Lots of update in these, rather sporadic week month notes. East Coast and West Coast In the middle of September I had a week in the USA, anchored around a draft paper I was presenting at the World Bank Global Forum on Coalitions for Reform (still in review, more on that soon hopefully), but building in the opportunity to catch-up with friends and colleagues in Ithaca, Washington, New York and the Bay Area. Thanks to kind hosting by Joe Foti at the Open Government Partnership I was able to run...| Connected by data
What I’ve been doing As I planned last week I’ve finished the Board minutes drafting and they’re now with the Board for review. I also enjoyed an insight meeting with our India based partners around logistics planning for the February Global AI Summit being held there (and specifically our Fringe event). I love that this role presents opportunities for me to work for and with global partners - I learn so much about other cultures and expectations and needs. We had two PAIRS Programme Co...| connectedbydata.org
Highlight of the week: bobcats!!! Looking forward to: I remembered that Seattle Restaurant Week is a thing, so I’m going to pick out a nice place to go for a belated birthday dinner at the end of the month (we rarely venture into Seattle proper) Stuff I did: 4 hours consulting 3.75 hours writing — painful […]| Tracy Durnell's Mind Garden
Time has been flowing so quickly; I'd like to slow it down. You're like those YA protagonists. You're the pretty girl who doesn't know she's prett...| A parenthetical departure
Goodbye, Teddy We had to make the difficult decision to end the life of our beloved Teddy on Friday. Her health had been deteriorating the past few weeks. We know this decision was the best thing for her and we did not want her to suffer more than she needed to. Guinea pigs life spans […]| Jeff Bridgforth
Highlight of the week: took the day off Wednesday to lounge around and read Looking forward to: reading a lot of fun, light books this weekend Stuff I did: 0.5 hours consulting 5.75 hours writing 0.75 hours business admin baked blueberry crumb pie (blackberries went moldy 😿) — decided at 8pm that I wanted dessert so […]| Tracy Durnell's Mind Garden
Signing in to Bearblog from what feels like a brand new computer today. Sometimes I encounter these blogs written by people who live so intentional...| A parenthetical departure
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
October is near, and horror is everywhere. 😱 : >There is no real sense of process or scaffolding that could create a ladder out of this hole. ...| A parenthetical departure
Articles I read What I watched Twenty One Pilots City Walls – My daughter showed us some videos about the Twenty One Pilot lore before we watched City Walls with her. It was her first watch of the video. What I listened to Books I read Walking What I played MLB The Show 20 (Twins) […]| Jeff Bridgforth
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
: >We are witnessing the erosion of the rules-based international order and fracturing of the global landscape. [...] A return to the previous s...| A parenthetical departure
Much more personal weeknote this week. I share about Aquarium visit, getting back to taking walks, and rebuilding a midi-scale Millennium Falcon LEGO set. I also attended Smashing Meets: AI and share links to the talks. And I have been learning about anchor positioning and played around with refactoring a recent solution to use anchor positioning.| Jeff Bridgforth
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
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...| connectedbydata.org
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
UI improvements I was asked to make some UI improvements to a couple of areas on our site. The first task was to make it more clear to the user which donation option was selected–monthly or one-time. I also added a script to the page to improve the other amounts selection to bring focus to […]| Jeff Bridgforth
Move-in My wife, son, and I traveled up to Murray, Kentucky to move him into the dorm for the last time. This is the first year since year one that my wife has joined us. We traveled up on Thursday and moved him in on Friday. We had a beautiful but very hot day. But […] The post Weeknotes 25:33 appeared first on Jeff Bridgforth.| Jeff Bridgforth
New Roof Our house got a new roof on Thursday. It was a very noisy day working from home. My daughter let me borrow her noise canceling headphones and I was able to get some work done on the couch in our living room. We are really happy with the roof tile we choose. It […] The post Weeknotes 25:31 appeared first on Jeff Bridgforth.| Jeff Bridgforth
Interviewed I was interviewed this week for our Revive Our Hearts chapel service. This week, we were remembering an event that happened 30 years ago. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth spoke at the 1995 Campus Crusade for Christ staff conference in Ft. Collins, Colorado. God used her message on brokenness as a catalyst to doing a special […] The post Weeknotes 25:30 appeared first on Jeff Bridgforth.| Jeff Bridgforth
