Our History
In summary …
2013 – Inaugural Conference
The first Go Open Data Conference was held on Saturday May 11, 2013 in the Pharmacy Building of the University of Waterloo in Kitchener. The concept for a GO Open Data event came from Albert O’Connor, a web developer from Kitchener (http://albertoconnor.ca/).
The conference was planned by a group of volunteers: Albert O’Connor, Conference Lead; Jury Konga, Open Data – Gov advocate and consultant; Oriana Sharp, Region of Waterloo; Garry Bezruki, City of Waterloo; Dave Wallace, University of Waterloo; Nathan Vexler, University of Waterloo; Giles Malet, University of Waterloo; and Michael Drucker, civil society advocate.
2014 - A Turning Point
After the success of the initial conference, Jury Konga coordinated the planning for GO Open Data to become an annual conference starting in 2014 which was held in Toronto at the waterfront campus of George Brown College. This became a turning point with a new format and a broader and larger audience.
The event was changed to a 2 day format with the conference being held on Friday and the Saturday initiating a full day open data hackathon. The conference exceeded expectations with over 350 participants and multiple projects started during the hackathon.The conference was co-Chaired by Trish Garner, former Open Data Manager for the City of Toronto and Jury Konga and had a diverse planning team with participation from municipal and provincial governments, non-profits, academia, private sector and civil society. The 2014 conference became a turning point as it provided a successful model for ongoing annual GOOD conferences and community engagement.
GOOD Association Formed 2019
WHY did we create the association? Members of the 2019 Conference Planning Committee agreed with the recommendation that GO Open Data become incorporated to effectively deal with the signing of contracts and managing liabilities and finances associated with undertaking events. GO Open Data Inc. was incorporated as a federal non-profit on April 3, 2019.
There was also the desire to formalize an association with members to provide services beyond just an annual conference and have a community to provide feedback on proposed programs and projects. The renewed GOOD V.2.0 was launched on January 12, 2021. We encourage people to become members and actively participate in the association and the open community.