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24 July 2020

Missing numbers

Investment in preventive services, like children's centres and youth services, could make a real difference to children's lives - but the lack of consistently good-quality data makes it difficult frontline staff, local authorities and central government to understand what works.

That's one of the conclusions of a new report I've published with my colleague Colm and the excellent team at Nesta. We hope that as well as being useful to those in the children and young people's sector, the findings - and the recommendations - will be useful more widely to people working with and thinking about data. There's a graphic for thinking about data in different ways, and everything.

In brief:

On the subject of Missing Numbers... you may remember the project launched last year by Anna Powell-Smith (Data Bites presentation here). This week, she's launched the Centre for Public Data which will look at improving data provisions in new legislation. It's a great idea. More details here.

Data has gone missing from DCMS (well, bits of policy, including 'government use of data' and open government), as responsibility has been transferred back to the Cabinet Office. My lukewarm take here.

We're missing Data Bites this August to give me/everyone a summer break. Back in early September. Watch back the archive here.

Flourish joined the ranks of those subject to missing attribution this week. They also join a very select group that includes Neil Kinnock.

In case you missed it, yesterday marked a year since Boris Johnson became Conservative leader, and today marks a year since he became PM. It's been another quiet year in British politics, etc.

Finally, Warning: Graphic Content will be missing from your inboxes over the next few weeks as I take whatever passes for a holiday in these strange times. There definitely won't be a newsletter next week, and it will be intermittent through August. Have a lovely summer (or whatever passes for that in the UK or wherever you are), and see you again soon!

Very best

Gavin

Today's links:

Tips, tech, etc

End of the office: the quiet, grinding loneliness of working from home (The Guardian)

Digital remote working - research findings (Essex County Council)

The home-working revolution: new normal, old divides?* (New Statesman)

How well does working in open work when working from home? (Nick Halliday and others)

Putting feeling into policy making (CSaP)

Make a mask (Reuters)

Graphic content

Viral content: coronavirus

Our history is a battle against the microbes: we lost terribly before we developed vaccines to protect ourselves (Our World in Data)

Where the Virus Is Sending People to Hospitals* (New York Times)

After the Recent Surge in Coronavirus Cases, Deaths Are Now Rising Too* (New York Times)

A Detailed Map of Who Is Wearing Masks in the U.S.* (The Upshot)

The World Is Masking Up, Some Are Opting Out* (Bloomberg)

The UK And US Were Ranked Top For Pandemic Preparedness. What Went Wrong? (Huffington Post)

How to Understand COVID-19 Numbers (ProPublica)

T-cells: the missing link in coronavirus immunity? (FT)

When a simple gif is possibly the only way to show something: news desk wanted a size comparison of antibody, virus and T cell (FT via Ian Bott)

Viral content: consequences

The psychological toll of coronavirus in Britain – a visual guide (The Guardian)

Which jobs can be done from home? (ONS)

Amid a Deadly Virus and Crippled Economy, One Form of Aid Has Proved Reliable: Food Stamps* (New York Times)

US airlines fly in different directions in middle-seat debate* (FT)

How Remote Work Divides America (Reuters)

The costs of coronavirus: Just how big is £190 billion? (House of Commons Library)

US politics

Race and America: why data matters* (FT Data)

What Coronavirus Job Losses Reveal About Racism in America (ProPublica)

Republicans And Democrats See COVID-19 Very Differently. Is That Making People Sick? (FiveThirtyEight)

New polling makes clear what Trump refuses to see: His pandemic response has been a political disaster* (Washington Post)

At least 76% of American voters can cast ballots by mail in the fall* (Washington Post)

Everything else

The Living Standards Audit 2020 (Resolution Foundation)

Ministerial directions (Oliver for IfG)

Civil service pay (IfG)

Location of the civil service (IfG)

How much warmer is your city? Behind the scenes of our climate change interactive (BBC Visual and Data Journalism)

Where does the British public stand on transgender rights? (YouGov)

Meta data

MOG OMG

Machinery of government change: government use of data (and commentary from me)

DCMS loses government data policy to the Cabinet Office (Computer Weekly)

Cabinet Office takes charge of government use of data again (Civil Service World)

Viral content: testing times

Coronavirus: England's test and trace programme 'breaks GDPR data law' (BBC News)

Coronavirus: Government admits its Test and Trace programme is unlawful (Sky News)

Government admits that NHS Test and Trace programme is unlawful* (Wired)

Viral content: the only way is app

Coronavirus: The inside story of how government failed to develop a contact-tracing app (Sky News)

Cheap, popular and it works: Ireland's contact-tracing app success (The Guardian - 'works'?)