I happened upon a video about one of my articles I was watching Salma Alam-Naylor’s Why “Women in Tech” is not enough on Thursday morning. At the end of the video, YouTube played a Kevin Powell video. I soon realized that Kevin was referencing a question that I had asked on Bluesky in June: Kevin […] The post Weeknotes 25:29 appeared first on Jeff Bridgforth.| Jeff Bridgforth
A Dao of CSS I took time on Thursday to watch A Dao of CSS, one of the talks I had missed from the CSS Day 2025 livestream. John Allsopp challenges us to find our way back to the essence of the Web that we lost during the age of apps. Buy access to the […] The post Weeknotes 25:28 appeared first on Jeff Bridgforth.| Jeff Bridgforth
I got back to work after a two week hiatus. But it was a short week. I had taken off Monday as part of my bereavement leave. And Friday was a holiday. We traveled back from Louisiana on Sunday. Monday was mostly a relax and recover day. I got back into the “office” on Tuesday. […] The post Weeknotes 25:27 appeared first on Jeff Bridgforth.| Jeff Bridgforth
I was inspired by another article by Andy Clarke and thought about some of my own past projects where I used the masking techniques he discussed.| Jeff Bridgforth
What did I enjoy? Seeing the publication of the Public Design Evidence Review, which explores the role and value of design in the public sector. It includes a section on public design for transformational change for which I was interviewed in 2023. I reckon the things I said back then, alongside other participants who I … Continue reading Weeknote: 14 to 18 July 2025→| Matt Edgar writes here
🗓️ // After a hectic weekend and not feeling my best, I decided to post this week note a day late rather than skip it completely. The fact that it’s my 6...| Notes by JCProbably
I took a whole fortnight off. First proper holiday since the house move. Week 1 floating in the Ionian sea, lying on stoney beaches, scrambling up and down rocky paths, and some inept hire boatmans…| Matt Edgar writes here
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
I’ve been really touched by the comments I’ve had on LinkedIn about as well as the notes and messages from my staff I’ve been sent the result of announcing that I’ll be leaving Adur and Worthing in July to take up the post of Chief Executive of Dorset Council in August. Thank you.| Catherine Howe
Bluebells in the garden What did I enjoy? The highlight for me was an event hosted by Leeds City Council and the Cabinet Office’s ‘Test, Learn and Grow’ team to explore a collabor…| Matt Edgar writes here
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
Happy New Year! The end of one financial year, and the start of another. In the grand sweep of things, this arbitrary boundary shouldn’t matter very much. Yet it still dictates the yearly rhythm of the public service worker, much as it did for the 1700s tenant famer whose rent fell due on Lady Day. … Continue reading Weeknote: 31 March to 4 April 2025→| Matt Edgar writes here
What did I enjoy? After the frustrations of the last month or so, the last full week of financial year 2025/26 brought many gifts: I also enjoyed a morning in an amazing surgery in Surrey watching and chatting with a GP partner who is really making “total triage” work for his patients and his team. … Continue reading Weeknote: 24 to 28 March 2025→| Matt Edgar writes here
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
J'ai eu beaucoup de mal à trouver du temps pour ces notes hebdo dans les dernières semaines. Pas mal d'énergie mise sur d'autres projets et d'autres enjeux. Les vacances arrivent cette fin de semaine, et j'ai envie de faire un petit point sur le mois passé, depuis la dernière note …| (not) my ideas
Danger Zone DangerZone transforme des documents potentiellement dangereux en documents sûrs. Troisième semaine sur le projet. Je commence à me familiariser avec les outils. Assisté à une présentation sur l'inclusion de gVisor, dans l'idée d'exposer le moins possible le noyau de la machine hôte. Terminé le travail sur la mise …| (not) my ideas
Danger Zone ⚠️ DangerZone transforme des documents potentiellement dangereux en documents sûrs. Seconde semaine sur le projet. J'ai passé du temps à faire fonctionner l'environnement de travail, pour me rendre compte que ça ne fonctionnait pas forcement aussi facilement que prévu sur Silicon Mac (Podman dans Docker sur d'autres architectures, ça …| (not) my ideas
Danger Zone ⚠️ DangerZone transforme des documents potentiellement dangereux en documents sûrs. Ma première semaine de travail pour Freedom of the Press Foundation ! Une rencontre avec l'équipe actuelle et la personne que je remplace. Beaucoup de lecture, à la fois de documents de design, de code et de présentation de projets …| (not) my ideas
