S3 Ep5: S3 #5 – The UKGovCamp Unconference – The Glastonbury of Government

One Zero One

Series 3 of the One Zero One podcast continues our journey of exploring what tech leaders around the UK have been doing to manage and drive digital change and positive progress throughout a global pandemic.
Sooraj Shah, a technology-focused journalist (the BBC, The Independent, The Guardian, Business Insider & more) speaks to three organisers of UKGovCamp – the unconference that has become known as the “Glastonbury of Government’ in the UK.
We were delighted to host three insightful organisers of this event for this special installment of One Zero One – Amanda Smith, David Durant and Sarah Baskerville.
Amanda Smith (@ayymanduh on Twitter) leads the User Centred Policy Design in MOJ Digital and throughout her career has worked at the intersection of people, policy, services, and systems. Amanda cares about building diverse, multi-disciplinary teams; coaching people to take people-centred approaches and supporting organisations to become more
open and outcomes focused by approach. Amanda attended her first GovCamp in 2011 and has been an organiser since 2017.
David Durant, a Senior Delivery Manager at HackIT (Hackney Council IT department) also joined us for this episode and can be found at @cholten99 on Twitter. David joined the public sector 10 years ago and couldn't imagine working anywhere else now as he is so passionate about providing excellent all-round services for the public, not just the digital components. David is also very interested in saving public money through reuse, collaboration, and community-building between government organisations. Having been on the GovCamp committee for five years, David looks after the event’s amazing volunteers, without whom the event wouldn't take place.
Our third guest Sarah Baskerville (otherwise known as @baskers on Twitter) also works in the Public Sector and has a keen interest in Digital, Open Data, Data Visualisations and Social Technology. Sarah helps organise UKGovCamp in addition to the UK Civil Service Stammering Network (@UK_CSSN on Twitter). Sarah has a self-admitted weakness for all
things shiny and tech, especially crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter.
About UKGovCamp:
Govcamps are:
 free to attend.
 focused on attendee participation.
 relentlessly positive, constructive, and creative.
The most recent Unconference took place in January 2021 and our guests have very interesting themes and insights to share in this episode that were raised at the event’s sessions. However, the community runs all year around and (as the organisers will explain in this discussion) you can participate at any time and are encouraged to reach out. Check out ukgovcamp.com for more information.