TechCamp Vilnius kicks off tonight, bringing together people from more than 85 civil society organizations in Eastern Europe and technology experts to discuss, brainstorm, and learn how to better use technology to advance the work they’re doing.

Eric is in Lithuania to participate and will lead sessions on visualizing open data and trainings on using maps to communicate data. He’ll also give two hands on workshops walking through how to use our open source map design studio TileMill to make custom maps, plot organizational and open data sets, and publish the maps online or push them out via mobile applications and email.

It will be interesting to learn about how open data is perceived in Lithuania and to what extent data is available — or moving to become so — at the organizational and country level. We’re also looking forward to discussing mapping with folks and getting feedback on how our mapping tools could better meet their needs.

TechCamp Vilnius is one of a series of TechCamps being held around the world by the State Department. We attended the first TechCamp in Santiago, Chile last November, and will attend the upcoming camp in Chisinau, Moldova in July.