CIDA works towards achieving its vision through scholarly research, consultancy, trainings, events, and long-term as well as short-term projects. Below are summaries of CIDA’s projects and activities.
Kurdistan Open Data
Kurdistan Open Data is a long-term project that aims to create an online data repository for all different types of data on all different aspects of Kurdistan including but not limited to health, education, transportation, utilities, businesses, and many more. The initiative makes Kurdistan part of the open data movement that was initially started by the United States government, and now spread to the rest of the world.
CIDA believes that this project is of significant value for creating a data-driven decision- making culture. Kurdistan Open Data helps the government, businesses, and the civic society to make more informative decisions and minimize consequences that are results of nothing but poor planning and non-informative decisions.
This project is an initiative of CIDA Founding Director, Dr. Hemin Latif. For more information on the project, check out the Kurdistan Open Data project.
Kurdistan Street View
Our project, Kurdistan Street View from Google Maps, allows people around the globe to explore and witness the breathtaking scenery, the continuous development, the unique but diverse culture, and all the opportunities for investment, tourism, and exploration that currently go unseen. The project tries to show the lively nature of this region that can plant hope in the midst of calamity.
The initial plan is to start from the big cities of Kurdistan, Sulaimani, Erbil, and Duhok, respectively, and include the nearby natural scenery such as the mountains, the valleys, and thousands-of-years-old caves. Geographically, these big cities of Kurdistan bring together the different cultural, societal, and architectural tastes of major traditions of civilization. The cultural prominence and pioneering characters of the cities bring a chance to replicate the project in other parts of the Kurdistan region in the case of support from Google.
This project is an initiative of CIDA Founding Director, Dr. Hemin Latif. For more information on the project, check out the Kurdistan Street View project page.
Women in IT
Gender imbalance affects many industries in the world and more so in this part of the world. The IT field is a male dominant field worldwide. Well-developed countries invest hugely in measuring and fighting back gender imbalance in various fields, especially the field of IT. Such initiatives are globally backed up by governments, professional associations, institutions, civic society organizations, and research centers. This phenomenon, however, has never been studied in this country. We lack all sorts of information and knowledge on the gender balance of the IT workforce. This is where “women in IT” comes in as an initiative of CIDA, Center for Informatics and Data Analytics at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS).
This project is an initiative of CIDA Founding Director, Dr. Hemin Latif. For more information on the project, check out the Women in IT project page.