Author: Baskers

Scottish, Dundonian, Londoner, Geek and Socialiser. Likes Technology, Data Visualizations, Digital and Doctor Who Personal views only here. These are not the views of my past, present or future employer.

December Teacamp – Xmas celebrations with dxw and tell us what you want

Come chat, drink and be merry at the last teacamp of 2018 with the wonderful dxw kindly sponsoring the festivities.

This is your chance to discuss this years speakers, reflect on what worked and importantly what we can do better in 2019. Is there someone you’d like to hear from next year? Are there burning issues that you’d like to discuss with the community? Is there a piece of work, or a project that you are working on that you’d like to share with us?

By the end of the session we’d like a list of potential speakers/topics for 2019 and for you to let us know  if you’d like any changes to Teacamp. Is monthly enough? Or should we retire Teacamp all together? This is your chance to let us know what it is you’d like from Teacamp and James and I will try to make it happen for you next year.

Neither James nor I can make this session (life gets in the way), but Jane from dxw has kindly agreed to run this one for us, so give her a big hug from us!

When is Teacamp?

Time and date: 4pm – 6pm, 1st Thursday of every month

Location: Mezzanine, Curzon Victoria, 58 Victoria street, London, SW1E 6QW

How does teacamp work?

If you want to come to teacamp, just turn up on the day, it is open to everyone. It is upstairs in the cafe, very informal and friendly. If you are coming for the first time or on your own, ask for James or Sarah and we will introduce you to some teacampers.

  • 4.00 – 4.30pm:  tea and cake
  • 4.30 – 4.40pm:  intros and plug your events, projects, etc
  • 4.40 – 5.10pm:  speakers slot
  • 5.10 – 6.00pm:  Q&A, group discussion
  • 6.00pm: #beercamp in nearest pub

Contact info

@baskers Sarah Baskerville
@jaCattell James Arthur Cattell

October Teacamp – Age Verification and Porn with @mxpanblake

Welcome back to Teacamp folks, the heat of summer may be dissipating but we’ve been keeping the Teacamp fires stoked and have a scorching hot topic for October’s Teacamp. We are very lucky to have Blake this month and they would like to talk to you about unintended consequences of the Digital Economy Act and Age Verification.

Age Verification and Porn

The Open Rights Group wrote about the then Digital Economy Bill back in 2017, which is has now become the Digital Economy Act – “The Bill is an example of how not to legislate for the Internet and complex social issues. Among other things, the DEBill, attempts to address the issue of under 18s seeing pornography, by forcing porn sites to implement Age Verification (AV). This ‘simple’ solution has been fraught with problems from the start.”

Age verification for online porn is coming – but this child protection measure threatens unintended consequences for the privacy of internet users.

Soon you will have to show ID to look at online porn, and the companies offering age checking services will have access to both your identifying details, and your porn browsing activity.

Some of these companies are more trustworthy than others.

Rather than sensibly legislating to protect this sensitive data, the Government are failing to adequately regulate the age verification market they have created. In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, what do porn viewers and politicians (who may well be the same people) need to know about the risk of porn data leaks – and what can we do about it?

About Blake

Blake is a genderqueer independent scholar, feminist pornographer, sex worker and sexual freedom campaigner. They are non-binary and use the gender neutral pronouns they/them. Their films have won multiple international awards, and they have prevailed in defending their work in legal battles against porn censorship in the UK.

Blake is an active campaigner for sex work decriminalisation and labour rights, obscenity law reform, civil liberties and human rights. They were awarded Publicist of the Year at the Sexual Freedom Awards 2015 for their efforts advocating for sex workers’ rights. They are official spokesperson for Backlash, and sit on the Advisory Council of the Open Rights Group. They crowd-fund their political work via Patreon.

Age verification on the internet affects us all, will this change your browsing habits? Are there websites that you will no longer visit because your browsing habits are being tracked? Come along to Teacamp on Thursday and be part of the discussion with Blake.

Hope to see you there!

When is Teacamp?

Time and date: 4pm – 6pm, 1st Thursday of every month

Location: Mezzanine, Curzon Victoria, 58 Victoria street, London, SW1E 6QW

How does teacamp work?

If you want to come to teacamp, just turn up on the day, it is open to everyone. It is upstairs in the cafe, very informal and friendly. If you are coming for the first time or on your own, ask for James or Sarah and we will introduce you to some teacampers.

  • 4.00 – 4.30pm:  tea and cake
  • 4.30 – 4.40pm:  intros and plug your events, projects, etc
  • 4.40 – 5.10pm:  speakers slot
  • 5.10 – 6.00pm:  Q&A, group discussion
  • 6.00pm: #beercamp in nearest pub

Contact info

@baskers Sarah Baskerville
@jaCattell James Arthur Cattell

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In memory of David – September Teacamp cancelled

Dear Teacampers,

 

A few weeks ago, we lost a dear member of our digital community. David passed away, suddenly but peacefully in his sleep on the 10th of August, 2018. He was extremely generous in his support and time to our community, always volunteering to help out at Teacamp, UKGovcamp and various other unconferences.

