people – ONS Digital, Technology and Methodology

So long and thanks for all the stats!

One of the founder members of the visual.ONS team has moved on to pastures new. Hannah Thomas has been an integral part of the team, which has pushed the boundaries of data visualisation. Here she writes about her time at ONS. We will miss you StatsHan!

TaTa For Now ONS

by Hannah Thomas

July 27, 2012 was my last day as a teacher and I will never forget the sense of relief.

It was a turning point in my life – I was switching from a difficult and emotionally-draining job to a role in the civil service in the Office for National Statistics – which I imagined would be far less demanding.

The allure of flexible working, cheaper holidays, being able to go and get a cup of tea whenever I liked and never having to mark an exercise book again made it seem like a dream job.

My ONS journey

Three and a half years later and while it is a fact that life at ONS has been less stressful than the three years I spent teaching it doesn’t mean I haven’t worked hard or not been stimulated. Quite the opposite in fact, I have been given many opportunities to develop and grow into a job that I really do enjoy.

I started in labour market analysis and my first big publication was on “underemployment” (a hot topic at the time when the country was just about pulling itself out of the Great Recession). There was no Digital Publishing Division (DPD) at this time so I developed this little beauty all on my own using nothing but Google images, Microsoft Office and Microsoft Paint:

. . . and the crowd went wild!

You may snigger now but my lollipop stick, vacuum cleaner and martini glass were all extremely well received!

As the ONS grew and developed around me I passed the statistician fast stream and decided the place for me was DPD. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and I don’t think Matt Jukes had a clue what to do with me either but as he felt I was too dangerous to have floating around, he found a place in his team and I moved upstairs.

Onwards and upwards

Now, this was around the start of 2014 and I definitely remember feeling as though I had moved from the Dark Side, being as I was, the only statistician in DPD. And a previously rogue statistician at that – following the success of my lollipop lady I had moved onto making monthly infographics for the labour market division.

But I was ready to assimilate and made a lateral move into the editorial team. This meant no more potching about with Adobe Illustrator and Microsoft Paint – I now deferred to the expertise of the design team for that – concerning myself more with writing and communicating.

There wasn’t a whole lot of fun to be had in those early days. We wrote “short stories” (as articles were then called), created You Tube videos and developed many, many infographics. I think I lacked the confidence to speak my mind fully at this time (something I know will shock some readers of this blog)!

One highlight though, as ever, was the baby names release in August 2014 – this was the first time we looked at the effect of sport, music and pop culture on the popularity of names given to new babies:

The creation of Visual.ONS

When Visual.ONS came into being in early 2015 it was another turning point for our team at ONS – offering more freedom and a sleeker look to our work. We were also able to incorporate interactive material and data vis through a mash up of the design, editorial and data vis teams under Alan Smith.

This was very welcome change and this blog post was one of my early favourites – as it was driven by my own interest in the alternative answers to the “What is your religion?” question on the 2011 Census.

However, another, far more substantial turning point was looming close for me as I left ONS on March 1, 2015 awaiting the birth of my first child who arrived two weeks after his due date, on April 2.

Seriously – what mother can resist posting a photo of her beautiful baby?

Life after birth

It’s now been 14 months since I returned to work following my eight month maternity leave – and I have moved desks twice in that time (I would say that’s a record but its probably not*).

I have also been involved with around 20 posts on Visual.ONS since my return and while some of them have been frustrating to work on, I can honestly say that overall these last 14 months have been enjoyable and enlightening – there were even some projects I didn’t want to let go of!

Here are some of my favourites:

A big thanks to: Lisa Jones, Lauren Bradford, Joanna Goodwin, Rhodri Griffith, Tom Davy, Carlie Edge, Darren Waters, Rob Fry, Zoe Hartland, Frank Donnarumma, Shayla Leib, Paul Heinicker, Jon Nixon, Bethan Russ, Laura Wilson, Lisa Davies, Jamie Jenkins, Tracy Williams, Linzi Pidgeon, Rachel Lewis, Rob Chambers, Jen Watkins, Alan Smith, Matt Jukes and anyone else who I have had the pleasure of working with.

* It’s not that I mind a desk move – if its for the benefit of the business I am all for it. The problem is my last desk move brought me to what must be one of the worst seats in the division – being as it is, next to the noisy and annoying photocopier (do you really need to make 10 copies of that 50 page document?) and the noisy and annoying automatic doors (which bring in such strong gusts of cold air that learning how to drape a shawl elegantly over my shoulders has become a necessity). We have also, rather disconcertingly, had a large crane waving around outside our window for the past couple of weeks – which is one way of keeping your staff alert.

Let’s talk about stats baby, let’s talk about GDP

So, GDP. Gross Domestic Product. That quarterly estimate of the health of our economy, which – if it goes the wrong way – can have those in the corridors of power standing to attention like a mob of meerkats.

