Saturday Workshops Final Line-Up

One of the defining features of the subject matter covered by the Beyond the Smart City event is its breadth; in putting together the programme we’ve deliberately selected topics and speakers that explore the wider implications of data and technology for the place we live in.

In order to help delegates crystallise Friday’s ideas and gain some practical knowledge we devised a series of workshops to be held on the Saturday morning. The day starts with coffee at the Generator Hub, in central Exeter, at 10am and the workshops run for an hour each from 10:30am – 11:30am and 12:00pm – 1:00pm.

Delegates to the Friday conference will get priority booking and can sign up for any two of these workshops for free by emailing their preferences to [email protected], or by speaking to one of us on the Friday.

If you’re unable to attend the conference, but would like to attend some of these workshops, please let us know and we will add you to a waiting list.

The Workshops

Making Sense in the Smart City – Alastair Somerville

A one hour workshop on what hyper user­-centred design means when communicating in a Smart City. As wearable technology and the Internet of Things create new ways of talking and listening, it becomes essential to remember how we all sense and make meaning. This is an experiential workshop to help people explore their own senses. This workshop uses knowledge from Alastair Somerville’s accessibility projects and research into sensory cognition to inform how we can make intelligible and inclusive places that are both smart and social.

Communicating with Open Data – Lucy Knight

A short workshop taking a critical look at how visual presentation of data can hamper our efforts to communicate. As free code libraries and dashboard tools spring up around open data, we have more opportunities to visualise and present our evidence than ever – but are we saying what we want to say? Is our message getting through?

This session will take you through the principles of creating effective data visualisations.

SQL Saturday Technical Taster Sessions

SQLSaturday is a global movement providing free training events for SQL Server professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server or relational databases in general. For BTSC15 our friends at SQLSW have put together a bespoke taster session mixing up some of the key technical concepts of SQL and open data. This workshop will not shy away from the technical details but aims to also be suitable for beginners.

Open Data in the Enterprise – Martin Howitt

It’s often a challenge to create sustainable open data processes that work with an organisation’s internal IT departments, but this is essential if the data is to be relied upon by developers or the wider community. In this workshop we’ll try and find solutions to your problems working with internal processes and systems to open their data, leveraging Martin’s two decades of practical experience in enterprise ICT.