mySociety is... mySociety

August 2020

Changes at mySociety

We've changed our name... to what you always thought it was

Eh, it's complicated. But we're now officially mySociety, and if you'd like to know why, you can see more about it in Mark's blog post here.

Welcome our new Chair

It's all change on the mySociety Board too, as we welcome Catherine Brown to replace our longstanding Chair James Cronin. Find out more about Catherine, and James' legacy, here.

And by the way... SocietyWorks!

While we're making big changes, well, why not launch a whole new brand, too?

SocietyWorks is our commercial arm: previously best known for selling FixMyStreet Pro into councils and now expanding to offer a wider selection of government services. Discover more in this post.

Anti-corruption

Beneficial ownership in public procurement

How do you stop the same few people benefiting from public contracts under a series of different shell company names? It's one of the trickiest questions in public procurement, and one that we've been looking at in depth, along with SpendNetwork, for the Government Digital Service.

Such a tricky question, in fact, that it has merited a series of eight blog posts, all of which you can read now.

Democracy

Parliamentary voting during lockdown

Parliament's frequently changing voting situation during the pandemic presented us with something of a conundrum.

How could we represent voting fairly on TheyWorkForYou, when some MPs weren't in a position to attend?

mySociety Head of Research Rebecca explains the issues — and the solution we put in place.

Transparency

Introducing WhatDoTheyKnow Projects

The latest addition to our WhatDoTheyKnow Pro software lets newsrooms and campaigns work together with their communities to manage Freedom of Information responses.

Early trials have already shown it's a massive timesaver. See more here.

An update on FOI and COVID-19

The chances are, you're still experiencing delays on your Freedom of Information requests — possibly less so if you're asking in Scotland.

Here's a look at the current situation.

Lottery winners

Great news: we secured some support from the Swedish Postcode Lottery, which distributes funding to projects that make the world a better place.

We explain what we'll be doing with it — and how you can get involved.

What we're reading

Building new tech? Here's an accessible way to ensure it does the good you hope it will, from Omidyar.
A frank report from Transparency International on how to minimise the risks of corruption in local authority planning decisions.
Return to normal, or use the current crisis as a way to rebuild society? Kirsty McNeill weighs up the chances of each.
Taiwan appears to be ahead on dealing with the pandemic. The strong link between civic tech and their government has helped.
Which are the smelliest places in the country? See if your town makes the top ten.
A study on whether kids are learning to communicate in emoji before language.

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.