mySociety news

October 2019

Events

The line-up for TICTeC Local

The agenda's up for TICTeC Local, and whew, it's looking good!

If you work around technology and communities or local government, you're going to want to be there. Take a look at this post for a guide to key speakers.

Make sure you don't miss out — book your ticket here (and note, there are a limited number of free tickets for public sector attendees... but hurry! They will go fast).

Better Cities

How men and women use FixMyStreet differently

"When men and women are moving through the world differently, they are encountering different kinds of problems." mySociety researcher Alex continues his series of posts about querying FixMyStreet data.

Transparency

FOI stories, experiences and advice in Oslo

AlaveteliCon happened. We're still emotional. There's nothing like it: where else can you find fifty people from all across the world, with a shared interest in Freedom of Information and technology?

Every time we do this, we're bowled over by the stories we hear, the advice that's shared, and alliances forged.

We were sure to take notes and photos so that others could benefit too. Find all of them here.

Research

Join us in Reykjavik

And while we're on the subject of incredible experiences, note that the next TICTeC event will be in Iceland this coming March.

TICTeC is the world's only conference dedicated to sharing research on the impacts of international civic tech and digital democracy.

Here's where to find out more. Why not apply to speak... or grab those earlybird tickets!

Team

New mySociety board members

Welcome Kate, Ade, Steve, Julia and Cam: the five fresh faces who joined us as Trustees and Non-Executive Directors this month — they'll be helping mySociety steer a steady course, thanks to their accumulated experience in a number of related fields.

Mark introduces the new line-up here.

Democracy

Understanding votes on TheyWorkForYou

You may have noticed a little message appearing under the vote summaries on TheyWorkForYou lately:

Here's a post about why we added that link, and where it takes you.

What mySociety's reading (and listening to)

The Engine Room have curated a list of Civic Tech podcasts. Useful!
Politico profiles five 'bold' political experiments, from paying politicians higher salaries, to compulsory voting.
Wondering how you can help your staff to help the environment? Journey days are the latest idea.
Goodness knows we could do with it: a prize hopes to encourage MPs to debate more politely.
We loved this Twitter thread reviewing the parliament buildings of every country.

Where to find us

We'll be at Highways UK on Nov 6 -7, at Birmingham NEC, and as always, happy to chat about FixMyStreet Pro.

Tomorrow and Saturday we'll be at the Truth and Trust Online conference. Grab hold of Gemma or Alex if you'd like a special offer to try out WhatDoTheyKnow Pro, the FOI toolkit.

Gemma's also at the News Impact Summit in Birmingham on Monday; again, she'll have a stack of WhatDoTheyKnow Pro discount codes.

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