Working Groups

= Working Groups = Working Groups are domain-specific groups to focus on discussion and activity around a given area of open knowledge. They provide an opportunity for people with similar interests to gather online (and sometimes in person) to hack, discuss, lobby, promote and explore particular areas of Open Knowledge and/or Open Data. Our Official List of Working groups can be found at: http://okfn.org/wg/. Most working groups now have their own dedicated website in addition to their wiki page.

To get involved please find the group you are interested in below and click through to join their mailing list.

List of Active Working Groups

 * Open @ccess
 * Open Archaeology
 * Open Bibliographic Data
 * Open Definition
 * Open Design & Hardware
 * Open Development
 * Open Economics
 * Open Education
 * Open GLAM
 * Open Government Data
 * Open Humanities
 * Open Linguistics
 * Open Product Data
 * Open Science
 * Open Spending Data
 * Open Sustainability
 * Open Transport
 * Personal Data and Privacy
 * Public Domain
 * Lobbying Transparency

=Working Group FAQ= What are Working Groups? Working Groups are domain-specific groups to focus on discussion and activity around a given area of open knowledge. They provide an opportunity for people with similar interests to gather online (and sometimes in person) to hack, discuss, lobby, promote and explore particular areas of Open Knowledge and/or Open Data. There are at the moment 14 active Working Groups around “open knowledge and topic x”.

Why do Working Groups exist? Working Groups (WGs) are at the core of Open Knowledge Foundation’s mission, to support and connect communities around open data and open knowledge, to open up knowledge and see it used and useful.

Working Group Members are encouraged to participate in regular meetings, in which existing work will be reviewed and in which new projects can be suggested. Projects may be proposed to the Project Committee to gain further central support from the Open Knowledge Foundation Network, or may be directly maintained and developed by the Working Group.

What do Working Groups do? Working Groups aim to:
 * Act as a central point of reference and support for people interested in open knowledge in a specific domain or area (e.g. science, international development, government data…).
 * Identify relevant projects and practices, curate collections of existing open material, and develop domain-specific guides.
 * Act as a hub for the development and maintenance of low cost, community driven projects around open knowledge in a specific domain or area.

What activities are Working Groups engaged in? The activities that Working Groups engage in are largely dependent on the interests of its members. In the past working groups have produced handbooks, developed standards, and campaigned for change in their respective areas. If you have an idea for something different, we’d love to hear about it!

How are Working Groups structured? Working Groups are composed of individual Open Knowledge Foundation Network Members. Each Working Group has autonomy regarding its projects and activities: responsibility is devolved. For every Working Group there is a Coordinator who performs basic housekeeping tasks but it is very much encouraged to find more members willing to help with this. Each Working Group can recruit as many participants as it sees fit, and is responsible for finding and inviting further participants as it progresses.

When a Working Group develops we advise to bring some structure to it in the form of.
 * An advisory board with high profile members within your respective area that can advise on next steps and comment on the strategy of the Working Group
 * Working Group active members who invest time in the group, set out the next steps and actions to be taken and communicate on a regular base
 * The mailing list with the community interested in the discussion in your Working Group.

Why should I set up a Working Group? It might happen that you are looking for a Working Group to join which does not exist.. In that case, we encourage you to set up your own!

How do I set up a Working Group? When you think about setting up a Working Group, the first thing you can do is get in touch with the Working Group coordinator. Together with this person you can have a look if this topic might not already be covered by another Working Group and he or she can help you through the process of setting one up.

The next step would be to gather interest for your Working Group. We can for example put up a blogpost on the main Open Knowledge Foundation blog about the Working Group or perhaps you already have a network of people with similar interests. If there are at least 10 people interested in joining your Working Group, you can proceed to become an incubating Working Group.

What is the difference between an Incubating and Active Working Group? When starting a Working Group, you’ll automatically become incubating. This means it has:
 * A Working Group coordinator
 * At least 10 interested members
 * An active discussion on the mailing list

Once started, you can continue gathering interest for your Working Group and at some point become an active Working Group. This means:
 * At least 50 people on the mailing list
 * A Working Group website with information what the Working Group is about and how to get involved
 * At least 5 listed active members of the Working Group
 * An active mailing list
 * Regular calls with the active Working Group members
 * Preferably more than one coordinator to divide the workload
 * Regular exposure on the main Open Knowledge Foundation blog

How does the Open Knowledge Foundation Network support the Working Groups? Every Working Group, incubating or active, gets the following support from the Open Knowledge Foundation Network.
 * A mailing list
 * A website with the following URL: [name of wg].okfn.org
 * Exposure via various Open Knowledge Foundation Network channels (blog, newsletter, social media)
 * A set of documentation with best practices about running a Working Group, organising events etc.
 * Support and governance from the Working Group coordinator
 * Connection with the other Working Group Coordinators to share experiences and give advice
 * Templates and reusable/customisable media assets such as logos
 * Support to find funding for WG coordinator

If we can be doing more, or if you have a special support need, please let us know!

An active Working Group can also get access to a small pot of funding. This can for example be used for travel of Working Group members to events, providing some catering at your event or getting some Working Group merchandise such as flyers and stickers. Active Working Groups are also invited to the bi-annual community summit.

How do the Local Groups and Working Groups relate to each other? The Open Knowledge Foundation has a strong network of Local Groups. This network differs our thematic Working Groups because its participants build projects, communities and tools from a regional context rooted in local ideas and experiences.

Naturally there is a lot of overlap between the Working Groups and Local Groups. Very often Working Group members are also a member of their Local Group and for example organise meetups around the topic of their interest. In some countries ‘Local Working Groups’ have been set-up such as the Open Science group in Finland.

No matter what structure is chosen, the link with the global Working Group is always something we try to maintain. It is a great resource for sharing stories, learn from each other, and to contribute the global movement.

Who can I contact if I have further questions about Working Groups? Need help with something or have other questions? Feel free to email the Working Group coordinator here for further guidance.

More Information is Available through our Working Group Guide and you can find a schedule of working group activities here: /schedule