I went to yesterday's UKGovCamp mainly to catch up with people I don't see enough and to stay in touch with what is happening in the Digital Gov world.  I don't think I was alone. The majority of people gave the impression during the introductions that they were there to learn.

I don't think it was always like that.

My memories of the first UKGovCamp in January 2008 are of a smaller, angrier, and impatient group of people who were there to work out how to change the way Government did digital.

IIRC there were conversations about publishing content and data in a machine readable format, about government gaining a human voice, about becoming more agile (although I don't think we used that word) in procurement and development. We wanted innovation.  Lots of it.

We talked about ways to get decision makers on board. We knew what had gone before wasn't good enough and we wanted to make it better. It was very exciting.

It seemed to me yesterday that the session which generated the most excitement was the last one. Mike Bracken, the GDS Digital Director, gave an overview of what he and his 180 strong team are up to. The room was packed, at least 5 people came to the front to take photographs in a mini-papping session.

One department web manager asked Mike when they should expect to turn their domains off. It was a brilliant question. Very simple but massively loaded with other issues.  Prime among them being: is it worth us innovating with the imminent move to a single domain? It encapsulated something for me that has been apparent for the last 6 months. If you want to be doing cool digital stuff in government then you need to be in GDS working on BetaGov.

In 2008 it was the people participating in UKGovCamp that were doing the cool, innovative, digital things in Government. Now we are looking at others doing that innovation and wondering what impact they will have on us.

In one sense it is mission accomplished. Mike Bracken acknowledged the debt that GDS owed to GovCampers. We wanted that innovation, we helped create the environment that meant it could happen. GovCamp succeeded. 

But there is a danger - it was said that in today's economic climate we can't afford to let "1,000 flowers bloom". The innovation currently being displayed at GDS means that this is not a big concern at the moment. But how about in two years or five years when those innovators move on, or a new generation of users need services. Where will the innovation come from. UKGovCamp 2017?

 

 

It hardly seems like two minutes since schools started back in September. The year has slipped by so quickly that it feels compulsory to record a few of the highlights. Here goes:

January

The year started with the arrival of Rosie Schultz. I'm not entirely convinced Rosie knew what she was in for. I'd interviewed her over the phone just before Christmas and offered her the job there and then. I don't think she believed me. It was the right decision to give her the job. She's been brilliant all year. Highly organised, positive, good with our scientists, teachers and funders. As the year has gone on she's taken on more and more responsibility and as a consequence our events are happening very smoothly.

January saw one of the year's social highlights. Mark Roberts, an IAS double alumni, invited Sophia and I to dinner at Lincoln College. It was an experience I'll remember for a long while. Thank you once again.

February

was quiet.

March

We ran I'm a Scientist with 6 zones in March and for the first time one of those zones was sponsored. The Institute of Physics sponsored the Space Zone and it was a great success. It was a very useful learning experience for us. Zone sponsorship creates extra pressure in terms of crediting the sponsor, recruiting scientists with a connection, providing access to student members, keeping the sponsor informed and providing a bespoke evaluation report. We getting good at it now.

Towards the end of March we also heard from the Royal Academy of Engineering that we had been successful in winning an Ingenious Award to run I'm an Engineer, Get me out of here! in March 2012. Unusually we had left ourselves plenty of time to pull that project together and I am delighted that the planning is in rude health. You can read our mid-term report.

April

Thanks to Wills and Kate I took up golf again after 12 years. We also brought months of work with Dr Rob Aldridge to a head and submitted an application for a People's Award to fund Decipher My Data - Flu!

May

We attended the Science Communication Conference in force this year. We gave a session on I'm a Scientist. We let the audience choose what we talked about and held a live chat between the audience and some scientists who had taken part before including Tamsin Gray live from Antartica. Dan Hannard, a teacher from Woodkirk Academy spoke about his experiences with the event and really impressed the crowd with his passion for teaching. Some suitable refreshment followed that evening, but the next morning I was asked to step in at the last minute for a speaker who wasn't able to make it. That was fun.