Une semaine concentré sur uMap, ou j'ai pu aller quasiment au bout du travail en cours sur la synchro. uMap 🗺️ uMap est un outil libre pour faire des cartes personnalisées Une présentation de mes avancées sur la synchro, et une discussion sur les points liés. Je fais passer la suite …| (not) my ideas
Ce qui s'est passé Une semaine concentré sur uMap :-) uMap 🗺️ uMap est un outil libre pour faire des cartes personnalisées Continué le travail sur l'expérience utilisateur avec Aurélie. Présenté mon travail actuel au reste de l'équipe pour avoir leurs retours et pour être sur la même longueur d'onde. Travaillé sur …| (not) my ideas
Ce qui s'est passé La reprise, en déplacement à Angers puis à Dinan pour Faiseuses du Web #3. uMap 🗺️uMap est un outil libre pour faire des cartes personnaliséesJ'ai repris le travail sur l'édition collaborative. Laisser respirer entre plusieurs tentatives permet d'affiner. J'ai quelque chose qui permet d'avoir un …| (not) my ideas
Ce qui s'est passé Une semaine de pause, consacrée au bricolage d'une cuisine pour l'accueil de groupes dans un logement collectif, entrecoupé de quelques petits points sur Argos et Ihatemoney. 🔴 ArgosOn a publié la première release avec Luc !J'ai mis en place Argos pour les sites dont j'ai la …| (not) my ideas
Ce qui s'est passé 🗺️ uMapEcriture de parcours utilisateur·ice, grace à un outil qui propose de créer des persona, d'imaginer les tâches, questions, freins, moments positifs et opportunités liées.Approfondir ma compréhension technique sur les WebSockets, entre autres sur les questions d'authentification.Commencer à écrire le code qui apporte …| (not) my ideas
Entre Grenoble, Crest et Rennes. Je récupère de l'energie ! Ce qui s'est passé 🗺️ uMapOn s'est rencontré avec Aurélie, et c'était l'occasion d'avancer sur la partie design des fonctionalités de collaboration temps-réel. On a commencé à faire des persona et à décrire plus finement les cas d'usage.Une discussion pour …| (not) my ideas
Ce qui s'est passé 🗺️ uMapDeux demi journées de travailUne discussion avec Vadims (l'auteur de JSON Joy) autour des enjeux à utiliser des CRDTs dans uMap. Une approche où on implémente nous même un CRDT simple côté client et serveur commence à ce dessiner, pour que le serveur soit …| (not) my ideas
Ce qui s'est passé 🗺️ uMapDes modifications sur la manière dont les tests sont lancés, pour faire en sorte qu'il soit plus facile de détecter des régressions. C'est utile dans le contexte actuel ou on bouge beaucoup la base de code, et ça s'insère dans notre intégration continue.Une mise …| (not) my ideas
Ce qui s'est passé 🗺️ uMapJ'ai avancé sur des parties un peu souterraines, qui permettent de choisir ce qui va être rendu à l'écran lorsque les données sont elles mêmes modifiées.J'ai publié l'article sur la comparaison des technologies de gestion des conflits pour permettre une édition décentralisée et avec …| (not) my ideas
Une semaine à Barcelone avec Rémy et Mathieu, partagée entre des moments de boulot et des moments plus relax. Ce qui s'est passé 🗺️ uMapJ'ai refait une passe rapide sur les PR en cours d'intégration, et j'en ai profité pour m'assurer que le merge des features entre les anciennes versions …| (not) my ideas
Ce qui s'est passé 🗺️ uMapUne semaine à consolider ce qui à été entamé la semaine précédente.Un correctif sur la fusion de données sur le serveur. Le protocole que l'on utilisait avait une résolution à la seconde, ce qui faisait que le serveur perdait les pédales. Ça m'a permis …| (not) my ideas
Ce qui s'est passé 🗺️ uMapJ'ai terminé mon expérimentation sur la synchronisation, ça fonctionne en mode « démo » et ça me donne une compréhension du code suffisante pour avancer sur le sujet.J'ai commencé à discuter avec Aurélie de comment faire pour la partie expérience utilisateur·ice. C'est chouette parce que …| (not) my ideas
Un super début de semaine, une perte d'énergie puis du temps pour moi et de la lecture. Content de voir le chemin parcouru sur uMap depuis que j'ai commencé. Ce qui s'est passé 🗺️ uMapJ'ai pu aller au bout de mon expérimentation sur la synchronisation des propriétés de la carte …| (not) my ideas
Une bonne semaine assez sympathique, entre Angers et Rennes. Je récupère de l'énergie (encore, c'est dingue) et je réussis à faire des avancées en terme de motivation générale. Ce qui s'est passé 🗺️ uMapOn à commencé à clarifier certains aspects économiques du projet lors d'une discussion avec David et Yohan …| (not) my ideas
A 3-day working week following a long weekend exploring 19th and 20th Century art and architecture in Surrey and Sussex. Highlights for me included Watts Gallery and Charleston. What was hard? The churn of organisation change is already starting to make it harder to make progress on some of our work, especially where we need … Continue reading Weeknote: 19 to 21 March 2025→| Matt Edgar writes here
Camellia in full bloom Monday A series of catch ups with colleagues in the morning, including running through my team’s contribution to the strategic planning event coming up later in the wee…| Matt Edgar writes here
