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MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

Advancing Freedom o Expression Using digital innovation to oster Article 19in the Global South

IV. Appendix

EDITION DW AKADEMIE # 04/2016


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EDITION DW AKADEMIE # 04/2016

MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

Advancing Freedom o Expression Using digital innovation to oster Article 19 in the Global South

Ahmad Al-Bazz, Penhleak Chan, Shubhranshu Choudhary, Guy Degen, Wouter Dijkstra,Noora Flinkman, Alejandra Gutiérrez Valdizán, Kate Hairsine, Bektour Iskender,Touque Imrose Khalidi, Fiona Macleod, Steffen Leidel, Nigel Mugamu, Dickens Olewe,Oscar Parra Castellanos, Angélica Peralta Ramos, Fabiola Torres Lopéz

IV. Apendix


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Imprint

This publication is part o a series presenting individual chapters rom the study Advancing Freedom of Expression - Using digital innovation to foster Article in the Global South

PUBLISHER

Deutsche Welle Bonn

Germany

RESPONSIBLE

Christian Gramsch

AUTHORS

Ahmad Al-BazzPenhleak ChanShubhranshu ChoudharyGuy DegenWouter DijkstraNoora Flinkman

Alejandra Gutiérrez ValdizánKate HairsineBektour IskenderTouque Imrose KhalidiFiona MacleodSteffen LeidelNigel MugamuDickens OleweOscar Parra CastellanosAngélica Peralta RamosFabiola Torres Lopéz

EDITOR

Jan Lublinski

DESIGN

Programming / Design

PUBLISHED

March

© DW Akademie

With nancial support rom the


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Digital technologies and Article Appendix

Edition DW Akademie Using digital technologies to foster Article 19 in the Global South 3

Table o Contents

South South Mani esto

Recommendations to initiatives usingdigital technologies

StrategyIntegrationSustainabilityOpennessData or public interestParticipation

Skill sharing

Case studies – act sheets

4

6

6

7

7

8

8

9

10

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4

South South Mani esto

Steffen Leidel, Guy Degen (editors)How to use digital technologies to oster reedom o expres-sion and in ormation in the Global South | DW AkademieMedia Dialogue | Cape Town | December

About

The South South Mani esto was developed during a our-daymedia dialogue that ocused on how to best use digital tech-nologies to oster reedom o expression and in ormation incountries o the Global South.

The media dialogue was hosted by DW Akademie (Germany)and IAJ (South A rica) and brought together journalists, activ-ists, and media development specialists rom countries toexchange knowledge and ideas.

Through a series o moderated discussions and idea generatingworkshops, the delegates produced seven core principles or

ostering reedom o expression and in ormation. Each prin-ciple is accompanied by recommendations or individuals andorganizations to consider when using digital technologies to

oster reedom o expression and in ormation.

The Mani esto - Introduction

We stand or using digital technologies to oster reedom oexpression and in ormation - a undamental right enshrinedin Article o the United Nations Universal Declaration oHuman Rights.

Freedom o expression in countries o the Global South ischallenged by undemocratic regimes, human rights abuses,inequality, poverty, corruption, surveillance, lack o accessto in ormation, poor media literacy, and high costs o inter-net and communication services. However, we believe digitaltechnologies can be used in innovative, ethical, democratic, in-clusive, and collaborative ways to solve problems and improvepeople’s lives.

We believe that in order to oster reedom o expression andin ormation, individuals, government, media, and other or-ganizations should observe the South South principles whendesigning, developing, and implementing projects using digi-tal technologies.

This is a living document and open or discussion.

The mani esto was produced during the South South MediaDialogue in Cape Town, hosted by DW Akademie and IAJ, inNovember .

The authors call upon those who use the South South Mani-esto to share this document and participate in its evolution.

Strategy - Develop long-term strategies to establish and pro-tect reedom o expression

Recommendations– Analyze the state o reedom o expression and how au-

thorities en orce laws– Build partnerships and networks dedicated to reedom o

expression– Use accurate and appropriate indicators to plan, develop,

and evaluate projects– Develop and adapt digital technologies to meet changing

conditions and needs– Be transparent with sources and conditions o unding

Integration - Combine digital technologies and traditionalorms o communication to oster reedom o expression.

Recommendations– Respect existing orms o community dialogue and media,

and where possible, integrate them into digital projects– Support communities using digital technology in a orm

they can use and afford

– Adhere to democratic principles and equal rights to expres-sion

– Offer equal access to media: “Think o the last person rst”– Respect individual privacy and make digital security a pri-

ority

Sustainability - Develop innovative ways o making projectssustainable and independent

Recommendations– Strive or shared and diversied ownership o projects– Find partners and appropriate sources o unding that do

not hinder independence

– Explore multiple models o nancing to sustain projectsbeyond the duration o external unding

– Think about generating revenue rom the beginning o aproject

– Use reeware, open source tools and ‘hacker communities’to be cost-effective

Openness - Facilitate our right to know

Recommendations– Advocate or reedom o in ormation and transparency laws– Develop open standards– Provide universal access to technology– Raise civic awareness o data uses through online and o -

ine campaigns and training– Share digital in ormation in accessible ormats


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Data or Public Interest - Request, collate, analyze, and sharedata in a way that everyone can use, and connect people withthe in ormation they need

Recommendations– Simpli y, explain, and visualize data to make it understand-

able– Create, publish, distribute, and share stories rom collected

data– Include metadata to make digital materials easier to search,

use, and adapt– Be creative and use transmedia ormats to visualize, pub-

lish, and share data– Develop best practices or sourcing, collating, and analyz-

ing data

Participation - Use participatory methods to strengthen ree-dom o expression and in ormation

Recommendations– Include target communities and audiences in planning, de-

velopment, implementation, and evaluation o projects– Ensure the space or participation is sa e and allows or

open expression– Make use o existing tools, methods, and plat orms to en-

courage participation– Provide digital literacy training to enable broader commu-

nity participation– Support the right to start your own digital plat orm– Engage and sensitize politicians and public officials to ac-

knowledge their obligations and accountability to theircommunities

Skills Sharing - Share knowledge and experiences betweendigital project practitioners

Recommendations– Use multiple methods and plat orms or sharing knowl-

edge and skills– Promote both online and offline activities or sharing

knowledge and skills– Explore plat orms or sharing ebooks, research papers, and

open source sofware– Create a digital bank or storing and exchanging open data

les– Share directories o media organizations– Mentor colleagues through online plat orms– Organize offline activities such as workshops and events at

universities and schools and share results online– In orm and educate people through existing media such as

TV, radio, and newspapers

The undersigned authors pledge their commitment to adhereto the South South Mani esto and to encourage others to ob-serve its principles.

