The document provides guidance on running a competition to develop digital solutions to local challenges. It discusses:
1. Opening up the development process by applying techniques to stimulate ideas, showing emerging ideas to build momentum, and helping people help each other develop solutions.
2. Ensuring benefits are realized by issuing challenges relevant to priorities, involving the public to suggest ideas, and agreeing criteria to review ideas and select prototypes for development.
3. Supporting the development of prototypes by explaining what a prototype entails, defining specifications, explaining the event process, and showing how to use open data.
The document aims to help organizations run competitions that generate ideas and prototypes to inform service development through public engagement and collaboration with
A guide for partners of the Transformed by You competition. This is a competition supported by Kent Connects to stimulate collaboration between public services, entrepreneurs and communities to develop innovative ways of using technology to improve their neighbourhoods. It will launch on the 24th June on www.simp.co and will conclude on 23rd November with a Prototyping Day in Tunbridge Wells.
Strategic planning. You know you should be doing more of it. But the way you normally do it requires lots of up-front time to do and lots of follow-up time to get buy-in. And frankly, you have trouble with the buy-in part. All that trouble, minimal follow-through.
Great strategic planning processes are lightweight and participatory. This is nice-to-have for organizations, and it's critical for networks, where you don't have the benefit of hierarchy to influence its behavior. Networks will do what they do.
In this Leadership Learning Community webinar, I describe how to do strategic planning for networks. I draw heavily from my experience leading the open strategic planning process for the Wikimedia movement, which drew over 1,000 participants and led to a movement-wide shift in focus on increasing reach and participation in developing countries. I share how you can leverage these types of processes for both your network and your organization
Experimental Modes of Civic Engagement in Civic Tech is an investigation into what it means to build civic tech with, not for. It answers the question, "what's the difference between sentiment and action?"
The project led by Laurenellen McCann, and it deepens her work in needs-responsive, community-driven processes for creating technology with real people and real communities for public good.
This project falls under Smart Chicago's work on the Knight Community Information Challenge grant awarded under their Engaged Communities strategy to the Chicago Community Trust "as it builds on its successful Smart Chicago Project, which is taking open government resources directly into neighborhoods through a variety of civic-minded apps"
This document is a compendium of writing by Laurenellen created as a primer for our April 4, 2015 convening at the Chicago Community Trust.
A guide for partners of the Transformed by You competition. This is a competition supported by Kent Connects to stimulate collaboration between public services, entrepreneurs and communities to develop innovative ways of using technology to improve their neighbourhoods. It will launch on the 24th June on www.simp.co and will conclude on 23rd November with a Prototyping Day in Tunbridge Wells.
Strategic planning. You know you should be doing more of it. But the way you normally do it requires lots of up-front time to do and lots of follow-up time to get buy-in. And frankly, you have trouble with the buy-in part. All that trouble, minimal follow-through.
Great strategic planning processes are lightweight and participatory. This is nice-to-have for organizations, and it's critical for networks, where you don't have the benefit of hierarchy to influence its behavior. Networks will do what they do.
In this Leadership Learning Community webinar, I describe how to do strategic planning for networks. I draw heavily from my experience leading the open strategic planning process for the Wikimedia movement, which drew over 1,000 participants and led to a movement-wide shift in focus on increasing reach and participation in developing countries. I share how you can leverage these types of processes for both your network and your organization
Experimental Modes of Civic Engagement in Civic Tech is an investigation into what it means to build civic tech with, not for. It answers the question, "what's the difference between sentiment and action?"
The project led by Laurenellen McCann, and it deepens her work in needs-responsive, community-driven processes for creating technology with real people and real communities for public good.
This project falls under Smart Chicago's work on the Knight Community Information Challenge grant awarded under their Engaged Communities strategy to the Chicago Community Trust "as it builds on its successful Smart Chicago Project, which is taking open government resources directly into neighborhoods through a variety of civic-minded apps"
This document is a compendium of writing by Laurenellen created as a primer for our April 4, 2015 convening at the Chicago Community Trust.
I interviewed the experts in MROCs -- here's what I learned from them, and presented to a professional conference in Prague in 2010.
This is the detailed paper that accompanied the presentation.
DCLA meet CIDA: Collective Intelligence Deliberation Analytics Simon Buckingham Shum
Â
DCLA14: 2nd International Workshop on Discourse-Centric Learning Analyticsat LAK14: http://dcla14.wordpress.com
Abstract: This discussion paper builds a bridge between Discourse-Centric Learning Analytics (DCLA), whose focus tends to be on student discourse in formal educational contexts, and research and practice in Collective Intelligence Deliberation Analytics (CIDA), which seeks to scaffold quality deliberation in teams/collectives devising solutions to complex problems. CIDA research aims to equip networked communities with deliberation platforms capable of hosting large scale, reflective conversations, and actively feeding back to participants and moderators the âvital signsâ of the community and the state of its deliberations. CIDA tends to focus not on formal educational communities, although many would consider themselves learning communities in the broader sense, as they recognize the need to pool collective intelligence in order to understand, and co-evolve solutions to, complex dilemmas. We propose that the context and rationale behind CIDA efforts, and emerging CIDA implementations, contribute a research and technology stream to the DCLA community. The argument is twofold: (i) The context of CIDA work connects with the growing recognition in educational thinking that students from school age upwards should be given the opportunities to engage in authentic learning challenges, wrestling with problems and engaging in practices increasingly close to the complexity they will confront when they graduate. (ii) In the contexts of both DCLA and CIDA, different kinds of users need feedback on the state of the debate, and the quality of the conversation: the students and educators served by DCLA are mirrored by the citizens and facilitators served by CIDA. In principle, therefore, a fruitful dialogue could unfold between DCLA/CIDA researchers and practitioners, in order to better understand common and distinctive requirements.
Service design futures - how to create 'sociable services'Andrea Cooper
Â
Service design is changing, but how? here's some ideas from a talk I gave at the Institute for Government to Chief Executives of London Local Authorities.
