Activities
What helps you to trust?
Notwestminster is a community of people who have something positive to say about our local democracy. We’re up for the challenge of doing something to make our local democracy better, in our neighbourhoods and the places that we know. To mark this year’s annual event in Huddersfield, and so that more people can join in and connect with each other, we have a little challenge for you.
Our Notwestminster 2023 main event is all about trust. For us to grow and strengthen the relationships that our local democracy depends on, we need to trust each other. So what helps us to trust each other as fellow citizens? What helps citizens to trust organisations? And what helps organisations to trust citizens?
What helps you to trust?
Please tell us about one thing that someone did, however small, which helped you to trust them.
We’d love for you to share your response to this question with us online. It would be great if you can create a quick video clip or photo to share as your personal message for others in our network.
How to take part
1. Create your response
Record a quick video clip of yourself, telling us about one thing that helped you to trust Your clip can be a few seconds or up to a minute, filmed in landscape
OR
Create a drawing or an image and take a photo of this, in landscape format.
OR
Write some words about something that has helped you to trust someone.
2. Share your response
Share on twitter, including the hashtags #Notwestminster and #TrustInLocalDemocracy.
OR
Email us your response (or a link to where we can find it online).
Email us at: Notwestminster@gmail.com
OR
Post your response in our Slack channel
You can share your response now. We’ll also be gathering responses as part of our Notwestminster event on 18th February 2023.
What’s your one best hope for local democracy?
Notwestminster is a community of people who have something positive to say about our local democracy. We’re up for the challenge of doing something to make our local democracy better. To mark the return of our annual event in Huddersfield, and so that more people can join in and connect with each other, we have a little challenge for you.
What’s your one best hope for local democracy? We’d love for you to share your response to this question with us online. It would be great if you can create a quick video clip or photo, so we can hear or see your one best hope, to share as your personal message for others in our network.
There are lots of reasons to be hopeful, because the future is unwritten. . .
How to take part
- Record a quick video clip of yourself, saying what your one best hope for local democracy is. Your clip can be a few seconds or up to a minute, filmed in landscape. If you don’t fancy the video option, you can write or draw your one best hope for local democracy and take a photo of this, in landscape format.
- Post your video clip or photo to twitter, including the hashtags #Notwestminster and #OneBestHope. You can share your hope anytime during February 2022. We’ll also be sharing your hopes as part of our Notwestminster event on 26th February.
- If you’d like, please email us your video file (or a link to where we can download it) so that we can make a compilation video of our hopes. You’re also welcome to email us your contribution if you’re not on twitter. Email us at: Notwestminster@gmail.com
In memory of our friend John Popham
John lived in Huddersfield and many of you will recognise him as a familiar face at our Notwestminster events over the years. He was a big advocate of the power of digital technologies to connect people, and he loved to support people to tell their positive stories. Video was very much John’s thing.
Two weeks after our Notwestminster 2020 event, John was told that he had cancer. True to character, he used digital storytelling to find his way through the process of dealing with this, in the hopes of helping others who were going through similar challenges.
John’s family have asked that people remember him by continuing to be positive, by using social media for good and by keeping on asking ourselves how we can make someone else’s life better.
“Did you ever get that feeling that what you do has suddenly become a lot more personally relevant? . . . Let’s not go back to how it was before.”
John Popham, March 2020
Got something to say about local democracy?
PechaKucha speakers wanted
On Friday 14th February 2020 we’re hosting our latest PechaKucha Night in Huddersfield. We are looking for people who would like to be speakers on the evening.
A PechaKucha Night is a fast-paced evening full of exciting speakers and topics. As usual, ours will have a distinctly democratic flavour. It’s a fringe event of Notwestminster 2020, a two day event bringing together people who have something positive to say about local democracy and who are up for the challenge of making it work better.
If you care about the place where you live, or if you want to work with others for civic good, we know that our participants will be keen to hear what you have to say. So if you’ve a story to tell, or if you’ve got an idea to share, we’d love to hear from you. We can offer support and advice if you haven’t been a speaker before.
Each speaker will talk for 6 minutes 40 seconds on a theme of their choosing, following a “20 slides for 20 seconds” format. The slides advance automatically, so everyone gets exactly the same amount of time to speak – and you should be prepared to keep going!
At Notwestminster we believe that together we can create a stronger local democracy. We’re always keen to hear from anyone who has ideas, experiences and enthusiasm to share.
Some of our previous talks have included: Local democracy in North Korea (with summer holiday slides), The greatest movie ever made about democracy,”Council mottos: the good, the bad and the utterly meaningless” how Sheffield’s tech community responded to the refugee crisis, regional democracy compared to the Galactic Empire, and “The total and utter history of local government” (which turned out to be quite ambitious in less than 7 minutes).
