lab at Brooklyn Navy Yard
19 Morris Ave, Bldg 128, Brooklyn, New York 11205

Data Through Design is an annual exhibition celebrating creative tangible and multimedia expressions of New York City's Open Data. This year’s theme is “Not a Number,” featuring works by 15 artists, technologists, and designers speaking to the ways in which space and place are being transformed and shaped by numbers meant to represent complexity in the everyday.

March 2: NYC School of Data (Register)
Galvanize in Manhattan
303 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013

NYC School of Data is a day-long community conference featuring more than 30 discussions and workshops about government data, technology and innovation. This year’s conversations focus on four key themes: digital literacy and privacy, smart and wise cities, effective and open government, and civic and government technology.

March 6: Introduction to Open Data Sources and Tools (Register)
Leonard Lief Library at Lehman College
250 Bedford Park Blvd West Bronx, New York 10468

Introduction to Open Data Sources and Tools is an hour-long free workshop to introduce various open data sources, with a focus on NYC Open Data. Attendees will learn how and why cities like New York publish open data and how to use open data to gather insights about how our city works. Tools such as Microsoft Excel and CARTO will be introduced for the analyses.

About NYC’s Open Data Program

The Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics and Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) partner to manage the NYC Open Data program, which has over 2,300 publicly available datasets used each week by 30,000 students, researchers, entrepreneurs, non-profits, and others. To achieve Open Data for All, MODA and DoITT have increased awareness of City data through marketing campaigns and regular events, including the production of an annual Open Data Week in early March. They have also improved the usability of public data through a new user-friendly Open Data website, data dictionaries for 90% of all datasets, and the development of a best-in-class metadata standard. Learn more at www.nyc.gov/opendata.

Contact
opspress@cityhall.nyc.gov
212-788-2503