The accessibility (or not) of our web content We, as an organisation, but also as individuals want to be as accessible and inclusive as we can. We want to do this in how we are as a team, a workplace, a convener and in all our work with partners. We are doing well in some areas (for example we’ve had positive feedback from members of the public where we’ve facilitated their engagement with data and AI discussions) but we also listen to feedback about areas where we’re not doing so well....| connectedbydata.org
Trip to Essex for a family celebration I received some anonymous feedback A colleague is apparently quite cross with me for a number of reasons, but one of them I need to address here. My anonymous…| Matt Edgar writes here
What I’ve been doing Last week I was in London supporting the running of a Design Lab about the Official Statistics Code of Practice in partnership with the Office for Statistics Regulation. Honestly, I had no idea either existed before we started doing this piece of work. I also spent time clipping the talks from the online element of the Participatory AI Research & Practice Symposium (an independent event on the fringe of the AI Action Summit in Paris this week) that Tim compeered the wee...| connectedbydata.org
A little over a week ago, on 18 January 2025, I attended UK Gov Camp in London. This is a large, well established unconference (more on that in a bit) that focuses on the public sector so I’d heard about it in all my public sector roles even before this job. I’ve attended a smattering of ‘unconferences’ in the past but none as large or as true to the concept as this. A unconference is a space where kind of anything goes. There’s no agenda and no invitations / selection of who attend...| connectedbydata.org
What I’ve been doing The first full week back has been busy with different plates spinning. The team finalised (and submitted) our funder grant report for the Mohn Westlake Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. We’ve identified some new grant opportunities that we’re going to discuss a little more next week. We’re seeking organisational 360 feedback as part of our end of year review and planning a strategic roadmap development session with the team working alongside our Boa...| connectedbydata.org
I’ve been on holiday, but eased myself back into work this week with a couple of days at Substrakt’s Digital Works conference in Leeds.| Lauren Pope: La Pope Ltd
The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur: hosting our design lab on resources for community campaigns on data, attending the All Tech is Human Resposible Tech London mixer (where I got to catch up with both CbD Fellows, and community campaigns), pulling together a first draft of the Options Global Citizens Assembly on AI ahead of a conference next week, looking ahead to plans for sharing the paper in New York in September, running an online play-test of The Good Governance Game, joining t...| connectedbydata.org
What can I say by way of a Connected by Data ‘year note’? As I reflect on 2023, the theme I keep coming back is that of connections. A lot of our work is about human connections. Personally, I’ve had some great opportunities this year to reconnect with old friends and colleagues, at RightsCon, a workshop on the Global Data Barometer, at the OGP Summit, and the Berkman-Klein Center’s 25th Anniversary celebrations: catching up with the journeys that we’ve each been on, exploring inter...| connectedbydata.org
Some end-of-the-year reflections from a very interesting year. Lots of learning Looking back, seeing how things happen in life is always interesting. I’ve been working with data protection in Brasil since 2016, engaging with the 10-year legislative process that created the country’s general data protection law and even some GDPR compliance in the private sector. Nonetheless, as someone who has been fascinated with democratic theory and participation since my first year in college, I was a...| connectedbydata.org
I started 2023 in another role, another organisation. In a sector I’d worked in for almost ten years and felt confident in my topic, role and remit. I was excited, inspired and frankly grabbed, by the opportunity to join CONNECTED BY DATA when it unexpectedly crossed my path (I can’t recall how) and I am still thankful that Jeni, Jonathan and Tim liked what they saw enough to give me the job. Eight months later and I’m still on the learning curve but I’m listening, learning and 2024 w...| connectedbydata.org
Right, time for a few reflections on a busy year. Strategically I’m seeing a lot more calls now for the democratisation of / public voice in the development of data and AI systems – see the chairs’ summaries of the roundtables at the AI Safety Summit for example – but still a massive gap between an understanding this should happen, and the concrete practical and policy steps that would be needed to make it a reality. So I think our focus on campaigning to turn these vague intentions i...| connectedbydata.org