You can have a look at our Twitter moment from our 2019 PechaKucha to get an idea of what the event is like.
We welcome talks on any aspect of local democracy, community life and other stuff you’re interested in.
Want to be a speaker?
Contact us if you’d like to be a speaker
Want to listen to the talks?
The event will be in Cafe Ollo at the Media Centre on Northumberland Street, from 7pm on Friday 14th February. Please come along to learn something new and be entertained. It’s a fun way to find out what inspires some of our local democracy advocates and to hear about people’s passions and interests. There are always a few surprises.
PechaKucha Night – register now
The Notwestminster PechaKucha Night is organised by the Media Centre in Huddersfield and the Notwestminster network.
Want to speak up for local democracy?
PechaKucha speakers wanted
On Friday 15th February 2019 we’re hosting our latest PechaKucha Night in Huddersfield. We are looking for people who would like to be speakers on the evening.
A PechaKucha Night is a fast-paced evening full of exciting speakers and topics. As usual, ours will have a distinctly democratic flavour. It’s a fringe event of Notwestminster 2019, a two day event bringing together people who have something positive to say about local democracy and who are up for the challenge of making it work better.
If you care about the place where you live, or if you want to work with others for civic good, we know that our participants will be keen to hear what you have to say. So if you’ve a story to tell, or if you’ve got an idea to share, we’d love to hear from you. We can offer support and advice if you haven’t been a speaker before.
Each speaker will talk for 6 minutes 40 seconds on a theme of their choosing, following a “20 slides for 20 seconds” format. The slides advance automatically, so everyone gets exactly the same amount of time to speak – and you should be prepared to keep going!
At Notwestminster we believe that together we can create a stronger local democracy. We’re always keen to hear from anyone who has ideas, experiences and enthusiasm to share.
Some of our previous talks have included: The greatest movie ever made about democracy, a conversation between dad and daughter about democracy, “Council mottos: the good, the bad and the utterly meaningless” how Sheffield’s tech community responded to the refugee crisis, regional democracy compared to the Galactic Empire, and “The total and utter history of local government” (which turned out to be quite ambitious in less than 7 minutes).
Listen to some of last year’s talks
We welcome talks on any aspect of local democracy, community life and other stuff you’re interested in.
Want to be a speaker?
Contact us if you’d like to be a speaker
Want to listen to the talks?
The event will be in Cafe Ollo at the Media Centre on Northumberland Street, from 7pm on Friday 15th February. Please come along to learn something new and be entertained. It’s a fun way to find out what inspires some of our local democracy advocates and to hear about people’s passions and interests. There are always a few surprises.
PechaKucha Night – register now
The Notwestminster PechaKucha Night is organised by the Media Centre in Huddersfield and the Notwestminster network.
Public Square – putting people at the heart of local government
A guest blog from The Democratic Society
Around the world democracy is struggling and needs strengthening. It’s time we ensured that people are placed at the heart of how decisions are made, how places are shaped, and how services are run. Local government is a key place where this vision will either be realised or sunk. In response to this challenge, Public Square is a two-year-long programme of research and action exploring how local government can go further in putting the voices of the people they serve at the heart of how they work. It is a collaboration between The Democratic Society and mySociety with funding from Luminate.
This exploration will be based on research in test sites across the UK where we will be working with councils and the communities they serve to look at what is already working well for involving people in the work of local government and what challenges and unmet needs remain. Drawing from this research we will then be prototyping techniques, approaches and tools that could respond to these gaps and push public participation to the next level. These resources we develop will be made freely available. We will also focus on making these resources work in a way that fits with other tools out there and that are freely adaptable by others.
We know that there are already many people working on this question. Often this is done from a wide range of different angles, and with advances not always being joined-up. A key aim of this programme is to reach out to this diverse community, learn from what is already known, and make sure that what we learn can have maximum impact for people working in this space. Throughout the project we will be sharing what we are working on and seeking views from people already working on this challenge.
How to get involved
Public Square really kicks off on 19th November 2018 with an event open to all at the People’s History Museum in Manchester where we will be learning together about where progress is at now and what is needed to take public participation further. You can sign up for free through this Eventbrite page: Public Square – register
We are also looking forward to speaking to people at The People’s Powerhouse Convention, Stakecamp and Notwestminster.
If you want to know more you can also get in touch with us through team@thepublicsquare.org.uk We are particularly keen to hear from councils who would like to take part in this programme of research. You can also follow our progress, and find ways of feeding in, through @PublicSquareUK and www.thepublicsquare.org.uk
We look forward to speaking with you.
Mat and Michelle
The Democratic Society
What is democracy for?