Data collection in new Covid-19 app ‘troubling’ (Belfast Telegraph)

Coronavirus: New NHS England contact-tracing app may bring 'personal benefits' (Sky News)

Coronavirus: The great contact-tracing apps mystery (BBC News)

Isle of Wight infection rates dropped after launch of contact tracing app (The Guardian)

Government

A No10 data science unit could create more problems than it solves (Lewis for IfG)

DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION: Data to support policymaking (ODI)

Scotland’s Census to be moved to March 2022 (National Records of Scotland)

A few final reflections as Chief Statistician (Welsh Government Data and Digital blog)

Addressing trust in public sector data use (CDEI)

Driving forward trustworthy data sharing (CDEI)

The continuing excellent performance of the ONS in this pandemic... (Tom Forth)

ICO hails transformative year as average fine trebles (Computer Weekly)

Resources and tools (GOV.UK Design System)

Government sets out draft agenda for a 21st century tax system (HMRC, via Gemma)

Data ethics and AI guidance landscape (DCMS)

Creating great online services: how we test services in our research lab (Inside DVLA, via Oliver)

The digital government atlas 2.0: the world's best tools and resources* (Apolitical)

ICO launches self-assessment Freedom of Information toolkit (ICO)

Public services

Missing Numbers in Children’s Services: How better data could improve outcomes for children and young people (IfG/Nesta)

Health data chief says UK’s data deficit in social care during COVID-19 a “catastrophe” (diginomica)

Six months of binnovation in Leeds (ODI Leeds)

Big tech

The inside story of Babylon Health* (Prospect)

Should you delete TikTok from your phone? (The Guardian)

Uber drivers to launch legal bid to uncover app's algorithm (The Guardian)

Europe must not rush Google-Fitbit deal (Politico)

Recovery from Covid-19 will be threatened if we don't learn to control big tech (The Observer)

Vestager has tasted defeat, but she should not stop chasing Big Tech (The Observer)

Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt is working to launch a university that would rival Stanford and MIT and funnel tech workers into government work (Business Insider)

From Russia with ****

We need a single agency to be responsible for UK elections (Democracy Club)

The Russia report has shown our election laws are dangerously out of date (The Independent)

Sharing is caring

How Schrems II will impact data sharing between the UK and the US (Computer Weekly)

Further (unhappy) thoughts on Schrems II (Panopticon)

Applying new models of data stewardship to health and care data (ODI/The Health Foundation)

Frameworks, principles and accreditation in modern data management (Felix Ritchie and Elizabeth Green, UWE Bristol)

How Wikidata might help the Smithsonian with its mission to diffuse knowledge (Wiki Education)

Everything else

Professional standards to be set for data science (Royal Statistical Society)

Understanding Machine-Readability in Modern Data Policy (Data Foundation)

Data and the Future of Work (Common Wealth)

Talking about data (Citizens Advice)

We are facing a global crisis of widespread unverified information (DCMS Select Committee)

White Paper on Artificial Intelligence - a European Approach: contributions to the consultation (European Commission)

The UK address mess: a way forward? (Peter Wells)

Public attitudes to science 2019 (BEIS)

Opportunities

JOB: Head of Data Infrastructure (ESRC, via Catherine)

JOBS (HDR UK)

JOBS: Technology opportunities (ICO)

EVENT: Exploring data institutions: trustworthy, sustainable access to data (ODI)

And finally...

Sport and entertainment

Defining the ’90s Music Canon (The Pudding)

Empty stadiums have shrunk football teams’ home advantage* (The Economist)

Does home advantage exist without football’s partisan fans?* (FT)

Sneak preview: The Seinfeld Chronicles (Andy Kirk)

Politics

As it's #WorldEmojiDay, can you guess the Conservative MPs? (Conservatives, via Pritesh)

congrats to Newspoll, who, according to the Courier Mail's Sunday editorial, surveyed a whopping 124% of Queenslanders to find just 59% were satisfied with the Premier (Sinéad Canning, via Sarah)

Breaking: there is one new case of a disgraced politician in New Zealand (The Spinoff)

Everything else

Stop resisting it, editors - the vast majority of people say "data" should be treated as singular, not plural (YouGov)

We should start a competition (Maarten van Smeden, via Nick)

Food hazards from around the world data competition (University of Bristol, via a quantum of sollazzo)

Penguins (Allison Horst/Oli Hawkins)

Alright, let’s go back to hating pie charts. (Randy Olson, via Nick)