What I’ve been doing It’s been a lovely week having all the team around. I don’t mind working remotely but I do miss having the chatter with team mates online - whether text (Discord) or face to face (Zoom). That said, I’ve enjoyed photos of their travels too. We had a Board meeting this week so ensuring things were ready for the discussions that took place and then working out what the next steps are for the actions. They’re an incredibly compassionate and generous group of Directo...| Connected by data
In July we coordinated an open letter to Keir Starmer PM, Peter Kyle MP (the then Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology) and Bridget Phillipson MP (then Secretary of State for Education) calling for investment in AI Literacy for All. We received a brief e-mail reply from the Department for Education and, on August 28th, a reply from Feryal Clark MP, the then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology which is quoted below:| connectedbydata.org
The principles for Public Participation in AI Procurement we will be co-launching alongside the Open Government Partnership Summit in a few weeks time focus on the what and the how of involving affected communities in decisions at all stages of buying and managing AI systems in the public sector. But ahead of that, we need to answer the question why? Why is is particularly important to involve publics in AI procurement, when, to date, procurement has often not been a space where public engage...| Connected by data
What I’ve been doing I’ve been back at work just over a week now since my wonderful familymoon. It was a fortnight of adventure and cultural experiences. We all had a fantastic time and feel incredibly lucky to have been able to have such a holiday. We may or may not have already been looking at options for another cruise … Mainly this time has been catching up on internal messages, emails and the regular tasks that I pushed to my return. That’s all done and I’m now back in the usua...| connectedbydata.org
Weeknotes New term, new weeknotes practice. Perhaps. The power of imagination Outside of my work at Connected by Data I’ve been working on a paper on Emerging Technology and the Social Contract that we’ll be sharing a first draft of at the World Bank’s Global Forum on Coalitions for Reform in a few weeks time. One of the reasons I took on the assignment, was the brief to write about the opportunities emerging technologies hold, rather than focussing only on critique, which has felt like...| connectedbydata.org
What I’ve been doing It’s been over a month since I last published weeknotes so I’ve been doing quite a bit. This week specifically I’ve been “clearing the decks”. I’m off for two weeks on a ‘familymoon’ and am very excited about the adventures we’ll have. I had two weeks off for my wedding but of course there was lots to do and people to see then so this is the first two weeks holiday I’ve had in a long time (certainly the first since COVID). I’ve got all the regular ...| Connected by data
On 9th June the Prime Minister announced a skills drive on AI focussed technical/functional skills for students and workers, with the announcement centred on industry collaborations, and economic impacts of AI. Drawing on inputs from a meeting of the Charity AI Taskforce, and from the Data & AI Civil Society Network, and with feedback from contributors listed below, we drafted an open letter to call for a greater focus of investment and action on scaling and sustaining comprehensive critical ...| Connected by data
What I’ve been doing It’s been about ten working days since my last weeknotes and that period started with my work from home situation being distracted by someone climbing around on my roof cleaning the gutters (not a euphemism and much needed but also quite a distraction). The rest of last week was largely internal meetings and checking in on project progress - good progress is the overall status. Wednesday was a community of practice session so I was notetaking and found the inputs very...| Connected by data
What I’ve been doing Having been interested in the cyber attack on the British Library (still experiencing impacts) and more lately M&S I was doing some extra thinking around risk. I then saw a timely reminder from a freelance communications manager I respect who basically said - if it can happen to large national businesses, it can happen to you. I think it’s easy to think that cyber attackers wouldn’t care about the smaller scale organisations that I am involved with (including Connec...| connectedbydata.org
CONNECTED BY DATA were commissioned by Public Voices in AI to facilitate a People’s Advisory Panel supporting their year long project, following our success with the People’s Panel on AI.| connectedbydata.org
An op-ed written by the PVAI People’s Advisory Panel The upcoming government spending review is likely to place a big emphasis on the potential of AI to update public services, and yet less than 25% of the population feel their views and values are represented in current decisions being made about AI. As a group of citizens from all walks of life, engaged over the last year in exploring how the public could, and should, have a voice shaping a responsible AI future, we believe that needs to ...| connectedbydata.org
I’m going to try something new with writing week notes at the start of the week. Working part-time means finding Friday capacity for week-notes always feels tricky; but looking back at last week gives a better chance for reflection. Power to Shape AI Last week started with some outreach for the Power to Shape: CSO Voices on AI online engagement I’ve been supporting Clever Together Futureproof to run, along with the Data Tank. It’s a two-week online dialogue exploring how civil society o...| connectedbydata.org
What I’ve been doing I’ve been reading ‘Sensing an Ending’ produced by Stewarding Loss who help organisations think about a good ending. As Connected by Data was only ever conceived to be a maximum five year campaign we’re starting our thinking about what a good ending looks like for us so I’m doing some reading around that. The balance is caring for our people and our field, continuing to have impact right up until the end, celebrating what we’ve achieved and ensuring there is ...| connectedbydata.org
Recently I’ve had the privilege of convening a couple of public advisory panels for large-scale research and evaluation programmes, including the Connected by Data Public Voice in AI (PVAI) People’s Advisory Panel. In both cases the panels led to tangible improvements in the programmes they were advising, but running these sessions was not without its challenges. Here I share some reflections on how to work well with a public advisory panel.| connectedbydata.org
What I’ve been doing I had a really lovely Easter break (I took a couple of extra days ahead of the long weekend) and ate lots of chocolate. The week after I was the only team member working most the week so I had to resist the urge to be at my desk re-enacting Bridget Jones… It has been a productive couple of weeks since Easter. I completed the ‘project stand up’ for phase two of our Mohn Westlake Foundation funded work including updating the website. Also updated the website with a ...| connectedbydata.org
It has been a few weeks since I’ve done a weeknotes in this style so here we go. What I’ve been doing Mainly I’ve been wrapping up projects and standing up a new one that kicked off on 1 April (though it is phase two of a previous project). I’ve provided our accountant with all the information for our end of year accounts and have been drafting the annual report. We had another good community of practice session yesterday and I’ve been writing up those notes. What I need to take car...| connectedbydata.org
For weeknotes this week, some field notes from completing a survey from the Office for National Statistics. Field notes from completing the ONS Shape Tomorrow My household had an invite this week to complete the ONS ‘Shape Tomorrow’ Survey which explains that it covers “a range of topics, including work, unemployment, retirement, education, health and caring”. Besides the census, I think it’s the first ONS Survey I’ve been invited to complete in a long time - so it was interesting...| connectedbydata.org
I wanted to use my Weeknotes this week to reflect on the logistics and operations of supporting a public participation practice. At CONNECTED BY DATA we’ve run two such processes in the last 18 months that were different and similar and I’ve learnt some stuff that I want to record (to remind myself) but also in case it helps others too. Three day intensive deliberation in person Firstly, the People’s Panel on AI was a three day deliberative process based around the AI Summit in London. ...| connectedbydata.org
Quite a bit for last weeks belated weeknotes…. Unconference Insights Last Thursday we had the first edition of Engaging people on data and AI: An unconference on giving people and communities a powerful say on public sector technologies aptly held in a residents association building in Pimlico. The day was packed with interesting discussions on public sector tech, and public engagement, although it was notable how even with many public engagement practitioners in the room, the discourse oft...| connectedbydata.org
Tim has spent the last 20 years working at the intersection of technology, participation and governance as both a researcher and practitioner. From piloting digital tools bringing youth voice into local decisions, to developing data standards that enable community scrutiny of billions of dollars of public spending, or writing about the political dynamics of open data initiatives, his work has explored how shared social challenges need participatory, collaborative and collective responses.| connectedbydata.org
