Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland
Read Time - 2 minsI recently visited the guys at Open Knowledge Foundation Knowledge Foundation in Berlin and I must say I was pleasantly impressed. They are an NGO championing the cause of open knowledge and making data available to the public. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TQjZHRa5_78" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> They seem to be bridging the gap between government and tech with various exciting projects; one of my favorites of which was FragDenStaat
FragDenStaat
Basically the Informations Freiheits Gesetz (Freedom of Information Act) gives the citenzenry the right to request for information from public institutions and these institutions are in turn required to answer to every query made. So then using this platform they built, one can make an application to any state agency. They will in turn make this query and inform you per email when the state agency replies with the information needed. This information will also be made public on the site for anyone to find and use at a later date. I found this to be a very practical web app that will promote public participation and accountability in governance.
Code For Germany
Code for Germany is the German chapter of Code For ALL. This is an initiative that brings together developers, designers, journalists, and civic tech enthusiasts to leverage their skills and passions towards open knowledge and civic technology. They are active in an impressive number of cities across the lenghts and breadth of Germnany. This is an amatuer picture I took with my smartphone of a map showing cities with active chapters at the moment, on their wall.
They have a number of interesing projects underways some of which are labelled as looking for helping hands. I personally being the biggest fan of meetups am going to be going for their meetups here in Berlin and anywhere I may find myself. It is a worthy cause and the passion in the organization is infectious 
As at the time of writing this post, the Hacknight Meetups are held at Wikimedia e.V. Deutschland every 2nd Monday of the month at 7pm
Address: Tempelhofer Ufer 23/24, 10963 Berlin.
Kofi
Ghanaian born global citizen