Data and AI public engagement
Community of practice
As part of our project on ‘Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data and AI projects’, we’re interested in supporting practitioners – particularly in the public sector – who are engaging the public on data and AI. To that end, we’re setting up a community of practice. This is funded until the end of March, which gives us the chance to set an agenda for a pilot period and see how well it works.
We’re keen that it complements and brings together existing networks (such as PADAI, PEDRI and the cross-government participatory methods forum). Our working hypothesis is that an online meeting every two months; bringing together interested parties from central, devolved and local government, the wider public sector, and civil society, academia and the private sector; allowing people to share their work and also providing a space to work through common challenges, would be a good place to start.
The network is meeting on a Chatham House basis (nothing attributed unless you want it to be, anything confidential excluded altogether), with notes circulated within the network. We do something similar with an existing data and AI civil society network, and have lots of existing links with public engagement practitioners. We’re also keen to explore offering you a public outlet for work going on in government, through blogposts or even a podcast.
Past and future meetings of the Community of Practice can be seen below. We will be meeting once a month from December 2024 - March 2025.
To keep informed about this work and receive meetings invitations and details please sign up to our mailing list.
Events
On Wednesday 14 May 2025 at 2pm we will hold the eight meeting of a community of practice as part of our project on Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data and AI projects.
On Wednesday 9 April 2025 at 2pm we will hold the seventh meeting of a community of practice as part of our project on Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data and AI projects.
Unconferences are participant-driven meetups that focus on sharing, learning and community building.
This unconference is for people (particularly inside the public sector) who are interested in ensuring that public, community and worker voices are heard in decisions about data, digital and AI.
On Wednesday 12 March 2025 at 2pm we will hold the sixth meeting of a community of practice as part of our project on Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data and AI projects.
On Wednesday 12 February 2025 at 2pm we will hold the fifth meeting of a community of practice as part of our project on Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data and AI projects.
On Wednesday 15 January 2025 at 2pm we will hold the fourth meeting of a community of practice as part of our project on Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data and AI projects.
On Wednesday 11 December 2024 at 2pm we will hold the third meeting of a community of practice – an online workshop – as part of our project on Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data and AI projects.
On Thursday 3 October 2024 we held the second meeting of a community of practice as part of our project on Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data and AI projects.
On Thursday 18 July 2024, on Zoom, we held the first meeting of a community of practice as part of our project on Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data and AI projects.