[group business] I'm leaving India on Jan 4th :(

[Nisha Thompson]

Dear All,

I'm sad to say that I'll be leaving India for good on Jan 4th. It was not an easy decision, but I've been in Bangalore for 7 wonderful years and feel it's time to head back to the US. 

I'm so proud and happy to be apart of this community, while I won't be able to do offline events and work anymore, I'll continue to moderate the Google Group and assist with any online work.

Over the past 6 years we have been at the table for most data discussions and that reflects a lot about how we have been able to build a solid community of people. We have managed to run events, campaigns, free data, build resources, and do policy work; for a group like ours the list of accomplishments is profound considering we are just a community of volunteers with no money.

A few years ago the stress of dealing with all the asks of us, made THej, Anand, and I take a step back and evaluate what we were trying to do. The decision to not raise money and to continue as volunteers was difficult but necessary given that we wanted to continue to concentrate on freeing essential data important to the community not trying to run around and collect money for projects that don't meet everyone's needs.

For the past year we have concentrated on policy work, partnerships, and geospatial data. The community wants shapefiles we have worked to get them and make them open. While there has been delay we will have a complete village shapefile set in the public domain soon. And as we continue on we will do urban areas as we go along. This is a major accomplishment for us. And as the work winds down and me transitioning out it is a good time to take a look at what we should concentrate on next. 

We have created a survey to start collecting ideas. If you have some time this week please fill it out:

https://goo.gl/forms/APbUYf9TyY2bcmgP2

What started out as a place to complain about Indian data has really become a family to me and has made my time in India really special.

Thank you all for being awesome. I know this community will continue to thrive.

I will miss everyone dearly.

Nisha

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Nisha Thompson

DataMeet.org

ni...@datameet.org

skype: nishaqt

mobile: 876-266-9960

[Laina Emmanuel]

Best of luck Nisha. Your work on open data has been inspirational and I hope you continue to do good work wherever you are.

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Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more about us by visiting http://datameet.org
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[Gautam John]

Dear Nisha and Thej and Anand:

Thank you for all you have done to bring this vibrant community together.

Nisha: Bangalore will miss you and good luck for whatever is next.

[Namita Bhatawdekar]

Hi Nisha,

It was great working with you and finally meeting you at ODC, Delhi.

You have been instrumental in building the Datameet community!

I'm sure we will continue to keep in touch and work together in the future :)

Wish you the best for your future endeavours!

Cheers,

Namita

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[Vaishnavi Jayakumar (Inclusive India)]

Sad to hear this, you will be missed. What can we do to help fill the gap?

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VAISHNAVI JAYAKUMAR

http://about.me/vjayakumar

On Mon, Dec 4, 2017 at 1:06 PM, Nisha Thompson <ni...@datameet.org> wrote:

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[Palash Kulshrestha]

All the best Nisha !

[Dilip Damle]

Nisha, 

All the best. Just saw the message today only.

On Monday, December 4, 2017 at 1:07:23 PM UTC+5:30, Nisha Thompson wrote: