Hi everyone and sorry I could not join the Lab session yesterday.
I’ve just watched the recording. This is such an interesting topic and it seems like there
was lots of discussion already!
Here are my thoughts fwiw:
* Practical point: For speech transcription, I would highly recommend Fireflies.ai
over Otter or any other platform. It is very accurate, more than Otter and much more than
Teams.
* I agree with Till, that renewable energy may be too specific. Also, where are the
bounds of renewable energy as it merges with energy efficiency of housing, transport
policy and many other areas. As well as positive action, it might also be good to look at
stopping/preventative actions like preventing new oil pipelines.
* If you are going to analyse text, you might need to look for subtleties and pick
keywords carefully. I sense climate action is increasingly being framed by putting other
key benefits first, or even without mentioning the word ‘climate’ or ‘environment’…and
this may be a promising way forward. Republicans and other parties (like Labour currently)
may purposely steer away from overtly linking to climate policy for fear of backlash. For
instance, the IRA has had success in generating jobs and economic benefits and some
Republicans are supportive of these policies. Labour have made very few explicit
references to climate since coming to power yet have quietly changed some policies around
clean energy.
* How about female vs male judges’ decisions? There are increasing cases of climate
litigation around the world. Would the sample size be big enough?
* In the UK I am not sure if you can analyse voting behaviours due to the influence of
whips..??
* If you look at the UK, it might be worth speaking to people who know how the
realities of the UK Parliament system really well and what data might be available, like
Westminster journalist Isabel
Hardman<https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-We-Get-Wrong-Politicians/dp/1782399755>. Rory
Stewart has also just published a
book<https://www.amazon.co.uk/Politics-Edge-Memoir-Rory-Stewart/dp/1787332713> on
this.
* For everyone/anyone: What is Alie Hilda’s book club?
Really cool topic!
Liz
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