June

June was big. We had 23 zones in I'm a Scientist. That stretched the server to the limit and we don't want to do so many again concurrently. The RCUK and IoP both sponsored zones and Nelson Thornes sponsored the teacher communications. It was also very exciting to be hosting I'm a Scientist - Australia. The wonderful Kristin Alford and team at Bridge8 got some funding to run 3 zones at the same time (12 hours ahead in fact) as the UK event. It was tiring as I tried to stay up occasionally for their live chats, but very satisfying to see the event do so well on the other side of the planet.

July

We were ready for a rest, but at the end of the month the Wellcome Trust let us know that our bid for Decipher My Data had been approved for a People's Award. It was two days before the end of term and we rushed out a quick email to our teacher lists and were blown away by the response.

August

Now you didn't really expect us to do anything in August did you?

September

We spent September preparing for the Autumn. We had much still to do this year. Our good friend Prof Stephen Curry was putting the final touches on the film he had produced partly funded with his prize from winning the Imaging Zone in June 2010. It is a wonderful film that we highly recommend you watch.

October

For the first time in 8 years we weren't running I'm a Councillor, Get me out of here! The project had become an increasingly hard to sell event in the face of the swingeing cuts that local authority youth budgets have faced. We're looking at some developments to the site and format that may revive it as a longer term, lower intensity opportunity for councils to use.

Even without that project we expanded the team. Andrew Beeken is spending a day a week with us (virtually) making the websites look the way they should.

October saw the offical launch of the Decipher My Data site. We're really pleased with how the project is developing and every week brings more schools on board.

Sneaking in at the end of October was Katie Tomlinson. Katie joined us to work on both Decipher My Data and the other projects. She's slotted into the team quite nicely.

November

Oh, what a month! The beginning of the month saw us at the Wellcome Trust pitching for a second Society Award for I'm a Scientist. We asked for 50% for the next 3 years and in return we've promised to double the size of the event. We asked our friends to their support via Twitter and we displayed those messages on a Powerpoint slide projected during the Q&A session. It really was a highlight of the year to see hundreds of messages of support posted. Wonderful. Thank you. A couple of days later we had a phone call to say we were successful with our bid. It's fantastic and lays the foundation for another 3 years of work for the company. Again a massive debt is due to Stephen Curry and Dan Hannard who joined us for the presentation to give the unadulterated truth of what it is like to take part.

The good news didn't stop there. The Institute of Physics confirmed their sponsorship of 4 zones for 2012. The Physiological Society confirmed sponsorship of a Sports Zone and we ran the Subatomic and Zinc Zones sponsored by the STFC.

Running alongside this we've been developing a version of I'm a Scientist for the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Julian Rayner took part in March 2011 and thanks in part to his enthusiasm a group of 17 senior genomics scientists have been using our site to connect with local school students. Instead of an intensive 2 week burst the engagement is going to take place over 12 months with lots more scientists taking part from time to time. We'll see how it develops.

Further developments came from across the Irish Sea. We found we'd been successful in applying for funding to run 5 zones of I'm a Scientist as part of Dublin City of Science 2012. And also from closer to home. A group of electrical engineers, statisticians and psychologists won a major grant which involves us working with them and a set of local primary schools over the next couple of years.  We'll be starting in earnest in 2012.

December

Blink and it's gone. Christmas always makes December a short month. The biggest thing is of course the traditional Gallomanor Christmas party. Traditionally Sophia and I pitch up at the Garricks Head in Bath, drag some unsuspecting associate in to join us and enjoy fine food and wine. This year is different. Sophia and I will be there as usual, but we'll have Rosie and Katie there along with 3 friends and colleagues. Declan Fleming, who's been the educational driving force behind Decipher My Data and an enormous help on the other projects. Gareth Coxon, who uncomplainingly delivers design after design for us. And finally, Mike Little, who makes Wordpress and the web do things they probably shouldn't. They've all been brilliant supporters of Gallomanor and we couldn't do it without them.

January 2012

There is already one thing about January 2012 I can write. The company is on an upward curve. We took on two new full time team members in 2011. We're going to continue to grow in 2012 and in order to make is easier to recruit we're leaving the beautiful quiet Bradford on Avon for the bustling metropolis of Bath.

