34 min
GDS Podcast #26: GDS Quiz 2020 Government Digital Service Podcast
-
- Government
We look back at what happened over the past 12 months at GDS, highlighting work on accessibility, the coronavirus response and more.
The transcript for the episode follows:
-------------
Vanessa Schneider:
Hello and welcome to the Government Digital Service podcast. My name is Vanessa Schneider and I am Senior Channels and Community Manager at GDS. Today, we are looking back as fondly as we can on 2020. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this was a momentous year and we have many reasons to be proud of what our organisation and our colleagues have achieved.
What better way to reflect on the year than to ask a couple of my colleagues to put their knowledge to the test? We're going to see who has been paying attention to GDS happenings in 2020. Please welcome my guests Louise Harris and Kit Clark.
Louise Harris:
Hey, Vanessa, good to be here.
Vanessa Schneider:
Great to have you on, Lou. Do you mind telling us what you do at GDS and to spice things up a little bit for the end of the year, maybe a fun fact about yourself?
Louise Harris:
Sure. Well, of course, we know each other very well, Vanessa, because I have the pleasure of working with you in the Creative Team. But for everybody else, I'm Lou and I head up the Channels and Creative Team at GDS. I'm a relatively new starter - I'm one of our lockdown joiners because I joined in May 2020. In terms of a fun fact, it may surprise some of you given my accent to know that I'm a fluent Welsh speaker.
Vanessa Schneider:
You sou-I-do you sound very Welsh? You know what? We've got to put it to the test. Can you tell me what the team is called that you work for in Welsh?
Louise Harris:
Ok, this is something I think I can do. So I'll give you my intro again in Welsh. Louise Harris dw’ i, a rwy’n gweithio yn y Tim Creadigol a Sianeli yng Ngwasanaeth Digidol y Llywodraeth.
Vanessa Schneider:
Ok, anybody who knows Welsh, you've got to contact us and tell us if she got it right or not. Kit, would you mind introducing yourself?
Kit Clark:
Sure. My name's Kit, I'm an Engagement Manager within the Strategic Engagement Function. An interesting fact I suppose about myself, is that my uncle composed the Eastenders theme tune. So that's something I always, always bring out in introductions.
Vanessa Schneider:
I was warned that your interesting fact would be amazing. And I think it does live up to that disclaimer. I think that is a very, very fun fact indeed.
Louise Harris:
I was not warned that your fun fact was going to be as good Kit, I'm so impressed by that. What a claim to fame.
Vanessa Schneider:
I think I might just start with the quiz. Of course, if you're at home, you can play along if you like. Just make sure to keep score as you go, as I'll be sharing the answer after each question.
So let's start with the first question of the quiz.
Here it is: what was the most popular GDS podcast episode in 2020? So what topic do you think was in the most popular episode? I'll take that as an answer.
[horn noise]
Louise Harris:
I'm presuming that we're excluding this episode from the list of most popular ones, so it's the most popular one before this one, right?
Vanessa Schneider:
Yes. I'm afraid we don't have any foresight, so it'll have to be one from January to November.
Louise Harris:
OK, well I think we've had some really great guests and different people from across government this year. The big one has got to be the GOV.UK response to Coronavirus and setting up the Coronavirus landing page - I think that was such a big achievement, both in terms of the work that was done to get that product up and out, but also for you folks over here on the podcast, because I believe that was the first remote recorded podcast that we did.
Vanessa Schneider:
Hmm. Any thoughts, Kit? Any competing offers?
Kit Clark:
Not too sure. I know that accessibility's been quite a theme this year, a
We look back at what happened over the past 12 months at GDS, highlighting work on accessibility, the coronavirus response and more.
The transcript for the episode follows:
-------------
Vanessa Schneider:
Hello and welcome to the Government Digital Service podcast. My name is Vanessa Schneider and I am Senior Channels and Community Manager at GDS. Today, we are looking back as fondly as we can on 2020. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this was a momentous year and we have many reasons to be proud of what our organisation and our colleagues have achieved.
What better way to reflect on the year than to ask a couple of my colleagues to put their knowledge to the test? We're going to see who has been paying attention to GDS happenings in 2020. Please welcome my guests Louise Harris and Kit Clark.
Louise Harris:
Hey, Vanessa, good to be here.
Vanessa Schneider:
Great to have you on, Lou. Do you mind telling us what you do at GDS and to spice things up a little bit for the end of the year, maybe a fun fact about yourself?
Louise Harris:
Sure. Well, of course, we know each other very well, Vanessa, because I have the pleasure of working with you in the Creative Team. But for everybody else, I'm Lou and I head up the Channels and Creative Team at GDS. I'm a relatively new starter - I'm one of our lockdown joiners because I joined in May 2020. In terms of a fun fact, it may surprise some of you given my accent to know that I'm a fluent Welsh speaker.
Vanessa Schneider:
You sou-I-do you sound very Welsh? You know what? We've got to put it to the test. Can you tell me what the team is called that you work for in Welsh?
Louise Harris:
Ok, this is something I think I can do. So I'll give you my intro again in Welsh. Louise Harris dw’ i, a rwy’n gweithio yn y Tim Creadigol a Sianeli yng Ngwasanaeth Digidol y Llywodraeth.
Vanessa Schneider:
Ok, anybody who knows Welsh, you've got to contact us and tell us if she got it right or not. Kit, would you mind introducing yourself?
Kit Clark:
Sure. My name's Kit, I'm an Engagement Manager within the Strategic Engagement Function. An interesting fact I suppose about myself, is that my uncle composed the Eastenders theme tune. So that's something I always, always bring out in introductions.
Vanessa Schneider:
I was warned that your interesting fact would be amazing. And I think it does live up to that disclaimer. I think that is a very, very fun fact indeed.
Louise Harris:
I was not warned that your fun fact was going to be as good Kit, I'm so impressed by that. What a claim to fame.
Vanessa Schneider:
I think I might just start with the quiz. Of course, if you're at home, you can play along if you like. Just make sure to keep score as you go, as I'll be sharing the answer after each question.
So let's start with the first question of the quiz.
Here it is: what was the most popular GDS podcast episode in 2020? So what topic do you think was in the most popular episode? I'll take that as an answer.
[horn noise]
Louise Harris:
I'm presuming that we're excluding this episode from the list of most popular ones, so it's the most popular one before this one, right?
Vanessa Schneider:
Yes. I'm afraid we don't have any foresight, so it'll have to be one from January to November.
Louise Harris:
OK, well I think we've had some really great guests and different people from across government this year. The big one has got to be the GOV.UK response to Coronavirus and setting up the Coronavirus landing page - I think that was such a big achievement, both in terms of the work that was done to get that product up and out, but also for you folks over here on the podcast, because I believe that was the first remote recorded podcast that we did.
Vanessa Schneider:
Hmm. Any thoughts, Kit? Any competing offers?
Kit Clark:
Not too sure. I know that accessibility's been quite a theme this year, a
34 min