Ripple Effects Mapping Tip Sheet for Evaluating Community Engagement Everyday Democracy
Â
Community Engagement and Dialogue to Change strategies can lead to many positive changes in your community. However, direct impacts can be tough to track. Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) allows you, along with local leaders and others in your community, to assess impacts from your Dialogue to
Change efforts. It allows you to visually document the impacts your efforts have had on individuals, on your community, and on institutions and systems over time. These are tips for rolling out a Ripple Effects Mapping process:
Few could argue that stortelling is a powerful tool to inspire action and change, and to influence thought leaders and decision makers. The shape and delivery of stories has also shifted dramatically in the digital era. Long-form narrative and conventionalism journalism now share a stage with messages 140 characters or images that disappear in seconds after they are opened. There have never been more ways to reach audiences, but it's also never been more difficult to really reach them.
Synergizing natural and research communities: Caring about the research ecosy...InSites Consulting
Â
Research panels are under a lot of pressure: for far too long we have treated panels as ordinary databases. As a result, response rates to traditional surveys are in decline and it becomes harder to motivate people to participate in research projects. As researchers, we have to look into alternatives that still allow us to learn about the attitudes and behavior of consumers.
Thanks to the rise of social media, a whole new stream of consumer information has become available and our industry is embracing it as the new Walhalla. By using methods such as âsocial media netnographyâ in which online conversations and stories are observed, researchers learn from online sources of textual and visual information that are freely available (Verhaeghe, Van den Berge, Schillewaert, 2009). Instead of asking new input from research participants, existing information is recycled. Because consumers are free to talk about whatever they like, social media netnography does not only provide answers on research questions one already had, but it also gives answers to questions they did not ask and answers without asking questions.
User-generated content is a welcome new source of information for researchers. But unlike our research panels, we should treat this new ecosystem with caution and preserve it while we still can. We need to learn from the past when we experiment with new ways of doing research.
I interviewed the experts in MROCs -- here's what I learned from them, and presented to a professional conference in Prague in 2010.
This is the detailed paper that accompanied the presentation.
DCLA meet CIDA: Collective Intelligence Deliberation Analytics Simon Buckingham Shum
Â
DCLA14: 2nd International Workshop on Discourse-Centric Learning Analyticsat LAK14: http://dcla14.wordpress.com
Abstract: This discussion paper builds a bridge between Discourse-Centric Learning Analytics (DCLA), whose focus tends to be on student discourse in formal educational contexts, and research and practice in Collective Intelligence Deliberation Analytics (CIDA), which seeks to scaffold quality deliberation in teams/collectives devising solutions to complex problems. CIDA research aims to equip networked communities with deliberation platforms capable of hosting large scale, reflective conversations, and actively feeding back to participants and moderators the âvital signsâ of the community and the state of its deliberations. CIDA tends to focus not on formal educational communities, although many would consider themselves learning communities in the broader sense, as they recognize the need to pool collective intelligence in order to understand, and co-evolve solutions to, complex dilemmas. We propose that the context and rationale behind CIDA efforts, and emerging CIDA implementations, contribute a research and technology stream to the DCLA community. The argument is twofold: (i) The context of CIDA work connects with the growing recognition in educational thinking that students from school age upwards should be given the opportunities to engage in authentic learning challenges, wrestling with problems and engaging in practices increasingly close to the complexity they will confront when they graduate. (ii) In the contexts of both DCLA and CIDA, different kinds of users need feedback on the state of the debate, and the quality of the conversation: the students and educators served by DCLA are mirrored by the citizens and facilitators served by CIDA. In principle, therefore, a fruitful dialogue could unfold between DCLA/CIDA researchers and practitioners, in order to better understand common and distinctive requirements.
Service design futures - how to create 'sociable services'Andrea Cooper
Â
Service design is changing, but how? here's some ideas from a talk I gave at the Institute for Government to Chief Executives of London Local Authorities.
Ripple Effects Mapping Tip Sheet for Evaluating Community Engagement Everyday Democracy
Â
Community Engagement and Dialogue to Change strategies can lead to many positive changes in your community. However, direct impacts can be tough to track. Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) allows you, along with local leaders and others in your community, to assess impacts from your Dialogue to
Change efforts. It allows you to visually document the impacts your efforts have had on individuals, on your community, and on institutions and systems over time. These are tips for rolling out a Ripple Effects Mapping process:
Few could argue that stortelling is a powerful tool to inspire action and change, and to influence thought leaders and decision makers. The shape and delivery of stories has also shifted dramatically in the digital era. Long-form narrative and conventionalism journalism now share a stage with messages 140 characters or images that disappear in seconds after they are opened. There have never been more ways to reach audiences, but it's also never been more difficult to really reach them.
Synergizing natural and research communities: Caring about the research ecosy...InSites Consulting
Â
Research panels are under a lot of pressure: for far too long we have treated panels as ordinary databases. As a result, response rates to traditional surveys are in decline and it becomes harder to motivate people to participate in research projects. As researchers, we have to look into alternatives that still allow us to learn about the attitudes and behavior of consumers.
Thanks to the rise of social media, a whole new stream of consumer information has become available and our industry is embracing it as the new Walhalla. By using methods such as âsocial media netnographyâ in which online conversations and stories are observed, researchers learn from online sources of textual and visual information that are freely available (Verhaeghe, Van den Berge, Schillewaert, 2009). Instead of asking new input from research participants, existing information is recycled. Because consumers are free to talk about whatever they like, social media netnography does not only provide answers on research questions one already had, but it also gives answers to questions they did not ask and answers without asking questions.
User-generated content is a welcome new source of information for researchers. But unlike our research panels, we should treat this new ecosystem with caution and preserve it while we still can. We need to learn from the past when we experiment with new ways of doing research.
Tussen 1650 en 1702 ligt de hoogglans van de Gouden Eeuw en de overgang naar de 'Zilveren Eeuw'. Een tijdperk gekenmerkt door contrasten. Voor het eerst in haar bestaan staat de Republiek niet onder leiding van een prins van Oranje, maar van een burger. Voor het eerst ook is de Republiek niet in oorlog. Onder Johan de Witt wordt het schip van staat opgetuigd voor de koopvaart. Maar het Rampjaar 1672 brengt een radicale omslag. Een prins van Oranje, Willem III, grijpt de helmstok en stuurt het land de maalstroom in van een langdurige en geldverslindende Europese oorlog.