From the 3rd January 2012 the company's new address will be:

7-9 North Parade Buildings

Bath

BA1 1NS

01225 326892

Come and see in 2012.

We interviewed three excellent candidates for the new Project Wrangler role on Decipher my Data (#iasdata) yesterday.

More about who'll be joining us soon (they'll be writing their introduction), but this post is about some short feedback for those who applied but didn't get to interview.

The quality of candidates was impressive. Lots of good degrees, lots of excellent extra-curricular activity, lots of good covering letters.  The people we interviewed stood out for various reasons. One included examples of her student magazine writing and showed a little bit of design flair on her CV. Another stood out with a lovingly crafted cover letter in whch every word had been written for us. The third had additional experience above and beyond the other applicants.

The one piece of feedback that I'd give is that when applying for a job write something that gets your personality across. Don't write something that you think the HR department of ICI (a defunct British bureaucracy from the last century) might have written. Don't write as a corporation to apply for a company trying to engage young people.

Just one example:

"I'm writing in support of an application for a position on your team as part of the 'I'm a Scientist, Decipher my Data! project' at Gallomanor"

OR

"I'm a Scientist, please employ me"

Guess who got the interview.

 

I'm a Scientist, Decipher my data! is about making data real for secondary school students. The first in what we hope is a series of projects is called Flu! and is funded by the Wellcome Trust. We need a passionate science/engineering graduate with a burning desire to do SciComms to help us make the project a success.

We want you to be curious, well-organised & communicative. We would like you to have a strong interest in online engagement and the digital skills to match. If you've got all that AND a good joke to tell, then you're a shoo-in.

We're based near Bath/Bristol with good train links. You'll be joining a small, but rather good team with lots of potential. However the starting salary is a miserly £15,000 pa. We're keen for you to start soon so please send an email and a CV to work@gallomanor.com as soon as you can. 

It's worth having a quick read of feedback given to previous applicants: http://www.gallomanor.com/2010/01/workgallomanor-thank-you.html

 

There is no closing date. We'll post here when we've filled the position.

I spent the train journey along the gorgeous Limpley Stoke Valley going to Bristol reading the 2011 Public Attitudes to Science Summary Report.

It is a great read. 24 pages stacked full of information about how the UK public view science.  It's a positive story full of improvements, but without a sense of Mission Accomplished.

It demonstrates that most of the public don't understand how science is conducted, and nor how it is funded. It tells us that although use of the internet for gathering information about science is still quite low (only 19% put it in top 2 sources of information), it is more important for 16 -24 year olds.  And it is this age group that are least engaged with science.

I recommend anyone interested in the area has a read.

I can't finish though without explaining what made me chuckle and grin.

On page 21 & 22 the report addresses the issue of public funding of science.

76% in their surveys agreed that "even if it brings no immediate benefits, research which advances knowledge should be funded by the Government".  

Later in their workshops that support was quite as apparent. The difference was enough for the report authors to insert a footnote saying

"that the fieldwork took place when the Govt announced its Comprehensive Spending Review. During this period, there was considerable media coverage as well as an online campaign in favour of public funding of science, which may have affected responses to these questions"

I love the fact that the Science Is Vital campaign might have distorted MORI's findings. We just need to make those attitudes stick.

 

FOOTNOTE:

Jenny, Richard & I have been invited to give a talk at OpenTech at University of London Union on Saturday (21/5/11) about the campaign. Feel free to give a standing ovation if you're going to be there ;)

There is still an outdated stereotype of heavy web-users being anti-social and introverted. "Go out and get yourself a life."

Over the last few weeks as we've been looking at other science engagement events and comparing them to I'm a Scientist it struck me that in our case online is so much more sociable than the options that involve heading in to schools.

Scientists heading into schools tend to do so on their own. Sure they are supported by teachers, but they don't have anyone else in the same position with whom they can share their experience.

Contrast this with the camaraderie that exists around I'm a Scientist: on the site, through twitter and in meet-ups in campus coffee bars.

Already this year the scientists are tweeting about Zone envy, fear of emails from us and the gob-smacking committment from scientists last year.  Have a look through some of the choice things we've already seen for IAS2011. You'll need to click "Load more" at the bottom - there is a lot happening already.