Tim Hughes

Excited to be at #TICTeC this week. The wonderful @itscrowbot.bsky.social kicking things off

Register now for RightsCon 2025 Register now for RightsCon 2025 in Taipei and online (February 24-27)!

You can register to attend online, but there’s a fee www.rightscon.org/checkout/

Setting off for #RightsCon2025 in Taiwan this coming week. Let me know if you’re around and want to talk participatory digital governance, or generally about the intersection of digital and #opengov.

👩‍💻 In a rapidly evolving digital world, how can governments and civil society collaborate for inclusive, participatory digital governance?

Join OGP at #RightsCon2025 for “People-Centered Digital Governance: Experiences from the Global South”.

🔗 Learn more: www.rightscon.org/program/#:~:...

A bright blue sky with scattered white clouds and the sun shining in the top right corner. The text “OGP under a Bluesky.” is displayed in bold black font on a white rectangular background. In the bottom left corner, there is the Bluesky logo, a white butterfly inside a blue circle. The Open Government Partnership logo is positioned in the bottom right corner.

Hello, BlueSky! We're the Open Government Partnership —a global community of governments, civil society, and changemakers working together to make governments more transparent, accountable, and inclusive.

WhoFundsThem report launch Chris Cook - Financial Times Rose Whiffen -Transparency International Alex Parsons and Julia Cushion - mySociety A photo of each speaker, and the cover of the report, which is titled 'Beyond transparency - Four steps to control money in politics'

After months of trawling through multiple sources, we've got the full picture of the current state of MPs' financial interests, from second jobs to gifts & donations.
Do join our report launch online on 4 March with @rosewhiff.bsky.social and @chriscook.news : www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/whofundsth...

What Does it Mean to Mainstream Participation in Decision-Making? - Open Government Partnership A “deliberative wave” is sweeping the world, but how much policy change is it leaving in its wake? The OECD has tracked citizens’ assemblies and other deliberative processes across 34 countries, with ...

A few thoughts on what it means to mainstream public participation in decision making from what we're seeing across @opengovpart.bsky.social www.opengovpartnership.org/stories/what...

Revealed: UK politics infiltrated by ‘dark money’ with 10% of donations from dubious sources Cash from dictatorships and shell companies is entering the political system via legal loopholes

The Observer had early sight of our report out next week on the money that funds UK election campaigns.

We found that gaps in political finance rules are failing to stop money from questionable sources being funnelled into our politics.

More here:

If that’s not an argument for politicians and policy makers to take public participation seriously, I don’t know what is.

“the largest trust gaps are associated with individuals' sense of having a say in government actions, which is a key driver of trust. Indeed, 69% of those who feel they have a say in government actions trust national government, while only 22% do among those who feel they do not have a say.”

“People who feel financially insecure, those with low levels of education, women, younger people as well as those who report belonging to a group that is discriminated against report lower levels of trust in government. Nevertheless …

OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions – 2024 Results This report presents the main findings of the second OECD cross-national Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions, carried out in late 2023. With nearly 60 000 responses, representative of th...

“Perceptions of having a say in government actions influence trust more than socio-economic and demographic characteristics do.”

This is a key finding from the OECD drivers of trust survey for anyone promoting participatory democracy or democratic innovation!

www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

Seems lots of new people joined Bluesky over the weekend, so I'm re-upping this starter pack I created of people working on democratic innovations for a more participatory and deliberative politics.

Still room for others to be added, so give me a shout if I missed you.
go.bsky.app/LX11yEA #polisky

Another starter pack!

The Data and AI Civil Society Network starter pack, for your data and AI (etc) policy needs

go.bsky.app/FDKqcty

(More: bsky.app/profile/gavi...)

The new Register of Members Financial Interests is out and we have thoughts (and spreadsheets) We’ve updated MP profiles on TheyWorkForYou, made the data available as a spreadsheet, and with our WhoFundsThem project we’re working to create easy-to-understand summaries.

🚨 New Register of Members' Financial Interests alert! 🚨

We've:
📊 made all the data available as a spreadsheet
🕴️ updated MP profiles on TheyWorkForYou

👀 Now our attention turns to restarting our WhoFundsThem project next month

Details on the blog 👇

www.mysociety.org/2024/08/19/t...

📣 We're hiring 📣

Could you be our next Chief Executive?

We're looking for a passionate and experienced leader to drive forward our work to make community power the dominant idea shaping policy and practice at national and local levels.

www.newlocal.org.uk/about/jobs

Here I am, popping up in Politico on my favourite topic: AI boosterism and the perils of bad advice from TBI

Under The Skin | Ipswich Town YouTube video by Ipswich Town FC

After a long 22 year absence, tomorrow Ipswich Town play their first game back in the Premier League.

Will the dream continue this year, or will it be a rude awakening? Can’t wait to find out! 💙 #itfc
youtu.be/dUghYWnAxjI?...

State Capacity and Data Control in the Age of AI Governments lack key abilities to manage data processing, even their own.

Governments are the biggest data controllers, but are they prepared to balance power and privacy in the #AI era?

New article by colleagues at OGP & Open Data Charter
medium.com/ogp-horizons...

Countering Disinformation Effectively: An Evidence-Based Policy Guide A high-level, evidence-informed guide to some of the major proposals for how democratic governments, platforms, and others can counter disinformation.

How can democratic societies counter disinformation? This guide is the best resource I've found on evidence-based solutions.

TL;DR: No silver bullet. Portfolio approach. Structural reforms (e.g. local journalism, media literacy). And look beyond tech platforms.
carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

So this is where everyone has been hanging out...