Digital
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Refreshing Scotland’s Digital Strategy: Process blog part 1 (of a few)
27th January 2025 by deborahamzil
Blog post by Becca Fairless, head of digital strategy and policy, Scottish Government. In 2021 we launched our Joint Digital Strategy for Scotland – A Changing Nation – how Scotland will thrive in a digital world. For the first time it brought together the work on digital transformation happening in local authorities with the work...
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How text message notifications helped more than 2000 Social Security Scotland clients use unspent benefit payments
22nd January 2025 by deborahamzil
Guest blog post from Jake Keith, Content Designer, Social Security Scotland. A Social Security Scotland SMS (short Message Service) pilot led by the Product and Design team has helped hundreds of people access cash paid to them but left unspent. A total of 2,205 clients have spent money on their prepaid card since the start...
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Designing with purpose and empathy
15th January 2025 by deborahamzil
Guest blog post from Emma Jones, Content Design Lead, Social Security Scotland. Good content design is about making the user experience simple. We need to design to help people do what they need to do, and no more. We need to focus on the purpose. Finding (and sticking to) the true purpose can be hard...
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Foundations of the Digital State – Independent research report published
18th November 2024 by Stewart Hamilton
Blog post by Becca Fairless, Head of Strategy, Policy and Communications, Digital Directorate. OverviewThis is a summary of the independent research report “Foundations of the Digital State” by Gordon Guthrie, a Digital Fellow of the First Minister’s Digital Fellowship Programme during 2023-2024. The research aimed to lay out a transformative roadmap for how governments imagine...
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A shared destiny for public sector data
18th October 2024 by deborahamzil
Blog post by Shona Nicol, Head of Technical Data Policy, Data Division, Digital Directorate. As a data professional, it can sometime feel hard to get others interested in data. Perhaps like many in this profession, I can often express the importance and value of data for good in an overly technical way. However when our...
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Moving open data forward – the Benefits, Challenges and Opportunities of Open Data for Producers, Users and Leaders
8th May 2024 by Stewart Hamilton
This blog has been written by Martin Macfie, Head of Open Data in the Digital Directorate’s Data Division, in which he discusses recent work to better understand the benefits, challenges and opportunities of Open Data. What we’ve been doing We need to be more strategic in the way we approach the publishing, messaging and culture...
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Are you a transformational leader passionate about data in Scotland?
24th April 2024 by deborahamzil
Blog by Tom Wilkinson, Chief Data Officer, Scottish Government Public sector data is a vital component in making sure that services for the people of Scotland are delivered efficiently and effectively. In an increasingly complex world, data plays an ever-expanding role in shaping and supporting economic, societal and environmental transformations. To support the public...
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Data Science Accelerator – 6 new projects welcomed
9th October 2023 by Stewart Hamilton
The Data Science Accelerator is an annual programme that offers public sector analysts the opportunity to develop their data science skills. In September, we welcomed six exciting new projects onto the sixth year of the accelerator in Scotland.
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Foundations first – realising the potential of open data
27th September 2023 by deborahamzil
A blog by Louise Meikleham, Senior Data Policy Officer in Digital Directorate’s Data Division, explores data’s role in Scotland’s Open Government Action Plan. Data is all around us. From fitness to finance, holidays to health, it’s everywhere. As individuals we use it all the time to make decisions. But we’re not just consumers, we produce...
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Independent Expert Group delivers Unlocking the Value of Data report
10th May 2023 by Stewart Hamilton
I write this blog post at the end of the week in which the Independent Expert Group (IEG) on Unlocking the Value of Data (UVOD) delivered our final report to the Scottish Government. The IEG has been in existence for just over a year, and comprises a multi-stakeholder group of experts from different domains and disciplines united by our interest in public sector personal data and how it can be accessed by the private sector.