A predictably disappointing response from the Department of Business and Trade. Obviously I will appeal. This nonsense that closing source code improves security has been repeatedly proven false and whatever tyranny is being wrought using this idea must end. www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sour...

I've finally updated the GOV.UK Tech Docs Wiki template with everything that's happened in the last five years. It now uses the latest tech docs template and takes account of more maturity in the Github Pages and Actions features. github.com/simonwo/tech...

We’d like to thank our Silver sponsor, Register Dynamics @register-dynamics.co.uk, for helping to make Open Data Camp 10 possible. www.register-dynamics.co.uk We are looking forward to seeing everyone in Edinburgh. We really appreciate the support from all our sponsors. #odcamp #opendata

I'm sure answering Social Value questions on Government tenders is the bane of many bid teams. For me I think it's one of the parts of my job I enjoy the most. It does force me to engage with what we as a small company can do to help. The answer is usually quite a lot – just not easy things.

GOV.UK CSS moved to using a mask image of the Royal Arms in the page footer, where it used to be a background image. Why? Turns out it's more accessible, as that way it can inherit the colour of the text, which the user might have overriden for better contrast! TIL. github.com/alphagov/gov...

This feels like a spot of good news www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

The fact that the thing we're calling artificial intelligence *can't do math* and yet we're jamming it into programs that successfully *have done math* for decades, then warning people against using the AI to do math, seems like an excellent summary of where we are.

Let's goooooooo 🔥🔥🔥

As a reminder, this is the AI that people say is as important as oxygen.

I think I was cooking with this graph tbh

If your new "digital platform" requires running 90 minute webinars to explain how to use it, might I suggest that you have somewhat missed the point?

"Data Visualisation in Cloth and Stitch" I don't think I've ever bought anything so fast.

The numbers here are absolutely amazing.

Have you ever thought about how Government services handle errors when uploading #data? Do you find that data upload #templates don't work for you? Explore the reasons why we believe #services suck at #spreadsheets! www.register-dynamics.co.uk/...#data#templates#services#spreadsheets#GovServices #GovUK

🏳️‍⚧️🚨 New letter from MPs on trans rights & EHRC Consultation on the #ForWomenScotland ruling. I have written a letter to the EHRC to urgently raise concerns about the Draft Code of Practice consultation after the ruling. I am proud to say that 32 of my colleagues have signed it too.

This is great, not only for the cool tech and the outcome it delivers but for working in the open. Seems we're seeing more of that from small companies like @dxw.com and @register-dynamics.co.uk than from teams inside government.

I've noticed lots of DBT open source repositories have disappeared from Github, such as github.com/uktrade/sqli... which had more than a hundred stars and is still published on PyPi: pypi.org/project/sqli.... Does anyone know why these have been removed?

The game I'm most excited for following #UKGE is "Last Week Of Summer" by @alliesorenemies.bsky.social – looks absolutely gorgeous, sounds like a fun set of approachable mechanics and should have plenty of replay value. And maybe I can convince Celia to play it… www.kickstarter.com/projects/all...

The problem with letting 1000 flowers bloom is that I'm really proud of the work I did on the other 999 flowers

Data-driven decision-making begins with understanding user needs. If you don’t research and design for data creators, you’ll end up making poor quality and risky choices. Sign up for tomorrow's webinar to learn why this happens and how to avoid it! www.linkedin.com/events/howda...

I'd forgotten how much we've done to the Data Upload Design Kit recently, so this release note was a splendid refresher. Data validaiton, spreadsheet previews, accessible tables and more are now available for the GOV.UK Prototype Kit – all with simple unboxing and setup. github.com/register-dyn...

Join us for an online talk from our founder, @simonwo.net and Marco Bernardi @appliedworks to learn about how funders, grantees, and data practitioners can build the conditions for better decision-making. 👉 lnkd.in/e992nzvX #DataForGood #PolicyDesign #AI #DataDesign

Really feeling the immense value of Web Archive today. Researching how to provide better mental health support as an employer. Since most of the official resources were authored 2018-20, much of it has atrophied. I'm using Web Archive to retrieve excellent content that simply isn't available today.

File upload size limits do not meet user needs. File upload size limits should not be used in Service Standard-compatible services. It's not your users' responsibility to know how to resize images or PDFs.

