The Metamorphosis Foundation and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) held an Open Data meetup with representatives of civil society organizations and journalists for presenting the “Skopje 2014 under scrutiny” database from an aspect of open data. The meeting took place on November 10, Tuesday at the premises of Coffice, starting at 17.30h.
Riste Zmejkoski from BIRN presented the way in which the database for the “Skopje 2014” project works, which data it includes and how they are made available for further analysis and processing. Meri Jordanovska, on the other hand, spoke of the way for obtaining data through the Law on free access to information and about the openness of the Macedonian institutions.
The database “Skopje 2014 under scrutiny” includes data for more than 130 buildings built under the government project “Skopje 2014”, mainly obtained through the Law on Free Access to Public Information. The total amount of budget funds spent for construction of the buildings within the framework of this project to date is more than 620 million euros. The database is regularly updated.
Participants discussed about the public interest for having as much open data as possible in Macedonia, and about the potential and the existing initiatives for connecting civil society organizations and the media when it comes to these issues.
The meeting was organized within the framework of two projects implemented by BIRN and Metamorphosis; the “Open Data Civil Society Network” project supported by the British Embassy in Macedonia and implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation in partnership with the Open Knowledge Foundation and the Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation Between Media and Civil Society implemented by BIRN as part of USAID’s Program for Strengthening Independent Media in Macedonia.Share:
