People

The Open Knowledge Foundation is a collaborative effort primarily run by volunteers led by a core 'Executive Group'. There is also an official Board of Directors who oversee the basic direction and activities of the Foundation as well as an Advisory Board. More information about the Foundation's organizational structure can be found on the governance page.

Executive Group

The Executive Group people is responsible for coordinating the Foundation's activities on a day to day basis.

  • Saul Albert
  • James Casbon
  • Jonathan Gray (Community Coordinator)
  • Jordan Hatcher
  • Becky Hogge
  • Rufus Pollock
  • Prodromos Tsiavos
  • Jo Walsh

Board of Directors

  • James Casbon
  • Martin Keegan
  • Jordan Hatcher
  • Becky Hogge
  • Paula Le Dieu
  • Rufus Pollock
  • Jo Walsh

Advisory Board

Volunteers and Other Contributors

It is not possible to list all of the many people who have contributed to the Open Knowledge Foundation's work but a few of those who have been particularly involved include:

  • John Bywater
  • Tim Cowlishaw
  • Michael Holloway
  • Peter Lockley
  • Nate Olson
  • Iain Emsley
  • Jenny Molloy

Biographies

Saul Albert

Saul Albert works with other people to make events, software, organisations and things which are not-just-art. He does this in many places including: The People Speak: The University of Openness, Twenteenth Century, Dorkbot London, Node London and many others. You can find more about him on the web here.

James Casbon

James Casbon has been working with open knowledge throughout his professional career. He has been responsible for analysing and managing large scale data sets in genomics, aerospace and finance. He is currently working on a project to enable parallel resequencing of the human genome at Population Genetics Technologies. He is looking forward to contributing to the Foundation's work on an open data grid and on open data in science.

Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray is Community Coordinator at the Open Knowledge Foundation. He studied Philosophy at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, Social Sciences at the Open University and is currently doing research in the German department at Royal Holloway, University of London. More information can be found at jonathangray.org.

Jordan Hatcher

Jordan Hatcher is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, and holds an advanced degree in IP and technology law from the University of Edinburgh School of Law. Jordan has worked on a number of projects related to open content and copyright, including a study by the CIE about UK public sector use of Creative Commons and similar licences in 2005, an Eduserv Foundation funded study on use of open content by the cultural heritage sector in 2007, and on the Creative Commons Scotland localisation in 2005 and in 2007.

Becky Hogge

Becky Hogge is a writer and technologist. She was formerly the technology director of award-winning current affairs website openDemocracy.net, and Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, a grassroots digital civil liberties organisation.

Martin Keegan

Martin Keegan has been generally working in the computing industry since leaving school in 1994. He was involved in computing matters whilst at University. Back when he had copious spare time he campaigned on political issues connected to computing and the digital environment and was one of the founders of UK Campaign for Digital Rights.

Paula Le Dieu

Paula Le Dieu is a new media executive and advisor. Paula has worked with the BBC, Guardian, Fairfax, Ofcom and Creative Commons as well as online content and activism communities such as iCommons and the international documentary community. Her experience spans advising on the future of public service media, open culture theory and practice, the role of archives in the digital age, leading international communities of volunteers, building e-commerce solutions and sitting on the executive board of the leading European Documentary Festival - Sheffield Doc/Fest...amongst other things. More information at ledieu.org.

Rufus Pollock

Rufus Pollock helped found the Open Knowledge Foundation in 2004. He is currently the Mead Fellow in Economics at Emmanuel College Cambridge working on innovation and intellectual property policy. He has worked extensively, as a scholar, coder and activist on the technological, social and legal issues surrounding open knowledge. More information can be found on his home page.

Jo Walsh

Jo Walsh has been hacking for more than ten years and working with geodata for more than five. As well as her involvement with the OKF she is also on the board of the Open Source Geo-Spatial Foundation and is one of the authors of O'Reilly's Mapping Hacks. As one of those people who still think that the semantic web will save the world she gets very excited about metadata standards and data sharing. More information can be found on her home page.

James Noyes

James Noyes got involved with the OKF through being one of the co-creators of What is To be Done. At present he is completing a PhD in theology at Cambridge University on the subject of iconoclasm.

Natasha Phillips

After finishing University Natasha worked at the BBC for a time including a stint on the Politics Show. After deciding that a more contemplative life was for her she can now be found in a rural France occassionally tending her weblog.