This is so often missed but if you want to support innovation and agile working, you need an easy way to deploy prototype code online. Heroku is a good option but there are others - GitHub Codespaces, Railway, and so on. Raw AWS does not count

Wow! I'm super thrilled to already have 30+ attendees! Join me next Wednesday as I explore: • digital services that let users do a thousand things at once • how designers need more help to design them • who's doing this well around Government • how to collect data from users in human friendly ways

I'm finding the lean in to "digital credentials" from the digital services crowd really baffling. It's the old thing in the new medium, folks. Taking bits of paper and making them digital. Since when was THAT the approach to designing good services? Whats the user need for digital paper or wallets?

This can't come soon enough. The fact that standard JS datetime stuff is so underpowered in 2025(!) is actually mindblowing to me. Any time you google for how to do something date-related in JS everyone just says "use moment.js lol"

An excellent read about what prototypes are really for and ultimately why R&D fails. Shared with me by Alaric. planb.nicecupoftea.org/2025/01/25/p...

I've just started filling in my self assessment (don't @ me) and oh my gosh there are so many design flubs and I'm only on the first page and I'm not even a designer

Really enjoyed #ukgc25 morning sessions so far! Should I just keep going to the data-adjacent sessions or should I branch out?… (no prizes for guessing the answer)

On the train to @ukgovcamp.bsky.social #ukgc25 with photo ID, stickers and ideas!

"AI will never be good enough to do it as well as a human": except as a race we are happy if outcomes are slower, worse and more expensive as long as we have to think less. See also: cloud computing.

Also autism spectrum disorder polygenic score against computers and maths. And ADHD against a sort of profession---labouring axis.

I'm designing a UI to search for data sets - will be mostly expert users, expecting some filter usage and so on. Any tips? Places you've seen it done well?

I'm very proud of what we've achieved here! We've provided battle-tested designs and journeys from several different GOV.UK services as a simple open-source package, compatible with the Design System and Prototype Kit. It's never been easier for services to collect data from spreadsheets!

this is awesome and just for some context: non-physicists sadly will not have heard of her, but Noether developed a theorem used to derive conserved quantities via symmetry (which is, e.g., absolutely fundamental to modern particle physics). she was one of the most important scientists to ever live

Some ab fab #datacraft going on here... who needs #ShetlandWoolWeek when you can stay in Manchester! cc @beckstrickland.bsky.social

Whatever happened to the UK Government's Open Address Register programme? www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad... 🤔 Another blog post about #openaddresses, based in part on recent #FOI responses from the UK's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. #opendata #geospatial #datapolicy

For a while today I was the most northerly person in the United Kingdom.

Every software engineer should have to live on Shetland until they can prove they know how to write software that can deal with an unreliable internet connection

This is excellent. ‘Blue Zones’, where people live to over 100, likely not caused by olive oil and eating fish. It’s clerical errors and pension fraud the whole way down.

I'm keeping the open data conversation going after ODCamp 9 over on the Open Government Network forum: discuss.opengovernment.org.uk/t/open-data-.... Come along and help organise the UK's open data community!

Back when I had no grey hair.

JUST ANNOUNCED! On October 1st I'm giving a talk about the POSTCODE ADDRESS FILE at Newspeak House. Register now to come along! lu.ma/ucd3vl1c

The only data conference worth going to is back for a 9th camp! As ever, tickets are free. Bursaries are available to cover travel and accomodation costs if you need it, and we're excited to be offering a limited amount of subsidised accomodation this year too.

Open Data Camp is going back to Manchester! Open Data Camp 9 July 6 & 7, 2024 Keep an eye on odcamp.uk, for more information, coming soon. #odcamp #opendata

Haven’t seen any digital gov folk post this yet, but iOS 17.4 will mean that progressive web apps stop working in the EU. That’s a blow to making things open (it makes things better), a blow to common technologies, and would raise dev costs for teams. Sign it.

If you agree, please sign my petition to change the UK law on medical implants. The text is below, and the link is here: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/65... Please also re-post for maximum impact.

i've just been forced to use squarespace. wow it's AWFUL. it's like they made some web pages in microsoft word and thought "mm yeah that's the completely broken experience we want". jfc is this really the best we can do? if i was an alien race i'd blow the planet up from orbit for less than this