Over the last decade, governments and public institutions have dumped massive amounts of data into the public domain. From bus arrival times to COVID-19 deaths, gun-related injuries and licensed cat names, open data has given us unprecedented access to information about our communities. This talk will bring together an academic, an investigative journalist, and a data manager to discuss the past, present and future of open data, along with its power and limitations.

Denis Carr - Denis is the Supervisor of the City of Toronto’s Open Data program and has been a part of exciting efforts to modernize government through digital transformation for over a decade. Denis' team, alongside Open North, delivered the City's first Open Data Master Plan which sets the strategic direction for Open Data at the City of Toronto.

Inori Roy - Inori Roy is a journalist and Associate Editor at The Local magazine. Her stories combine data analysis and insight from sources with lived experience to reveal and interrogate social issues, including on subjects like labour, the environment, and public health. She has previously written for the Toronto Star, The Narwhal, Unearthed, and the CBC.

Pamela Robinson - Dr. Pamela Robinson  is the Director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University. Throughout her career as a planner her research and practice have focused on complex, emergent challenges that Canadian communities face. Her current research focuses on the question: who is planning the Canadian smart city? Since 2010, Pamela has written a regular column for Spacing Magazine where she writes about equity, technology and civic engagement in Canadian cities. Robinson is a member of the Toronto Public Library’s Innovation Council and the Multi-Stakeholder Forum for the Government of Canada’s Open Government Partnership work.

Tai Huynh -Tai Huynh is a designer and social innovator interested in creativity as the fuel for changemaking. Tai is Creative Director at OpenLab at the University Health Network, Canada’s largest research hospital. He works with an inter-disciplinary team to come up with creative solutions to pressing issues at the intersection of health and society. Tai is the founding editor-in-chief of The Local, an award-winning magazine exploring urban health and social issues in Toronto, and co-founder of Choosing Wisely Canada. Tai has a Master of Design from OCAD University and MBA from York University.

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you have a request for accommodation. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca.

Open Data: Past, Present and Future