The Auto Enrolment Advisor: Auto EnrolmentJamie Ogilvie
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Automatic Enrolment is a change in law that all employers have to enrol their employees into a workplace pension scheme. This presentation gives a brief introduction into: The reasons behind the law change, Who it applies to and finally how The Auto Enrolment Advisor can help you comply.
Discover a programme that brings together students, entrepreneurs & community groups to develop creative solutions to local challenges.
We help train students to co-design solutions from uncovering local needs with the community to working with them to develop projects that can be taken forward.
We evaluate the insights and impact of the needs & solutions to help public services better understand how to support communities to help each other & use technology.
Social and economic change made access to knowledge central to how we work. Collaborative working is constantly pushing boundaries.
Tipping point in citizen behaviour, people can now create content, re-use information, co-produce services â otherwise known as web2.0.
A presentation describing how you can sponsor or support your competition to identify how communities and entrepreneurs can develop ideas & prototypes to improve their neighbourhoods in Kent.
Transformed by You is is a competition supported by Kent Connects to stimulate collaboration between public services, entrepreneurs and communities to develop innovative ways of using technology to improve their neighbourhoods. It will launch on the 24th June on www.simp.co and will conclude on 23rd November with a Prototyping Day in Tunbridge Wells.
Taking the next step: Building Organisational Co-design CapabilityPenny Hagen
Â
A presentation on building organisational co-design capability, shared as part of Master Class for Design 4 Social Innovation Conference in Sydney, 2014. http://design4socialinnovation.com.au/
For a little more context on the slides and the handout used as the basis for discussion in the MasterClass see: http://www.smallfire.co.nz/2014/10/22/building-organisational-co-design-capability/
En conjunto con el Centro de InnovaciĂłn UC el jueves 14 de Mayo se realizĂł el
Meetup: "ÂżPor quĂŠ innovar desde el Estado? Laboratorios de innovaciĂłn pĂşblica en el contexto mundial. Este Meetup contĂł Brenton Caffin, Director of Innovation Skills de Nesta, como orador principal.
Nesta es la ONG lĂder britĂĄnica en innovaciĂłn pĂşblica y social, y posee alto expertise en innovaciĂłn abierta, metodologĂas de diseĂąo para procesos de innovaciĂłn pĂşblica e incubaciĂłn de soluciones, y en procesos de inversiĂłn en innovaciĂłn social con mediciĂłn de impacto.
Discover a programme that brings together students, entrepreneurs & community groups to develop creative solutions to local challenges.
We help train students to co-design solutions from uncovering local needs with the community to working with them to develop projects that can be taken forward.
We evaluate the insights and impact of the needs & solutions to help public services better understand how to support communities to help each other & use technology.
An introduction to planning online stakeholder engagement and to considering some of the practicalities around digital engagement for Scottish Government policy teams.
Together with the the Democratic Society, we were commissioned by Government Digital Service (GDS) to undertake a 6-week discovery project to explore how the process of online consultations, as delivered by central government, could be improved.
This case study focusses on what we recommended, how our different approaches made our collaboration stronger, and our shared view on the future of citizen engagement.
Emma Parnell and Michelle Brook presented this talk during the Service Design in Government conference.
Requirements Engineering for the HumanitiesShawn Day
Â
This workshop explores how requirements engineering can be employed by digital and non-digital humanities scholars (and others) to conceptualise and communicate a research project.
requirementsEngineeringAs the field of digital humanities has evolved, one of the biggest challenges has been getting the marrying technical expertise with humanities scholarly practice to successfully deliver sustainable and sound digital projects. At its core this is a communications exercise. However, to communicate effectively demands an ability to effectively translate, define and find clarity in your own mind.
At thinkpublic we use creative and innovative design-based approaches to help the public sector, third sector and social enterprises innovate and improve their services, and address social issues.
This book captures our work from 2008.
What is Design Thinking and how does it help engaging better with all users of a product? I can teach you how to apply the process step by step, or you can hire me to train a small team or do a project. Fail fast low cost solution to improve any company's service, products, processes, organization, and even strategy.
Nemode Research Workshop Report, AAM and Staffordshire UniversityAAM_Associates
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In February 2015 we held a discursive research workshop inviting industry professionals from the creative arts sector to interrogate and discuss the statement: Exploring the barriers to developing new data-driven business models in the creative arts sector.
This report highlights the key areas of discussion.
Barry Fong, Principal Social Policy Analyst at the Greater London Authority (GLA) will take us through the Survey of Londoners 2021-22. Conducted at the end of 2021, so just before the full effects of the cost-of-living crisis began to set in, it was commissioned to provide vital evidence on key social outcomes for Londoners, following the onset of COVID-19 and associated restrictions.
A similar survey was conducted in 2018-19, so this survey would show how things had changed in the capital since then.
Barry will go through some of the key findings from the survey before handing over to Michael Cheetham and Ellen Bloomer from the North East London Integrated Care Board, who collaborated with local authority partners to fund a sample boost for the survey within North East London. They will explain how they used the data, including the analyses, the results and how this impacted strategy and practice.
Barry Fong, Principal Social Policy Analyst at the Greater London Authority (GLA) will take us through the Survey of Londoners 2021-22. Conducted at the end of 2021, so just before the full effects of the cost-of-living crisis began to set in, it was commissioned to provide vital evidence on key social outcomes for Londoners, following the onset of COVID-19 and associated restrictions.
A similar survey was conducted in 2018-19, so this survey would show how things had changed in the capital since then.
Barry will go through some of the key findings from the survey before handing over to Michael Cheetham and Ellen Bloomer from the North East London Integrated Care Board, who collaborated with local authority partners to fund a sample boost for the survey within North East London. They will explain how they used the data, including the analyses, the results and how this impacted strategy and practice.
How can humanities research contribute to policy 2Noel Hatch
Â
There is always a danger that the humanities are overlooked in favour of the social sciences or âhardâ sciences in research-policy engagement, when the former have an important role to play.
