{"id":1024,"date":"2016-11-24T09:28:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-24T09:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2016-11-26T10:46:30","modified_gmt":"2016-11-26T10:46:30","slug":"hackathon-on-open-research-data-encouraging-a-balanced-demand-and-supply-of-open-research-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/24\/hackathon-on-open-research-data-encouraging-a-balanced-demand-and-supply-of-open-research-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Hackathon on open research data: encouraging a balanced demand and supply of open research data"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post comes from Professor Joseph Muliaro Wafula, Director of ICT Centre of Excellence and Open Data (iCEOD) of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, chair of CODATA Kenya and a member of the CODATA International Executive Committee. iCEOD is collaborating with IBM Cloud on an open data cloud platform:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to maximize the value of our datasets\u2014both to save money and, crucially, to encourage innovation and collaboration in the wider community,\u201d says Professor Wafula.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we could take our data outside the confines of academia and allow developers and social entrepreneurs to harness it, we hope that they would start building applications to use this information for the public good.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"hack5\"<\/a>On Saturday 12 November, the ICT Centre of Excellence and Open Data (iCEOD) of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology organized a hackathon on Kenyan open research data sets. The hackathon was intended to enable public access and use of research data through creation of mobile and web applications. It targeted research datasets from scientists in agriculture and public health. The hackathon was opened by the Dean School of Computing and Information Technology, Dr. Stephen Kimani who commended students for their readiness to participate in finding solutions to some of the existing challenges.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Prof Mary Abukutsa (http:\/\/www.jkuat.ac.ke\/departments\/horticulture\/academic\/<\/a>) provided research data set on nutritional value, germination and yields of indigenous African vegetables.<\/li>\n
  2. Prof John Wesonga (http:\/\/www.jkuat.ac.ke\/departments\/horticulture\/prof-john-wesonga-m\/<\/a>) provided research data set on best conditions of growing French beans with minimum application of pesticides.<\/li>\n
  3. Prof. Simon Karanja (http:\/\/www.jkuat.ac.ke\/schools\/soph\/prof-simon-karanja\/<\/a>) provided research data on the effects of Khat on users in Kenya.<\/li>\n
  4. Dr. Frida Wanzala (http:\/\/www.jkuat.ac.ke\/departments\/horticulture\/academic\/<\/a>) provided research data on papaya growing areas in Kenya.<\/li>\n
  5. Dr. Peter Kahenya(http:\/\/www.jkuat.ac.ke\/departments\/foodscience\/?page_id=49<\/a>) provided research data on various conditions that affect cooking time of different types of beans.<\/li>\n
  6. Dr. John Kinyuru (http:\/\/www.jkuat.ac.ke\/departments\/foodscience\/?page_id=49<\/a>) provided research data on nutritional formulas of various local Kenyan foods.<\/li>\n
  7. Mr. Francis Ombwara (http:\/\/www.jkuat.ac.ke\/departments\/horticulture\/non-academic\/<\/a>) provided research data on identification of sweetness of papaya by color. All the developers were invited to explain the objective of their research.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"hack2\"<\/a>The iCEOD team curated the data sets and organized it in formats that were easily consumable by software developers. The team also created Application Programming Interfaces (API\u2019s) and SQL queries which were uploaded to a database in a local computer environment, allowing developers to delve into development of applications without having to worry about the raw datasets.<\/p>\n

    \"hack4\"<\/a>The objectives of the Hackathon<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. To build innovative mobile and web applications that made access and consumption of research data easy for the benefit of the society.<\/li>\n
    2. To encourage scientists to open their research data for public consumption and use.<\/li>\n
    3. To showcase open data capability in providing innovative solutions to societal challenges<\/li>\n
    4. To engage partners support on the open research data initiative.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Hackathon Partners.<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (http:\/\/www.jkuat.ac.ke\/<\/a>)<\/li>\n
      2. IBM East Africa (http:\/\/www.ibm.com\/connect\/ibm\/ke\/en\/branch\/ibm.html<\/a> )<\/li>\n
      3. CODATA (http:\/\/www.codata.org\/<\/a> )<\/li>\n
      4. AFRICA ai JAPAN Project (http:\/\/jkuat.ac.ke\/projects\/africa-ai-japan\/?page_id=469<\/a>)<\/li>\n
      5. Kenya Open Data Initiative (https:\/\/opendata.go.ke\/<\/a> )<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        List of Judges<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Dr. Agnes Mindila-JKUAT<\/li>\n
        2. Mr. Philip Oyier-JKUAT<\/li>\n
        3. Mr. Silas Macharia \u2013IBM Kenya<\/li>\n
        4. Mr. Phebian \u2013ICT Authority<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          The three winning applications<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \"hack1\"<\/a>Position 1: Team ACELORDS comprised of Alex Maina, Emmah Kimari and Peter Kamore \u2013 Used Nutritional dataset<\/p>\n