His pictures documented our shared history, leaving a terrific online legacy, which we hope will be preserved if possible.  David was very much part of the community, operating behind the scenes, delivering sagely advice and that supportive nudge in the right direction when needed.

Not really one for the limelight at all. Although he wasn’t one for folks being late with their content, leading to his infamous quote “your inability to plan is not my f*cking emergency!”

David would be really embarrassed that I’m even writing this post about him, and if he was here would be wagging his finger, pointing at me in disapproval, but at the same time with that cheeky wee glint in his eye.

David was also partial to going on his travels at the weekend, documenting the beautiful countryside and diverse towns of England. I really enjoyed chewing the fat and the banter that came with his travel exploits. Even a wee bit jealous at all the wonderful food he was eating!

Reading through the kind words on Twitter, from folks all over the community has been wonderful, if somewhat tearful to read. What stood out is how generous David was with his time, and how supportive he was to everyone.

A giant has fallen.

James and I will miss him terribly.

We are both deeply upset at his passing and have decided to cancel this months teacamp, in memory of David. It’s just all too raw at the moment.

If you’d like to help, a just giving fund has been set up in David’s memory for the British Heart Foundation

David’s funeral will be held on:

 

October Teacamp

We’ll return back to normal running next month, James and I hope to see you there.

July Teacamp – Brexit and the National Archives with @Johnlsheridan

Oh boy is it scorchio out there, and in keeping with this heat we’ve got a scorching hot talk for you this week with John Sheridan, the National Archives and Brexit.

Brexit and the National Archives

The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 is a crucial piece of legislation that ensures we will have a functioning statute book when the UK exits the EU. A large body of what was directly applicable European legislation (for example, regulations like GDPR) will be incorporated into UK law as domestic legislation. There will also be a wide range of technical modifications to the law, through secondary legislation, to ensure legal continuity. Deep in the Act is Schedule 5, which creates a new duty on the Queen’s Printer at The National Archives to publish “relevant instruments”, such as regulations, decisions and tertiary legislation.

In this session John will give a layperson’s introduction to European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. What is happening to the law? What are the user needs that result? How is The National Archives is responding to this digital challenge?

John will cover the user research that has been done for legislation.gov.uk ahead of EU Exit. He will explain how The National Archives is using its web archiving capability to create a UK copy of EUR-Lex, the European legislation website, for exit day. He will also talk through work being done to published the newly incorporated law on to legislation.gov.uk, to aid legal certainty.

 

About John

John Sheridan is the Digital Director at The National Archives, with overall responsibility for the organisation’s digital services and digital archiving capability. His role is to provide strategic direction, developing the people and capability needed for The National Archives to become a disruptive digital archive.

John’s academic background is in mathematics and information technology, with a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Southampton and a Master’s Degree in Information Technology from the University of Liverpool.

Prior to his current role, John was the Head of Legislation Services at The National Archives where he led the team responsible for creating legislation.gov.uk, as well overseeing the operation of the official Gazette. John recently led, as Principal Investigator, an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project, ‘big data for law’, exploring the application of data analytics to the statute book, winning the Halsbury Legal Award for Innovation.

John has a strong interest in the web and data standards and is a former co-chair of the W3C e-Government Interest Group. He serves on the UK Government’s Data Leaders group and Open Standards Board which sets data standards for use across government. John was an early pioneer of open data and remains active in that community.

 

When is Teacamp?

Time and date: 4pm – 6pm, 1st Thursday of every month

Location: Mezzanine, Curzon Victoria, 58 Victoria street, London, SW1E 6QW

How does teacamp work?

If you want to come to teacamp, just turn up on the day, it is open to everyone. It is upstairs in the cafe, very informal and friendly. If you are coming for the first time or on your own, ask for James or Sarah and we will introduce you to some teacampers.

  • 4.00 – 4.30pm:  tea and cake
  • 4.30 – 4.40pm:  intros and plug your events, projects, etc
  • 4.40 – 5.10pm:  speakers slot
  • 5.10 – 6.00pm:  Q&A, group discussion
  • 6.00pm: #beercamp in nearest pub

Contact info

@baskers Sarah Baskerville
@jaCattell James Arthur Cattell

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June Teacamp – GDPR is an opportunity with @jacquitaylorfb

Hopefully you have all survived the May Storms and kept dry from all the Thunder, Lightening and torrential rain, and then of course GDPR came along.

It never rains but it pours…..

