Open Data Hong Kong Co-founder Mart Van de Ven Explains What Open Data is and Why It Matters

January 16, 2014 by Iris Leung

MartODHK
Meet Mart Van de Ven: programmer by trade, instructor at General Assembly and one half of the co-founding duo behind Open Data Hong Kong (ODHK).

As an ambassador for Open Knowledge Foundation, a non-profit based in the UK that promotes open content and open data, Mart’s quest in Hong Kong is to develop a local community that’s passionate about the Open Data movement. Ever since meeting co-founder Douglas Wai-Chung Bastien at Bar Camp in February of last year, the two have been building momentum in the local community through tri-weekly meetups and civic hackathons.

For those unsure why Open Data matters, Mart lends an analogy. As he went to university in Hong Kong, he noticed that sharing his notes with his classmates was met with bewilderment. To these local students, sharing something that would give you a competitive advantage was unheard of – even if it would result in a greater good.
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Filed Under: News Tagged With: Douglas Wai-Chung Bastien, Hacking Health, LegCo, Mart Van de Ven, OGCIO, Open Data Hong Kong

Hong Kong-based HotelQuickly Expands to Three Metropolitan Cities in The Phillipines

January 16, 2014 by Iris Leung

hotelquickly

HotelQuickly, the hotel booking app that offers last-minute deals across Asia, has expanded to the Philippines. Those travelling through the metropolitan areas of Manila, Cebu and Davao now have access to 500 new hotels at their mobile fingertips.

For those that haven’t experienced the ease of HotelQuickly yet, here’s how it works: nine hotel deals are listed based on the user’s location once the app is opened up. As a private sales channel, only members have access to the exclusive deals – which are deemed more competitive than online agents. Not only can members enjoy competitive rates without planning ahead, but HotelQuickly promises to refund twice the difference if a cheaper deal is found elsewhere.

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Filed Under: News Tagged With: HotelQuickly, Phillippines, Raphael Cohen

Hong Kong-Based Recruit.Net Launches a New Job Search Tool With Deep Social Integration

January 16, 2014 by Iris Leung

maneck-green
As Google and Ipsos Media CT revealed in a joint study in August, Hong Kong tops the APAC charts in smartphone internet usage and we discovered that a whopping 90% of Hong Kongers use the mobile web every single day. But what are all those eyeballs focusing on?

Besides messaging, gaming and online shopping, some smartphone users in Asia are actually using their devices to go on the job hunt. According to web analytics data scooped up by Recruit.net, a Hong Kong-based job site, one out of three job seekers in Asia (Singapore is in first, and Hong Kong and Japan are close behind) now uses their mobile devices to search for employment opportunities.
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Filed Under: News Tagged With: Maneck Mohan, Recuit.net
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