Over the last 18 months I've been building a new Data and Information Access team in Defra. The team brings together data sharing and library functions.
Maintaining catalogues of good quality metadata is critical to them all. But over the last few months I've come to realise I have a love/hate relationship with metadata and the hate is winning.
To mark the launch of the Greening government: ICT and digital services strategy 2020 to 2025, Adam Turner explains about this publication, the journey so far and how sustainable ICT is part of the solution, as well as the problem, when tackling climate change.
To mark Global Talent Acquisition Day, Lynne Roberts, Head of User Centred Design at Defra Digital, explains the challenges and rewards involved with recruiting and retaining the best people and how she has had to develop and empower her managers to be adept recruiters too.
Paul Shaw and Jim King (software developers) explain how Defra is using ‘PowerApps’, a low code digital development tool, to meet one of the many challenges facing government departments due to coronavirus (COVID-19).
To mark Fishing Month Haroon Tariq, from the Defra Digital ‘I Want to Fish’ service team, explains how renewing your rod licence is now easier than ever following the recent automation of the licence expiry notifications process.
Civil Service Live is the key learning and networking event of the calendar for UK civil servants. This year the event moved completely online. Lianne Bailey, a Senior User Researcher in Defra Digital, was one of many who ‘joined’ this week’s two-day virtual event.
Today (14 July) we are proud to be launching our new Defra group sustainable IT strategy.
We've opened our new Earth Observation Data Service to users across Defra. This data has the potential to change our understanding of the environment. Andrew Newman explains how this is working and how we are making this data openly available.
Volunteering has been a release and source of comfort for many during lockdown, both for those volunteering and for those needing help and support.
To mark this year’s Volunteers' Week, one of our user researchers, Chloe Westerman, describes her experiences of volunteering during the past couple of months.
Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day. When it comes to the web, accessibility means making online content usable by all. It’s a subject close to the Defra content team’s heart.
To coincide with ‘On Air, Online’ - Learning at Work Week, Joya Snowden, Defra Capability Development lead supporting the Digital Data and Technology Services (DDTS) function, tells us how her team has been developing their learning offer to provide options that can be accessed by colleagues working at home.