Ahmad Al-Bazz , Editor, Dooz, Palestinian Territories

Penhleak (Pinkie) Chan , Managing Editor, Open DevelopmentCambodia, Cambodia

Shubhranshu Choudhary , Founder, CGNet Swara, India

Guy Degen , DW Akademie

Wouter Dijkstra , Founder and Director, TRAC FM, Uganda

Noora Flinkman , Head o Marketing and CommunicationsUnit, HarassMap, Egypt

Alejandra Gutiérrez Valdizán , Editor-in-Chie , Plaza Pública,Guatemala

Kate Hairsine , DW Akademie

Bektour Iskender , Founder, Kloop, Kyrgyz Republic

Touque Imrose Khalidi , Editor-in-Chie and Managing Direc-tor, bdnews .com, Bangladesh

Fiona Macleod , Founder and Editor, Oxpeckers Center or In-vestigative Environmental Journalism, South A rica

Steffen Leidel , DW Akademie

Nigel Mugamu , Founder and CEO, Chat, Zimbabwe

Dickens Olewe , Founder o A ricanSkyCAM and Knight Jour-nalism Fellow at Stan ord University, Kenya & USA

Oscar Parra Castellanos , Founder and Editor, Rutas del Con-icto, Colombia

Angelica (Momi) Peralta Ramos , Multimedia DevelopmentManager and Project Manager o La Nación Data, La Nación,Argentina

Fabiola Torres Lopéz , Co-Founder and Reporter, Ojo Público,Peru


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Recommendations or initiatives using digitaltechnologies Kate Hairsine and Steffen Leidel

The ollowing recommendations are oreseen as a rameworkto help ocus and clari y the steps needed to implement proj-ects using digital technology to oster reedom o expression.As living guidelines, we envisage their urther developmentand adaption as digital technologies, and the circumstances inwhich they are being used, continue to shif.

The recommendations share the structure o the South Southmani esto, a document which was created during a our-day

ocus group held with digital technology innovators run-ning projects in the Global South. These recommendationshave been augmented by the experiences shared during theinterviews with initiative ounders.

Faced with the bewildering options o using digital technolo-gies to support diverse acets o reedom o expression, thoseimplementing and unding such projects sometimes losesight o the basic undamentals o implementing and runningsuch projects. Because o this, we have deliberately included inthese recommendations some components that apply to proj-

ects in general rather than ocusing only on aspects specic todigital technology projects.

Strategy

Projects using digital technologies to support developmentand human rights are ofen overambitious when developingtheir goals and try to achieve too much within the conneso a specic project. Furthermore, many o these projects arenot sustainable beyond the pilot stage (ofen as a result obeing spread too widely) – making strategies or long-termviability essential.

Identi y an existing need. It is crucial that any new initiativeor project arise rom the notion o ullling a specic, recog-nized need, rather than ocusing on using technology or tech-nology’s sake. The organizations talked to all had hands-on ex-perience working within particular communities that enabledthem to identi y day-to-day problems or gaps that their proj-ect then sought to counter. Rutas del Conicto, or example,emerged rom the ounder’s own experience o searching orscattered in ormation, while Mera Swasthya was looking or away to collect in ormation about illegal ees.

Develop an organizational strategy. Once these needs or gapshave been identied, it is important or an initiative to devel-op strategies o how an organization can seek to meet theseneeds, react to changing circumstances and sustain itsel longenough to create change. As such, long-term sustainability re-

quires an organizational strategy. While there are many acetsto an organizational strategy, they need to contain a clear mis-sion statement and a detailed assessment o what needs to bedone to meet goals.

Include a nancial plan. Given that one o the biggest chal-lenges acing initiatives is nancial stability, priority needsto be given to developing a business plan that, among otheraspects, outlines potential revenue rom diverse sources andalso makes allowances or the uture maintenance and devel-opment o technology.

Include a technical strategy. Many o those talked to experi-enced, or are still experiencing, issues with technology – eitherwithin the organization, or on the part o the users. A technol-ogy strategy needs to set out how the planned technologywill advance the organization’s goals and also incorporate anassessment o the capacity o the organization to run such aproject, the ability o local developers to develop such a proj-ect and support it in the long term, an assessment o the localin rastructure and determine how targeted users actually ac-cess and use the particular technology. It also needs to makean assessment o potential maintenance and development. Itshould also make provisions (nancial, capacity training) orthe need to develop and adapt digital technologies to meet

changing conditions and needs.

Include a digital security risk and data protection plan. Mosto the initiatives talked to did not think o assessing digitalsecurity risks or protecting their users’ data. However, giventhe commitment and sophisticated abilities o governmentsto monitor users’ activities, and at times to punish users, it isabsolutely necessary or rights initiatives to know what risksthe general public aces when using or accessing their serviceor in ormation. It is also important to develop a privacy policy

or dealing with user’s in ormation.

Build in regular evaluation and monitoring. Without evalu-

ation and monitoring, it is difficult to know whether yourproject is meeting its goals, and whether the technology is stillsupporting you in these goals.

Build partnerships and networks with others. Several orga-nizations mentioned regional networks, such as ‘Hacks/Hack-ers,’ or open-data networks as good or sharing knowledge andcollaboration.

Analyze the state o reedom o expression and how authori-ties en orce laws. Any reedom o expression initiative needsto have an understanding o locally prevailing circumstancesrestricting reedom o expression.


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Integration

Technology does not stand alone. Rather digital technologyinitiatives need to be integrated into, and work in combinationwith, the targeted users’ current practices o receiving and im-parting in ormation.

Integrate existing orms o communication. The experienceso the interviewees show that it is more effective to use ICTs inconjunction with existing orms o communication channelsin order to widen reach. Examples include Follow the Money,which uses both social media and radio to campaign or the

release o unds, and A rica Check, which allows media to copyits content or ree.

Make use o existing tools, methods, and plat orms rathercreating a new one. Rather than developing a new website orapp that requires development and promotion (and a goodreason or users to adopt a new technology), see i you canadapt an existing technology or tool to support your idea.

Know your user. Conduct an assessment o what ICTs your tar-geted group use to send and receive in ormation, how exactlythey use this technology, and what some o the barriers o useare. Initiatives that lack knowledge o the specic context o

technology use are more likely to ail.

Promote your service using methods suited to your likely us-ers. People cannot use a service i they do not know about it,hence the importance o initiatives to actively promote theirservices. However, as above, it is important to do so using ex-isting channels. CGNet Swara, or example, operates in a regionwith virtually no traditional media; there ore it promotes itsservice with a traveling puppet theater.

Offer equal access. It is important to consider actors whichmay un airly disadvantage certain demographics, and devisestrategies to overcome this. For example, providing toll- ree

calls may make it easier or socioeconomically disadvantagedgroups to access the service.

