Intern Arran Benton reflects on their time as part of City-REDI and their work on Shaping Birmingham Futures Together.
The initial project
When I started the internship at City-REDI I didn’t really know what to expect, nor did I know a huge deal about how the world of policy operates, but after going through this internship I feel I learned so much about the field of policy, how these organisations work with the council and the issues that arise from this relationship. It’s been an invaluable experience, and this is despite the internship not going entirely to plan and the issues I faced regarding my project.
The project I worked on is called “Pulse of the City”, in which the goal was to identify themes in discussion and discourse on online platforms and to produce social insight briefings from that. The project used social media data given to us by Birmingham City Council.
The project aims to see how Birmingham City Council was viewed by the public. To do this the project would gauge public sentiment and attitude towards Birmingham City Council (BCC) and its projects through the use of methods like sentiment or keyword analysis. Additionally, comparisons between previous redevelopment projects would be used to see what went right and wrong on different projects. Through doing this, a picture of BCC (and its projects) could be painted through the analysis done on the data. This analysis could be used to identify how BCC could improve in the future, and how development projects could be delivered better.
My experience
The project ultimately didn’t go to plan due logistical issues regarding BCC workshops and access to the data for the project, resulting in the project having to be cut short. This isn’t to blame either BCC or City-REDI, as there were scheduling issues which were hard to remedy. Despite this, I’d still done some of the research section of the project, which was done in the initial weeks of the internship.
It was through this research that I gained an understanding about how these analytical methods are done by researchers on large datasets, like I would have used in the project. I found out their strengths and weaknesses and when they’re best employed. I focused on researching sentiment analysis, which was mentioned in the project brief, and I found a number of reports or articles which detailed how it worked and areas where it lacked. I came away from this feeling like I learnt more about data analysis, but also feeling like there was so much I didn’t know. It wasn’t until I researched this topic, and in particular this method, that I realised just how complicated and technical this process is. While Sentiment analysis is tough to understand it creates incredibly useful outputs; it simplifies text (like messages or posts) to just the tone or attitude expressed within them, saving us from the time-consuming task of manually assigning these values to the text.
In addition to this, through meetings with people from different work-roles in City-REDI, I walked away with some insight on the areas of policy that I didn’t get to work with. Things like communications and economic modelling. I gained an understanding of their role and what work they do, the issues they face in their role, and how these affect and are used in policy-making. For example, from the communications team I learnt how they disseminate research, from the academics and researchers at City-REDI, to people outside the organisation in policy decision-making roles. I also learned how the communications team engage with the press and look for opportunities in the government where ongoing or existing research/work from City-REDI could be useful.
I heard first hand what its like to work in the field of public policy but I also learned what other types of organisations work in this field like consultancies, think tanks, advocacy groups and research/academic institutions (like City-REDI) and what the crossover is between the types of work they do and what jobs they deal with. It gave me a more rounded view of the field, compared to if I was to walk away with just knowledge about how City-REDI operates. It’s given me an understanding of where you can go in this field, the types of work available and an idea of what to expect from these different types of organisations.
Overall I’m very thankful for the insight I gained from speaking to various people within City-REDI, I found it incredibly helpful and I’m grateful that they took the time to speak and answer the questions I had for them.
Despite the setbacks in the internship I can definitely say that I’ve walked away from the internship more knowledgeable about the field than I was before, and it has only further solidified my desire to pursue this field in the future. The experience I gained here has been incredibly valuable and everyone that I worked with and spoke to were so helpful. I hope my experience can be used in the future to identify areas where the internship can be improved for future interns to create an even better experience.
This blog was written by Arran Benton, City-REDI Intern , City-REDI, University of Birmingham
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this analysis post are those of the authors and not necessarily those of City-REDI / WMREDI or the University of Birmingham.