The session will provide case studies and a facilitated discussion to better understand the potential implications and challenges for policymakers of engaging with humanities researchers.
The London Strategy and Policy Network and the London Research and Policy Partnership invite you to join a session to explore the contributions that humanities research can make to policy by bringing together humanities researchers and policymakers from across the capital and beyond.
Welcome and introduction (1:00 â 1:10pm)
Chaired by:
Professor Ben Rogers, Professor of Practice, University of London & Bloomberg Fellow to LSE Cities
Overview: How can humanists and policymakers work together? Benefits and opportunities of humanities research and policy engagement (1:10 â 1:20pm)
Presented by:
Jo Fox, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research & Engagement) & Dean, School of Advanced Study, University of London.
Case study 1: Lessons from âThe Pandemic and Beyond: the Arts and Humanities Contribution to Covid Research and Recovery (1:20 â 1:30pm)
Presented by:
Pascale Aebischer, Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Performance Studies, University of Exeter and PI of The Pandemic and Beyond: the Arts and Humanities Contribution to Covid Research and Recovery, University of Exeter.
Case study 2: Place-making, diversity and co-production: making visible the layers of London (1:30 â 1:40pm)
Presented by:
Justin Colston, Senior Lecturer at Institute of Historical Research, University of London.
Q & A / Discussion (1:40 - 1:55pm)
Closing remarks (1:55 - 2pm)
ABOUT LRaPP:
London Research and Policy Partnership (LRaPP) is a new partnership aimed at promoting greater synergy between London government and the academic research community.
The Partnership is evolving among movements bringing universities and local communities, cities and regions closer together - the âcivic universities agendaâ. It encourages universities to use their expertise and organisational resources to address pressing public policy challenges.
There are many examples of London's academics and public sector working together. Yet, most of these relationships develop in an ad hoc way. LRaPP takes a systematic approach through proactive and sustained engagement between the university and government sectors.
London Strategy and Policy Network
This network brings together people working in policy & strategy working in local government across London to learn new insights on cross-cutting issues and new methods in how to develop insight, policy, strategy & change.
This helps them support their organisations make sense of how to tackle issues which cut across various services and that require a whole system approach across local places to tackle.
How can humanities research contribute to policy 1Noel Hatch
Â
There is always a danger that the humanities are overlooked in favour of the social sciences or âhardâ sciences in research-policy engagement, when the former have an important role to play.
The session will provide case studies and a facilitated discussion to better understand the potential implications and challenges for policymakers of engaging with humanities researchers.
The London Strategy and Policy Network and the London Research and Policy Partnership invite you to join a session to explore the contributions that humanities research can make to policy by bringing together humanities researchers and policymakers from across the capital and beyond.
Welcome and introduction (1:00 â 1:10pm)
Chaired by:
Professor Ben Rogers, Professor of Practice, University of London & Bloomberg Fellow to LSE Cities
Overview: How can humanists and policymakers work together? Benefits and opportunities of humanities research and policy engagement (1:10 â 1:20pm)
Presented by:
Jo Fox, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research & Engagement) & Dean, School of Advanced Study, University of London.
Case study 1: Lessons from âThe Pandemic and Beyond: the Arts and Humanities Contribution to Covid Research and Recovery (1:20 â 1:30pm)
Presented by:
Pascale Aebischer, Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Performance Studies, University of Exeter and PI of The Pandemic and Beyond: the Arts and Humanities Contribution to Covid Research and Recovery, University of Exeter.
Case study 2: Place-making, diversity and co-production: making visible the layers of London (1:30 â 1:40pm)
Presented by:
Justin Colston, Senior Lecturer at Institute of Historical Research, University of London.
Q & A / Discussion (1:40 - 1:55pm)
Closing remarks (1:55 - 2pm)
ABOUT LRaPP:
London Research and Policy Partnership (LRaPP) is a new partnership aimed at promoting greater synergy between London government and the academic research community.
The Partnership is evolving among movements bringing universities and local communities, cities and regions closer together - the âcivic universities agendaâ. It encourages universities to use their expertise and organisational resources to address pressing public policy challenges.
There are many examples of London's academics and public sector working together. Yet, most of these relationships develop in an ad hoc way. LRaPP takes a systematic approach through proactive and sustained engagement between the university and government sectors.
London Strategy and Policy Network
This network brings together people working in policy & strategy working in local government across London to learn new insights on cross-cutting issues and new methods in how to develop insight, policy, strategy & change.
This helps them support their organisations make sense of how to tackle issues which cut across various services and that require a whole system approach across local places to tackle.
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
Â
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Â
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Â
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Â
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
Â
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Â
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder â active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
Â
đĽ Speed, accuracy, and scaling â discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Miningâ˘:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing â with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs â GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
đ¨âđŤ Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
đŠâđŤ Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Â
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But thereâs more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, youâll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the âApproveâ button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
Butâif the âRejectâ button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Â
Clients donât know what they donât know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clientsâ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
State of ICS and IoT Cyber Threat Landscape Report 2024 previewPrayukth K V
Â
The IoT and OT threat landscape report has been prepared by the Threat Research Team at Sectrio using data from Sectrio, cyber threat intelligence farming facilities spread across over 85 cities around the world. In addition, Sectrio also runs AI-based advanced threat and payload engagement facilities that serve as sinks to attract and engage sophisticated threat actors, and newer malware including new variants and latent threats that are at an earlier stage of development.
The latest edition of the OT/ICS and IoT security Threat Landscape Report 2024 also covers:
State of global ICS asset and network exposure
Sectoral targets and attacks as well as the cost of ransom
Global APT activity, AI usage, actor and tactic profiles, and implications
Rise in volumes of AI-powered cyberattacks
Major cyber events in 2024
Malware and malicious payload trends
Cyberattack types and targets
Vulnerability exploit attempts on CVEs
Attacks on counties â USA
Expansion of bot farms â how, where, and why
In-depth analysis of the cyber threat landscape across North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East
Why are attacks on smart factories rising?
