What to Do in a Lockdown

Dear Friends of open data

With the recent lockdown, the Coronavirus impacts all of our lives. Some of you we are sure, are feeling the negative repercussions very strongly and our hearts go out to you.

But as with everything else, there is also a small silver lining. Whether the daily commute falls away because we are working from home or our workplace is closed and we cannot work at all, many of us find that we unexpectedly have a little more time on our hands than usual. With everything closed however, the activities at our disposal are quite limited.

So maybe this is the chance to use some of that extra time to do some of those things that we have put off for a long time, or to learn some new interesting things, or maybe even to apply your knowhow to help limit the fallout caused by the Coronavirus.

We have put together a short list of things to do with your extra time. If you have suggestions for additions, let us know via info@opendata.ch. 

Get Engaged

• Together with several other organisations we are organising the #VersusVirus Hackathon from April 3-5. It’s an online hackathon lasting 48h where we aim to develop functioning digital or analog prototypes in interdisciplinary teams for concrete solutions to oppose Covid-19. For more information, to suggest a challenge and sign up: visit our #versusvirus website.

• Now more than ever: Apply with your idea for a smart participation tool to strengthen Swiss democracy and develop your prototype with up to 100’000 CHF! Submit your project until 14 May. We can’t wait to learn about your great ideas! 

• The Prototype Fund also started a collaborative list of Civic Tech projects in Switzerland and abroad. These initiatives can serve as inspiration and even basis for your own projects. Check it out and add further projects. Civic Tech is a very dynamic field so we need your support in extending this list. Thank you! 

Start Learning…

• The Statistics Office of Zurich has started a Hackathon to monitor the COVID19 effects in order to making data and analysis on the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic visible. You can screen through their first results and watch the live stream of their results presentation.

• For those of you still learning about the potentials and possibilities, but also the risks surrounding data, take a look around our Data Café website. There you will find some useful information on how to better understand, protect and use data. Two examples are:

• [DE] In order to form your own well-rounded opinion on the matter of data, try to hear as many perspectives as possible. The new magazine on «the value of data» by Stiftung Mercator explores the topic through conversations with various experts taking on different perspectives.

…with your Kids

• For those of you who are at home with their kids: since it may be a while until kids can go back to school, we found a blogpost with tons of free educational resources for kids (in English).

Use Digitally Sustainable Tools

• On ethical.net you can discover ethical tools for collaboration, messaging and more.

Take care and stay healthy,
your Opendata.ch team