Our learnings from our first LocalGov Drupal Camp

First up, Rhodri:

As a testing partner that sometimes sits in the middle, it was lovely for us that this event brought together both the local authorities and the development agencies - a few of which we've had the pleasure of working with already. Bringing together both sides of the table is incredibly valuable; finding out what people actually need and then seeing how that inspires the technical wizards who can make it happen!

You really felt that the event would have a genuine impact on the continual improvement of LocalGov Drupal. And it wasn't just one-way presentations. In fact, one of the sessions we joined was gathering ideas for accessibility improvements that would be shared and reviewed with the LGD team (read more from William and Cameron on this in a moment).

What really stands out to me about the LGD community though is the enthusiasm for sharing, openness and learning from each other's successes and failures. Councils will have many common grounds; there's no need to invest time and money into creating their own waste management feature for example. Why not use what other councils have done, found out what worked well and then repurpose and improve? Local governments working with LGD know they might be developing features that other local authorities will be able to use as well. This seems to be the ethos of LGD that I really connected with.

Next up, William:

It was great to be on the other side of talks for once, hearing about the ways in which accessibility had been considered in the LocalGov Drupal platform was incredibly interesting. The ability to create a custom alt attribute on a page-by-page basis without requiring the addition of a new image to a media library struck me as an excellent quality of life feature.

In a session led by Maria Young and Richard Rowley from Agile Collective we explored real-world challenges that content authors face when trying to make non-text content accessible. These varied from lack of education to wanting support from AI in reviewing existing alternative attributes for quality based on existing content.

The second half of the session had us split into groups to identify potential solutions to these challenges. Ideas included:

• Auto-generating alt attributes for linked images using the target page's page title
• Placing help links for council-specific documentation near any alternative attribute so it’s easier to find
• Adding a soft character count to alt text fields, flagging overly long description and suggesting they might be better used as captions.

The common thread across all suggestions was the goal of empowering content creators giving them tools, not restrictions, to make informed, accessible choices for their users.

This idea 'how can we support your needs better?' echoed across the event. Whether it was conversations around what feature improvements would help councils through structural reorganisation or discussions on how to create AI powered customer journeys using LGD content.

And finally, Cameron:

It was reassuring to hear that many attendees, like me, were experiencing LocalGov Drupal for the first time. The opening session included a quick round of icebreakers, giving us insight into who was in the room, their roles, and the councils they represented.

I spent most of the day listening to a series of engaging digital accessibility sessions. I particularly enjoyed the workshop, ‘Codesigning alt text and decorative images’, where we came up with new feature suggestions to help users create better alternative text for images. These ideas would then be put forward to the rest of the LGD team as potential new features for the platform.

One recurring topic during these talks was the challenge of getting cross-departmental buy-in for accessibility. Content teams within councils often face resistance or lack of awareness from other department to be accessible and comply with accessibility regulations. A great suggestion shared by one of the councils was to create an internal guidebook showing how to use LGD and accessibility best practices. This guide became a reference point for encouraging better compliance and education internally.

The entire day was insightful and reinforced how useful LGD is for local councils that have adopted the project, with an overall theme of ‘helping each and every constituent of your area’.

So, to sum it all up

LocalGov Drupal Camp gave us valuable insights, fresh ideas, and a stronger sense of the community behind the platform. We left inspired by the shared commitment to accessibility, collaboration, and making digital services work better for everyone. We’re excited to see where LGD goes next – and we’re already looking forward to next year!

About Zoonou

Zoonou is a UK-based software testing company. We’re a B Corp and 100% employee owned. Combining technical delivery and advisory services, we collaborate with the private, public and third sectors to create better software, services and products.