...& more news from mySociety
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** mySociety news
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** Modern slavery, Brexit, Citizens' Assemblies and more
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** Transparency
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** Using FOI to understand what happens to victims of modern slavery
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The UK's immigration system is supposed to identify and offer help to victims of human trafficking and modern slavery.
Data mapping project After Exploitation discovered, using WhatDoTheyKnow, that these vulnerable people are often being let down. Read the whole story here ([link removed]) .
** IPSA Brexit documents now released
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Displaying impressive persistence, journalist Jenna Corderoy has won a long battle to have research from the pro-Brexit group ERG released under FOI — part of her ongoing investigations into the funding and forces shaping the UK's future.
Read more here ([link removed]) .
** Public FOI and central government
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What proportion of FOI requests to central government are made through WhatDoTheyKnow?
Naturally, that's something we're always interested to discover: we've taken our regular look, and here's an explainer from Alex ([link removed]) . If you'd like to play with the figures yourself, explore our mini-site ([link removed]) .
** Help keep mySociety funded
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mySociety services like TheyWorkForYou and WhatDoTheyKnow are used by millions of people a year, but we receive very little funding for our core services in the UK. If you find our services useful and are able, please consider making a regular or one-off donation. ([link removed])
Donate to mySociety ([link removed])
** Democracy
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** Working with playbooks
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Playbooks are quite the thing these days, at least in the tech world.
Not sure what they are, or how they can be of help? We're taking a good look at how playbooks can share knowledge as we undertake our various exploration projects across local government. Martin shares our findings ([link removed]) .
** What makes a good website for a Citizens' Assembly?
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Plenty of excellent thinking is happening right now around Citizens' Assemblies: how they work, what they can achieve, and where their limitations lie.
Here at mySociety, we're focusing on what we know best: the digital aspects. Continuing that work, we're starting to gather, generate and share best practice around the websites that support Citizens' Assemblies. See our progress here ([link removed]) .
** Events
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** AlaveteliCon
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** For people who run FOI sites
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[link removed] third AlaveteliCon will take place in Oslo, Norway, for people around the world who use FOI and technology. Want to be there? Here's how to get involved ([link removed]) .
** TICTeC Local
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** For those using technology in local government and communities
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[link removed] November, TICTeC Local comes to City Hall in London. If you use tech in communities or local government, consider submitting a proposal ([link removed]) for a workshop or presentation.
Did you know that you can subscribe to our special interest newsletters too? Get an extra monthly bulletin on Democracy & Campaigning, Freedom of Information, Better Cities & Councils, or Research. Pick and choose your mySociety newsletters here ([link removed]) .
** Good to know
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Your data is safe with us: we've been Cyber Essentials certified ([link removed]) .
** Got a list of postcodes and need to know which constituencies they're in?
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[link removed] matches postcodes to wards and constituencies — and its Data Mapper tool requires no technical or coding skills. A real lifesaver for campaigners and researchers: see more here ([link removed]) .
** What we're reading
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* When you get a traffic ticket in Kenya, it's quite different to the system in the US.A comparison ([link removed]) from Rachel Strohm.
* National Geographic presents the sobering fact that the internet may be underwater in 15 years ([link removed])
* mySociety folk often cover their laptops with stickers, so there was some interest in this Kickstarter ([link removed]) .
* Also of relevance to the way we work at mySociety was this parliamentary debate on flexible working ([link removed]) .
** Follow mySociety
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Image credits: Immigration Enforcement badge (** CC by-sa/4.0 ([link removed])
) ** via Wikipedia ([link removed])
; Parliament ** Luca Micheli ([link removed])
; Playbook ** Playability.de ([link removed])
(** CC by-nc-nd/2.0 ([link removed])
); Padlock ** James Sutton ([link removed])
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mySociety is a project of UK Citizens Online Democracy (UKCOD).
UKCOD is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1076346.
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