Access method for the moment is by manually downloading each data set. But by this mid 2010 these data will be programmatically accessible thru web API.

Data like these can be processes in a number of ways and for many purposes, from public education to policy making. Many local governments and organizations around the world now moving towards a more transparent, more efficient, and more participating governance thru this kind of open data initiatives.

From World Bank press release:

The decision─part of a larger effort to increase access to information at the World Bank─means that researchers, journalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), entrepreneurs and school children alike will be able to tap into the World Bank’s databases via a new website, data.worldbank.org.

Experts say the Bank’s open data initiative has the potential to stimulate more evidence-based policymaking in developing countries by bringing more researchers and innovative analysis into the development process. The move is also likely to stimulate demand for data and increase countries’ capacity to produce it, they say.

And, for the first time, data will be available in languages other than English, with an initial 330 indicators translated into French, Spanish and Arabic.

“It’s important to make the data and knowledge of the World Bank available to everyone,” World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said. “Statistics tell the story of people in developing and emerging countries and can play an important part in helping to overcome poverty.”

The World Bank Open Data website can be access at http://data.worldbank.org.

Example: Data of Lao PDR, with indicator figures and charts (below)

Read more on Wikipedia for universal design and web accessibility.

The digital archive aims to build an online collection of historical documents, books, photos, publications and personal memoirs that is open to the public in order to build a better understanding of Malaysia’s recent political history, contributing towards a healthy and informed discussion of Malaysia’s political future.

While there’re many national archives which collect lots of historical documents, there’re very few that focus on recent history, say, in the range of 30 years time. National archives or commercial archives run by mainstream media also often neglect materials from grassroots movements. Access to these recent histories of local communities are in many aspects essential to civil society development, nationally and regionally. Citizen journalists will also benefit from availability of such documents for their investigative news reporting.

Civil society organizations could use ICT to archive their materials in a systematic way and made them accessible to the public, enhance the understanding about the issues they concerned.

Information design and user experience are not only keys for a successful campaign, it also improve the organization works and logistics. Thinking about filling a form that just hurt your eyes, use fancy icons that make no sense at all, texts in very bad fonts, these will just slow down and introduce errors to your works.

So think about information architecture. Offline and online.

It will be held in Ho Chi Minh City from November 12-14, 2010 with the focus: Lightweight Computing and Women in IT. FOSSASIA will be co-hosted with the OpenTechSummit 2010 for Open Hardware. Participants from across Asia and the world are expected to join the three day event.

“What’s missing is a bit of communication between the two, more communications between hackers and journalists.”

“Exciting Tales of Journalists Getting Spied on, Arrested and Deported: How their own data was taken and used against them”, – a very interesting and exciting talk from 26C3 (26th Chaos Communication Congress) by Bicyclemark.

Continue another four parts: -2- -3- -4- -5-. More info of the talk & downloads.

A week after, Mark wrote a piece published in The Guardian newspaper, titled “Hackers of the world unite”, again, a good read on hackers movement, of people who wants to change the world with their own hands. DIY rules.

“We like journalism. We need journalism. Be we hackers. Be we farmers. We need good journalism. We have a certain amount of knowledge about security. They have a certain amount of knowledge of the world.”

“If these two things could come together, we could get more probably of both, but we can definitely get better quality journalism, more journalism, and a better future. So, go out and be friend with journalists. Go.”

(Thanks. Now go forth… and don’t let your laptop get shot.)

Most of their work relates on issues from projects that involve funding by the Japanese government. They also discuss these issues with decision-makers in Japan, and advocate for changes in the relevant policies and plans.

Mekong Watch Japan also have offices in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand.