Newspeak House

The London College of Political Technology

133-135 Bethnal Green Road[email protected]@nwspk

Newspeak House is an independent residential college founded in 2015 to study, nurture and inspire emerging communities of practice across civil society and the public sector in the UK. more...

2023-24 Residential Programme: Apply Now!

We are seeking candidates for the next cohort of our residential programme, starting in October. Please share this with your communities and encourage others to apply. Expressions of interest are now open, and applying is quick and easy. The deadline is end of April.

The course is designed to support mid-career technologists gain a deep understanding of the landscape of political, civic, non-profit and public sector organisations in the UK, in order to found groundbreaking new projects or seek strategic positions in key institutions. more...

Retrospective

As we emerge from the pandemic, Newspeak House is looking to the future and how it can survive and thrive for many more years to come. A part of this is seeking constructive criticism from the communities it serves.

We understand that it can feel hard to give direct feedback, even anonymously, but we really hope that you will, as we genuinely wish to learn and improve, as well as adapt to a world that has changed significantly. We will do our best to take heed from any criticisms, wishes and visions that are shared with us.

Give us your feedback

Scholarships

We’re absolutely awed that some community members have generously stepped forwards to offer scholarships, the first we’ve ever had. Students are now faced with higher living costs than ever before, and our bursary fund was obliterated by the pandemic. This prevents deserving candidates from applying to the course, or being able to focus on their studies.

Newspeak House is still a young, scrappy institution, and it’s a great honour for our work to be recognised in this way. We know that these scholarships will be life-changing to the recipients, and that they will go on to have great impact in their future work. Read on to find out who pledged these scholarships, and also for information on how you can join them. more...

Events

As part of our research we offer our spaces for civic communities of practice to convene. Since opening in 2015 we have hosted over a thousand events, including lectures, meetups, hackathons, conferences, unconferences, workshops, roundtables, screenings, fundraisers, launches, and exhibitions.

To keep up with the event programme you can subscribe to our event calendar. If you’d like to host an event in our space, you can hire it outright, or if you’re convening a civic community of practice do get in touch ([email protected]) to see if it could fit into our programme.

What's On

Ration Club
Wednesdays • 7:00pm – 9:00pm • Lounge

Edward Saperia

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.

Register ↗
Fri 16 JUN 2023 • 6:00pm – 11:00pm • Newspeak Hall

Attention all London Prompt Engineers! Are you ready to have some fun with AI tools and make new friends? Then join us for our next prompt jam, where you can spend the evening tinkering with AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney in a relaxed and social setting.

Register ↗
Sat 17 JUN 2023 • 11:00am – 5:00pm • Terrace

Join us in London on June 17th for a day of coding to support the party. We need people with many skills e.g. managers, designers and party activists. There will be food for lunch.

Register ↗
Wed 21 JUN 2023 • 9:30am – 5:00pm • Newspeak Hall

Spend a day working alongside other organisations working on UK democratic reform

Since March 2022 we’ve organised democracy co-working days to help bring together individuals and organisations within the UK democracy space - with more than 50 organisations joining us across our previous events, including Democracy Classroom, Civic Power Fund, Fair Vote UK, Nesta, Sortition Foundation, I Have A Voice, Radix Big Tent, Public Interest News Foundation, Unlock Democracy, Zero Hour and so many more!

So if you’re working on a democracy project or organisation, or just keen to meet people that do, come along and join us for a coworking day on the 16th June.

Feel free to drop in at any part of the coworking day, for all of it or just part of it - the more the merrier. We’ll be putting on tea & coffee, snacks and refreshments.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to drop us an email at [email protected]

Democracy Network are a network of people and organisations working on issues of power, democracy and voice throughout the UK. We aim to connect and work with others to build a stronger democracy fit for the 21st century. We do this through connecting people and supporting collaboration, increasing knowledge, skills and resources, and coordinating influencing strategies and action. Join the network here.

Register ↗
Wed 21 JUN 2023 • 6:30pm – 10:30pm • Newspeak Hall

Collaborative research at hyperspeed

What impact might generative AI have on media?

The Discovery Jam will feel like a research institute running at hyperspeed. You’ll collaborate in teams to explore the problems and opportunities that generative AI presents for the press.

At the end you’ll present your findings to the whole group and we’ll publish your research on https://hackthepress.org.

Help techies build something useful

Not only will your research be published, it could be the basis for a new app.

