Experimenting with a different format to see if it helps me get better at writing these.
My week
Monday was mostly spent at DSIT at a meeting of the Digital Centre Design expert advisory group (see Martha’s update) but we also had an internal discussion about how we approach commercial work.
Tuesday I started the day with a lovely chat with Rachel, then created a new page on the website about our work on the old Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. I also worked on a bid we’re putting together to look at how libraries can support community conversations about data. We had a Data and AI Civil Society Network call with people from the Digital Centre Design team in the afternoon.
Wednesday (morning) I was sending out invitations to a workshop on public participation in the National Data Library that we’re organising for 5th December. And sending out our 2nd Reading brief for peers on the Data (Use and Access) Bill. I also had a lovely catch up with Kiito.
Thursday we had our monthly team meeting in London, where we had some good discussions about where we focus our advocacy and campaigning work, and what a good design for government capacity around public engagement around data and AI might look like (Tim’s started to share some of this in his weeknotes).
Friday I’m not meant to work but I did spend a bit of time reviewing a bid for a funder.
High points
- Seeing some of the comments I’ve made about accountability and civil society involvement start to be reflected in Digital Centre planning.
- Hearing the Digital Centre team talk about how useful it is to be able to find civil society groups to talk to and seeing the Data Bill working group offshoot of the Data and AI Civil Society Network starting.
- Seeing a conversation I had with Viscount Colville of Culross reflected in his question in Monday’s debate on IP and Generative AI.
Learning points
- Some arguments about public participation in the design of digital services will be won during standards design, or through culture / capacity building things like the Community of Practice we’re running. Others need a business case and we need to start working on that now to get it into the Spending Review process.
- Answers to my question about user research in practice made me think about differences between user research and public participation, and the important ecosystem of specialist providers on the Digital Marketplace.
- The default (lack of) algorithm on Bluesky means everyone is reliant on others’ reposting, or fortunate timing, to see relevant posts. Also, I’m experimenting with different Feeds to see more of what I like to see (Latest from Follows, for example, provides more balance than a straightforward timeline).