The latest on our Transparency and Climate work, plus TICTeC news
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** All change at mySociety
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** March 2022
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mYSociety news
** We're in good hands
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With our Chief Executive Mark Cridge soon to move on, we're very pleased to report that we have interim leadership in place.
Longstanding mySociety-ite Louise Crow has stepped up to act as Chief Executive of mySociety until longer term decisions are made later in the year.
In parallel, Angela Dixon takes on the role of interim Managing Director of SocietyWorks. Read all about these changes, along with a look back at what's been achieved over Mark's tenure, in this blog post ([link removed]) .
TICTEC
** How can we make civic tech more accessible to everyone?
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Our recent TICTeC Civic Tech Surgery ([link removed]) saw experts discussing some of the issues around why civic technology — for all that it is made with good intentions — is often inaccessible to those with disabilities or alternative access needs.
You can catch up on that discussion here ([link removed]) — and if you'd like to be part of the working group putting tangible solutions in place, why not apply to be part of the Action Lab ([link removed]) ? Better hurry though; applications close tomorrow.
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][UNIQID]) .
transparency
** ARIA arguments don't stack up
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The Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill passed through Parliament last month. It created the new research investment agency ARIA, while explicitly and proactively exempting it from Freedom of Information requests.
But the reasoning behind this decision just doesn't stand up to scrutiny, as Alex explores in this post ([link removed]) .
climate
** We keep adding new features
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CAPE ([link removed]) , the Climate Action Plans Explorer, is under active development. We're adding new features to this database of local councils' action plans at a really rapid rate, and you can catch up with the most recent changes in this blog post ([link removed]) .
Meanwhile, if there's something you think we should add to CAPE that would help you use it more effectively, please do add ideas to our Trello board ([link removed]) .
** Monthly catch-up
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And if you're more interested in the behind-the-scenes aspect of our climate work, you'll be glad to know we're still documenting everything we do in the Climate team, on a monthly basis. You can read our latest monthnotes, this time penned by Zarino, here ([link removed]) .
** What we're reading
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* Boris bikes (yes we know they're not called that) have ended up in locations all over the world ([link removed]) . And how do we know that? Thanks to an FOI request ([link removed]) on WhatDoTheyKnow.
* Want to anonymise some text before sharing it? That blur tool might not be enough any more ([link removed]) .
* Our coders thought this was a nifty idea ([link removed]) when interviewing for a developer position.
** And finally…
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* If you've been binge-listening to the Trojan Horse Affair podcast ([link removed]) like we have, you might have heard mention of a familiar website. We certainly pricked up our ears when WhatDoTheyKnow entered into this very complex story as its protagonists try multiple routes to uncovering the truth.
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