GIG Awards 2021 - Annual Award (Part 2)

 This is the fourth and final blog post in our series highlighting the winners of the 2021 GIG Awards.

This year the GIG Annual Award was awarded jointly to two very different teams, both of which encapsulated the diversity and importance of the work undertaken by those working in the KIM profession in government. The standard of entries for this year’s Awards was very high and the Judging Panel were particularly impressed by the two winning entries. In a separate blog post, which was published last week, you can read about the nomination for the Legislation Services and Web Archiving Teams at The National Archives (TNA) who were one of the joint winners of our Annual Award.

 

In this post we highlight the success of the KIM Bite Size programme of seminars which were managed and delivered by a team comprising Claire Jurczuk (Departmental Records Officer, Dept for Education) and Matthew Tanton, Shona Love, Nicki Welch and Balint Csollei who work on Cross Government Engagement at The National Archives. The nomination was submitted by David Smith, Deputy Director, Knowledge & Information Management at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (formerly MHCLG) and the Government KIM Head of Profession. The nomination also recognises the contribution of the many presenters who gave their time and expertise in delivering sessions.

 

Since the start of the Covid pandemic, Claire, Matthew, Shona, Nicki and Balint have been instrumental in delivering a series of Government Knowledge and Information Management bite sized sessions, which the GKIM profession had developed, with contributions from within and outside Government, on a wide range of KIM related topics. The sessions have proved to be a perfect vehicle for providing often large numbers of GKIM professionals with short, practitioner-led awareness raising and development sessions on a wide variety of topics. Sessions are just 30 minutes long and are usually very interactive with lots of pertinent questions and comments from audience members, and some really helpful answers from the presenters. The programme of webinars has been really well received, and David Smith mentioned that it has often been cited as a reason KIM professionals join the GKIM website so as to be able to access the sessions.

The GKIM Bite Size programme is an excellent example of good collaboration and knowledge sharing with audiences regularly numbering in excess of 100. The range of topics has been very broad covering technologies (e.g. MS Teams and Power Automate in records management); compliance (managing information discovery for the Grenfell Tower Fire Public Inquiry; sensitivity reviewing and the Public Records Act; understanding copyright, licensing and information re-use); the practical application of indexing and the use of taxonomise and interesting methodologies (such as storytelling as a KM tool at the Home Office), to name just a few.  Not only has the programme helped inform and educate members of the GKIM profession, it has also provided opportunities for staff working in the profession to develop their presentation skills and to develop their reflective practice skills.

The nomination highlighted that the team have not only shown excellent organisational and management skills in assembling a programme of speakers, but also demonstrated a broad understanding of GKIM activities, resulting in a programme of great variety allowing it to cater to a very diverse range of interests. In addition, the team have developed excellent technical skills in running events using Microsoft MS Teams and ensuring the technical aspects of the sessions were well catered for. A very bright example of good knowledge sharing in the dark days of the Covid pandemic.

 

The Judging Panel were impressed at the team’s ability to maintain a varied programme of events during a difficult year, providing an important means for members of the GKIM community to stay in touch and develop their professional knowledge when other opportunities for learning were not available due to the impacts of the pandemic. The series has gained traction and maintained popularity having recently re-started with Bite Size #23. The initiative is clearly innovative, making good use of technical solutions to reach across departmental boundaries to share information and knowledge. Feedback from GIG members shows that the KIM bite-size sessions are highly valued across the KIM profession. Stephen Gregory of the Welsh Government’s Information, Library and Archive Services, commented:

 

“Bite Size sessions have enabled staff opportunities for valued professional development and networking, providing insights and awareness from right across GKIM specialty areas. These are views that many us wouldn’t normally have access to. The sessions have removed the geographical, cost and time barriers to training, development and networking during the COVID pandemic, just when this was needed most!  Bite Size has also done much to encourage, enable and perpetuate knowledge sharing. I really can’t speak highly enough about this initiative and the colleagues who made this all a reality”.

 

Widely applicable, the initiative has had a snowball effect, in which other organisations, such as GIG, were able to take inspiration for a further set of webinars on the topics included and share them more widely. As we return to a more normal daily life, the bite-size webinar model is definitely something that is here to stay and will continue to make a positive impact on Government information organisations.

 

Many congratulations to Claire, Matthew, Shona, Nicki and Balint and all those who have contributed to the KIM bite-size programme.

 

 

 

Karen George

Vice Chair, Government Information Group & Chair of the Awards Judging Panel

 

 

 

 

The GIG Annual Awards are an ideal opportunity to achieve wider recognition for the work that you do and can help raise the profile of you, your team and your organisation. So why not start thinking now about submitting a nomination for 2022?  However big or small the piece of work it is all testament to innovation, hard work, professionalism and commitment - and the value of KIM skills.