Connected by data

Trialing a Community Conversation on AI for the Citizens' Track

Tim Davies ▪ Sep 2, 2026

As we start to explore how the Citizens’ Track on AI might catalyse and support community dialogues on AI around the world I’ve thinking about the kinds of agendas, activities and resources that we might need to create or curate.

Broadly, I’ve been thinking of this in terms of three modalities: short community conversations, longer and more structured community assemblies, and much more formal citizens’ assemblies.

These each differ in terms of length, recruitment, preparation and facilitation required, and the kinds of outputs they might generate.

Rewiring the State for public voice

Jeni Tennison ▪ Aug 11, 2026

The Cabinet Statement on Rewiring the State was released at the end of July, with a strong emphasis on devolution. It’s striking how it takes the phrase “Rewiring the State” in a very different direction to the technology-focused themes of the similarly named Science, Innovation and Technology Committee’s report on delivering digital government, the Global Government Forum’s report on government transformation, or Darren Jones’ speech on delivering a new digital state.

What we’ve learned about choosing venues for activities

Emily Macaulay ▪ Jul 20, 2026

A venue isn’t just the space where you hold an event or an activity – it’s part of the planning about how the session will run. A good venue will enhance the experience of participants and that likely benefits what you get out of it too. A poorly selected venue can be a barrier to engagement – if people even come at all. At CONNECTED by DATA we’ve tried to be intentional in our venue selection for every in person event or activity we’ve hosted (or in fact even if it is in person or online and where online…more on that later).

Data and AI Public Engagement Community of Practice – a summary

Gavin Freeguard ▪ Jun 29, 2026

Since July 2024, we’ve been running a monthly community of practice for people who are trying to engage the public around data and AI. That was part of our project, ‘Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data and AI projects’, funded by the Mohn Westlake Foundation, which has now come to an end. (You can find lots more resources from that, such as case studies and event write-ups, here.)

The future of the Data and AI Public Engagement Community of Practice

Gavin Freeguard ▪ Jun 29, 2026

Between July 2024 and March 2026, we ran a community of practice for people who are or are wanting to engage and involve the public around data and AI. You can read a summary of the seventeen monthly(ish) meetings we held in a separate blogpost.

Ten lessons on public sector AI from our work with education unions

Jeni Tennison ▪ Jun 22, 2026

Between July 2025 and April 2026, as part of our project to build worker power to shape public sector AI, Connected by Data and the TUC worked with nine education unions on an action learning programme to test how to catalyse the union movement’s capacity to understand, negotiate and advocate on AI.

This work threw up several lessons that apply more generally to the adoption of AI across the public sector – the risks and benefits; the challenges and opportunities; and the roles that workers can and should play in AI’s development, deployment and evaluation – which I’ve thrown together into this listicle.

Adam's leaving blog

Adam Cantwell-Corn ▪ May 28, 2026

I joined Connected by Data in January 2023, just months after OpenAI unloaded ChatGPT on the world. Suddenly it seemed that the politics of technology was on everyone’s lips and mine - though often in very different ways.

Citizens' Track on AI Update - May 8th 2026

Tim Davies ▪ May 8, 2026

Thank you to everyone who has been getting in touch to support the Citizens Track.

We were deeply disappointed not to be able to connect with many of you in person last week due to the troubling cancellation of RightsCon, but I am happy in this update to share news on how you can input to our Case Book to showcase existing public participation on AI, as well as an invite to an online update call next week (Tuesday 12th May, 1pm UTC) where we will be sharing more about plans for activities at the UN Global Dialogue / AI for Good in July.

Why we’re winding up in 2027

Jeni Tennison ▪ Mar 30, 2026

When I set up Connected by Data, I also stated my intention that this organisation would have a maximum lifespan of 3-5 years. We are now at the end of our fourth year, which means we have at maximum one more year to go.

Expanding the Visibility of Public Voice on AI - What if?

Tim Davies ▪ Mar 6, 2026

At 1:45 IST on Friday 20th February, at the British Pavilion in Hall 14 of the Bharat Mandapam complex in New Delhi (hosting the India AI Impact Summit), something exceptional happened. For a few minutes, voices of students from a school in Luton played out of speakers, and delegates nearby had a chance to hear their nuanced views about how generative AI in education affects them, and how they want to see it governed in future. This moment formed part of a panel curated by the University of Sheffield sharing work on public voices in AI, and showing videos and photos of everyday citizens sharing their views on AI.