Had a four day week this week as Friday, May 15th was my 10th Wedding Anniversary, but it still felt like a full-on week.
As expected, during the ECNL virtual workshop on “The Unheard Voice of Civil Society in EU Policy on AI” we danced around the definition of AI. I’m quite fond of the idea that when AI does exist, it will figure out that the human race is contrary to the survival of the planet and will wipe us all out. Thankfully, Matthias Spielkamp, from Algorithm Watch, has a better definition for Civil Society to focus on when it comes to EU policy – “automated decision-making”.
Mor Rubinstein from 360Giving and I, are starting to work on a workshop for data champions in grant-making institutions on Data 4 leadership. We plan to break the workshop into two parts. The first is on “what do leaders want to know from data” and the second is on developing data strategies that leaders can use. Mor is thinking we should develop a canvas to help with the strategy thinking and has been reaching out to see if someone has developed on already (get in touch if you have one).
More work with IFRC’s Solferino Academy and a new collaboration with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. We ran the first of a ‘Virtual Meetings Skillshare’ – the idea being that people are learning a hell of a lot right now about running virtual meetings. We got people into small groups to talk about their challenges and capture their questions. Sadly we ran out of time before we could get people to answer the questions, so instead, we ended the session and then answered the questions via the google doc. I’m thinking next time we should get people to focus on what they’ve learned rather than their problems.
Did more outreach for The (Virtual) Session Design Lab, which I’ll be running on May 27th and 28th. This time around, I’m running it over two half-days, which allows me to run it at times optimal for the Americas (10am to 1pm Eastern). Finding I’m at a bit of a disadvantage as most of my outlets for publicising are Europe-based.
This #FridayDiscoBackup submission from Beatrice Martini summed up the collective mood this week. I’ve found myself wondering when I’ll see family, friends and valued colleagues without the aid of a device. This week, many conversations started with a similar sentiment.