Category: data
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The wellsprings of UK digital reform part 1—the backstory
While there are some great pockets of work taking place to deliver better public services, the UK government’s overall attempts at technology-enabled, or “e-government” or “digital”, reform appear to be struggling to achieve and sustain the benefits promised at the pace and scale originally foreseen. And not for the first time – this has been…
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Manifesto for Better Public Services
Last night at the Institute for Government, I helped launch the “Manifesto for Better Public Services”, along with an accompanying and much more detailed “Better Public Services Green Paper”. You can download both from this website. Chaired by Daniel Thornton, Programme Director at the Institute, I and one of my co-authors, Mark Thompson, set out the…
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“Artificial Intelligence” and the House of Lords inquiry
Below is a copy of my submission to the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence. Intentionally absent are more sensitive aspects of AI related to areas such as compromising law and enforcement, and at risk individuals. Submission to the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence Dr Jerry Fishenden FIET CITP FBCS…
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The inadequate scope of public sector “reform”
In the 1999 book “Reinventing Government”, information is placed at the centre of the government reform model: The rings identify multiple aspects that need to be addressed when attempting reform. Yet many efforts focus almost obsessively on the “Technology” ring, implementing new ideas and approaches to hardware and software in particular in the hope that they will…
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Improving data science ethics
Just over a year ago the UK’s data science ethical framework was put out for consultation. The purpose of the framework was to give civil servants guidance on conducting data science projects, and the confidence to innovate with data The launch announcement stated that The publication is a first version that we are asking the public,…
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The identity / data divide
Proving who someone is online and letting them access their personal data – such as their tax, welfare, pension or medical records – often get lumped together as a single problem. Prove who someone is and, Voila!, access to their data happens automatically. If only reality were that simple. Reliably matching someone to their data often turns out…
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Better use of data
I’ve been using the following simplified slides in briefings and discussions about “data sharing” and the “data sharing” provisions in the Digital Economy Bill. I thought I might as well share them more widely. There’s a clear need to improve the general level of understanding about data and computing. Equally clear is the need to improve the understanding of…
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NAO on ‘Digital Transformation in Government’
Yesterday saw the release of the National Audit Office’s report on ‘Digital Transformation in Government‘. The main conclusion from Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, is that: “Digital transformation has a mixed track record across government. It has not yet provided a level of change that will allow government to further reduce costs while still…
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Escaping waterfall government and the myth of ‘digital transformation’
Writing with my colleague Cassian Young, in a new article in Computer Weekly we consider why an agile approach to digital programmes will not transform Whitehall – unless the waterfall approach to policy and decision-making is overhauled too. Updating websites will never deliver the new digital business models achieved by the likes of Netflix, Flickr…
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Dev, DevOps and trusted systems
Software’s coming home Software development and technical architecture design have been taken back in-house over the past 5 years – ending the era when Whitehall departments outsourced almost everything to a large systems integrator. This client-side ownership of technology is a return to the way many of us operated during the 1980s and 1990s. Back then we had accountability for everything.…
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“Dear Sir – about this data sharing …”
Twenty-six UK businesses, academics, professional bodies and civil society leaders have today published a letter in the Daily Telegraph expressing concerns about the current state of the “information sharing” provisions of the Digital Economy Bill. (I’m one of the signatories to that letter). The letter is online behind the Telegraph’s Premium paywall (although you can…
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Better than reality? Synthetic environments for real world people
Can policymakers learn from games? I think so – or, to be more formal, they can certainly learn from synthetic environments. Programmes like Sim City seem more grounded in the real world at times than actual urban and rural decision-making. At least in Sim City you can’t build new housing without investing first in other necessary infrastructure…
new tech observations from the UK (ntouk) 