Below is the exact text of a recently approved grant application for ThingsCamp 3.
Proposed Event: We’re continuing a series of ThingsCamps around the country, following on from successful events in Plymouth and Greenwich. Each takes a local flavour according to the priorities of people and businesses in the area, and Bristol will likely see a focus on developing digital/connected solutions to support citizens, understanding how connected devices affect data collection and sharing, and enabling more efficient local government service delivery to people most in need of support.
ThingsCamp events provide a welcoming, low-pressure shared space for building more inclusive activity around IoT, pointing a critical lens at connected devices, and helping us see beyond the commercial and theoretical perspectives. But ThingsCamp is also an opportunity to get close to the technology: understanding and exploring it through experimentation and making.
The event is an unconference, with attendees pitching sessions on what they’d like to do or talk about, and we provide samples of existing tech available on the market now to help people understand how they work and how they might be used, to demystify the space and include more perspectives in the discussion. As with prior events we aim to include local councils and public sector bodies as much as possible to support public sector front line staff and managers to get a sense of how the tech can support what they do.
How much they want: £500
What they would use the funding for: We’re raising sponsorship to cover all costs to keep the tickets free to attendees; we have venue costs mostly covered so a contribution from UKGovCamp will enable us to offer refreshments (tea/coffee/soft drinks) and after that we want to expand the range of IoT and citizen science technology we can demonstrate.
About them: Beyond is a data/design/digital collective and a social enterprise, comprising a team of three:
Lucy Knight (@jargonautical / lucy@beyond.place) is a data analyst and visualisation specialist working on improving connections between humans and data.
Simon Gough (@mistergough / simon@beyond.place) is a service designer with a particular interest in participatory design and systems.
Martin Howitt (@MartinHowitt / martin@beyond.place) is an IT architect with an interest in the overlaps between service design, open data and civic technology infrastructure.
Two of us (Martin and Lucy) work in local government, and this event is being supported by Bristol City Council as well.