News from mySociety

Mission statement

A new direction for mySociety: repowering democracy

It's always beneficial for an organisation to reconsider and reset, especially when the world is undergoing as much rapid change as we're seeing these days. With that in mind, mySociety is plotting a new, slightly altered course, though still with a firm focus on democracy.

Chief Executive Mark has set out mySociety's direction across three blog posts; together, they share our vision for the next few years. They're a thoughtful examination of our place within the civic tech community, what the climate crisis means for our work, and how we can use our strengths and skills to best serve society as a whole.

If you care about any aspect of what we do at mySociety, they're really worth a read. Start here.

Climate

Councils' commitments on climate

We've added a few small but important new features on CAPE, the Climate Action Plans Explorer.

For starters, we've pulled out the 'headline pledge' from each council's Climate Action Plan, so you can see at a glance what results they're aiming for, and by what date.

Read more about that here.

Progress on the Climate programme

We're so busy in the Climate team that there's always plenty to report back on... which is all for the good, given our commitment to work in public.

This month, it's Siôn's turn to tell you more about our current development, events we've run, experimenting with ads and handing out stickers — read his roundup here.

Want more on climate?

We're adding new features and tools to the Climate Action Plans Explorer all the time. If you'd like to know when there's something new to try out, subscribe to our Climate mailing list.

Transparency

Data, a new direction: consultation response

As you'd expect, we had things to say in response to the government's consultation on data, especially around the role of the Information Commissioner. Alex summarises our submission here.

A great use of WhatDoTheyKnow

Richard points at The Centre for Public Data's research as a particularly good example of how FOI can be used to uncover new insights — and the benefits of using WhatDoTheyKnow to do so. CPD were examining how much property in England and Wales is owned by people located overseas.

Research & policy

Commissioning research

If you've got any experience of commissioning research, or being commissioned, we'd be really keen to hear your thoughts and experiences. We'd love to know your ideas on issues as simple as where to advertise, and as complex as how to manage the project once it's up and running. Here's more about that.

Community

FixMyStreet for Croatia

The codebase that runs FixMyStreet is, of course, open source, meaning that other organisations can adapt and use it for their own websites anywhere around the world.

The latest to do so are Gong, who together with Code for Croatia have launched Popravi ('Fix It'). See their jaunty launch video in our post here.

In case you missed it

Injustice Advent Calendar

It's not too late to subscribe to Traidcraft's free digital Advent Calendar, which will send you one daily idea for doing good, right up until Christmas Eve.

Every suggested action takes less than five minutes, and none of them costs money. Here's where to sign up.

Vacancy

Perl/Python Developer

Our commercial arm, SocietyWorks, has an open call for experienced Perl and Python developers to work on our SaaS products for clients in local government.

Read the job description and see how to apply here.

What we're reading

• NotWestminster ("a free event for everyone who has something positive to say about local democracy and anyone who is up for the challenge of making it better") is open for session pitches with the theme: the future is unwritten.
• Rumbles from the House of Lords about where power currently sits and how legislation is scrutinised.
• Think twice before typing that gossipy confession! WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger messages are subject to FOI.
• A thought-provoking meditation on the balance between time, perceived convenience, and waste.
• The Civility in Politics Awards seem like a wholesome initiative, albeit one whose name makes it an easy target for satire.

Follow mySociety

Share this newsletter