Cyber risk predictions
Axis of attacks â Europe
Systemic attacks in the Middle East
Download the full report from here:
https://sectrio.com/resources/ot-threat-landscape-reports/sectrio-releases-ot-ics-and-iot-security-threat-landscape-report-2024/
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Â
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as âpredictable inferenceâ.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
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In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
⢠The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
⢠Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
⢠Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
⢠Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
"Impact of front-end architecture on development cost", Viktor TurskyiFwdays
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I have heard many times that architecture is not important for the front-end. Also, many times I have seen how developers implement features on the front-end just following the standard rules for a framework and think that this is enough to successfully launch the project, and then the project fails. How to prevent this and what approach to choose? I have launched dozens of complex projects and during the talk we will analyze which approaches have worked for me and which have not.
"Impact of front-end architecture on development cost", Viktor Turskyi
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Transformed by You Methodology
1. Introduction
o How can you use the guide?
1. How can you involve people in developing solutions?
Apply techniques used in other disciplines to help people come up with ideas
o Show people what ideas are coming through to build momentum
Help people help each other develop solutions
o Coming up with ideas
o Case study: What skills would you want to share?
Focus ideas on community outcomes
o Break up the stages of developing ideas in ways which are practical
o Case study: What would make your area a better place?
Test new ways of producing research
o Explore how you can use the competition to gather and analyse insights
o Case study: How are we going to use the ideas?
Identify new technological trends
o What would make it easier for you to use technology?
o Case study: How do you think about how to make services easy to use?
Show your organisation how the ideas can inform their priorities
o Categorise ideas put forward to your competition
o Support citizens to shift to online personalised services
o Managing information to improve decision making
o Enable users to group together to solve problems
2. 2. How do you get people to take part in your competition?
Develop a stakeholder engagement strategy
o Work with your partners to engage and manage expectations
o Get feedback from stakeholders to design the message and process
3. How can you ensure the benefits can be realised?
Create measures of success
Issue challenges based on local priorities
o Issue challenges that are relevant to your serviceâs priorities
Involve the public to suggest ideas
o Identify what resources you can secure
o Collaborate with partners who can provide competition resources
Agree criteria to review ideas & prototypes
o Work with your partners and sponsors to design criteria
o Provide a competitive element by securing sponsors
o Select the most highly rated ideas to be developed into prototypes
4. How can you support people to come up with prototypes?
Explain what you mean by a prototype
o Tell developers what you want them to come up with
Define the specification to provide to developers
o Enable people to have the resources to help them develop prototypes
o Make systems and data integrated and re-usable
Explain to developers how the event will work
o Invite external participants to describe what resources could be used
o Update people on how the event will work how they can prepare
Show developers how they can use open data to come up with prototypes
3. 5. How can you involve partners in shaping the process?
o Involve people representing your partners
o Define the challenges
o Involve your staff to guide developers
o Define the expertise you have that can help people
Use approaches to help developers come up with prototypes at your event
o Provide a combination of structure and flexibility
o Invite people who are willing to make the day work
Review the prototypes
o Select criteria that you would use to review your own services
Use the judging to learn lessons from the prototypes
o Identify gaps and assets you can use to develop the idea
o Plan for future development of the prototype to ensure sustainability
o Design the prototype around the needs & assets of the customer group
o Use specialist techniques to help develop the idea into a prototype
o Consider tools that make the user fully engaged with the prototype
Offer prizes for the competition
o Offer prizes to the winners of the best idea and prototype
o Provide non-financial prizes to help take forward the prototypes
Provide routes for ideas and prototypes who havenât won
o Ensure that people can continue to work on prototypes together
o Report the event so others can learn from it
o Celebrate and recognise everyoneâs contribution
Identify what could be improved after the competition
o Work through strong relationships and existing networks
o What could we have improved?
4. Introduction
With the financial constraints they face, public services need to explore more agile and
efficient ways of making use of ICT.
Various councils have responded to this through launching calls for ideas or competitions,
whether it's involving staff and users to rethink ways of working, getting ideas for local
budgets, developing banks of social capital or connecting students with entrepreneurs to stimulate
innovation.
We have co-designed a programme to help public services in Kent engage communities
& SMEs to prototype solutions to local challenges.
We designed an approach focused on impact and sustainability by getting
entrepreneurs to build on community ideas and secured partners to get residents to test
prototypes and experts to support the winners to develop business models.
Through the lessons learned from this programme, weâve developed a guide to help
organisations who are looking to get
o ideas and prototypes that be used as applied research to inform development
of projects and services
o methods of engagement & access to digital entrepreneurs to explore
opportunities for future collaboration & joint development of solutions
What is Kent Connects?
Kent Connects is the lead technology partnership for Kent and Medway. It has already
invested in a single, county wide infrastructure (both technology and people) to enable its
partners to join up and share their services delivery mechanisms in a secure, robust and
cost effective environment.
Kent Connects is an extremely effective and productive strategic partnership facilitating
partner projects by providing advice and sharing best practice and resources.
If you would like to find out more about Kent Connects or Developing Solutions, please email
enquire@kentconnects.gov.uk.
5. How can you use the guide?
Please find below symbols to help you understand how to use the guide:
Categories Examples
Sections of the guide
Steps of the process
Recommendations
Examples used in
our competition
6. 1. How can you open up the development of solutions?
To open up the development of ideas and solutions to entrepreneurs, universities &
colleges and public service staff:
Apply techniques used in other disciplines to help people come up with ideas
o Apply techniques used in disciplines like design & research or even fields like art or
community development â such as blank canvas or skills dating - to stimulate people to
come up with ideas
People might have seen something that uses technology in a really creative way. Encourage
them through the online platform to think about how these new ways of using ICT could help
improve their neighbourhood or public services.
Show people what ideas are coming through
to build momentum
o We blogged âidea of the weekâ to highlight
good ideas coming through
o To be open and transparent, we
published the scores of all the ideas.
Help people help each other develop solutions
Coming up with ideas sounds really easy, but sometimes to get the simple but most effective
ones, it's worth thinking about how to stimulate them. Breaking up the ideas makes the
process seem more meaningful to people taking part and more likely for them to want to
work together to develop the ideas.
