Using Data as a policy maker – Pt1

This is the first in a series of posts about an event: Using Data as a policy maker, which was held in Winchester, in November 2015. This post first appeared on the Open Data Aha! blog. Using data for policy – Aha! Wearing my ‘Open Data Aha!’ hat*, I teamed up with Southern Policy Centre…… Continue reading Using Data as a policy maker – Pt1

Leaving on a high

This post was originally published on the Hampshire Hub on 30th March 2015. Deep breath I’m leaving Hampshire County Council, and am stepping down as lead for the Hampshire Hub. There, I’ve said it. Looking back I wrote my first post Hampshire Hub (Thoughts on What a Hampshire Hub might be) in February 2012. In…… Continue reading Leaving on a high

Ghost writing, hubs, and autoawesome

I’ve been blogging off-and-on for a few years. My first post, in December 2011, was on WordPress.com. I then briefly tried Tumblr, before settling on this self-hosted WordPress site. It gave me the flexibility I wanted, and tied in quite nicely with projects like BlueLightCamp which also uses WordPress for its web site. The Day job…… Continue reading Ghost writing, hubs, and autoawesome

Images of Historic Hampshire – thanks to the British Library

Stony Cross New Forest

I’ve just discovered* that the British Library has uploaded over a million images to Flickr Commons. Yes, that’s right – more than a million – completely free to use as there’s no known copyright. The British Library plans to launch a crowd-sourcing app in 2014, which will enable members of the public to help describe what the…… Continue reading Images of Historic Hampshire – thanks to the British Library

Open data, apps and maps

This post was originally published on the prototype Hampshire Hub web site. Open Data A few weeks ago I blogged about Hampshire’s Rights of Way network, which has been published as an interactive map, and as open data. The data was released under the OS Open Data Licence, which effectively means you can do what you…… Continue reading Open data, apps and maps

Facebook usage: a local perspective

Continued from last time…   In my previous post, I explained that I’m trying to gather data on the number of social media users within a geographic area.  I’m basically attempting to answer the question: “what is the actual take-up of social media in Hampshire?” (which is where I live and work). All change The Ofcom study…… Continue reading Facebook usage: a local perspective

Estimating Social Media usage within a geographic area

I’m an enthusiastic supporter of the adage “go where the people go” if you want to connect with customers and service users. I believe it applies equally – if not more – in the virtual world, than the physical world. I don’t pretend to be an expert – far from it – but because I keep on…… Continue reading Estimating Social Media usage within a geographic area