Offer support and training in using the technology. Whenworking with digital technology projects, it is ofen not enoughto provide in ormation or a service. Targeted users need to besupported or trained in using the technology. Users o CGNetSwara whose reports are not suitable or publication are con-tacted and asked i they would like to resubmit their reportwith additional in ormation. When Mera Swasthya Meri Aawazdiscovered that women ound it difficult to dial the ten-digitnumber to report an illegal ee, they developed a system owomen in villages who could support others in making calls.

Sustainability

Many projects, especially those explored here, are initiated byone or two passionate individuals who recognize a gap andseek to ll it. They attract unding to realize their idea and oncethe project is up and running scramble to seek unds to contin-ue. However, long-term sustainability ofen requires ongoingconcerted effort and planning, and should be actored in at thevery beginning o a project.

Strengthen the capacity o staff to per orm core unctions.While many o the organizations turn to external contractors

to develop and implement the technology, quite a ew inter-viewees said that staff were not able to judge the suitabilityo certain technology and whether technical providers coulddeliver what they promised. In order to increase the long-termviability o an initiative, it ollows that staff need to be trainedin managing technology projects.

Explore multiple models o nancing rom a variety osources. Most o the initiatives interviewed here talked o howthey were exploring various orms o revenue generation (in-cluding grants, donations rom corporations and individuals,crowd unding, sale o services, events) in order to decrease de-pendence on single donors.

Plan revenue generation rom the beginning o the project. Several o the initiatives were started by individuals who hadan idea, and who then worked tirelessly to develop this idea.Afer securing the rst-round o unding to put this idea intopractice, they then realized they lacked a plan or continuingbeyond this initial unding. Financial planning contributessignicantly to the success.

Ensure unding and income sources do not hinder indepen-dence. Although none o the interviewees cited cases where

unders sought to inuence their objectives and strategies,initiatives working in the eld o reedom o expression need

to remember the importance o remaining objective andcredible.

Use reeware and open source tools to be cost-effective. Opensource sofware might not cost money to purchase, but it stillrequires maintenance, conguration, and ongoing supportthat needs to be nanced. And the Global South’s smaller poolo developers means that this support may have to come romoverseas, which can engender higher support costs or languageand time-zone issues. However, open source sofware carriesmany benets which are ofen seen to outweigh their disad-vantages. Thanks to the peer review process, it is usually secureand thanks to the ability to modi y the source code, it can beadapted to specic circumstances.


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Prepare or changes in technology and technology use.Sustainability is not just about nancial resources, butalso about having the technical resources to continue toserve your goal or mission. Be aware o shifing patternso what technology is available to your users and howthey use this technology.

Building lasting partnerships. Partnerships and collabo-rations can help an initiative advance its long-term aims.These can either be ormal, such as Plaza Publica’s part-nership with the University o Ra ael Landívar, or in or-mal, such as VozData’s collaboration with university de-

partments and transparency organizations or volunteersto digitalize data.

Openness

Initiatives promoting reedom o expression and access to in-ormation have a responsibility to lead by example, aligning

their own policies o disclosure and in ormation dissemina-tion with transparency, open data, and open source standards.

Advocate or reedom o in ormation and transparency laws.

Support the principle o net neutrality. Net neutrality is un-

damental to reedom o expression. It is about ensuring equalaccess to content, apps, and websites without discriminat-ing against, avoring, or blocking content. I net neutrality isoverturned, Internet service providers may be able to restrictcontent on commercial grounds. As such, rights organizationshave a stake in keeping the Internet open or all.

Make sofware code available or others to use, change, andshare when economically easible. Numerous initiatives areproducing sofware or adapting digital technologies to createnew tools. By sharing the sofware code or the system setup, aninitiative can enable others to benet rom their solutions. In

act, the Knight Mozilla Fellowship stipulates that sofware dur-

ing the ellowships must be shared. It is also essential to sharethis sofware on plat orms where others can nd it and benet

rom adaptions, such as GitHub or WordPress.

Share data you collect. Many initiatives involved in in orma-tion creation amass data which in orms stories, but some arereluctant to share data they might have worked hard to col-lect, clean, and analyze. However, important or unders andinitiatives themselves, to increase the use o such data andpromote data sharing, is to circulate data in ormats acces-sible by others.

Freely share your own data. Rights organizations need to stopbeing conservative about publishing their own data, such as

unding sources, conditions o unding, and amounts re-ceived. This data could be use ul in ormation to others want-

ing to build on existing knowledge. It can help build trust withstakeholders and unders. In addition, it is easier to promotetransparency and establish credibility in general when yourinitiative is opening its own in ormation.

Raise civic awareness o data uses and share data skills. Inmany developing and emerging countries, data movementsare just starting to emerge. Sharing knowledge and skills isone way to nurture these nascent movements. Sensitizing thepublic to the importance o open data is another.

Data or public interest

Governments and other institutions are being increasinglypressured to open up access to their data. At the same time,more data is now available than ever be ore. However, manyindividuals and groups are unable to exploit this data orthemselves. As such, initiatives supporting access to in orma-tion have several roles to play in supporting communities andgroups in using and understanding this data. They should alsoadvocate the opening up o data.

Freely share data using open ormats and open standards. The analysis o larger data sets requires the use o a com-puter to search, sort, and nd relationships within the data.

But some popular methods or publishing data, such as PDFsor scanned documents, are a hindrance to data analysis be-cause the data cannot be machine read. Publishing data inan open (machine-readable) ormat means people can makebetter use o the data. Another hindrance to data use is whenit is published in a proprietary ormat, this is a ormat thatcan only be opened by certain sofware. This places restric-tions on the use o the data to those who have the particularsofware. Publication in open standards, on the other hand,allows or greater use o the data. As well as being in an open

ormat and open standard, the data should also be ree or allto use, reuse, and redistribute.

Share data across diverse mediums. Within the discussiono open data, opening this data ofen re ers to archiving thisdata online. While this make sense, in that data can then be ac-cessed regardless o location, it effectively cuts off those whoare offline. One way to bridge this divide is to disseminate data,or an analysis o the data, across a variety o mediums. Thesemight range rom publishing data in traditional media such asradio and print to using diverse sources o digital media, suchas sending users SMSs with the data they require.

Simpli y, explain, and visualize data. Raw data is only com-prehensible to a small, exclusive group o skilled data ana-lysts. Data initiatives can help to make data understandableto a broader public by turning data into narrative storiesbased on the data. They can also use graphs, charts, in o-graphics, and maps to visualize the data.


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Include metadata. Metadata is ofen described as data aboutdata. It is data about the dataset that can include in ormationsuch as what exactly has been collected, how it was collected,where and when it was collected, and which sources were used.While metadata has several uses within organizations, aboveall, it makes it easier to share data with others.

Advocate or open data practices within the wider commu-nity. Having open data in the uture means advocating now orgovernments and public institutions to make their data reelyavailable in open, standard ormats. In the absence o strongopen data communities in many parts o the Global South, it

also means initiatives should consider carrying the message touture officials and become involved in university programs,

hold workshops, and engage with open data networks.