Coming up with ideas
We started off by looking at what skills people
want to learn and share and then onto what
would make it easier for them to use technology,
how people want to make their neighbourhood a
better place and how people want to help each
other.
What skills would you want to share?
From showing people how to cook to encouraging
young people into sport , many of the ideas
build on people's personal motivations to
either learn or share expertise with others.
This is often the easiest way of getting
individuals to help each other.
Focus ideas on community outcomes
7. o Break up the stages of developing ideas in ways which are practical â such as
what skills people want to learn and share, how people want to improve their neighbourhood
and how people want to help each other
What would make your neighbourhood a better place?
We wanted to enable people to reflect on what would make
their neighbourhood a better place. It was very striking how
much people focused on what physical
improvements were needed, whether it was making their
streets cleaner or look more appealing - and
what behaviour changes could improve community spirit.
Test new ways of producing research
o Explore how you can use the competition in such a way that you can gather
and analyse insights and prototype ways to turn ideas into research
How are we going to use the ideas?
We explored how we could make sense of the ideas people
submitted as new forms of community insight. This included
mapping a "neighbourhood of ideas" or creating personas on
how people want to help others.
Identify new technological trends
If you want to understand how your service can adapt to the changing trends in how
people use technology and what tools they use, design approaches that enable you to
gain insights on how
o people can move to digital by default by focusing on what would make it easier for
people to use technology
o you can encourage re-use of your ICT assets and of your partners such as open
data, customer relationship systems and development environments
What would make it easier for you to use technology?
All of us will reject a way of doing things that we think will
make us look stupid whether itâs learning how to use
technology or repairing a car.
We worked with community groups & students to help them
come up with ideas that can help them think about what
makes it easier for them to want to use ICT!
8. How can you think innovatively about how to
make services easier to use?
Many people put forward simple solutions
from being able to access information in a
single place to being able to contact people in
your neighbourhood via getting text alerts when
your bin needs emptying.
Show your organisation how the ideas can inform their priorities
To understand the potential of this process to provide applied research to inform
development of projects and services, categorise the ideas put forward to your
competition by different types of approaches based on how they can improve the
capability of partners to deliver their priorities or inform the development of services.
This will help you work out where to direct the ideas in your services and in what areas
your customers and partners would be enthusiastic in providing feedback on or even
shaping projects that you want to involve them in.
Types of approaches to improve the capability of partners
Over 40% of ideas support citizens to shift to personalised online services, while close to
30% show a desire to make the best use of technology assets owned by public services,
while over a quarter could support them to solve their own problems. Slightly less popular
were approaches to support people to group together to solve their own problems or to
manage information to improve decision making.
See http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/visualizations/types-of-
approaches-2 to visualise
9. 2. How do you get people to take part in your competition?
To ensure you can test out effective âmethods of engagement and access to digital
entrepreneurs to explore opportunities for future collaboration & joint development of
solutionsâ:
Develop a stakeholder engagement strategy
o Work with your partners to ask questions you could use to understand how to
engage and manage expectations. These could include:
o What audiences do you want to reach out to?
o Why would persuade them to take part in the event?
o What content would appeal to them?
o What content should you feature?
o What format would appeal to them?
o How can they contribute?
o What tools can you provide that enable them to contribute?
Get feedback from stakeholders to design the message and process
Feedback provided suggested we should focus on the following:
o Can do something for the good of the public
o People are willing to go the extra mile
o Create commitment by the councils to work with the developers to get the apps
adopted
o Signposting to the website & marketing the app
o Focus on market share, content and reach
We worked with existing networks to identify
and invite 1230 local and over 5000 national
members to take part
o invited over 370 professionals &
groups in Kent working in the ICT
sector
o partnered with local colleges and
organisations to host workshops to
enable 140 users to submit ideas to the
competition
o promoted the competition at key
facilities including 12 Libraries and 9
Gateways, as well as to 120 delegates
at the Kent Connects Conference
o issued press releases to 90 media outlets and got press in UKAuthoriITy, The
Register, LGC and the Guardian and received High Impact Status from the Global
Entrepreneurship Week
o secured participants to the event from across Kent and beyond with 40 delegates
attending
10.
11. 3. How can you ensure the benefits can be realised?
Create measures of success
Before identifying any indicators that come to mind, start up with exploring those measures
of success which can show how (well) youâve achieved your objectives, managing the
balance between qualitative and quantitative metrics.
Objectives Measures Targets Actual %
Over/Under
Target
Issue challenges based on local priorities
To ensure that the entrepreneurs you engage can produce ideas and prototypes that can
be used as applied research to inform development of your projects and services,
design approaches that:
o Issue challenges1 that are relevant to your serviceâs priorities and accessible
enough for the public to relate to and where you can provide ICT assets to
developers to use
What were the challenges we issued?
There are two challenges we invited people to submit their ideas to on how the use of digital
technology canâŚ
1. Help people help each other in your neighbourhood
There are many opportunities for how the use of technology could improve peopleâs
neighbourhood, whether it's to help people find a voice, share skills for a good cause, or
even organise community cleanups.
2. Make it easier for you to report issues to your council
There are many ways that technology is being used for people to report issues, whether it's
reporting a pothole that needs fixing, texting in a photo of waste on the street or sharing your
experience with frontline staff. And that information can be used in really creative ways. But
there are issues which people canât report easily.
Who was eligible to participate?
This competition is open to any UK resident. To facilitate the free exchange of ideas, all
visualizations and other contributions you make to this challenge will be covered under the
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
1
1. Help people help each other in your neighbourhood and 2. Make it easier for you to report issues to your council
12. Involve the public to suggest ideas
o Identify what resources you can secure to enable you to involve people to suggest
ideas online on how ICT could be used to tackle those challenges in advance of the
event you invite them to
Collaborate with partners who can provide competition resources
Kent Connects partnered with DotGovLabs to develop an online space for the
competition at http://bit.ly/submityouridea, securing over 16,2292 views on the
competition website, 254 comments with 8 prototypes put forward.
The proportional increase in people engaging in the competition showed that the
development and stimulation of ideas built strong momentum for getting people
exciting about the process.
