Looking back at EU Open Data Days 2021: ‘Serving citizens with
dataviz’
 

Last November, the Publications Office of the European Union
[https://op.europa.eu/en/home] organised the EU Open Data Days
[https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/home]. Over the three days
(23 – 25 November 2021), the event showed the benefits of open data
to more than 2300 EU public sector representatives, citizens and
businesses under the main theme: ‘_SHAPE OUR FUTURE WITH OPEN
DATA_’.

Over 70 speakers from across the world took the floor in six thematic
sessions [https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/programme]. Each
of these sessions provided an overview of innovative techniques and
best practices used in both the private and public sector. Moreover,
they offered the participants valuable insights into open data and
data visualisation techniques and practices.  

In a series of news pieces, we have recapped each of the thematic
sessions of the EU Open Data Days, which included: 

 	* ‘Creating open data ecosystems
[https://data.europa.eu/en/news/looking-back-eu-open-data-days-2021-creating-open-data-ecosystems]’ 
 	* ‘Data for people
[https://data.europa.eu/en/news/looking-back-eu-open-data-days-2021-data-people]’ 
 	* ‘Facilitating data reuse
[https://data.europa.eu/en/news/looking-back-eu-open-data-days-2021-facilitating-data-re-use]’ 
 	* ‘From open data to data visualisation
[https://data.europa.eu/en/news/looking-back-eu-open-data-days-2021-open-data-data-visualisation]’

The fifth thematic session was titled ‘SERVING CITIZENS WITH
DATAVIZ’ and linked open data and data visualisation together, with
a focus on existing best practices and innovative techniques to
showcase how to better engage citizens and serve them better.

The first session was titled ‘How automated data visualisation
became indispensable during the COVID-19 pandemic
[https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/24-november-2021/#how-automated-data-visualisation-became-indispensable-during-the-covid-19-pandemic]’
by Mirko Lorenz, the Chairman and co-founder of Datawrapper
[https://www.datawrapper.de/]. The tool simplifies the creation of
professional charts, maps and tables, and it enables users to set up
automated chart updates, reuse and sharing. In the session, Mirko
discussed the role of automated data visualisations and explained how
they can easily be created, from set-up to daily operations and
learnings.  

The second session was titled ‘Europe’s countries and how to deal
with them visually
[https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/24-november-2021/#europe-countries-and-how-to-deal-with-them-visually]’
by Tamara Flemisch [https://tamaraflemisch.de/], an Information
designer based in Berlin. In the session, Tamara explored the
challenges that information designers face when presenting European
data. She explained the barriers caused by Europe’s diverse nature,
such as association with a particular group or showing data from 27
countries in one chart. Moreover, she gave an overview of the
approaches currently being used to handle these problems, using
examples of visualisations, and she presented alternative methods for
addressing these challenges, including using interactive
visualisations or less common visualisation techniques. 

The third session was titled ‘Data visualisation on mobile devices
– issues and best practices from a use case in the public sector
[https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/24-november-2021/#data-visualisation-on-mobile-phones]’.
The session was presented by Marco Cortella and Davide Vernassa, a
data visualisation specialist and business intelligence consultant and
a UI designer and senior frontend developer, respectively, at
Engineering Group [https://www.eng.it/]. In the session, they
presented the latest developments in data visualisation for mobile
platforms and how it can evolve to meet users’ needs. Moreover, they
shared general best practices and real use cases, including theexample
of Italian public sector data visualisation for mobiles, prepared with
the healthcare department of the Veneto region. 

The fourth session was titled ‘Don’t you see it? Why data don’t
tell people much
[https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/24-november-2021/#dont-you-see-it-why-data-do-not-tell-people-much]’.
The session was presented by Geert Stox and Philip Schiebold, the Head
of Strategy and Senior Strategic Planner/Strategic Advisor and the
Creative Director, respectively, at ICF Next [https://www.icf.com/].
In the session, they provided different data visualisation uses cases
that demonstrate how they have helped clients’ and stakeholders’
data come alive and the basis for creating effective and impactful
ideas for campaigns and projects. 

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Publication Date/Time
2022-09-09T08:00:00+00:00
Explore four initiatives highlighting the link between open data and
data visualisation to help citizens