Notes Jan 16th 2013 Uchaguzi meetup

Groups of people in the team:

Academic Researchers can work on the M&E – additional questions

New ways of representing data, locational data, visualization data, ways of representing statistics; what other statistics should we be looking at? – for the data analysts; statisticians

Social media experts – discuss the signal to noise ratio on social media; techniques and experimental software to capture this; who should we listen to? Are there twitter lists? 

Questions:

1. Do people know how to vote?
2. How can we help to educate?
3. What kind of questions should we be asking?
4. What formats should we release the data in?
5. Key risk areas to focus on?
6. Best way to reach various areas?
7. How should we visualize the data?
8. How to make all this data actionable?
9. Analyzing data?

How to represent raw data? 

Doing analysis based on local vs. National data; using predictive models of future conflicts etc

Audience of data:

who is receiving the data; who is analyzing the data; who is going to present the info (press releases to the journalist; how do we make our platform the one-stop shop for this information? Who to attract to use Uchaguzi?) – should we engage media; community radio stations; community leaders; localization by language translations?)

e.g. how do journalists like their data – they hate numbers; ownership of media; lack of specialization; simplify info for the lay man; make big numbers make sense; police and law enforcement- critical incidents sent to a specific group to do escalate it- categorizing information

Methodology of data collection and representation – locational data (geography); context of data/topical data (trending; political; law datasets; agricultural entrepreneurship); comparing different datasets – timelines; historical data; priorities classification; risk areas to focus on

Format of the data: Excel; CSV; open formats; How do we put out this information in the best packaged way for these audiences? How much information can we send out in a blast? When are we sending this information – again, packaging of results; summarizing data in sentences; breaking down complex terms; when do we send these? Language of delivery of final data; feedback loops how do we get this? E.g SMS to youth groups on the ground.

Presentation: pie/ugali charts for responders;

Uses of the data: verification processes; validity and measures of impact; how to break down the datasets and the meaning of the data; predictive models for planning- what data pieces can you do that with? (Local context etc; correlations with other sectors of the economy, poverty rates); categorising information

Notes from 30^th Jan 2013 Meetup

Inputs into the platform: SMS, tweets, fb, email, mobile reports and web forms

What kind of information do we want given out (output):

• Civic Education

-        There’s a lot of ignorance on civic education among the citizens. E.g. one citizen said they were told to vote for the picture that is most appealing to them.

-        Use the short code for people to subscribe to the system to get data about them e.g. age, sex, location, occupation, etc.

-        Once registered then we can ask their feedback on what civic info would they want to know. This will inform what feedback will be given back to them as opposed to blanket texts.

-        We could give feedback to the citizens through bulk sms

-        The voters should also be told about their rights e.g. right not be intimidated and where to report what they see is wrong.

-        Alerts of hotspots given to those subscribed to the system

-        IEBC to inform on how to deal with potentially violent causing situations e.g. what happens when your name is missing.

-        Citizens to be informed of what they need on the actual election day. As there’s a misconception that one has to have the voter’s card and yet it is the ID that is required.

The format of the information (output format):

-        We should think about both the ‘tech savvy’ and the common man.

-        Infographics as one mode of output.

-        We should not underestimate the power of the mobile phone to reach the rural folk.

-        Analyzing the media to know when there are mass listeners and then use that time for civic education.

Other pointers

-        Scenario mapping should be considered

-        Facebook has the most traffic so the platform should work on getting more input from fb.

Verification of the information from the ground

-        Working with the police on the ground to verify what is being submitted on the ground and UWIANO people on the ground.

-        Use of IEBC stream to verify the info coming in.

-        Use of the media houses to verify the info on the ground.

-        Use of applications e.g. Ma3route to track incidents

“The strength of the platform lies in the objectivity of the feedback coming to the platform as opposed to media that may be biased”.

Notes from 19^th Feb 2013 Meetup

Analysis and Research

- Categories on the Uchaguzi platform: The kind of data that comes to the Uchaguzi platform: pre election, positive events, polling stations, ballot and results, urgent, dangerous speech, security, etc.

- Audiences: Mainstream media, community organizations, government, IEBC, political parties, businesses, social media, general public.

- Datasets that could be used: Poverty dataset that could be overlayed to polling stations, to incidences of violence, voter turnout and poverty.

NB: http://kenyaelectionmaps.blogspot

Possible Output: From 1^st of March when the deployment goes live to 8^th of March, there shall be two reports released daily. These reports shall aggregate the input on the platform and shall mainly be quantitative analysis as qualitative analysis may risk Uchaguzi being misquoted by the audience.

Sample Report Description:

• The header column shall have a section on sources of the reports coming in e.g. IEBC and other media links; the date and time and the Uchaguzi.
• The mid section shall consist of two main stories. This shall be a focus on positive stories.
• The bottom column shall give a section on any other occurring story but that is not a headliner for the day; a section on quick facts/figures on the reports coming in and a section of other related feeds.
• The footer of the report shall give a list of the partners.
  

1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd March

• The big stories shall be on positive stories, polling station issues, urgent (relating to personal security) aid/humanitarian action (where citizens can get aid) 

4^th March

• Main stories will be on results
• The rest remains as above 

5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th March

• Same as above
• An additional social/lifestyle section e.g. if citizens are affected by social amenities like mpesa not working, etc). 

To Be Done:

• Preparation of a daily checklist
• Preparation of an ask email for digital volunteers who are in different timezones who will be able to collect the data as it comes in when the Kenyan team is asleep.
• Have a contact person