Approximately 140 devotees of information and communication technologies convened last week at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., to explore ways to share international development data and collaborate more constructively.

At “Open Development Camp: Data and Collaboration,” participants delved into topics such as visualization platforms, cloud computing, digital brainstorming, and open standards based on international development markup language (IDML). The goal: to enable better project planning, create more searchable and accessible information, and encourage crowd participation in addressing challenges in developing countries.

“One of the greatest challenges in development cooperation is that there is no feedback loop,” said Owen Barder, director of AidInfo, in his opening remarks. “The people who make choices are not the people who are most affected by whether those projects and programs work.

“Information enables donors to be more effective -- they can coordinate with government and with each other. The private sector can make better choices, too.”

The camp was sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Global Development Commons (GDC) project in partnership with Development Initiatives’ AidInfo, the Development Gateway Foundation, Forum One Communications, and the World Bank. Attendees included project managers, development technical experts, geospatial analysts, mobile technology specialists, and others.

The camp has invited interested parties to join the discussion by registering at http://opendev.ning.com. Camp participants and others have used the site to suggest session topics, spotlight development challenges, and continue conversations launched in camp sessions. The camp’s Twitter tag is #opendevcamp.

The GDC promotes innovations in international development through knowledge sharing, partnerships, and collaborative problem-solving. DAI advises the GDC through USAID’s Global Development Alliance (GDA), to which DAI provides core services. The GDA builds new, sustainable partnerships to improve the scale and impact of international development work.

The GDC team also created and maintains GlobalDevelopmentCommons.net, a website built by DAI on an open source platform that highlights ideas that address development projects.