The technology hackathon takes place over the following weekend. Your findings will be presented there and you’ll be welcome to participate.

For example, if you discover that AI-generated content poses a risk to local newspapers’ business models, then a team of coders might build a new tool for them.

Investigate the impact generative AI might have on media

At the event we’ll pose the question, ‘What impact might generative AI have on media?’ In small teams you’ll investigate potential answers and publish your findings.

You might want to explore topics like:

A Discovery Jam is a new type of event

The purpose of a Discovery Jam is to understand problems and opportunities. It arose out of a disappointment that many technology hackathon projects solve problems that aren’t real.

By holding an event beforehand that’s dedicated to the problem space we hope to help the technologists build something useful.

The format is:

  1. Form teams of 1 - 5 people. Try to incorporate a mix of skills and backgrounds.
  2. Research an important problem area. The more specific and tangible, the better.
  3. Present a compelling analysis of your area. Write it up in slides or a report. Present it at the event.

Everyone is welcome

This event is for everyone: media professionals, software engineers, policy wonks, people who scroll Instagram too much, anyone at all.

All you need is the curiosity to investigate the intersection between AI and media, and the ability to present your findings.

Register ↗
Thu 22 JUN 2023 • 1:30pm – 5:30pm • Newspeak Hall

Do you have an idea for how tech could improve low-paid or precarious work in the UK? Are you looking to take the next step and seek investment for your idea?

Resolution Ventures and Bethnal Green Ventures are hosting a WorkerTech Investment Readiness Workshop to provide expert advice to entrepreneurs who are seeking investment for their idea. The most promising ideas from the day will win a cash prize and additional expert mentorship from Resolution Ventures.

We would love to see you at this event if you:

What do we mean by tech that can improve low-paid or precarious work? We’re interested in ideas that can help workers that:

Ideas to support these people could use any technology – websites, apps, algorithms, data science to name a few. Feel free to have a look at our current portfolio of ventures to get an idea of the range of solutions we are open to backing.

What else do I need to know?

If you’re not sure if your idea meets the criteria, please email [email protected] and we will happily chat to you about the day.

We don’t want travel costs to be a barrier to anyone joining us, particularly if you are coming from outside of London. We have a small fund to cover travel costs to this event. Please email [email protected] for more information.

We will be providing all attendees with food and drinks throughout the event.

Agenda

Register ↗
Sat 24 JUN 2023 • 9:00am – 6:00pm • Newspeak Hall

News is broken. Is AI part of the solution?

For the fourth Hack The Press Hackathon we’ll be back at Newspeak House on June 24-25th. The theme this year is “Ignore previous instructions, fix the news”

Everyone is welcome, as long as they follow our code-of-conduct and have signed up on Eventbrite. Beginners are welcome! Attendees have a huge range of skill-sets, so you’ll have no problem finding someone to learn from. We will have experts mentors from three different fields (developers, journalists, researchers) to help you improve and build your ideas. If you’re new to Hackathons, take a look at this: https://hackathon.guide/

For more information, see https://hackthepress.eventbrite.com

Slack workspace: https://bit.ly/HTPSlack

Register ↗
Mon 26 JUN 2023 • 7:00pm – 9:00pm • Drawing Room

Join us for a 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 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 and technology and evidence based campaign innovation on the left. Everyone welcome!

​You can join us remotely at this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82959644687?pwd=cG9BdEFha3dmNzVjcFd2RUFTWGVNZz09

​What is Campaign Lab?

​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.

​Any questions, thoughts or ideas - do get in touch and say hi! [email protected]

Register ↗
Wed 28 JUN 2023 • 7:00pm – 9:00pm • Newspeak Hall

If you feel inspired by the visual journalism of the New York Times, winners of the Information is Beautiful awards or the wonderfully crafted graphics of great communicators like Mona Chalabi and Nadieh Bremer, join London’s event for coders, artists, analysts, journalists, designers and dashboarders searching for beauty and clarity in data.

We will take a look at recent work, listen to a couple of talks going behind the scenes on how eye-catching data-led projects happen and use this as a starting point for some discussion. The conversation will continue in the pub afterwards.

We want you to come away enabled to bring more creativity next time you are working with data!

This is the first event for a new group and details on speakers will follow soon as we organise it.

Register ↗
Fri 30 JUN 2023 • 7:00pm – 10:00pm • Terrace

Hey friends,

This month we want to facilitate discussions around the purpose of the group, better understand what people want from it, and try to put together a coherent theory of change!

