Julia Wetherfell of Tech President reports, “Last summer, the Japanese government announced a new open data strategy, with the intention of connecting the country’s governmental, industrial, and academic sectors. Now Japan is set to have a record year for open data projects, with open government advocates leading the way. Global Voices reported yesterday on a cluster of civic hacking events occurring this winter. An Open Data Day was held in Yokohama last weekend, where participating developers worked to make public services and cultural resources more accessible to citizens and visitors to the city. Japan’s branch of the Open Knowledge Foundation, founded last summer, is partnering with Hack for Japan, established following the 2011 earthquake, to run events in Tokyo and elsewhere for International Open Data Day on February 23.” Read more

Antony Savvas reports that the Environment Agency is “deploying an open source knowledge management system to compile and share information on around 500 river restoration projects throughout Europe. The Wiki-style online information source will be used by European government agencies, engineers, ecologists, planners and other parties involved in restoring rivers.” Read more