5646
Comment: added link to organisations
|
5881
Added Data Carpentry, may be relevant or not.
|
Deletions are marked like this. | Additions are marked like this. |
Line 121: | Line 121: |
* http://www.datacarpentry.org/ - Data Carpentry develops and teaches workshops on the fundamental data skills needed to conduct research."Our initial target audience is learners who have little to no prior computational experience" |
The ShowMeBox is a proposal for a computer with a purpose in connection with DebConf 2016 in Cape Town.
Idea
The idea with the ShowMeBox project is to make it possible for us to have a competition like the following in the months up to DebConf 2016:
- Challenge to students!
Get a ShowMeBox and use the included open source data analysis software to make a visualization that shows an interesting aspect of some publicly available data in your region.
The competition is imagined to have the following specifics:
There will be one or more prizes, with the main one being travel and participation in DebConf to present the results.
For Cape Town the competition is based on the local open data initiative; other regions may have similar projects but we do not know if we can support non-English speaking participants.
- The competition otherwise mimics a similar "data hackathon" competition held in New York city by Two Sigma (details pending).
Finally, the project is of course strictly limited to DFSG-free software and data sources, and does not include any means of advertising services or proprietary software or data feeds: it is all about promoting Debian and the art of open data analytics. (This does not limit quoting sponsors and other kinds of contributors with their logo, etc., of course, as we see fit.)
Hardware
ShowMeBox has these technical characteristics:
- Self-contained computing device that can be powered from mains or battery.
Internet connectivity through multiple wireless interfaces (wifi and 3/4G).
- LAN connectivity through local wireless and wired network.
- "Small server" footprint, i.e. 1-2 cores, less than 1 GB of RAM, and SDCARD storage.
Boards we currently consider:
Name |
Processor |
RAM |
battery |
Wifi |
Ethernet |
Price |
|
OLinuXino A20 LIME2 |
1GHz dual-core Allwinner |
1GB |
|
|
|
|
$56 |
OLinuXino A20 LIME |
1GHz dual-core Allwinner |
½GB |
|
|
|
|
$43 |
Cubieboard2-Dual |
1GHz dual-core Allwinner |
1GB |
|
|
|
|
$51 |
Cubieboard3 |
1GHz dual-core Allwinner |
2GB |
|
|
|
|
$86 |
Prices are including case, but excluding GSM modem, SDCARD, wifi (where not builtin) or battery.
See also Freedombox and WikiPedia board comparisons.
Software
ShowMeBox will come loaded with the following software:
- Standard Debian GNU/Linux system.
- Web server.
Web application for data analysis (such as Beaker, described below).
- Tutorial examples (using preloaded data) of how visualizations can be built.
Links
Data Links
Code4SA Project and for Journalists- they love open data, 11 projects listed on the site. Some examples:
MapIt: Geolocation and boundary API for provinces, municipalities, wards and more in South Africa.
Wazimap: Detailed demographics and election results for everywhere in South Africa
Open Data Portal Their "open data portal for South African data that doesn't otherwise have a home".
Project Links
/Questions - Questions or uncertainties regarding the project.
Our code.
http://beakernotebook.com - the Beaker notebook tool, open source but not yet packaged for Debian; here is a Presentation on Beaker.
https://jupyter.org/ - Jupyter is another open source notebook tool.
Ben Wellington's TEDx talk - interesting talk on what can be done with data analysis, using New York as an example and his work on I Quant NY blog.
Story Telling With Data Visualization Challenge is another example of a competition like what we are proposing.
People
?BernelleVerster (Cape Town Organization)
?GrahamInggs (Cape Town Organizaton)
JonasSmedegaard (Hardware and Debian base install)
- vasudevkamath (Debian base install)
KristofferRose (Data Analysis Software)
?SiriReiter (Visual Communication)
Development is done at Alioth, coordinated by mail with code tracked in git.
Relevant organisational links (not affiliated)
https://www.aims.ac.za/ - African Institute of Mathematical Sciences.
https://www.aims.ac.za/en/aimssec/about - AIMS Schools Enrichment Centre
http://akirachix.com/ - teaching organization in Kenya.
http://www.uct.ac.za/ - University of Cape Town, hosting DebConf 2016.
http://www.codebridge.co.za/ - ?CodeBridge, a civic technology lab that brings together programmers, activists and data journalists to create software that addresses difficult social problems.
http://www.datacarpentry.org/ - Data Carpentry develops and teaches workshops on the fundamental data skills needed to conduct research."Our initial target audience is learners who have little to no prior computational experience"