Freebase Hack Day November 8, 2008

Freebase is a structured database of the world's information, available under a Creative Commons license and accessible via a simple API.

If you've been to any of our recent user group meetings, you've probably heard about our forthcoming application development platform, Acre. Our Hack Day is a chance to learn about Acre in detail and start building apps and mashups built on Freebase's structured data. Freebase staff and developers will be on hand to help you out, answer questions, and even collaborate on your project.

If you're not a programmer, but are interested in open data or have data you'd like to share with Freebase, we'll be able to help you with that too. We can hold your hand through the process of building schema, loading data, and creating a user domain to help build community around your area of interest.

At the same time as all this hacking, we'll have rooms set aside for unconference-style discussions and workshops. Whatever your field of interest -- from visualisations to iPhone apps to social change -- you can claim a room, a whiteboard, and a projector for a half hour slot to discuss it with like-minded people.

Freebase community members regularly awe us with their broad range of interests and depth of expertise. While this event is largely unstructured and will provide space for whatever you're into, we'd also like to highlight and suggest a few areas known to interest many community members. One of the themes we want to address at this event (especially with it falling so soon after the US presidential elections) is the subject of Open Government. We know there are a number of people interested in using Freebase to help expose connections between politicians, businesses, and other entities. If this is your field, we'd especially love to have you here to meet with others doing similar work.

Of course, this event is free (lunch and tshirt included) and all are welcome. Signups are now open. Sign up ASAP to ensure you get a tshirt in your size, as we'll only be printing as many as there are registrations!

Official Website: http://freebase.com/