Participation

Participation is about receiving input rom members o thepublic. As several o the initiatives examined here demon-strate, there are many barriers to citizen engagement andsimply inviting participation does not automatically ensurepeople will be proactive and take part. Rather, participationneeds to be actively ostered and supported, and people need astrong motivation or incentive to participate. In addition, ini-

tiatives need to seek strategies or making this participationrepresentative o demographic diversity.

Identi y the purpose o participation. Participation is a catch-cry at the moment, and many unders push or some type oparticipation without identi ying what citizen participationwill bring to the initiative and most importantly, why peoplewill choose to participate. Given that making participationwork well takes considerable resources and effort, there needsto be a clear advantage or participation to justi y the invest-ment o resources.

Identi y target users and conduct user tests. You need to

determine who the exact group is who will potentially par-ticipate in your project. Conduct user-testing with this targetgroup to identi y barriers to use and areas that cause theseusers difficulties or con usion in operating it. Modi y, andtest again. User-testing should be carried out as early as pos-sible in the process.

Consider how to support socio-economically diverse par-ticipation. Initiatives ofen understand participation as input

rom the general public; however, in ICT initiatives, this gen-eral public ofen turns out to be young, educated, urban males.Even projects deliberately targeting marginalized communi-ties ofen end up with participation skewed towards moreeducated males in those communities. Consequently, projectsneed to explore ways o increasing participation rom under-represented groups, such as women and the elderly.

Provide training to enable broader community participa-tion. Whether a citizen journalism project, or a monitoringinitiative, where individuals send reports, training is a criticalcomponent o any initiative relying on participation.

Develop strategies and partnerships to encourage ongo-ing participation. Organizations need to make it clear whatthey do with the in ormation they receive, and what the in-dividual or community benets o participation are, that is,what connection exists between input and improvement othe situation. Part o this strategy should involve eedback(either individual or community-based) about the project’s

ongoing impact.

Ensure the space or participation is sa e and allows or openexpression. Initiatives need to provide a space where peopleare able to participate sa ely and reely and express opposingviews, without ear o reprisal or abuse – either online or o -ine. This may mean the development o a code o conduct,with the initiative reserving the right to remove abusive,threatening, or discriminatory comment. It also means thatinitiatives might need to consider introducing a vetting sys-tem to protect identities, or remove in ormation that mightreveal identities, rom reports be ore they are published. Hav-ing a secure system is especially pertinent in crowdsourcing

projects that rely on the public to report sensitive in ormation,such as police violence or human rights abuses, which can re-sult in retaliatory measures.


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Skill sharing

Using ICTs to oster reedom o expression is a relatively neweld that is not only rapidly evolving, it is also awash with ex-periments and pilot projects. As such, it is vital or digital proj-ect practitioners to share knowledge and experiences o plan-ning, implementing, and running digital projects.

Share knowledge with various audiences. Those working ondigital technology projects ofen gain wide-spread experience,

rom managing technical projects to promoting diversityin participation and supporting community activism. This

means there is potentially a wide variety o audiences that canbenet rom knowledge sharing, such as media organizations,

unding bodies, government institutions, technology compa-nies, researchers, and university students. For example, youmight choose to share your experiences o working with com-munities in a development publication and system details ona technology site.

Use both online and offline activities or sharing knowledgeand skills. Do not assume that those involved in digital tech-nology projects are all online. Sharing knowledge at con er-ences, workshops, seminars, and roundtable events are alsoimportant.

Share materials as well as knowledge. Others may benetrom seeing material such as your strategic plan, evaluation

tools, training kits, and FAQ sheets. Make these available orothers to learn rom, use, and adapt. Produce both paper anddigital ormats so that you can distribute electronic and pa-per copies.


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“We have been able to give people an avenue to express their views.It's also a space where they can share in ormation about what is happening and we can ampli y their voices by

sharing it with the rest o the world. I think that is huge.”

Nigel Mugamu, founder of Chat

Project Chat

Country Zimbabwe Link http:// chat.com/

Tags Online orum, community dialogue, independent journalism

Approach Creating a public sphere, access to in ormation

What itdoes

Chat originally started using Twitter as a orum to discuss issues related to Zimbabwe. It has nowevolved to a media organization that produces its own online content.

Technology Social media (Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp), YouTube, SoundCloud, as well as an online website

Addedvalue oftechnology

Allows both Zimbabweans living in Zimbabwe and those living outside o the country to share in orma-tion and opinions. Additionally, given that mainstream media in Zimbabwe is particularly polarized alongparty lines, social media and the internet are one o the spaces where Zimbabweans inside the country canexpress opinions and where independent in ormation can be published.

How itworks

Chat originally started as a structured discussion orum where people rom anywhere in the worldcould use the Chat handle and hashtag to join an online conversation on a predetermined topic regard-ing Zimbabwe. Discussions were held every Tuesday at pm and lasted one or two hours. This structured

orum has become less central to Chat activities, as people are now using the hashtag or daily con-versations about a wide range o Zimbabwean issues. Finding that the mainstream media were ailing topick up topics discussed on Chat, as hoped or, the initiative has now developed into an online mediacompany that produces its own content and distributes this content across diverse social media. It alsoorganizes events, such as panel discussions on specic topics.

Successes – Used by Zimbabweans as a way o sharing their opinion ( Chat is ofen one o the top trendinghashtags and handles or Zimbabwe)

– Have , Twitter ollowers (June )– Working in partnerships with embassies and NGOs or live events

Challenges – Being taken seriously by traditional media organizations within Zimbabwe– Finding a way o involving offline communities (Zimbabwean radio is not an appropriate space or an

independent orum so this cannot be an alternative)– Generating revenue

Launched Status For-prot

Revenue Grants, live events, providing training and social mediastrategy.

Paidemployees

Seven

Case studies – act sheets Kate Hairsine


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“There are two sides to what A rica Check is trying to do. On the one hand, we want to give people goodin ormation. On the other hand, we want to make people skeptical and also give them

tools so that they can check something or themselves i they want to.”

Peter Cunliffe-Jones, Africa Check founder

Project Africa Check

Country South A rica Link http://a ricacheck.org/

Tags Fact-checking

Approach Access to in ormation

What itdoes

A rica Check is an online act-checking site which analyzes the truth o statements made by politicians andother inuential public gures, as well as the media.

Technology Online website based on WordPress

How itworks

Once the A rica Check team decides on a statement to veri y, they contact the person making the claim toask or their data source. The team then look or other reliable data or in ormation which might prove or

disprove the claim, as well as get a range o expert opinion on how reliable the various sources actually are.Findings are published on the A rica Check site. Readers are also invited to submit claims or A rica Checkto scrutinize. The site primarily checks claims made about South A rica, but also act-checks in Nigeria aswell as several southern A rican countries.

