Each week the college hosts a community dinner called Ration Club. It's open to anyone who'd like to find out more about the college and its work. To find out more or if you'd like to attend, please register.

​This session is part of the Introduction to Political Technology course at Newspeak House, open to faculty and fellowship candidates only.

A facilitated session to help the 2024 Cohort reflect on the progress of their group governance activities so far, and make plans for how they can be improved going forwards.

​This session is part of the Introduction to Political Technology course at Newspeak House, open to faculty and fellowship candidates only.

Exploring how institutions work, some difficulties that arise in them, how they change, and how we each can try to participate constructively in them.

Readings:

• Paul Cairney, Tanya Heikkila, and Matthew Wood, Making Policy in a Complex World, Cambridge University Press, 2019, Chs. 3-4
• Elinor Ostrom, ‘Beyond markets and states: polycentric governance of complex economic systems,’ American Economic Review, 2010
• Sarah Schulman, Conflict Is Not Abuse, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2016, Introduction & Ch. 1
• Edward Hallowell, ‘The human moment at work’, Harvard Business Review, 1999

Join us for our bi-weekly Campaign Lab Hack Night - a regular session to work on your tech side projects to help the progressive left campaign more effectively. You can either bring your own project or help out on one of our ongoing ones.

​​​​​Snacks and drinks are provided, all you need is to bring yourself and a laptop! 🙂

​​​​​All technologists, activists, organisers and campaigners are welcome. We also welcome any new people who are interested in politics, technology and evidence based campaign innovation on the left. 

Join remotely at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82959644687?pwd=cG9BdEFha3dmNzVjcFd2RUFTWGVNZz09

​​​​​Campaign Lab is a community of politically-minded progressive data scientists, researchers and activists who are working together to build new election tools and change the way we analyse and understand political election campaigning.

Join us for a co-working day at Newspeak House! Just bring your laptop and current projects. Feel free to collaborate, ask questions, or just focus on your own work. Open to anyone. Come and co-work in our space, meet cool people, and have tea/coffee/lunch as a group. We have desks, charging points, and multiple workspaces.

​Join us for the launch of ‘The Digital Skills Shortfall: Grassroots trade union digital training divide.’ a new report by Andy Twelves of Organise Lab.

​​This report will be presenting the conclusions drawn from the consultation of almost 114 shop stewards, health & safety representatives, and industrial representatives across a range of trade unions and sectors, about the shortfalls of digital training in the grassroots of the trade union movement. ​This is the second piece of research in a three paper series, with the first being about existing digital skills.

​​This event will include a brief talk, starting at 18:30, by the paper’s author, and a panel discussion with other relevant stakeholders across the labour movement:

• Toby James - Organiser at Equity, and former Prospect NEC member & workplace representative.
• Claddagh Ní Maoilseachlainn - Director of Parliamentary & Public Affairs at the Institute for the Future of Work, and Fellowship Candidate at Newspeak House.
• Peyman Owladi - Board Member of Campaign Lab, and MD of Poteris.
• Andy Twelves - Author of the report, and Founder of Organise Lab.

​​There will be an opportunity for networking and mingling afterwards. Refreshments will be provided.

What is Organise Lab?

​A new advocacy group & community making the case for a digital transformation, and innovation across all levels of the UK trade union movement.

​Ever wondered why some messages cut through, while others fall flat? The answer might lie in the fact that the messenger matters as much as the message itself. Relational organising harnesses our most powerful asset - our personal connections. Put simply, when someone you know asks you to take an action, you are more likely to listen and you are more likely to do it.

​The evidence is clear: research from Columbia University’s Data Science Institute revealed that a simple text from a friend boosted voter turnout in the 2018 US midterms by an extraordinary 8.3 percentage points.

​So how can we use friend-to-friend tactics to build progressive political power?

​Join us for an illuminating evening with a panel discussion with two experts in this field:

​Evie Monnington-Taylor, Director of Research at Vote Rev, will share her frontline insights on how Vote Rev designed, tested and mainstreamed relational tactics to get out the vote in the US Presidential Election. Evie will be speaking in a personal capacity. Views will be her own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Vote Rev.

​Alongside Evie, we will hear from Lennard Metson, a PhD candidate in Political Science at the London School of Economics and Research Advisor at Campaign Lab, on the state of relational organising research in the UK.

