PD Newsletter #44: Welfare. Plus sharing digital responses to the virus

Hello again, welcome.

This newsletter begins in the way all communication seems to start at the moment – with our sincere hope that you’re well, and staying safe. ❤️

What’s happening right now isn’t business as usual, as Ben said in his blog post. Sue Siddall from our partners IDEO said this week that organisations are finding out how efficient trust is when forced to make decisions at the pace needed to survive the crisis.

There are many brilliant examples of teams delivering value super quickly. For many, moving so rapidly was inconceivable a few weeks ago. We’re optimistic such improvements will stick.

Public Digital can help
We have many years of experience helping teams and their wider orgs reorganise and deliver quickly so they can look forward with more confidence. Drop ben@public.digital a line if you’d like some support.

Amy
@amymcnichol

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Ways of working

🌎 Communities across continents

Teams leading digital responses to coronavirus shared their experience last week. On a call co-hosted by PD and the Harvard Kennedy School, 60 people, from over 23 organisations in 9 countries heard presentations on Safepaths, a privacy-focused contact tracing app developed by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and on a self-assessment tool created by Alberta and Ontario digital teams.

Here’s the blog post on the session.

The volume of questions rolling in on the chat function confirmed there’s a huge appetite for cooperation and sharing, but suggested we covered too much. TL;DR, there will be another call soon. Sign up here.

💪 Clear, accurate content = top priority

Giving citizens the information they need, in the place they’d look for it, in language they use and understand, is saving lives. In short, teams with content design experience meet user needs more successfully. Handily, there is training to help with this.

• GDS is launching an online ‘Introduction to Content Design’ course (start date 18 May)

• Content Design London (founded by PD affiliate Sarah Richards) is continuing to run its events online. 12 and 13 May for the next 2 day course (UK time), and 6 and 7 May for the next 2 day course (Australian time). Full list of events here.

⌛ What now?

Our friends at Caribou Digital pulled together a high level summary of priorities for digital development against coronavirus based on considerations for now, next and for the longer term.

State of technology

Ross Anderson, Professor of Security Engineering at Cambridge University, posted Contact tracing in the real world. In it he raises concerns about “collecting lots of lightly-anonymised data in a system [in case it] becomes integrated into a whole-of-government response to the pandemic.” He points at nuances in data – the human stuff that tech does not take into account.

🏃🚶🚩He describes a situation with a neighbour that they both deemed safe, but points out an app would likely have red-flagged it. If interpreted strictly, the data could contribute to similar social interactions being banned.

📹 Also, makes an interesting point on the radical redistribution of resources from the surveillance industry to public health.

Digital government

🇧🇩 The World Bank has been looking into how governments are responding to crisis with digital payments – 84 countries have reported changes to their social protection systems in response. Bangladesh is a great example: millions benefit from its digital financial services system which is now “enabling digital payments to virus victims such as garment workers who have lost their jobs because of factory shutdowns, rickshaw-pullers and street vendors who no longer have customers."

🇸🇱 In 3 days, Sierra Leone has launched sms and ussd coronavirus self assessment service plus information on symptoms, prevention tips and latest updates.

✅ It’s here! Rose Mortada (digital delivery specialist) and James Reeve (policy expert) published a third post in their series on things that are stopping change within government teams. This time: governance. They evaluate its many forms. Main takeaway? “Good governance accounts for and is carefully adapted for its context” – something PD affiliate Jamie often helps our clients with. Right now it has “never been so important to implement it in a way that supports our work” – governance does not trump delivery.

1. Doncaster Council demonstrated the importance of listening to the experts and staying at home through an extended metaphor about officials in Oregon in 1970 who decided to blow up a rotting whale carcass 🐳 Tenuous? Read here.

2. Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand told children that although the Easter Bunny is an essential worker, they may be “quite busy at home with their families” so may not make it to every neighbourhood 🐰 Calm, kind, compassionate. A class act.

News from Public Digital

We’ve published a series of blog posts around the response to coronavirus.

Introducing the California crisis standard by Stacey Phillips
At a time when it would be easy to panic, bow to top-down pressure and forget about users, we’ve helped the Californian government set out a crisis standard which makes very clear what should – and shouldn’t – go on their response website.

Government data: We’re all in beta now by Mike Bracken
Coronavirus is forcing long-anticipated and overdue data reform in the public sector so we can track the health and economic effects. Mike asks: are European governments ready?

The end of business as usual by Ben Terrett
A thought piece from Ben with perhaps more questions than answers because how *do* we move forward when history and experience are no guide?

What excellent digital government teams are doing right now by Andrew Greenway
We’ve been helping many governments with their response to coronavirus. Andrew’s post list the common characteristics of successful digital response.

Making things open is making things better by Tom Loosemore
Tom’s post is a giant high 5 to all the sharing going on between teams in different governments as we all try to “get the right message out in the right way to the right people.” The post also lists public sector coronavirus response sites.