Anna Scott-Trimble

Train named Ctrl Alt Deleaf to help blast billions of leaves from Great Britain’s tracks Network Rail says train named after public vote will join fleet of ‘unsung hero’ leaf-busters this autumn

I quivered with relief reading this on @theguardian.com homepage. God I miss silly journalism www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

A screenshot of a title cell in a spreadsheet. It reads ‘Twat rating (1 not a twat, 5 massive twat)’

Our hometown has a lot of shared docs, spreadsheets etc. Great egs of #CollaborativeMaintenance. Would love to know who thought to add a ‘twat rating’ to the Tradespeople sheet 😂 (quite helpful though tbf) #DataInfrastructure

Tell me about it

Beyond Tech Experts: Public Voices Must Shape AI's Future An op-ed written by the PVAI People’s Advisory Panel The upcoming government spending review is likely to place a big emphasis on the potential of AI to update public services, and yet less than 25% of the population feel their views and values are represented in current decisions being made about AI. As a group of citizens from all walks of life, engaged over the last year in exploring how the public could, and should, have a voice shaping a responsible AI future, we believe that needs to change. And it can.

"The Government's Spending Review sets out plans for a step change in investment in digital & AI across public services".

A group of citizens from all walks of life believe the public should have a voice shaping a responsible AI future. Read more:
connectedbydata.org/blog/2025/0...

FOMO is not a strategy 👌

Alternative Paths for AI Governance at the Global AI Action Summit A vision for democratizing AI emerged at the heart of Paris this week, as voices from the Global Majority and other regions challenged the traditional power structures shaping our technological future...

This week's #AIActionSummit in Paris saw big global powers refuse accountability while the Global Majority pushes for necessary regulations and accountability mechanisms.

Our Campaigns Director for LATAM shares his insights from our summit event #TechJustice www.linkedin.com/pulse/altern...

If you could

I’d do anything to reignite UsVsTh3m and do lols all day again. Those were, quite frankly, the days

Right so are we all going to have to leave Instagram now? Any alternatives people like or would recommend? I like it for finding out about local things and keeping in touch with people…

A small girl is unwrapping a present in front of a Christmas tree. She looks excited. Text: "Just what I wanted... a stronger, more robust democracy. Link: mysociety.org/donate

A donation to mySociety makes a great Xmas gift - and helps us in our work to strengthen democracy for everyone.

So if you're wondering what to get that hard-to-buy-for friend, this might be the answer you're looking for - give the gift of democracy. www.mysociety.org/donate/?utm_... Thank you!

The UK parliament has joined Bluesky, with proper verified domains and everything:

• @houseofcommons.parliament.uk
• @houseoflords.parliament.uk
• @ukparliament.parliament.uk
• @commonsspeaker.parliament.uk

A glass box on top of a coffee table book, filled with Foxe’s Glacier Mints

A large board table with pencils, coffee cups, water bottles, laptops and Terry’s Chocolate Orange boxes dotted across it

Had a very Partridge team day today: everyone got a Terry’s Chocolate Orange and there were Foxe’s Glacier Mints at reception. Back of the net

Data and AI public engagement: Community of Practice On Wednesday 11 December 2024 at 2pm we will hold the third meeting of a community of practice – an online workshop – as part of our project on Giving communities a powerful say in public sector data ...

🚨 TOMORROW AT 2PM 🚨

Join us for the third online meeting of our @connectedbydata.org community of practice on Data and AI Public Engagement (more: connectedbydata.org/projects/202...)

A workshop on: what do public engagement practitioners need to succeed?

connectedbydata.org/events/2024-...

Cryptic Constituencies - Crossword Puzzle This crossword puzzle, “ Cryptic Constituencies, ” was created using the My Crossword Maker puzzle maker

Politics nerds assemble: we wrote a cryptic crossword where all of the answers are UK Parliament constituencies 🤓

This is part of @mysociety.org's festive celebrations - cos nothing says Christmas like ignoring your to-do list and wracking your brain for a (9,3,3) constituency in Surrey, right?!

Get your submissions in for #TICTEC! 🎉

🤓🎄🤓🎄🤓🎄🤓

Does anyone else order ‘warm milk’ for their kid at coffee shops because they can’t cope with the sheer embarrassment of saying ‘babycino’ out loud?

This is a really important survey of independent public interest media, where we aim to gain in-depth understandings of the key challenges and opportunities for the sector.

If you work for a European independent media outlet, please take part! We need your voice and perspective!

A screenshot of a LinkedIn post by my husband Harry Scott-Trimble. It says: “Name a Microsoft application that isn't garbage? I honestly can't think of one. (I don't count GitHub or ChatGPT, as they were recently acquired / built independently from MS)” There are 459 comments. I have circled the number of comments in pink.

Help @harrytrimble.bsky.social has a new hobby that’s even more of a time sink than Fantasy Football: arguing with Microsoft bros on LinkedIn 🤣😂

Thanks for the shares - please keep telling organisations working with/for marginalised people that this is available to them!

I feel ya. My husband and I organised our first date via a handful of ridiculous tweets. So sad it’s gone. But yeah, embracing this fresh start too and feeling optimistic

Hi David! We use GOV.UK Forms for lots of our forms and have helped user-test it. We’re building tech capability to meet some Defra-specific challenges, to complement it

Done, thanks so much Coco!

Content designers in gov! 👋

At Defra, we’re designing guidance for CDs who will use our form builder.

We’ve made a ~10 min survey to understand:
- preferred learning styles
- how to improve our guidance
- how to support content designers making forms

DM me for the link, and please share! 🙏💖

Analysis | Flawed AI denies benefits to low-income Americans, report warns As Trump prepares to slash spending, a new nonprofit emerges to fight automation in government benefit programs

Almost all 92 million low-income Americans now have some basic aspect of their lives determined by AI or automated decision-making software, a new report finds. Those systems are often flawed, and rarely in poor folks' favor.

Today's newsletter: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

TICTeC 2025 - be a part of it! The Impacts of Civic Technology conference - 10 & 11 June Mechelen and online. Call for proposals.

#TICTeC 2025's call for session proposals is now open.
The frame this year is pro-democracy technology, in the thematic areas of Access to Information and open data; democracy, people & politics; and climate change.
Further details: www.mysociety.org/2024/11/20/t... #callforproposals #civictech

WhoDoesWhat - a great idea we didn’t get funded (but we’ll keep trying) Do you have a million pounds and want to make democracy in the UK better?

Here's a project we didn't get money for, but I loved it so much I want to tell you about it anyway www.mysociety.org/2024/11/22/w...

Humanitarian action and responsible artificial intelligence (AI) The FCDO invites proposals by 13 January 2025 to conduct research on how humanitarian actors can address the risks associated with AI systems so they can be used responsibly.

Interesting call for proposals from FCDO on Humanitarian action and responsible artificial intelligence (AI): "to conduct research on how humanitarian actors can address the risks associated with AI systems so they can be used responsibly" (deadline 13 January 2025) www.gov.uk/internationa...

H/t on most of these phrases to @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social's @imogen-parker.bsky.social - our Associate Director of Society, justice & public services