Successes – As o January , the site had attracted more than a million visitors since its launch– Many examples o reports being picked up by other media– Articles now included in the eed o Yahoo.za and AllA rica.com

Challenges – Data is ofen difficult and time-consuming to come by– Generating revenue

Launched Status Nonprot

Revenue Grants and donations, paid researchconsultancies$ , estimated or or annualrunning costs

Paidemployees

Five ull-time: director, editor, deputyeditor, two researchers. Two part-time:

undraising & business development, in-ormation & research services. Freelance

reporters.

Funders AFP Foundation, IPI/Google, A rican News Innovation Challenge, Open Society Foundation or South A ri-ca, Open Society Initiative or Southern A rica, Open Society Institute, Konrad Adenauer Stifung, OmidyarNetwork, A rican Media Initiative, Shuttleworth Foundation, Wits University Johannesburg

Open-source /creativecommons

A rica Check content may be reproduced “ or the purpose o reporting and/or discussing news and currentevents,” subject to providing to credit A rica Check.


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“When journalists hitch rides on police helicopters or military helicopters, it seems obvious that thehelicopters are just going to y journalists to where everything is under control. And that really raises the

question o editorial independence.”

Dickens Onditi Olewe, African SkyCAM founder

Project African SkyCAM

Country Kenya Link http://www.a ricanskycam.com

Tags Drones, aerial imaging


What itdoes

A rican SkyCAM is a drone journalism project testing the idea o using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) inA rica.

Technology Unmanned aerial vehicles, cameras


On a continent where only a hand ul o media organizations can afford to hire their own helicopter orreporting purposes and where the terrain is ofen difficult to negotiate, UAVs equipped with cameras are alow-cost option or journalists to independently report without risking their lives and equipment.

How itworks

The goal o SkyCAM is to show how UAVs and camera-equipped balloons can be used in A rica to tellstories in new ways and add new perspectives. Their projects include the creation o a D virtual model oNairobi's Dandora dump site and aerial ootage rom Tanzania or a wildli e poaching story.A ricanSkyCAM ounder, Dickens Olewe, noticed that Kenyan journalists covering oods in his countryhad only two ways to see the oods or themselves or capture ootage; they could either get shermen totake them out in small rickety shing boots, or get a lif in military or police helicopters. The rst option isrisky, and second option doesn't allow or an independent assessment o what is happening. He then hadthe idea o testing how well drones could be used or reporting in A rica. Olewe's drone journalism projectwas a winner in the A rican News Innovation Challenge in .

Successes Proved that UAVs are a viable alternative or journalism in A rica

Challenges – Lack o experienced drone operators in A rica– Lack o regulations surrounding drone operations in A rica

Launched Status No longer active due to theKenyan government banning theuse o drones

Revenue One-off project grant ($ , ) rom A rican NewsChallenge

Paidemployees

none


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“Our success is that reporters – the citizens – are now reporting so we have them investigating rom the remotestareas where otherwise no in ormation is coming out.”

Shubhranshu Choudhary, CGNet Swara co-founder

Project CGNet Swara

Country India Link http://www.cgnetswara.org

Tags Citizen journalism, audio news, mobile phone

Approach Access to in ormation, social and cultural inclusion, accountability

What itdoes

CGNet Swara is an audio news portal that allows communities living in remote areas o India's CentralGondwana region to leave reports and listen to reports lef by others or ree over their mobile phones (CGstands or Central Gondwana while Swara means 'voice' in Hindi).

Technology Interactive voice-portal accessed by mobile phone and by web.


India's ban on news broadcasts on community radio, coupled with high illiteracy rates in the region,means news and in ormation in Central Gondwana are rare. By using a voice activated system accessedover cell phones, enabling the creation and distribution o local news in local languages.

How itworks

Contributors can use their mobile phones to ring CGNet to record reports, community in ormation, andsongs in their tribal language. The service is mostly used to air grievances (the non-payment o wages, orto pass on local news). Submitted audio reports are veried by moderators be ore being broadcast to thosewho call to listen to reports. The audio is also published on the CGNet Swara website, along with a textsummary in English. The cost o all calls is borne by CGNet Swara. An important element is the 'message oaction' – reports ofen list the phone number o the specic person responsible or the problem and urgereaders or listeners to ring them to exert pressure. A team o ve to ollow-up on any in ormation.

Successes – Around , - , listeners a day (October )– Around reports lef per day– At least documented examples o grievances being redressed afer reporting the issue– People in the communities eel it has had a positive impact on corruption

Challenges – Costs are increasing as the service becomes popular because CGNet bears the costs o the calls– Only around percent o the recorded messages are published because the other messages do not meet

editorial requirements.– Only percent o those leaving messages are women– Raising awareness about the service in a region with many remote communities– Initially costly and time consuming to nd a workable sofware solution


Revenue percent grant based$ ,

Paidemployees

, includes trainers who teach the citizen journal-ists and promote the service; editors and transla-tors; technical support.

Funders Knight International Journalism Fellowship - , UN Democracy Fund, Environics Trust, Sitara, MIT,Gates Foundation, Hivos, Macarthur Foundation Network, A rican Media Initiative, Shuttleworth Founda-tion, Wits University Johannesburg

Open-source /creative commons The sofware underlying CGNet Swara is open-source


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“The difference with WhatsApp is that it puts us on the same level as the people out on the streets. It's as i theyhave the personal telephone number o Extra so they are hyper-close to our newsroom”

Fábio Gusmão, creator of Extra's WhatsApp group

Project Extra WhatsApp Group

Country Brazil Link http://extra.globo.com/

Tags Crowdsourced news

Approach Access to in ormation, social and cultural inclusion

What itdoes

The Rio-based newspaper, Extra, uses the mobile messaging service, WhatsApp, to receive and requestin ormation rom its readers.

Technology WhatsApp, mobile phones, desk-top emulator


Because o WhatsApp's ease o use, readers have ew barriers to sending in ormation to the newspaper;conversely, the paper can also use the messaging app to ask people or more in ormation about certainevents.

How itworks

Users register or Extra's WhatsApp group, giving their name, date o birth, gender, and location. Thenthey can send messages, as well as videos and photos, via WhatsApp to Extra, which has dedicated vestaff to man the channel rom : a.m. to midnight. The in ormation is veried and then used in variousways: sometimes journalists will start their own investigation and state in the resulting article that the tipcame rom a specic reader; the paper may also incorporate WhatsApp statements into articles as witnessstatements; or else the in ormation can be posted to paper's online WhatsApp section. At times, Extra alsorequests in ormation rom users – or example, i there are reports o something happening in a certainarea, they can message people in that location and ask or more in ormation.Extra is the fh largest circulation newspaper in Brazil and its online site attracts million monthlyvisitors. WhatsApp being the pre erred messaging app in the country, Extra has a large pool o readers whohave the technical means to send contributions to the paper.

