What I’ve been doing
A week of project checks, finally submitting our first VAT return, doing some logistical bits around a meeting about public deliberation, and uploading YouTube videos (and editing subtitles) about our community data campaigns work. Also notetaking at a discussion with civil society organisations working out what we’re all planning in relation to Autumn Party Conference season.
What I need to take care of
Monday is our monthly meetup followed by summer drinks so I’ll be hanging with the team all day which is fun and hoping we can maximise that time in progressing some chunky discussions. It’ll be nice to meet some partner organisations / friends in real life at the drinks too - pretty much all of whom I’ve only ever seen on Zoom.
I’m then away at Lakefest(and yes, I will be attending…and winning!…the Disney bingo!) from Wednesday, back to work on Tuesday 13th August, so will be using Tuesday next week to get everything ship shape for everyone.
What I’ve been inspired or challenged or moved by
I’m going to have a smug moment here. I do not consider myself a practical person. And I’m not confident when it comes to DIY. But today I fixed our “split inlet valve” in the toilet flush (with huge thanks to a 7 year old YouTube video) and it is a self pride moment. Also applause to YouTube…still teaching me how to do things as it has pretty much since its inception.
What I’ve been reading
With a few less meetings over the last couple of weeks I’ve been creating some space for some work related reading.
I really really really love this report from the Children’s Parliament in Scotland who have been doing some engagement with, and supporting deliberation processes by, young children on AI. Their insights are fantastic (and in many ways more insightful by their lack of complexity). I also felt there was synergy with what our adult People’s Panel on AI felt too.
Less engaging, but still important, reading about changes to UK company law and going back to a Wiki article on Reality Distortion Field that Jeni mentioned to me a few months ago and I’ve found myself thinking about again recently (more relatedly to outside work).
I caught on TV a few weeks back a summary of a digital detox “experiment” and was interested in reading this article about a group of teens that gave up their phones. I find my own addition to my phone / internet connection fascinating - though I do know I could function (practically at least, perhaps not emotionally) without either. The older teens in this experiment largely struggled without instant access to information. I find with the teens in my life that they don’t really go looking for answers, like they’ve somehow got so used to information being pushed at them that they don’t explore a question (good example recently when a new phone was purchased and I was being asked troubleshooting questions, to which my honest answer had to be “no idea, Google it” … or “search it up” as they say).
My thinking about teen experiences of society now has also been playing out in some reading I’ve been doing about our future workforces, and in particularly predictions of Gen Alpha (2010-mid 2020s) in the workplace. This LinkedIn piece was interesting. I wonder how the workplace is going to change fast enough to accommodate this generation, how difficult they will find it if the workplace doesn’t change, what about the jobs that can’t fit the Gen Alpha preferences (recognising there will in reality be a lot of variety across a whole generation). I’m in my early forties and I already wonder how hard it will be to relate to Gen Alpha as colleagues (and particularly as employees) so I’ll be continuing to build my knowledge and insight on this.
Also, not reading but listening (again, yay YouTube), I caught up on the recent Demos event in conversation with Audrey Tang, “chief architect of Taiwan’s internationally acclaimed digital democracy”. Always good to hear about where something you’re working on and believing in, has worked.
And finally, I enjoyed this photographer winning an AI-generated category…with a non-AI generated photo.