The federal government kicked off its promotion of an open data hackathon in Toronto on Wednesday night, encouraging people to use publicly available data provided by government departments to build new apps.

Now in its second year, the Canadian Open Data Experience (CODE) hackathon is targeted towards students, entrepreneurs, programmers, developers, and graphic designers. Participants will have two days to come up with a creative mobile app using open data sets provided by the federal government, with an eye to helping youth, commerce, or to improving quality of life. The contest kicks off Feb. 20 and runs until Feb. 22, coinciding with International Open Data Day on Feb. 21.

Last year, more than 900 participants competed in the hackathon, so the organizers are hoping for an even bigger turnout this time around. But more importantly, they’re trying to highlight what people can do with open data, said Ray Sharma, founder of Toronto’s XMG Studio Inc. and one of the main organizers of CODE2015.

Tony Clement appears in a video made at the end of 2013 to explain the CODE initiative.
“Every government agency, we’re talking fisheries, we’re talking defense, we’re talking immigration, we’re talking StatsCan, every regulatory body – can you imagine the data that exists?… Do you see why that’s exciting?” Sharma said, adding there’s a vein of untapped potential in all of that data. He’s especially excited about the prospect of bringing research publications online.

Instead, government departments have been providing data in paper format, as there was a fear people could “create havoc” by manipulating the information, Clement said, according to the Canadian Press.

In an interview with ITBusiness.ca on Wednesday, Clement said he’s aware of the criticism, but that the data sets provided through the government’s open data portal are presented in useable formats.

“We’re listening to the user community for feedback on the types of presentations, how they can dig into the information and mash it with other data sets – these kinds of things,” he said.

However, there are still other challenges that lie ahead. The public still needs more data to come online, said Sharma, adding the “mother of all data” is in healthcare and education – which are provincial rather than federal responsibilities.

Then there’s the issue of ownership, he added. If a government department provides data, and a business builds a useful application for it, the question of ownership of that asset can quickly become a thorny one.

Despite the difficulties, Kevin Tuer, managing director of the Open Data Exchange in Waterloo, Ont., said he is “optimistic” about where open data is headed in Canada.

For Tuer, data is a resource like any other, and it can give rise to new industries – the same way industries like lumber and mining have sprung up out of raw materials like wood and iron ore.

“There are challenges for sure, but that’s why we’re adopting an open data by default process … Problems will be brought to light, but they’re not barriers,” he said. “The challenge is knowing where does the government’s role stop, and where does the private sector’s role start?”

Once private companies become more involved with tapping into public and private data, a lot of the issues around privacy, security, and open data standards will get resolved, he added.