Successes – More than million messages sent in the rst year o operation, containing more than , photos,, videos and , audio recordings

– Around articles including WhatsApp in ormation were published in the newspaper in the rst year,and around , articles were published on the online site

– Extra believes people eel more secure using WhatsApp to report instances o police violence or drugtrafficking than other means, such as email or Facebook

Challenges – Finding a workable solution to Extra editors being able to use WhatsApp on a computer– Sorting out non-newsworthy in ormation – many o the messages are hyper-local (about potholes, or

trash not being collected) and are not relevant to a wider readership

Launched Status Part o Extra (Globo media con-glomerate)


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“We always talk about these technologies and opening data, but I work in Nigeria where only percent o peopleuse the Internet. So we wanted to create a link between opening this data and the people in the communities.”

Oludotun Babayemi, Follow the Money co-founder

Project Follow the Money

Country Nigeria Link http:// ollowthemoneyng.org/

Tags Data journalism, social media advocacy

Approach Access to in ormation, accountability

What itdoes

Follow the Money tracks aid unding promised by the Nigerian government and runs social media cam-paigns to pressure or the release o these unds to local communities.

Technology Social media


With more o Nigeria's politicians and officials on Facebook and Twitter, social media enables the public todirectly exert pressure on a particular issue. In addition, technology allows campaigns to go global (by be-ing picked up by international media, or example), urther increasing pressure on officials.

How itworks

The Follow the Money team uses data journalism to collate data rom official sources about unds prom-ised to specic communities. It also visits the communities to see i the aid money has arrived where it waspromised and to in orm the communities about their ndings. They visualize their ndings and conductadvocacy campaigns using traditional and social media to pressure officials to release unds.In , thousands o children in northern Nigeria became sick rom what has been called the worst caseo lead poisoning in modern history. In , the Nigerian government pledged more than US $ millionto remove lead-contaminated soil but the money never arrived. In late , the team visited the area anddocumented the situation on the ground. In January , they launched a tweet-a-thon in conjunctionwith Human Rights Watch encouraging people to ask the Nigerian president via Facebook to release themoney. Forty-eight hours later, the unds were released. Follow the Money is now tackling other issuessuch as promise o clean cooking stoves, ood compensation and new classrooms.

Successes – Getting unds released– Proving to the development community that local, homegrown solutions are possible– Helping communities to know about their rights

Challenges Creating change at state or local level as local officials are less likely to respond to outside pressure


Revenue Grants as well as consultancyUS$ , in

Paidemployees

Three

Funders Indigo Trust, Heinrich Boll Stifung Nigeria, Open Society Initiative or West A rica, Partnership on OpenData


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“All the reports we receive provide evidence that we can use against the stereotypes, against the myths, andagainst the excuses that people make or sexual harassment.”

Noora Flinkman, head of marketing and communications at HarassMap

Project HarassMap

Country Egypt Link http://harassmap.org/en/

Tags Crowdsourced data

Approach Access to in ormation, public sphere

What itdoes

Victims o sexual harassment can report the incident anonymously either using their mobile phones oronline. The reports are mapped on HarassMap's website, which is based on the Ushahidi plat orm.

Technology Ushahidi-based plat orm and a SMS short code.


Afer being launched, the anonymous reporting system allowed the organization to collect in orma-tion about the circumstances o incidents o sexual harassment in Egypt, where there is otherwise littleresearch on the subject.

How itworks

Victims or witness o sexual harassment can send an SMS, email, tweet, or ll in an online orm givingdetails o what happened, such as the type o sexual harassment, where it happened, and other details. A -ter verication, the reports are mapped online. It is important to note that the map is only a small part oHarassMap's activities, which are primarily ocused on community outreach with the aiming o stoppingsexual harassment in Egypt.Harass Map was set up in response to the high rates o sexual assault in Egypt.

Successes – Provides a sa e space where people can talk about sexual assault– Provided data about sexual assault in Egypt, such as time o assault, who was assaulted, what people

were wearing, that was not previously available

Challenges – It was originally difficult to use the Ushahidi plat orm, and at the time o launching ( ), there were ewpeople able to help in Egypt.

– The number o reports to the map has allen considerably in the past year


Revenue Grants and crowd unding

Funders International Development Research Center, Gesellschaf ür Internationale Zusammenarbeit


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"The best impact or ar has been generating an interest in this idea o mapping data as a ormat or mapping a story."

Gustavo Faleiros, InfoAmazonia founder

Project InfoAmazonia

Country Brazil Link http://in oamazonia.org/

Tags Data repository, open data, data visualization, mapping, story aggregation

Approach Access to in ormationWhat itdoes

In oAmazonia is an online plat orm aggregating data, maps, visualizations, and news about the Amazonbasin.

Technology Mapping plat orm based on a WordPress theme which integrates with MapBox


Allows or the collation and distribution o data, and creation and distribution o maps and visualizationsabout the Amazon.

How itworks

In oAmazonia collates publicly available data related to the Amazon Basin, such as NASA's orest re datarom its satellite images or the Brazilian government's de orestation data. Using the data, the team create

visualizations and rich designed maps which can be used and shared by others. The site also aggregatesnews stories about the Amazon region, which are geolocated, and published as layers on the maps.

Successes – Generated interest in the idea o mapping data as a story-telling ormat– Been replicated in several areas o the world– Used as a resource by journalists and scientists

Challenges – Goal o receiving crowd-sourced stories not working well– Difficulties in generating analysis by others o the provided data– Aggregating stories o the Amazon has proved o little value


Revenue Donations, courses/trainingsand paid servicesc. $ ,

Paidemployees

part time employees: developers, journal-ists, data analyst, manager, social mediamanager

Funders Knight International Journalism Fellow, Avina, Google, Code or A rica, CLUA/Ford Foundation

Open-source /

creativecommons

In oAmazonia aggregates data and news rom external sources, which have their own terms o use. Themaps and visualizations created by In oAmazonia are ree to embed on external websites. The In oAmazo-

nia WordPress theme, called JEO, is open source.


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“Women are dying in childbirth was because there is a big decit o accountability in the system”

Yatirajula Kanaka Sandhya, Assistant Coordinator of Sahayog and Project Manager of Mera Swasthya Meri Aawaz

Project Mera Swasthya Meri Aawaz (My Health, My Voice) run by the NGO, Sahayog

Country India Link http://meraswasthyameriaawaz.org/

Tags Crowdsourced data, mapping, Ushahidi, monitoring

Approach Access to in ormation, accountabilityWhat itdoes

Using their mobile phones, women can anonymously report illegal ees charged at maternal health clinics;these reports are instantaneously displayed on an online map.

