Someone recently pointed out to me that it’s been 4,261 days since I first started at Essex County Council (pause for shocked gasps). So, it’s been a while since I’ve thought much about my days walking to school. Or at …
Essex County Council is massive. There are around 12,000 employees. It’s the second biggest local authority in the country, geographically, and it’s the second largest spending authority (which makes sense, given the size thing I just mentioned). There are hundreds …
Lured by the promise of learning and cake, three of ECC's newest Analysts and Junior Analysts attended this year's Summer School at IADS, University of Essex.
Council tax is inherently ‘unsexy’. It doesn’t hit the headlines all too often, let alone national news. In the media it’s an oft-neglected, much-maligned thing. In fact, you’re probably already thinking of closing this blog. Why on Earth would I …
In an era where data, AI and machine learning dominate headlines, local government teams face a critical responsibility: how do we tap into the power of data and analytics whilst ensuring ethics and integrity remain central? Key to achieving this …
In this week's blog we hear from Bella Puleston as she reflects on her summer adventure as a Junior Analyst with the Data and Analytics team
How do we measure the health of a place? And how does that compare to other places? How is the health of these places changing over time? I’m sure like me, you are often kept awake at night wondering these …
The Turing Test stipulates that if a machine can convince a human that it is human, then it is human (intelligent).
Does that mean that if a human can convince a machine that it is machine, it is machine (artificially intelligent)?
I put that to the test…
Confused? Let me explain, here in Data and Analytics, we have our own Breakfast Club. Exactly like the one from the movie. Well, not exactly. We’re not forced to attend on a Saturday, we’re not told to sit in silence, …
It's time for our annual blog about the University Challenge project! For those of you not familiar with the calendar event of the year that is the University Challenge, it’s when we have the pleasure of working alongside students at …
What do Loreen, Ben Whishaw and Essex County Council’s Data and Analytics team have in common? That’s right, they’ve all won something big in the last week. While Loreen was delighting the world (probably) with her winning song at Eurovision, …