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Hundreds of Hackers Celebrate Open Data Day (thenewstack.io)

Posted by timothy on from the never-too-late dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Hundreds of different data-hacking events are being held around the globe this weekend to celebrate International Open Data Day. It's the fifth installment of an annual event promoting government data-sharing with a series of loosely joined hackathons, "to show support for and encourage the adoption of open data policies by the world's local, regional and national governments," according to the event's web site. "Data science is a team sport," says Megan Smith, the former Google executive turned U.S. CTO, who points out over 200,000 new federal data sets have been opened to the public since 2009 on Data.gov. Each hackathon will culminate with a demo or brainstorm proposal that can be shared with the other participating groups around the world.

21 comments

  1. When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I am curious to know when Slashdot will provide more transparency and openness regarding the data pertaining to the comment moderation here at Slashdot.

    Slashdot should show who moderated each and every comment that was moderated.

    Slashdot should show when the moderation took place.

    Slashdot should show how each comment was moderated.

    Slashdot should make bulk dumps of this data available for download, so we can build moderation abuse detection systems.

    1. Re:When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

      I am curious to know when Slashdot will provide more transparency and openness regarding the data pertaining to the comment moderation here at Slashdot.

      The observable universe is some 90-odd billion light years across and 13.7 billion years old, human history spans thousands of years, myriad cultures co-exist across the face of this planet along with the wide diversity of plant and animal life, and that's what you're curious about?

      so we can build moderation abuse detection systems.

      Abuse such as what? Are gangs of Russian criminals selling mod points on the black market?

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    2. Re:When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Abuse such as what?

      Often enough I see perfectly good comments, and sometimes even entire threads, downmodded improperly and unjustifiably.

      I'll give you some recent example that I can think of quickly.

      View them at -1, so you can see all of the comments for these examples.

      Here is one recent example.

      The first four comments were all incorrectly modded "Troll".

      Another recent example is this thread of discussion.

      Some of the initial damage was eventually undone, but a number of those comments were modded down, only to be modded up later on.

      It goes the other way, too.

      Sometimes awful comments get modded up.

      Here is an example of that happening.

      In that case the commenter totally misunderstood and then misrepresented another commenter's argument.

      The comment full of misunderstanding and misrepresentation should have been modded down instead of up.

      Since there are so many incorrect downmods and so many incorrect upmods, it renders the mod system useless!

      I always have to browse at -1 because there are so many good comments at -1.

      And it's not like the upmodding helps me find good comments, either, because it's often so wrong.

      Slashdot should just remove the moderating altogether, and show all comments by default.

      It's not like the old days when Slashdot stories routinely got 500 comments each.

      These days it's rare to break 100.

      And if we have to browse at -1 anyway just to avoid the broken modding system, we might as well just be shown all of the comments by default.

    3. Re:When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by thisisauniqueid · · Score: 1

      Who cares?

    4. Re:When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by NotInHere · · Score: 1

      These days it's rare to break 100.

      If you visit the URL http://slashdot.org/?page=1 you will quickly notice that breaking the 100 isn't rare at all. More than a half of the stories broke the 100 there.

      I don't say there is no decline but what you say is wrong.

    5. Re:When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      There's disadvantages to de-anonymizing moderation, including exposing the system to new forms of abuse. People might be afraid to mod a controversial point, leading to more hivemind mentality. People might decide to punish those who mod the wrong politics or religion. People might decide to punish those who downmod them, using their alt accounts or friends. And for what benefit? Slashdot could (and probably does) run an analysis of mod abuse, slashdotters could design an algorithm to detect mod abuse without access to the actual data.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    6. Re:When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by secretsquirel · · Score: 0

      what if we're being moderated..

      by aliens?

    7. Re:When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's disadvantages to de-anonymizing moderation, including exposing the system to new forms of abuse.

      Isn't open data (something for nothing), in general, harmful to some group of people or organization, in many cases?

      It's quite hypocritical to demand other people be open while being very secretive about their own (moderation) systems.

    8. Re:When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Says the person being secretive about their identity. If you hate anonymity so much why do you use AC?

    9. Re:When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL, I don't hate anonymity which means I don't like the concept of "Open Data". My secrecy is not hypocritical because I'm not supporting or encouraging open data.

      My point is, groups like /. that promote open data are being hypocritical since they are very secretive about various aspects about their site (example, the moderation system).

    10. Re:When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      Isn't open data (something for nothing), in general, harmful to some group of people or organization, in many cases?

      Yes. That is, in fact, usually the objective of government transparency.

      It's quite hypocritical to demand other people be open while being very secretive about their own (moderation) systems.

      Privacy is necessary for openness. Without anonymity, "speech has consequences" like being sent to Siberia or losing your job or getting rape/death threats. Slashdot has always been a big proponent of privacy. On the other hand, some data like scientific data has no privacy value while having a lot of educational value. It's also generally considered necessary to know what your employees are doing while on the job, as is the case for government agents.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    11. Re:When will Slashdot open the moderation data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Privacy is necessary for openness

      Wrong. Privacy/anonymity is the opposite of openness. Only a brainwasher would claim openness and privacy are the same. That's like saying, "war is peace".

      On the other hand, some data like scientific data has no privacy value while having a lot of educational value.

      Scientific data is already public, more or less, some of it pay-walled, but nonetheless still open.

      Openness of data is something that usually infringes on the privacy of a group of people or trade secrets of a business.

  2. hackers in, crackers out by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    so says the current English language. crackers tried to be white, and then tried to be smart. fail.

    1. Re: hackers in, crackers out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lolwut

  3. Open data day? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this another bullshit hallmark holiday? Im surprised the post office was working today. It's always some shit, like national cottage cheese appreciation week.

  4. My crackers are white and golden brown by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    with a sprinkling of salt.

    Oh, and yes, I do get the references. Mod +0.02 lame attempt at humor.

  5. stupid slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this is what qualifies as "news" for slashdot mods? a conference saying people will hack shit up? thanks...learned something new today

    1. Re: stupid slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wouldn't have leaned about it any other way. I came here to see if cool projects were listed in the comments.

  6. Only hundreds? by davidwr · · Score: 1

    I would expect at least 2^11 hackers participating.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  7. I mis-read that by Snotnose · · Score: 1

    into hundreds of hookers celebrate open data day. Not sure if I wanna go there or not

  8. Says Mr Coward... by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

    Oh, the ironing.

    I've personally moderated many of your idiotic posts over the past decade!