Stewart Hamilton

Written 211 posts

Communications and Engagement Officer

Exploring public sector challenges through the lens of data: The 2024 Data Science Accelerator

11th September 2024

Blog by Joyce Dalgleish, Data Innovation and Change Lead, Scottish Government. The Scottish Data Science Accelerator offers an annual development opportunity for public sector staff to build data science skills through the exploration of a real-life public sector data challenge with the support of a mentor.  On 4 September, our year 7 cohort came together to…

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Moveable Transactions Project: creating a multi-disciplinary team

11th September 2024

Guest blog by Laura Johnstone, Continuous Improvement team, Digital Assurance Office. Introduction Registers of Scotland (RoS) are undertaking a project to build, launch and maintain two new public Registers, introduced by the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act 2023. The timeline for the commencement of the Registers is dependent on the implementation of secondary legislation. Read our…

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Creating inclusive digital experiences: how Accessibility Cloud can help us all improve accessibility

10th September 2024

This blog has been written by Mark Palmer, Accessibility Lead, Digital Directorate, to announce the roll out of Accessibility Cloud to public sector organisations. Accessibility Cloud is now available for automated testing As Accessibility Lead I’ve seen first hand the challenges we all face when creating digital experiences that are truly accessible to everyone. We…

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Variables added to the Scottish Government Design System Figma Kit

6th September 2024

Blog by Kevin Allen, Lead Graphic Designer, Digital Services Division. We are very happy to announce the latest update to the Scottish Government Design System Figma Kit, bringing the kit in line with our refreshed styling guidance and the most up to date design features in Figma.                …

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Moveable Transactions Project: active learning and applying lessons in real time

4th September 2024

Guest blog by Laura Johnstone, Continuous Improvement team, Digital Assurance Office. Introduction Registers of Scotland (RoS) are undertaking a project to build, launch and maintain two new public Registers, introduced by the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act 2023. The timeline for the commencement of the Registers is dependent on the implementation of secondary legislation. The Digital…

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Next-Generation Metadata Catalogue: Revolutionising Data Discovery in the Scottish Public Sector

3rd September 2024

Blog by Masood Alam, Chief Data Architect, and Catherine Ojo, Lead Data Scientist, from the Scottish Government’s Data Division. In a time when data drives decision-making, the Scottish public sector is making a significant move with the prospective development of a state-of-the-art Federated Data Catalogue and Metadata Repository, using machine learning & graph analytics. This…

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Open Data in Scotland : A Blueprint for Unlocking Innovation, Collaboration and Impact

29th August 2024

This blog has been written by Martin Macfie, Head of Open Data in the Digital Directorate’s Data Division to announce the publication of an independent report on open data for the Scottish Government. Publication of report In May 2024, I wrote a blog which outlined Scottish Government commissioned research to better understand the benefits, challenges…

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Data Science Accelerator – It’s about the journey not the destination

26th August 2024

Guest blog post by Lilly Herridge, Senior Assistant Statistician, National Records of Scotland. Next week sees the launch of the 2024 Data Science Accelerator, a public sector programme that supports innovation in the use and analysis of data. I’m now part of the judging panel that selects projects for this programme but back in 2018,…

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ScotAccount – Usability by design and default

2nd August 2024

Laurie Brown, Digital Information Security Officer, provides strategic information security direction, assurance, and governance across a number of Scottish Government digital public services including the work to introduce ScotAccount. ScotAccount is the secure and simple way to access public services online. It makes accessing services easier because you can use one account to sign in…

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Call for action from the Digital Directorate. Can you help us to build a public participation platform?

31st July 2024

Blog by Michaela Omelkova, Data Ethicist, Data Division. In the Scottish Government, we believe that actively listening to and acting on public opinion is essential to good governance. Public participation is after all a key aspect of modern democracy, and one of the building blocks of our trustworthiness.   At the moment, the Scottish Government uses…

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