What is Dot Gov Labs?
Dot Gov Labs is an online innovation
competition platform which has over
1700 entrepreneurs, developers and
users of public services. Public service
agencies (so far including DWP, NHS
and Cabinet Office) put forward
challenges they require ICT solutions
to and people are invited to submit
ideas to these. Each challenge will
have different criteria and prizes, but
runs through the same process.
We also obtained venues & organisation of events by Mid Kent & Thanet
Colleges, Turner Contemporary & Gravesham DC with 200 people.
Agree criteria to review ideas & prototypes
o Work with your partners and sponsors to design criteria that means you can use
the ideas to inform the development of projects and services
o Provide a competitive element by securing sponsors 3 to provide awards to the
best ideas and prototypes developed
Select the most highly rated ideas to be developed into prototypes
The winners of the best ideas - a civic entrepreneur developing a way to incentivise people to
look after each other and local students making it easier for their neighbours to use their
smart phones to access services - demonstrated the key principles weâve been encouraging.
The ideas put forward to both Challenges were evaluated by the Judges based on the
following criteria:
o How well could the idea help people help each other?
o How easily could the technology suggested be used by people?
o How well could this idea offer volume of take up that would deliver a profit?
2
The most viewed challenge on http://dotgovlabs.direct.gov.uk since it began in 2010
3
Sponsored by Kent Business School, Lagan, Geovation and Ordnance Survey
13. The ideas with the highest ratings overall were:
o Challenge #1 âHelp People Help Each Otherâ: Sunshine Bank âOnline community of
young people and others who earn virtual tokens of recognition for posting the things they do
to take care of themselves, other people and our worldâ developed by a digital
entrepreneur
o Challenge #2: âMake It Easier to Report Issuesâ: Abbreviation 999 âWhen a friend
asks you for a number for the doctors but you don't know the number, use this app.
When looking for a good taxi service but you can't remember the number, use thisâ
developed by a group of students from Thanet College.
14. 4. How can you support people to come up with prototypes?
Explain what you mean by a prototype
o Tell developers that you want them to come up with visual representations of
what the person is putting forward (i.e. a website, app, etc), but these donât need
to be working applications. Prototypes therefore could be wireframes, screenshots,
mockups, prototype websites, etc.
To give you an idea of prototypes developed in similar circumstances included Rewired State,
CityCamp Brighton and SI Camp (all developed over 48 hours).
Define the specification to provide to developers
o Enable your digital entrepreneurs to have the resources to help them develop
prototypes that could work with your organisationâs systems.
Make systems and data integrated and re-
usable
We provided developers with a data request
facility from www.openkent.org.uk and provision
of the Lagan Open 311 Environment for
developers to create apps that link their sites,
social networks or mobile applications direct to
council customer relationship systems.
We also opened our technical and enterprise
architecture to SMEs to improve front/back
office integration with external apps (as
demonstrated by developers being able to use
Open 311 and OS Open Space) and created
open APIs4 - as demonstrated by the APIs of
Events & Activities data and overall open data
from Open Kent.
This enabled developers to come up with
prototypes in under a day from wire frames,
apps to mashups to outline specifications.
Explain to developers how the event will work
4
Like Mumsnet using Directgov tools built on standardised interfaces to provide their users with official up-to-date information
on schools and family services
15. o Invite external participants to describe what resources could be used to help
people develop prototypes.
o Update people on how the event would work and how they could prepare in advance
of the day by describing the challenges and what developers could consider when
building on ideas
We hosted a twitter chat to discuss any queries people had about the event.
Show developers how they can use open data to come up with prototypes
Local public services also have ICT assets that could be re-used by entrepreneurs. There
are amazing opportunities for open data to be used. Competitions organised across the
world have shown how effective they are at illustrating the opportunities it can offer to the
public. You can see a selection of them here.
We know that open data is a very new area for the public. Most people will never have heard
of open data, let alone used it to create visualisations. Others however may have used tools
to turn data into new web applications. They are also using APIs from customer relationship
management systems in a similar way. Thatâs why itâs an opportunity for public services to
stimulate use of open data by encouraging innovators to use datasets to turn ideas into new
ways of using technology.
o Work with relevant partners who could sponsor and support the development of the winning
prototypes
o Get senior stakeholders within the partners organising the competition to review the
prototypes to give them ownership over the process
o Involve officers with different types of skills from our partner organisations to act as critical
friends
o Profile the winning prototypes to provide them with kudos and credibility
Show prototypes that have been developed through similar competitions
We reviewed prototypes that had been developed through similar competitions and uses of
open data and open 311 to show people taking part in our competition how they could prepare
for developing prototypes on the day.
â
The best entries aren't necessarily the technically brilliant applications. It is more about making somethi
.â ( Jim Morton, Applications Architect for Warwickshire County Council)
â
It is a great opportunity to be really imaginative and yet produce something that will have a solid local im
â (Kevin Malley, from Bristol Futures)
16. 5. How can you involve partners in shaping the process?
o Involve people representing your partners to review the ideas and prototypes
basing the criteria on financial and social impact
Define the challenges
We defined the challenges for developers in a much more technical way than we did for local
communities:
o Challenge 1: Help people help each
other in your neighbourhoodâ, they will
be asked to develop a prototype based on
an idea submitted by the public in that
challenge and use OS Open Data.
o Challenge 2: Make it easier for you to
report issues to your council, they will be
asked to develop a prototype based on an
idea submitted by the public in that
challenge. They will also be able to use the
Lagan Open 311 Integration Toolkit if they
wish.
Define the expertise you have that can help people
o Involve your staff to advise and guide developers on how their prototypes would
work in a public service environment, as well as learn new techniques themselves.