You can try out mobile messaging before, during and after this year’s Notwestminster.
Have a think about this question:
“What is democracy for?”
Send a text starting with NOTWM
then your thoughts
to 07786 205 227
(it only costs the same as texting your friend’s phone)
You’ll get a reply with a link to read other people’s answers.
It’s public but anonymous, so you can be as honest as you like.
Help us to share our text experiment
Please print out a few copies of these instructions and leave them in a cafe, a pub or anywhere else where you live.
Print these instructions on A5 paper (PDF)
Print these instructions on A4 paper, two copies per sheet (PDF)
Where did the question come from?
Our question was asked by Anthony Zacharzewski,
as part of the evidence he gave to the Kirklees Democracy Commission.
Why use mobile messaging?
Participation using mobile messaging has a different feel to participation using social media. On social media we are performing and managing our identities for an audience, often a complicated mix of work, interest-group and personal contacts.
Mobile messaging is often for an audience of one, and we only communicate with a small group of contacts by messaging. This means that when mobile messaging is used as a way for people to take part in civic conversations, it feels anonymous.
This can be very helpful for encouraging heartfelt contributions and for welcoming people who are less confident about speaking up in meetings.
Two councillors in Camden used text messages to try and involve more people in a participatory budgeting process as long ago as 2008.
This is one of the messages they received:
“We are 6 mums and we’d like to plead with you about giving the Winch Project funds so it could carry on the wonderful activities for the children. Please as it is the only chance for all low income families. Please.”
One of the councillors involved said afterwards:
“Using texting definitely led to a net increase in participation in the democratic process. It probably almost doubled the participation in the local area forum vote.”
Thumbprint Camden
Speak up for local democracy – in less than seven minutes
PechaKucha speakers wanted
We’re hosting a special PechaKucha Night in Huddersfield on Friday 10th February 2017 – and we’re looking for some speakers.
A PechaKucha Night is a fast-paced evening full of exciting speakers and topics. Ours will have a distinctly democratic flavour, as it’s a fringe event of Notwestminster 2017, a two day event bringing together people who have something positive to say about local democracy and who are up for the challenge of making it work better.
So if you’ve got something to say about local democracy, if you’ve a story to tell, or if you’ve got an idea to share, you might like to be one of our speakers on the night.
Each speaker will talk for 6 minutes 40 seconds on a theme of their choosing, following a “20 slides for 20 seconds” format. The slides advance automatically, so everyone gets exactly the same amount of time to speak – and you should be prepared to keep going!
The event will be in Cafe Ollo at the Media Centre on Northumberland Street in Huddersfield, from 7pm.
Our previous PechaKucha talks have included everything from whether public servants are human beings and why technology can’t save democracy, to the ‘joy’ of being a councillor and how regional democracy in England measures up to the Galactic Empire. As you can see, it’s a mixed bag, and sometimes challenging.
We’d love to hear your suggestions.
Want to be a speaker?
Please contact us if you’re interested in taking part. Get in touch by Friday 20th January if you can.
Want to listen to the talks?
Please come along to learn something new and be entertained. It’s a fun way to find out what inspires some of our local democracy advocates and to hear about people’s passions and interests. There are always a few surprises.
PechaKucha Night – register now
The Notwestminster PechaKucha Night is organised by the Media Centre in Huddersfield and the Notwestminster local democracy network.
Designing Your Democracy Experiment Day – 10th February 2017
Democracy Experiments Day
Friday 10th February 2017
The Media Centre, Northumberland Street, Huddersfield HD1 1RL
This is a day for anyone who is interested in making a difference to local democracy through practical experiments. It will give participants an understanding of the principles of design thinking and some hands on experience.
Nick Taylor from the University of Dundee will get us started with some key lessons that draw on his experiences with design-led civic technology experiments and community-level hackathons over a number of years. We will then be working on some real life examples brought along by participants, and trying out some techniques and approaches.
This day will be of interest to anyone who is already working on one of the Notwestminster experiments, anyone who would like to get involved or anyone who is interested more generally in design and democracy. Everyone is welcome and it’s free to take part.
Democracy Experiments Day – register now
Design Experiments for Local Democracy programme
Nick Taylor
@nicktaylor3
University of Dundee
Nick Taylor is a Senior Lecturer in the University of Dundee’s School of Art and Design, specialising in Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) and Interaction Design. His main research interest is the use of technology to support civic engagement in communities, working closely with communities over extended periods of time and deployments of new technologies ‘in the wild’. His most recent research has involved the use of hackathons to support grassroots innovation by bringing together communities with local makers.
