Below is the latest news from the LOTI community, based on the activities we worked on during the week commencing 25 July.

Meeting with our Data Leaders Network

Last Tuesday, LOTI Data Leaders session Salman Klar from Richmond and Wandsworth  picked up a discussion that has been taking place on the on basecamp: How is your data team structured?  – LOTI Data Leaders Network

Richmond and Wandsworth are refreshing their strategy and are looking at models used across London Boroughs to understand what works best in each organisational context.
We discussed some of the fundamentals of configuring and locating a data team to meet an organisations objectives. We covered hub and spoke versus centralised models,  what exactly should the remit of a data team be, and what combination of Analytics, data engineering, performance management and governance.

The plan is for Salman and the team to conduct some further interviews with boroughs and share the results of their findings with the LOTI community.

Meeting with our Data Science Network 

Last Wednesday we discussed approaches to using Using Open Source software such as R and Python and their packages in a secure way. Many borough IT and Cyber teams restrict access to R and Python packages as their open source nature makes it difficult for security teams to verify packages using traditional security techniques. Boroughs shared some of varied approaches taken across the London for working around this challenge including building sandbox environments and curating their own repositories of verified packages. The network has requested LOTI check in with the ONS Data Science Campus to see if they could offer this as a service across government.

Sharing our summary of the Digital Inclusion Conference 

Last month, LOTI and and the GLA were excited to hold our first ever Digital Inclusion Conference. We were joined by digital inclusion practitioners from across the sectors to celebrate what we have collectively achieved in supporting digital inclusion in London, and to discuss how we can build on our successes. Our key takeaways from the day can be found in our new blog post. To find out more about LOTI’s work on digital inclusion, please contact sophie.nelson@loti.london

Coming up 

This will be the last weeknote of the year, as we are currently in the process of  transitioning to a monthly newsletter followed by regular blog posts from the LOTI team and membership. To sign-up to receive the latest email updates, visit our registration form. If you are interested in guest blogging, please contact polly.kwok@loti.london.

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