mySociety news

November 2019

Community

FixMyStreet partners with TfL

For those who make reports within Greater London, FixMyStreet is about to become a lot more connected, thanks to a new partnership with TfL. Catch up on all the details here.

Plus: FixMyStreet over the sea

The Isle of Wight becomes the latest council area to adopt FixMyStreet as their official reporting tool: see more about that in our post.

Events

What we discovered at TICTeC Local

How machine learning is helping foodbanks. How open data resulted in new legislation that benefits tenants in New York City. Why some streets have no number 13, and how that can be used to assist those facing homelessness.

These were just some of the insights shared at TICTeC Local last week. The presenters all had something fascinating, useful or inspirational to share — and often it was all three. Fortunately, we took notes.

Research

Digital tools for democratic participation

mySociety's latest research paper examines the role of digital tools in fostering engagement at the local level — and the barriers to success. It's a must-read for anyone hoping to save democracy through civic tech.

Measures of deprivation and WriteToThem

And talking of tools to encourage participation, a recent piece of work looks at our own service WriteToThem, especially in the context of how it serves those living in areas of deprivation.

Events

Join us in Reykjavik

The next TICTeC event — that's "full" TICTeC, as opposed to TICTeC Local — 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!

And also...

You might have seen the launch of Climate Assembly UK last week. mySociety is providing the website for the assembly process, which is being run by Involve and Sortition Foundation on behalf of Parliament. There's more about the roles of each here.
A big welcome to the latest international Freedom of Information site to run on our Alaveteli platform. Vive Ma Dada for France!

What we're reading

The BBC covers something you'd already know about if you were at TICTeC 2017 ;) with a piece on deliberation tech for Taiwan.
Fella, mellifluous and alacrity are amongst the words used by John Bercow and no other speaker, according to this graphic shared on Reddit.
If you won't be voting in the election, a journalist wants to know why. You might remember that in 2005, a mySociety project asked the same question, and published out the answers.
The reasons that projects can go over budget are not always foreseeable.

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