3 Round Stones' CTO Dr. David Wood presented to representatives of several Commonwealth of Virginia agencies on Monday, October 6 2014 on the topic of Open Data. Dr. Wood was invited to address the officials by Associate Professor Peter Aiken of Virignia Commonwealth University. Prof. Aiken is a Founding Director of VCU's Institute for Data Research and the information management consultancy Data Blueprint.
Representatives from the Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Department of Elections, Department of Health, and the Department of Medical Assistance Services attended the briefing.
Dr. Wood's presentation placed Open Data in the context of the last sixty years of "open" innovation, from Open Standards to Open Source Software to Open Content, and covered innovations in licensing that make Open Data practical for use in legal contexts. Of particular interest to the attendees was a discussion of US federal government Open Data efforts and the efforts of other countries, particularly the UK and Canada, that are successfully deploying Open Data programs to drive services to citizens and to lower the cost of traditional data warehousing.