Lorraine Clarke
University of Dundee
Loraine Clarke is a research associate at the University of Dundee’s School of Art and Design, with a background in Industrial Design and Human–Computer Interaction. Her research concentrates on physical technology supporting social interactions within groups in public spaces such as community spaces, museums or galleries. Her current research focuses on supporting community innovation utilising digital fabrication and the DIY maker movement.
Dave Mckenna
@Localopolis
Scrutiny Manager,
City & County of Swansea
Dave works for the Council in Swansea where he has been for 20 years. Prior to finding a home with scrutiny he worked in a variety of front-line and policy roles with varying degrees of success. He has completed a PhD with the Department of Political and Cultural Studies, Swansea University. His topic was Local Government and Public Participation.
Localopolis (blog)
How to be a public servant (blog)
Photo of Dave courtesy of Anthony Mckeown.
Ed Hammond
@CfPS_Ed
Centre for Public Scrutiny
Ed leads on the Centre for Public Scrutiny’s work around local accountability. His work has a particular focus on corporate governance within local authorities, but he has also carried out extensive research on policing and community safety, having produced national guidance for the operation of Police and Crime Panels in 2011 and 2012, and research on their first year in operation in 2014.
He is currently leading on Design Experiments for Local Democracy, a partnership programme from Notwestminster and CfPS.
Design Experiments for Local Democracy is a practical programme for local democracy advocates. We are encouraging people to rapidly test and evaluate new ways of doing local democracy, and we’re supporting each other in doing this. The programme is co-ordinated by the Centre for Public Scrutiny and the Notwestminster local democracy network.
Who is your local democracy hero and why?
You can try out mobile messaging before, during and after this year’s Notwestminster.
Have a think about this question:
Who is your local democracy hero and why?
Then start a text message with NOTWM
then give your answer
and send it to 07786 205 227
You’ll get a reply with a link to read other people’s answers. It’s public but anonymous, so you can be as honest as you like.
About mobile messaging
Participation using mobile messaging has a different feel to participation using social media. On social media we are performing and managing our identities for an audience, often a complicated mix of work, interest-group and personal contacts.
Mobile messaging is often for an audience of one, and we only communicate with a small group of contacts by messaging. This means that when mobile messaging is used as a way for people to take part in civic conversations, it feels anonymous.
This can be very helpful for encouraging heartfelt contributions and for welcoming people who are less confident about speaking up in meetings.
Two councillors in Camden used text messages to try and involve more people in a participatory budgeting process as long ago as 2008.
This is one of the messages they received:
“We are 6 mums and we’d like to plead with you about giving the Winch Project funds so it could carry on the wonderful activities for the children. Please as it is the only chance for all low income families. Please.”
One of the councillors involved said afterwards:
“Using texting definitely led to a net increase in participation in the democratic process. It probably almost doubled the participation in the local area forum vote.”
What we’ll be working on at our Local Democracy Maker Day #LDMaker16
Local Democracy Maker Day
Friday 12th February 2016
The Media Centre, 7 Northumberland Street, Huddersfield HD1 1RL
What is a Maker Day?
Our Maker Days are a chance to collaborate with others who care about local democracy on issues that we choose together. Our focus at this Maker Day will be on responding to some of our Design Challenges for Local Democracy.
We want to turn our discussions around local democracy and digital into some practical tools that we can all use to make democracy work better for us – and we hope you’ll be part of it. You don’t need any previous experience to join in – we’ll be learning from each other as we go along.
We’ve chosen three challenges for us to focus on during the day, based on things that participants of the Notwestminster network have shown keen interest in recently.
Our three Local Democracy Design Challenges are:
- Social Decision Making: Councils make many important decisions yet the people who are affected rarely have their say. How can we get people involved in local policy making so that they can influence the decisions that affect them?
- Real Representation: The job of the local councillor is to represent their constituents yet their wards can include as many as 25,000 people, all different, all special. How can councillors better reach out to people in their community so that everyone can be properly represented?
- Digestible Democracy: Local democracy needs to involve the widest range of people and yet the format of reports and the use of jargon puts off all but the most dedicated. How can we present local decision making so it’s less obscure like modern jazz, and more popular, like rock and roll?
Who is it for?
- Digital makers
- Open data advocates
- Local government officers
- Councillors and candidates
- Community activists
- Hyperlocals
- Voters of today and tomorrow
Want to join in?
Free tickets are available now:
Other event info
Taking part at the venue or online? Here’s some other information you might find useful:
We are…
We are Local Democracy Bytes and the wider #notwestminster gang. Our Maker Day is part of our collaboration with LocalGov Digital Makers. It’s about turning our discussions around local democracy and digital into some practical tools that we can all use to make democracy work better for us.
With thanks to our sponsors
Our Maker Day is part of Notwestminster 2016, two days of rock n roll local democracy kindly sponsored by:
We are #Notwestminster 