Newspeak House: home of political technologists, rogue researchers, dissident ethicists, activist hackers, democracy builders, governance geeks, policy nerds, algorithmic justice warriors, data journalists, radical librarians, and infrastructure philosophers.

​Join us for one last uprising before the year is out.

Science Futures is for anyone passionate about the future of research and its societal impact, a series of events uniting artists, philosophers, engineers, & scientists exploring future directions of science.

18:00: Doors open
18:30: Introduction
19.00: Dr Caspar Addyman: “Why I rage quit the cutest job in science & what I did next”
21:30: Mingling and planning futures
22:00: Close

Dr. Caspar Addyman is a child psychologist who has studied how babies learn for two decades, focusing on language, concepts, and their sense of time. Since 2011 he had studied why babies laugh and why it matters. He authored the popular science book “The Laughing Baby” and collaborated with Grammy winner Imogen Heap to create “The Happy Song.”

In March 2022 Caspar resigned his job at Goldsmiths. escaping a toxic work environment at a financially troubled university, but in the process losing his identity as a scientist and academic.

This is the story of what happened next. A serendipitous tale of becoming a children’s author and an research nomad applying machine learning methods to problems to parenting and early childhood. Topics covered include the Sustainable Development Goals, neurodiversity, mental health, freelancing, science communication and AI ethics. With a little bit of zen and magick to unsettle the rationalists.

Caspar is an extraordinary lecturer at the Institute for Life Course Health Research, Stellenbosch University and researcher with the Global Parenting Initiative. He is Chief Insight Officer at http://playtandem.com and his “Babies Laugh” picture books are published by Campbell Books. Discover more at https://babies.lol.

The winter solstice is the darkest point of the year, but also the moment when that darkness begins to ebb and light returns to the world. And so we shall come together, recognise the darkness in our lives and in the world, and turn towards the light and our hope for a brighter tomorrow…

This will be a pluralist event (for people of all faith and none) focused on a ceremony with readings, poems and communal singing, with a theme of hope.

You are invited to bring a poem/quote to read or share (for inspiration see https://bit.ly/3GDNeC7) and if possible to bring a thing to make the space nice (like a cushion, wall-hanging, fairy lights, etc). We ask for an optional suggested donation of £10 to cover food and venue costs.

PLAN
○ 17:00 – SET-UP: Anyone who can turn up early is invited to help us cook and set up the space. You are invited to bring cushion, wall-hanging, fairy lights, etc.
○ 19:00 – DINNER: Everyone welcome. Vegan [details TBC].
○ 20:00 – CEREMONY: Poems and readings, singing and sharing, warmth and collectivity. You are invited (encouraged but not obliged) to bring a reading or poem or quote or song to share. See: https://bit.ly/3GDNeC7
○ 22:00 – PARTY: 💃 🕺 You are very welcome to come in and out in the day, or just turn up for food at 7. But please do not arrive between 8-10pm during the solstice ceremony.

NOTES
â—‹ Vegan food.
â—‹ +1s welcome. (But ask if you invite more)
â—‹ Children welcome.
○ Pluralist – for people of all faiths and none.
â—‹ You would be welcome to stay over.

​This session is part of the Introduction to Political Technology course at Newspeak House, open to faculty and fellowship candidates only.

​In this session we will discuss results from the previous session, including challenges of interacting with others’ systems and benefits of networked knowledge discovery.

​This session is part of the Introduction to Political Technology course at Newspeak House, open to faculty and fellowship candidates only.

In this hack night, we’ll explore the inner workings of an MP’s office, focusing on how its processes operate and identifying opportunities where technology can streamline and improve efficiency. This session will provide practical insights into the daily functions of an MP’s office, with a forward-looking view on innovation.

​This session is part of the Introduction to Political Technology course at Newspeak House, open to faculty and fellowship candidates only.

​In this session, we’ll dive into the world of political technology, exploring what makes certain tools effective. We’ll examine three key campaign technologies, discussing their successes and weaknesses and the reasons behind them. We’ll also cover how to identify opportunities for innovation within campaign processes. This is a great opportunity to understand what works in political tech and how innovation shapes the future of campaigning.