How many emails about GDPR did you get? I’m betting it was at least one or two, or three hundred or more……

If it was anything like me, it was inbox meltdown and literally shouting at my inbox and telling it to piss off whilst hitting the delete button furiously!

There were so many pointless emails sent out under the guise of GDPR, that folks were quite right in getting a tad bit confused by it all.

But have no fear, this month we are lucky to have Jacqui Taylor from FlyingBinary to talk to us about GDPR, and bust through all those annoying myths.

 

GDPR Is an opportunity!

In this months Teacamp talk,  Jacqui will give you the backdrop to the new regulation mandated on 25th May 2018.

She will be mythbusting and cutting through the white noise around GDPR. With a focus on both National and Local government and what it means for you, sharing her experience in European based work since 2014.

Most of all she wants to answer your questions tweet her @jacquitaylorfb or chime in on the day. A session not to be missed from a European Security and Privacy expert.

 

About Jacqui

Jacqui Taylor is the CEO and co-Founder FlyingBInary, one of the 100 most powerful UK entrepreneurs, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science recognising her international web science work.

She is/one of:-

  • UK’s most influential Women in Tech
  • 34 IoT Influencers on twitter
  • 20 global entrepreneurs to watch
  • UK Smart City leader 2018.
  • Strategic Advisor to the UK Government on Smart Cities
  • Cities lead on Digital Built Britain
  • One of 16 International smart cities experts appointed to Chinese government
  • UK Principle expert for Smart Cities and AI Internationally

FlyingBInary:-

Is GovTech 100 company and awarded all 9 G-Cloud frameworks

  • 24 interoperable secured GDPR compliant services
  • No reliance on Privacy shield

So tweet your GDPR questions to @jacquitaylorfb or chime in on the day. A Teacamp session not to be missed from a world class European Security and Privacy expert.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

 

When is Teacamp?

Time and date: 4pm – 6pm, 1st Thursday of every month

Location: Mezzanine, Curzon Victoria, 58 Victoria street, London, SW1E 6QW

How does teacamp work?

If you want to come to teacamp, just turn up on the day, it is open to everyone. It is upstairs in the cafe, very informal and friendly. If you are coming for the first time or on your own, ask for James or Sarah and we will introduce you to some teacampers.

  • 4.00 – 4.30pm:  tea and cake
  • 4.30 – 4.40pm:  intros and plug your events, projects, etc
  • 4.40 – 5.10pm:  speakers slot
  • 5.10 – 6.00pm:  Q&A, group discussion
  • 6.00pm: #beercamp in nearest pub

Contact info

@baskers Sarah Baskerville
@jaCattell James Arthur Cattell

April Teacamp – A digital contract between the individual and the state – how, what, why. With @MissMillicent

It’s the Easter break and you may have overdosed on the old chocolate, but there is ALWAYS room for more CAEK, and April’s Teacamp is going to give you plenty of food for thought!

This month we have the awesome Millicent Scott Brooks who’d like to talk to you about:

“A digital contract between the individual and the state – how, what and why”

Millicent has long been interested in the citizen’s contract with the state. Much of this is currently done offline, but are we being “digitised through the backdoor“? Information is held about the individual at the passport office, the NHS, the DVLA, the banks – not to mention social media.

  • Would a citizen’s portal controlled by the individual be helpful?
  • How would it work in Britian?
  • What issues would have to be solved and how could we stay safe?

She’ll be inviting you to help explore some of these issues and suspend reality to imagine creative solutions that could become viable for a modern age contract of citizenship.

About Millicent

Millicent is a Senior Partner at The Democratic Society. She has spent over a decade working on increasing citizens’ engagement with policy making and bringing people into democratic processes. She spends a lot of time thinking about how to engage people in civic society, while balancing security and freedom.

Before joining Demsoc in 2015 she worked for the European Parliament, Scottish Government, Scottish Civic Forum, the Association for Citizenship Teaching (England) and the Financial Times.

Millicent has a BA in European Studies from LSE and an MSc in Nationalism from the University of Edinburgh. She speaks English, Norwegian, French and German.

I can only manage English, Scottish and Dundonian, so am in complete awe!

With so much of our life online now, and our interaction with Central & Local Government increasingly moving services online, James, Millicent and I would love to invite you along to our April teacamp and hope you’ll be part of the discussion about this fascinating topic, whether in person or online. Just follow our hashtag #Teacamp

When is Teacamp?

  • Time and date: 4pm – 6pm, 1st Thursday of every month
  • Location: Mezzanine, Curzon Victoria, 58 Victoria street, London, SW1E 6QW

How does teacamp work?

If you want to come to teacamp, just turn up on the day, it is open to everyone. It is upstairs in the cafe, very informal and friendly. If you are coming for the first time or on your own, ask for James or Sarah and we will introduce you to some teacampers.