GDP is a big deal here at ONS Towers, but how much do people know about it outside of these hallowed walls?

I went onto the streets of Newport to quiz some shoppers and the results were unsurprising, certainly to me, anyway. From a random (not statistically significant) selection of six people, only one could correctly identify what GDP stood for and what the term actually meant.

There were many puzzled expressions and a few wild theories about what GDP could be…

Which brings us to #GDPweek as the topic for my inaugural digital blog entry. It’s Visual.ONS’s quest to bring meaning and relevance to the statistical terms we use every day.

We are working on a package of content that –we hope – will allow people to understand more about GDP and how it’s relevant to their everyday lives.

Visual’s target audience is the inquiring citizen; someone who is interested in newsworthy topics, written in plain English, presented in a visually engaging way.

When I think of how to tackle a topic for this readership, I try and imagine how I would explain it to my mum. Or you could describe the inquiring citizen as somewhere in between a Guardian and a Daily Mail reader.

From our encounter with the citizens of Newport, it was clear that there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever GDP (to paraphrase the poet Rupert Brooke), but it’s not often-visited.

We needed to make GDP relatable to the everyday life of our target readership. Why should they care about GDP? Why is it relevant to them?

The consensus about creating online content is that it should be packaged in the format which best suits the readership and on the platforms that they use – we go where they are.

We can no longer expect people to wade through reams of paragraphs. We should start simply and provide sign-posts to further, more in depth information. There’s often been the perception that using plain English and data visualisation is dumbing-down. I disagree.

People have different ways of understanding information, they are also time-poor and have many more distractions in their lives. Providing content in a clear way, which also signposts to further, more in-depth information, it could be argued – is just another form of offering a précis.

So, we looked at how to make GDP more personal, without compromising statistical rigour or accurate terminology.

We are hoping to roll out four or five pieces of content on GDP towards the end of November, followed by a twitter Q and A of GDP experts. Ambitious stuff. I’ll keep my own counsel on what format that content will take at the moment. But stay tuned for more updates and more about data and digital journalism at ONS.

Meet the Service Managers

There is a great deal of ‘transformation’ underway at ONS these days — particularly in relation to our digital work. As part of this we have been recruiting some new faces to support our move to a new way of working. Tom, Andy and Chris have joined in the last few weeks to take up the new (for us) Service Manager roles in three of our major initiatives.

I’ll let them introduce themselves –

Tom Scott

@drtommac

I’m the Digital Service Manager for the Census. One way or another everyone in the UK is involved making the user needs complicated and diverse. I am really excited to see how we can take the biggest paper service in the country and make it user centred and digital by design. It is going to be a real challenge to run the Census itself not to mention the need to then share the results.

I’ve worked for the Government Digital Service (GDS) for the past few years in a variety of roles all focused on delivering products to meet the needs of users. My last role was the product manager for the redesign of the Service Design Manual, bringing together all the learnings that government has made from transforming services to meet user needs (and pass a Digital Service Standard assessment!), before I left we relaunched content around user research, working in an agile environment and understanding measuring the success of services.

Before GDS I worked at Apple where my experience was truly transformational. There is real empathy in the approach, being there to support people who do not understand their technology as well as helping those who want to maximise their usage. For me empathy is key to why we build services in the way we do.

Andy Dudfield

@mr_dudders

ad_photo Prior to the ONS I worked in various digital and product roles at the BBC, most recently as product manager working for the Research and Education Space. This meant I was working across the BBC and many partner organisations around the themes of Linked Open Data and digital archives.

I have joined the ONS as a Digital Service Manager for publishing. This means I am responsible for our website, the presentation of content, the API that drives it and how we can ensure all parts of it continue to improve in line with the feedback of our audiences. I am excited to join such a strong team of talented digital folks working to provide such important information to a wide range of people.

My goal is to try and give the team here the best working environment and tools so that they can continue to deliver the best possible service.

Chris Mitchell

@chris_mitch

0df4828 As Digital Service Manager for Electronic data capture I need to build on the great work that’s already been achieved, to deliver and run a world-class digital service based on user needs. The service covers digital products for respondents to manage and complete their questionnaires, securely message ONS and access support, as well as products to allow ONS staff to build digital questionnaires, manage how they are sent out, and support respondents to provide accurate data on time.

I’ve had 20+ years experience doing IT & digital transformation, most recently the GDS Transformation Lead for Lasting Power of Attorney exemplar and assurance lead for four high profile digital by default exemplars: Rural Payments Your Tax account, PAYE and Digital Self Assessment.

I’ve relocated to Cardiff for this job, so I’m looking to make a long term impact — there are some great people working here, so that’s going to make it a whole lot easier and fun too. I’m also really impressed with the facilities here. Coming from the cramped confines of London, the access to meeting rooms, impressive cycling facilities and a creche that’s bigger than my daughter’s old nursery feel like proper luxury!