What I’ve been doing
It’s been a fairly busy couple of weeks. I attended the first of the Office of the National Statistics (ONS) series of webinars about ‘Bringing data to life’. It was a good introduction and I’m looking forward to the next one.
I watched (online) Jeni give a keynote speech to the Data Protection Practitioners Conference. It was so accessible, well structured, really practical but with the links out to evidence / deeper thinking. She recognised barriers but inspired hope / made it seem do-able. It went down really well with the audience too which was great to see/hear. Her slides for that event are here.
Tim hosted a Connected Conversation with Global Voices on their research into different international perspectives on data governance through exploring narratives. I was notetaking but also learned a lot about remembering to considering context - the institutional and individual interaction with data will be very different in the UK to Sudan. It sounds simple, but easy to forget I think.
I kept reflecting on that conversation when chatting with Tim about a ‘Responsible AI/ML framework’ that the charity GiveDirectly have created and shared. Not directly work related but I am a donor of this charity and so was particularly interested in this work. On my first read I rapidly realised I did not have sufficient knowledge to scrutinise or critically assess what I was reading. Tim was really helpful in helping me get under the surface a bit, understand some more of it, and identify some follow up questions for them. Their response so far has been excellent. Aside from my personal interest I think it was a useful exercise in understanding how people can be supported and informed enough to engage meaningfully with decisions about AI.
Gavin hosted an interesting community of practice session at the end of last week too, mainly on AI in education which is an oft-talked about topic but one I haven’t to date been much engaged in.
What I need to take care of
Next week is mainly internal facing and progressing projects. I’ve got to plan our next monthly meetup (a face to face session for the whole team) later in October and that needs some time juggling skills.
We had a good fundraising focus time this week and looked at three bids we’re currently working on, and planning next steps on the ones to pick up when those have been submitted. I need to make sure I’ve captured those decisions and actions.
I’ll be finishing the week with our next Connected Conversation about generative AI and workers’ rights. I’ll need to keep switched on to my notetaking role and not just getting absorbed in what I anticipate will be interesting discussions.
What I’ve been inspired or challenged or moved by
When reading the details of GiveDirectly’s AI/ML work I discovered their use of AI to help identify areas in need of cash - ahead of natural disasters occuring.
What I’ve been reading
In my late teens particularly I was fond of apocalyptic fiction (I think my RE teacher at school showing us the short film ‘When The Wind Blows’ had quite an impact). I was recently telling my teen about the film ‘28 Days Later’ and it reminded me of the genre. I picked up ‘The Last’ by Hanna Jameson from my local library and am enjoying the read.