Technology Ushahidi plat orm linked to an interactive voice response system.


The data collected using the mobile reporting system has more weight with officials than anecdotal reportsrom community meetings, plus visualization o the data on a map also helps convey the scope o the

problem.

How itworks

The project is set up so that women who are charged illegal ees or maternity services in certain districtso Uttar Pradesh can dial a toll- ree number, and are then connected with a voice-activated system. This

guides them through the process o reporting which hospital charged the ee, what the ee was charged or,and how high the ee was. Reports are automatically displayed on an online Ushahidi-powered map andare anonymous and untraceable.India has the highest rate o maternal deaths in the world ( gures), and Uttar Pradesh has the highestrate o any state in India – deaths per , live births compared to in the United States. Ofenhealth acilities ask or in ormal payments which can deter women accessing what are supposed to be reematernal health services. The Mera Swasthya project was launched as a way o systematically documentingthese in ormal ees.

Successes – Despite operating in a region with high poverty and illiteracy, many women are making reports ( ,reports in )

– Evidence o this crowdsourced data having an impact afer being raised at meetings with governmentand hospital staff

– Anonymity is important – in small communities with ew alternative health-care centers, women need toeel they can return to the clinic i they complain

Challenges – Community-based organizations and community outreach are vitally important as more reports arereceived rom regions with active, grassroots community groups

– Important to educate women about their entitlements and the complaint service– Need to test the technology and get eedback rom users about ease o use– Still difficult to orce accountability

Launched Status Project run by Sahayog, an IndianNGO working to promote genderequality and women's health.

Revenue Grants - the rst year (staff, training, and equipment purchases) was approx $ , . The cost o thesofware, hardware and technical assistance or the setup and maintenance o the hotline and Ushahidiplat orm was approx $ , .


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"Access to objective in ormation is so important in the region where so much in ormation has been hidden, orpeople perceive in ormation as propaganda"

Terry Parnell, Open Development Cambodia founder

Project Open Development Cambodia

Country Cambodia Link https://cambodia.opendevelopmentmekong.net/#!/

Tags Data repository, open data, data visualization


What itdoes

Open Development Cambodia (ODC) is an independent open data website which compiles development-related in ormation on Cambodia

Technology Online Database


The in ormation provided by ODC is already reely available; however, this in ormation is scattered andofen not in a digital ormat. Having a 'one-stop shop' makes it easier or those with an Internet connectionto access all sorts o in ormation.

How itworks

ODC collects, digitalizes and publishes in open ormats a wide-range o publicly available data, rangingrom laws and regulations to company proles and land concessions. ODC staff also create interactive

maps rom the data and prepare brieng papers on issues such as the energy sector and orest cover. It alsoaggregates news reports on development issues and has an online library o research publications. Thewebsite is available in English and Khmer and attracts around , monthly visitors mostly rom withinCambodia, percent o whom are returning visitors (as o January ).

Successes – Being increasingly used as a resource by journalists and researchers– Increasingly quoted as a source in both local and international research publications and media reports– Expanding its database to include all ve countries o the Mekong Basin (Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos,

Thailand and Myanmar)

Challenges – Much o the data, although publicly available, needs to be digitalized, slowing down the process o pub-lishing timely in ormation

– Recruiting local staff with the necessary skills– Making data accessible to offline communities or specic communities ( or example, rice prices to rice

armers)


Revenue Grants and donationsc. $ ,

Paidemployees

employees, including web developers, editors/re-searchers, and mapping/data specialists.

Funders USAID, Spider Foundation, American Jewish World Service, Open Society Foundation, Norwegian People’sAid.

Open-

source /creativecommons

ODC published its content under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . Unported License.


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“There are so many stories in the community and we need people in the communities to tell these stories”

Sibongile Nkosi, Our Health project manager

Project Our Health, Health-e News Service

Country South A rica Link http://www.health-e.org.za/ourhealth/

Tags Citizen journalism, monitoring


What itdoes

Citizen journalists use tablets to le monthly articles on health-related topics, and monitor medicationavailability, or the Health-e news service.

Technology Tablets, Internet


Possible to le the stories rom rural areas and also to create data on medication stocks.

How itworks

Health-e news agency has a network o citizen journalist in districts (as o late ). The journalists,recruited rom community activists and given basic journalism training, each produce two to six stories amonth, using their Samsung Galaxy tablets to take photos and videos, write, and le stories. The journal-ists are paid a monthly retainer or two stories and can increase their payment i they submit more articles.The author o the 'story o the month' also receives an additional payment. The stories are edited andpublished on the Health-e site. More newsworthy stories are orwarded to mainstream and communitynewspapers or publication. Once a month, the citizen journalists also monitor the supply o a set list omedicines at local clinics.In , the government started to pilot its National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme. Health-e news agencywanted community in ormation about the scheme's implementation and decided to train activists in ouro these pilot districts. The project was then expanded to include more regions, nearly all o which are NHIpilot districts.

Successes – Citizen journalists generate around stories a month– Many stories published in community newspapers– Around two stories a month picked up by mainstream newspapers– Several documented examples o issues being redressed afer publication o a story

Challenges – More difficulties sending photos and videos rom the tablets than initially thought because o Internetissues– The prescription medicine monitoring app does not work very well– Access to the clinics, and i the journalist writes a critical story, it can be even more difficult to gain access

to that clinic again– Lack o basic journalistic stills (accuracy, act-checking, ethics still an issue)– Placing stories in mainstream media


Revenue percent grant unded Paidemployees

citizen journalists, one project man-ager, one part-time administrator

Funders DG Murray Trust, Atlantic Philanthropies, Making All Voices Count

Open-source /creative commons Nonprots can use content or ree, others need to buya subscription package


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"We believe it is so necessary to tell what is going on in Guatemala. We want to tell the other side o the storythan told by traditional media"

Alejandra Gutiérrez Valdizán, editor-in-chief, Plaza Pública

Project Plaza Pública

Country Guatemala Link http://www.plazapublica.com.gt/

Tags Independent journalism

Approach Access to in ormation, public sphere

What itdoes

Plaza Pública is an independent online news site with a ocus on in-depth investigative reporting.

Technology online website based on Drupal


Distributing this kind o journalism would be difficult otherwise: print is too expensive and radio and tele-vision in Guatemala are rmly in the hands o a ew media owners. Being online also allows Plaza Públicato be innovative in opening data and providing data on their site.

How itworks Backed by a Guatemalan Jesuit university, Plaza Pública conducts in-depth reporting on many topics nototherwise covered by traditional media, such as investigations into political gures or long-reads on the

ate o migrating minors. The site also hosts dozens o bloggers. In order to expand their reach beyond theyoung educated pro essionals who primarily visit their site, Plaza Pública is developing partnerships withtraditional media to publish summaries o their investigations.