The expertise provided by the critical friends for Developing Solutions included
o Designing wireframes and mock-ups of user interfaces
o Interaction design or user experience
o Creating applications using OS Open Data or OS Open Space
o Developing software prototypes, database design, APIs or outline code
o Managing customer focused projects
We learnt from the approach of partners,
such as Geovation we had purposefully
built relationships with to gain expertise on
how to develop competition-based
prototyping challenges. We are now helping
Geovation shape its forthcoming challenge
â the first ever focusing on localities
17. Use approaches to help developers come up with prototypes at your event
Just as you can learn from other disciplines to involve people to come up with ideas, use
approaches â like agile development - that can help developers come up with prototypes in
an easy and effective way
o Provide a combination of structure and flexibility to create an atmosphere of
purpose
Ensure the process of the day challenges people to prioritise and iterate exclusively based
on the criteria of the competition, focusing on value to the business and the customer.
âThe structural elements for me included the competition (giving our activity
an edge and excitement), the time-bound nature of the day (we had to
present our work at the end of it), the identified roles on hand to help us out
(are there other roles that could help with the process perhaps groups?)
and Johnâs style of facilitation (which made everyone feel heard).â
(Participant on the day)
o Invite people who have a willingness to make the day work while having
different experiences to build trust amongst each other
Enable people to self-organise into teams. Beyond the people who put forward the
prototypes, invite people who can provide their cross-functional skills to help develop the
prototypes. This challenges them to work out as a team how to take decisions and
responsibility for specific tasks to produce the prototype.
âI think the main ingredient for me was we discussed without prejudice:
everyone expressed their opinions and that view-point was as valid as
anyone's; and reasoned argument was the name of the game. The day
worked because we had a belief in the goal.â (Participant on the day)
18. Review the prototypes
o Select criteria that you would use to review your own services or products.
This will mean the prototypes that have been developed can inform better ways of
designing and developing your own ICT applications
Submission Judging Criteria Score (1- Weighting Overall
Questions 5) (1-5) Score
(Score x
Weighting)
Whatâs the idea? How well the idea would 5
achieve the objective of the
Challenge selected
Who would it How well the idea put 2
help? forward would benefit and
help the selected target
audience
What technology How well the technology put 3
would it use? forward would be able to
implement the idea in a way
that could help the target
audience
How would people How well the process to use 4
use it? the idea would work on the
technology put forward and
could be used without
difficulty by the target
audience
What would you How well the idea could be 1
call the idea? understood to the target
audience?
What is the Does this idea offer the 3
potential volume of take up that would
commercial value deliver a reasonable profit
in this idea over costs?
Use the judging to learn lessons from the prototypes
Eight prototypes were developed below. The most popular type of outcome the prototypes
were trying to achieve was to help citizens use quality of life data to make choices,
including both Sunlighting in Kent and the Learning Game who won the prizes for Best
Prototype.
âThe criteria gave us some ideas to work with, rather than determining
what we produced.â (Participant on the day)
You can see the individual evaluations of the prototypes hyperlinked below. Here is a
summary of the key points
o Identify gaps and assets you can use to develop the idea
o Learn from entrepreneurs working in public services on what gaps exist in the
market to spin out online services
19. o Build on existing work in opening up specific datasets, making it more likely to
make the prototype up to date and sustainable
o Show âconnected differenceâ, by combining elements of innovations from the civil
society and technology sector
o Link up with competitors who are developing similar ideas and different skills
to explore opportunities to join up your idea with theirs5
o Plan for future development of the prototype to ensure sustainability
o Enable the flexibility for data from beyond the sector to be included into the
application, incentivising other stakeholders to provide data
o Look towards the future, on how to position the prototype with external
stakeholders as well as how it could be used by people within organisations
o Design the prototype around the needs & assets of the customer group
o Strip out all the complexity of the idea and focus exclusively on the needs youâre
trying to meet
o Tackle unmet needs with specific customer groups using existing infrastructure
and explore how the technology could be used in new ways
o Work with young people to build apps for the future that can improve the customer
experience
o Use specialist techniques to help develop the idea into a prototype
o Demonstrate clarity of purpose, tapping into what people might be thinking when
theyâre online
o Use personas and scenarios from user design methodologies to describe the
prototype to people that can develop it
o Consider tools that make the user fully engaged with the prototype
o Provide the platform for people to take action using the assets displayed
o Make it âusable by defaultâ, working off-line as well as online
o Think of the user by focusing on embedding mechanisms to build trust online
Offer prizes for the competition
o Offer prizes to the winners of the best idea and prototype of each of the
challenges you issue for your competition and explore if you can get them jointly
sponsored by suppliers or other organisations.
Provide non-financial prizes that can help winners take forward the prototypes
5
âAs there were some similarities with Paul Brewerâs âI can helpâ solution, we met to share ideas.â From evaluation of
Sunlighting in Kent
20. The âUser Testingâ Workshop is hosted by Tunbridge Wells Council bringing together a
selection of users of their services to test out the winning prototypes. The winners will also
be invited to gain vital feedback on how to improve usability.
The âPrototype to Propositionâ Workshop is hosted by Kent Business School where a
cohort of its MBA students will work with entrepreneurs on developing a business proposition
that will help them take their prototypes to market.
Provide routes for ideas and prototypes who havenât won
o Ensure that people who submit ideas that are not selected to go forward to the
next stage of the competition can continue to work on them together online.
Indeed these prototypes could be beneficial to other local areas and public services.
Social reporters are valuable not just to connect these ideas and tools between
communities, but to get people with those ideas to discover and link up with people!
o Report the event so others can
learn from it
The Big Lottery Fundâs Social Reporting
Programme was present at the Developing
Solutions Camp to capture insights on the day
as well as connect ideas with other projects
theyâve been working with.
They filmed video interviews and report the
event on new models of councils supporting
civil society using existing resources.
o Celebrate and recognise everyoneâs
contribution
By participating at the event, all participants
received a Certificate valuing their
collaboration in helping develop prototypes
and they will be able to work with
professionals with a range of digital and
technical expertise in designing prototypes on
community-based ideas.
By profiling the ideas and prototypes, weâve
provided the kudos and credibility to encourage
people who put them forward to pitch them to
other competitions, such as Computer
Weeklyâs Awards or NESTAâs Innovation in
Giving.
Identify what could be improved after the competition
Work through strong relationships and existing networks to signpost the groups to
organisations related to their challenge area that the event organisers have a strong
21. relationship with. Recommend encouraging groups to make use of their own relationships to
take forward their prototypes.