As part of our recent project “Democratizing the Datafied Society”, the Data Justice Lab has started a workshop series for public sector professionals on how to engage citizens with policy- and decision-making about the roll-out of data and AI systems in the public sector. Together with our partner organisation Action Learning Associates, we have put together a small group of data and engagement officers from local authorities in England and Wales and from Welsh Government, who will meet for six sessions (every 1-2 months) to discuss challenges and opportunities for involving citizens in data-related debates and decisions. The first meeting took place at Cardiff University on 27 November.
The workshop series builds on our previous work on civic participation in the datafied society (see our report here and website here). It is also informed by our recent public sector guidebook Advancing civic participation in algorithmic decision-making. We will – in collaboration with the workshop participants – at developing a new guidebook to make insights and experiences from public engagement initiatives available to the wider sector.