Digital

  • Refreshing Scotland’s Digital Strategy: Part 5 – What is this all about?

    21st October 2025 by

    Guest blog by Martyn Wallace, Chief Digital Officer, Digital Office for Scottish Local Government. Have you ever wondered what all this talk about Scotland’s “Digital Strategy” actually means for you? Maybe you’ve seen in the series of blogs from my colleagues mentioning how COSLA, the Digital Office, and the Scottish Government have teamed up to shape…

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  • Designing complex content in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    10th October 2025 by

    Guest blog post by Therese Hooper, Lead Content Designer in Social Security Scotland. This blog is about the tools I used to tackle a complicated content challenge, working in a new cross-functional team facing major time constraints. The role of content design You will have heard this before. A content designer’s role is not just…

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  • Making It Happen: Scotland’s Vision for Public Sector Data

    26th August 2025 by

    Blog by Joyce Dalgleish, Data Innovation and Change Lead, Scottish Government. It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 months since we shared the draft of the vision for public sector data. Since then, we’ve been genuinely heartened by how many of you have leaned in—giving your time, sharing your experiences, joining groups, and contributing ideas. Your…

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  • Refreshing Scotland’s Digital Strategy, part 4: collaboration and engagement

    20th August 2025 by

    Blog post by Becca Fairless, Head of Digital Strategy and Policy, Scottish Government  Welcome to the fourth edition of our blog-along as we work with our colleagues in local government to refresh the Digital Strategy for Scotland.  Last time Sam Hill, one of the designers who supported our engagement effort, blogged about the theory of…

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  • Refreshing Scotland’s Digital Strategy, part 3: Using co-design in stakeholder engagement

    23rd July 2025 by

    Blog post by Sam Hill, Senior User Researcher in Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate. I’m a user researcher. This is a profession that specialises in running processes of learning together, testing things out, before reflecting on how well those changes went, or might go if we were to implement them. The Scottish Approach to Service Design is…

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  • Reflections on the Warm Scottish Welcome programme

    15th May 2025 by

    Blog by Robbie Fergusson, Senior Product Manager, Design, Digital and Data team (Warm Scottish Welcome programme). I worked on the Warm Scottish Welcome programme for nearly three years as part of a mixed team. We were responsible for delivering applications to help match Ukrainian guests with host families in Scotland, who offered their flats and…

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  • Tackling child poverty with machine learning

    23rd April 2025 by

    Blog post by Spencer Thompson, Economic Advisor, Scottish Government The Data Science and Innovation Accelerator is a programme for public sector organisations in Scotland that supports the innovative use of data. In his blog, Spencer Thompson discusses his 2024 Accelerator project on child poverty. “Over the past 6 years I’ve been working towards the Scottish…

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  • Paving the way to omnichannel

    2nd April 2025 by

    Guest blog from Emma Jones, Lead Content Designer at Social Security Scotland. An accessible, inclusive way to communicate At Social Security Scotland, we are at the start of a journey to move from ‘letters as default’ to a more inclusive, accessible approach. An approach where the method of communication meets the needs of the client….

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  • Journey mapping as a content design tool

    28th March 2025 by

    Guest blog from Claire Robertson, Senior Content Designer at Social Security Scotland. “Journey mapping is completely fundamental to content design” (Sarah Winters and Rachel Edwards, Content Design, second edition) As content designers everything we do is based on user needs. User needs are the bread and butter of any user centred design (UCD) team. Every…

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  • Refreshing Scotland’s Digital Strategy, part 2

    24th March 2025 by

    Guest blog post by Colin Birchenall, Chief Technology Officer, the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government. At the heart of Scotland’s Digital Strategy is the recognition that digital is a fundamental enabler for achieving the country’s priorities. Whether it is economic growth, social inclusion, or environmental sustainability, digital solutions play a crucial role in driving…

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