We’ll have the usual community updates, drinks, vegan pizza, chatting and general good vibes, as well as opportunities for you to participate in defining the future of the group. We’ll be on the terrace of Newspeak House again to make the most of the delightful weather.

As always, please invite anyone who might be interested (including those who might not be already familiar with EA), and we’re looking forward to seeing you on the 30th!

Register ↗
Sun 02 JUL 2023 • 10:00am – 5:00pm • Newspeak Hall

As a general election draws nearer and with a new Tory government in place, join Campaign Lab for a day of hacking!

​We’ll be working on political data science challenges and designing, developing and testing election tech and campaigning innovations for the left.

​10am till late.

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

​All you need is to bring yourself and a laptop - everyone welcome!

​Following our Hack Day we’ll be running a series of bi-weekly Hack Nights leading to a final showcase of our projects in the new year!

​What is Campaign Lab?

​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.

​Any questions, thoughts or ideas - do get in touch and say hi! [email protected]

​To join remotely please sign up here: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84287900052?pwd=S0pLc05kaWkvZ0NJMEFzSFNDTnYrUT09

Register ↗
Mon 10 JUL 2023 • 3:00pm – 5:00pm • Newspeak Hall

Social Change Lab is hosting an event to discuss our recent short report, supported by Changing Ideas. In the report, we present evidence of the effectiveness of social movement organisations in accelerating social change and discuss how inadequate their funding currently is, due to several barriers to resourcing them. At the event, we will discuss those barriers, and talk about some practical ways for funders to overcome them. We will hear from activists, funders who already support grassroots movements, intermediaries who support funders, and other organisations active in the social movement ecosystem.

The event will include several short talks from a range of experts, including speakers from Blagrave Trust, Impatience Earth, Lankelly Chase, JRF, Breakthrough Impact, The Movements Trust and youth climate activists. Most of the time will be spent on questions and in small group discussions. This is a small but growing field and we want to connect some of the key people working in it, with the hope of sparking future collaboration and knowledge sharing. We are expecting around 30-40 attendees. We would be delighted if you could join us.

We hope that, whatever your current level of involvement, you will come away with an increased sense of possibility and excitement about being involved with grassroots, activist organisations. The event will be a chance to network, get practical advice, and be inspired about the potential for social movement organisations to make positive change in the world.

Who we are: Social Change Lab conducts social movement research to help solve the world’s most pressing problems. We seek to inform activists, decision-makers and philanthropists on the best ways to accelerate positive social change. We have a particular focus on the climate movement but we are interested in all movements working on progressive social change.

Register ↗
Mon 24 JUL 2023 • 7:00pm – 9:00pm • Drawing Room

Join us for a 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 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 and technology and evidence based campaign innovation on the left. Everyone welcome!

​You can join us remotely at this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82959644687?pwd=cG9BdEFha3dmNzVjcFd2RUFTWGVNZz09

​What is Campaign Lab?

​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.

​Any questions, thoughts or ideas - do get in touch and say hi! [email protected]

Register ↗
Mon 07 AUG 2023 • 7:00pm – 9:00pm • Drawing Room

Join us for a 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 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 and technology and evidence based campaign innovation on the left. Everyone welcome!

​You can join us remotely at this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82959644687?pwd=cG9BdEFha3dmNzVjcFd2RUFTWGVNZz09

​What is Campaign Lab?

​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.

​Any questions, thoughts or ideas - do get in touch and say hi! [email protected]

Register ↗
Mon 21 AUG 2023 • 7:00pm – 9:00pm • Drawing Room

Join us for a 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 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 and technology and evidence based campaign innovation on the left. Everyone welcome!

​You can join us remotely at this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82959644687?pwd=cG9BdEFha3dmNzVjcFd2RUFTWGVNZz09

​What is Campaign Lab?

​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.

​Any questions, thoughts or ideas - do get in touch and say hi! [email protected]

Register ↗
Mon 04 SEP 2023 • 7:00pm – 9:00pm • Drawing Room

Join us for a 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 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 and technology and evidence based campaign innovation on the left. Everyone welcome!

​You can join us remotely at this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82959644687?pwd=cG9BdEFha3dmNzVjcFd2RUFTWGVNZz09

​What is Campaign Lab?

​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.

​Any questions, thoughts or ideas - do get in touch and say hi! [email protected]

Register ↗

Event Archive