Open Data Days 2026

Spirit Locale: Canberra — Barbecue spot on Springbank Island — reachable only by kayak/boat, tiny island BBQ in the middle of West Lake.
Format: Online Over Google Meet
Host: Steven De Costa & The New Vanguard

We kick off by isolating ourselves from the establishment mainland. This session is about planting the flag for Sovereign Data and Local AI. We will discuss why the 'Multinational Tech CEO' is obsolete and how we begin constructing the infrastructure for true digital autonomy. We are stepping out of the digital hall of mirrors to lay the first blocks of our cooperative.

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Spirit Locale: Sydney — The “Petersham Bowling Club Gig” — an urban bowling club known for hosting surprise gigs and community events.
Format: Online Over Google Meet
Host: Steven De Costa & Decentralized Builders

Sydney is the corporate HQ, but we are at the grassroots bowling club. To build the new, we must break the old. Today we discuss disrupting the polite, 'soft culture' enterprise models of the past decade. We are converting our passive network of altruistic followers into highly activated, mature operators ready to deploy decentralized, co-constructive cooperatives.

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Spirit Locale: Melbourne — Hosier Lane Street Art Gallery — world-famous for constantly changing murals — live graffiti as a “museum” in the city.
Format: Online Over Google Meet
Host: Steven De Costa and OKFNAU old schoolers

A focused session on the Open Knowledge Australia 'Reboot'. Like the walls of Hosier Lane, we are unapologetically sketching out and layering new intent over existing foundations. We explore the revival of OKFNAU through the lens of modern Reality Engineering—shifting from passive networking to building the hardened systemic structures needed by the communities still fighting the good fight today.

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Spirit Locale: Brisbane — The Ship Inn Sundowner on the River — heritage pub literally on the Brisbane River, perfect for quirky “urban river boat mooring + beer” feels.
Format: Online Over Google Meet
Host: Steven De Costa & Ecosystem Architects

Data flows like a river, but without an anchor, it’s just noise in the digital hall of mirrors. Today is the formal introduction of the Objective Observer Initiative. We will discuss how to moor our data securely against the currents of centralized corporate narratives, ensuring our mature operators hold the baseline for truth and objective reality.

Spirit Locale: Adelaide — Glenelg Jetty Tearooms — historic seaside tearooms at a jetty, a Victorian-era throwback in a beach suburb of Adelaide.
Format: Online Over Google Meet
Host: Steven De Costa & Reality Engineers

We sit in the relics of Victorian-era polite society to talk about retiring our own 'polite era.' We dive deep into the philosophy of civil, ethical, and moral 'familiarization'. We explore how Reality Engineers will construct systems that serve the local neighborhood rather than the distant shareholder, establishing a new baseline for the productive pursuit of freedom.

Spirit Locale: Perth — The Nostalgia Box — Australia’s interactive video game museum showcasing retro gaming history, a fun quirky tech cultural stop in Perth CBD.
Format: Online Over Google Meet
Host: Steven De Costa & Bare-Metal Builders

Retro games represent an era of true ownership: they ran entirely locally and you physically held the cartridge. Today, multinationals want to rent you access to your own tools. Surrounded by the hacker ethos of retro tech, we discuss the imperative of Responsible, Sovereign, and Local AI. We are taking a sledgehammer to cloud dependency.

Spirit Locale: Hobart — Mona Ferry Terminal — “The Dead Ups” painted ferry departures — with a dive into the Moorilla funky vibe before you even reach the museum.
Format: Online Over Google Meet
Host: Steven De Costa & The Odious Xers

Mona was built to shock the system; so is this next era of Link Digital. This session is about fully breaking the innocent, people-pleasing persona of legacy open data and introducing the assertive, intentful action required for the future. We are dissecting the exact, constructed profile shifts required to force the market to respect open sovereignty.

Spirit Locale: Darwin — Mindil Beach Sunset Markets — iconic quirky Darwin vibe with food stalls, performers, and sunset crowds right on the beach.
Format: Online Over Google Meet
Host: Steven De Costa & The Mature Operators

As the sun sets on the event, we look toward the sunset of the multinational corporate monopolies. This final wrap-up is a call to arms. The 'digital hall of mirrors' has been shattered. The network is active. We synthesize this 8-day journey into a concrete, executable roadmap for the Objective Observer Initiative. It is time to build.