  • 4.00 – 4.30pm:  tea and cake
  • 4.30 – 4.40pm:  intros and plug your events, projects, etc
  • 4.40 – 5.10pm:  speakers slot
  • 5.10 – 6.00pm:  Q&A, group discussion
  • 6.00pm: #beercamp in nearest pub

Contact info

@baskers Sarah Baskerville
@jaCattell James Arthur Cattell

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March Teacamp – Women in Tech with Charlotte Jee

***UPDATE*** – TEACAMP TODAY IS CANCELLED DUE TO THE WEATHER. IT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY THE 8TH OF MARCH, SAME VENUE

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March Teacamp will be with Charlotte Jee, the founder of the Women In Tech movement here in the UK.

How did Women in Tech come about?

It all started with Charlotte Jee – sitting through the umpteeth event with an all-male panel, thinking: ‘enough is enough’. So she made this list for the magazine she edits, Techworld, with the aim of ensuring no one has any excuse not to have women speaking at their tech events: https://www.techworld.com/careers/here-are-348-uk-women-who-could-speak-at-your-tech-event-3645661/

Charlotte then took that one step further, launching a new venture called Jeneo which helps tech companies and teams to source fantastic women and under-represented groups for their events. She’s also branched out into trying to help boost diversity more generally within the industry, and is starting to offer consultancy, training and other services.

Come to Teacamp in March to hear Charlotte talk about the challenges she’s faced in setting this up, what she sees as the challenges going forward. What would you like to ask her? Are you facing similar challenges? Would you like to help? Here’s your prefect opportunity to discuss with like minds in a safe space.

When is Teacamp?

  • Time and date: 4pm – 6pm, 1st Thursday of every month
  • Location: Mezzanine, Curzon Victoria, 58 Victoria street, London, SW1E 6QW

How does teacamp work?

If you want to come to teacamp, just turn up on the day, it is open to everyone. It is upstairs in the cafe, very informal and friendly. If you are coming for the first time or on your own, ask for James or Sarah and we will introduce you to some teacampers.

  • 4.00 – 4.30pm:  tea and cake
  • 4.30 – 4.40pm:  intros and plug your events, projects, etc
  • 4.40 – 5.10pm:  speakers slot
  • 5.10 – 6.00pm:  Q&A, group discussion
  • 6.00pm: #beercamp in nearest pub

Contact info

@baskers Sarah Baskerville
@jaCattell James Arthur Cattell

December Teacamp – What do you want? (and Xmas party)

December, a time for gift giving, Christmas parties and a time for reflection. That’s this months teacamp all wrapped into one!

James and I would like to take this opportunity to catch up with you (This could be Teacamp’s Christmas party!) and more importantly listen to your feedback and ideas about what we should do for next years Teacamp.

dxw are kindly sponsoring this months teacamp so you can still get your monthly fix of tea & cake on them 🙂

What do you want?

To quote a line from one of my favourite old Sci-Fi programmes Babylon 5. “What do you want?” That’s what December’s teacamp boils down to.

We’ve had a great year, lots of fabulous speakers on a whole range of different topics and an eager audience turning up to listen, engage and discuss.  Thank you so much to everyone who spoke, who turned up and listened and asked all those questions.

You make Teacamp.

So please, come along to this months teacamp on the 7th of December and help us crowdsource ideas for speakers for next year.

  • What do you want from Teacamp?
  • Who would you like to listen  to?
  • What topics are peaking your interest of you may have a bee in your bonnet about?
  • What’s coming up on the horizon that you think you might want to hear about next year?
  • Perhaps you yourself would like to be a speaker and share what you’re working on, your experiences or even what you’ve learnt to avoid?

Come along and help us shape next years Teacamp offering.

When is Teacamp?

  • Time and date: 4pm – 6pm, 1st Thursday of every month
  • Location: Mezzanine, Curzon Victoria, 58 Victoria street, London, SW1E 6QW. NOTE for December Teacmap well be in a private room on the mid level mezzanine (Downstairs). Look out for Sarah & James.
  • Update 7th Dec: Normal location for Teacamp! Upstairs in the Mezzanine above the cafe tills.

How does teacamp work?

If you want to come to teacamp, just turn up on the day, it is open to everyone. It is upstairs in the cafe, very informal and friendly. If you are coming for the first time or on your own, ask for James or Sarah and we will introduce you to some teacampers.

  • 4.00 – 4.30pm:  tea and cake
  • 4.30 – 4.40pm:  intros and plug your events, projects, etc
  • 4.40 – 5.10pm:  speakers slot
  • 5.10 – 6.00pm:  Q&A, group discussion
  • 6.00pm: #beercamp in nearest pub

Contact info

@baskers Sarah Baskerville
@jaCattell James Arthur Cattell

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