Successes – Being used as a trusted source by academics and researchers– Recognized internationally or quality o work (won several prizes)– Started collaborations with other media who publish/broadcast summarized versions o investigations

Challenges – Traditional challenges o investigative journalism such as difficulty in accessing data and in ormation

– Getting mainstream media to pickup stories


Revenue Grants, donations, und-raising $ ,

Paidemployees

-

Funders Seventy percent rom Guatemala's Ra ael Landívar university; plus Open Society Foundation, Hivos, Fried-rich Ebert Stifung

Open-


Content is published under a Creative Commons . license.


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"The idea is to structure in ormation so that you can see the people involved, the power structures involved,and the entities involved, which is very important especially in countries such as

Chile where some amilies come up again and again.”

Miguel Paz, Poderopedia founder

Project Poderopedia

Country Chile Link http://www.poderopedia.org/

Tags Database, inuence mapping, visualization tool


What itdoes

Poderopedia is an online database containing in ormation on inuential people and organizations. It alsomaps and visualizes the connections between these people and entities.

Technology Customizable data management system that allows or the creation, management, mapping and visualiza-tion o large datasets.


Enables the structuring o in ormation in a different way so that this in ormation can not only be oundbut connections can be revealed.

How itworks

The Poderopedia database or Chile contains thousands o entries about inuential people, businesses,and other organizations ('poder' means 'power' in Spanish). Each entry shows biographical in ormation,such as where a person when to school, who they are related to, and what businesses they are involved in.Users can then click to view a network map o that person, which shows other people and entities relatedto them. The idea is to expose conicts o interest and networks o power. Users can also submit their owntips, which are veried be ore being added to the database.In Chile, business and politics are closely connected. Founder Miguel Paz wanted to build a journalism re-search tool that structured in ormation in such a way so that these connections were easier to nd and tosee, thereby exposing potential conicts o interest. Since its launch, the plat orm has expanded to includechapters in Venezuela and Colombia.

Successes – Been replicated in two other Latin American countries– Being used as a research tool by journalists– Released open-sourced code or others to use

Challenges – Took longer than anticipated to launch– Finding unding


Revenue A mixture o project grants andpayment or consulting, ser-vices, training and teaching

Paidemployees

Four ull-time, several on contract basis as required

Funders Knight News Challenge Winner , Start-Up Chile , Knight International Journalism Fellow, Hivos,Open Society Foundations.

Open-source /creativecommons

Sofware is open-source. Content is available under a Creative Commons . license.


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"I wanted to show in ormation about Colombia's massacres in a better way – to in orm people about the context,the history and the geography – because most Colombians don't have a good idea why we

have been killing each other or the past twenty years"

Oscar Parra Castellanos, Rutas del Conicto founder

Project Rutas del Conicto (Route of Conict)

Country Colombia Link http://rutasdelconicto.com/

Tags Database, Visualization


What itdoes

Rutas del Conicto is an online database and mobile app that allows users to search, lter, and visualizein ormation on o the , massacres carried out during Colombia's civil war.

Technology Online database developed using PHP, design tools built with Java Script and HTML , and Google FusionTables and Google maps.


Makes in ormation more accessible by standardizing the in ormation, collating it into a central onlinerepository, and providing search and visualization tools.

How itworks

The tools allow users, or example, to see massacres carried out in a certain location or to search or mas-sacres carried out by a specic paramilitary group over a period o time. Researchers and victims can alsosubmit any additional in ormation they might have about a specic event; these submissions are proo edbe ore being added to the database. The mobile app uses GPS to show massacres that took place aroundthe user's current location.The database's creator, Oscar Parra Castellanos, was working or the organization, Verdad Abierta, whichinvestigates Colombia's armed conict. A computer scientist be ore he became a journalist, Parra thoughtthere must be a better way to present data about Colombia's war, which was scattered among various orga-nizations and institutions and was not available online.

Successes – Attracting many visitors– In ormal eedback that is being used by journalists as a research tool– The visualizations provides context to the crimes ( or example, can see that many massacres take place

along transport routes and were probably to do with the drug trade)

Challenges – Getting victims to know about the site and contribute their version o events– Finding unding to add urther in ormation to the site, such as additional massacres or other crimes

such as kidnapping

Launched Status

Revenue $ , unding or the initialproject

Paidemployees

One junior journalist, two students, two engineers,one designer

Funders Verdad Abierta - Colombia, Centro Nacional de Memoria Historica - Colombia

Open-


Website content is reely available or ull or partial use


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"People ofen start debating based on their political colors and that is not very objective. We wanted tocreate data and use this to spark a public debate based on this data rather

than one driven by opinions. "

Wouter Dijkstra, Trac FM co-founder

Project Trac FM

Country Uganda, Somalia Link http://trac m.org/

Tags Crowdsourced data, sofware tool

Approach Access to in ormation, social and cultural integration

What itdoes

Trac FM is a cloud-based sofware tool that collates, visualizes and analyzes SMS answers to poll questionsbroadcast by radio or TV stations.

Technology Custom-built online plat orm


The tool allows or the collection o statistics on a wide-variety o issues in regions where there is ofen alack o independent data.

How itworks

Listeners can respond to a question asked during a live radio talk-show by sending a ree SMS with theiranswer and their district to the advertised shortcode. The Trac FM sofware automatically categorizes theseanswers and charts them into simple graphs and maps, which update in real time. The presenter can seethe poll results instantly on the computer screen and share them with the radio audience or discuss theresults with studio guests. Poll respondents are also able to become 'active users' and register with Trac FM.This gives Trac FM urther in ormation on respondents such as gender, age and, occupation. Active usersare sent an SMS three days be ore the next poll, reminding them to listen in to the program. Interestingpoll in ormation is turned into in ographics and shared via social media and print media partners. NGOsalso use Trac FM to collect data on certain issues.It is common practice or radio hosts in A rica to ask listeners to send in text messages with their thoughtson a particular issue. Usually a variety o these answers are read out on air. Trac FM co- ounder, WouterDijkstra, thought radio stations could make better use o this in ormation and so launched a project todevelop the sofware tool.

Successes – Used by radio stations in Uganda and ve in Somalia– Regularly receive large number o responses to questions (out o polls conducted in January , ourhad more than a , responses)

– Large numbers o people have signed up to be active users, giving Trac FM better demographic data ortheir polls

Challenges – Radio stations are not going beyond presenting supercial results to analyze the data more deeply– Finding the nancial resources to urther develop the sofware to make automated analysis even easier– Large majority o respondents are males– Long start-up time needed in a new country to organize short codes


Revenue percent o income comes provision o polling and research services to NGOs and other organizations; percent rom grants


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26

"We have to be really clear that people's efforts are important. Because we are only goingto get this in ormation i we all work together – it is like breaking rocks"

Florencia Coehlo, VozData project manager

Project VozData, La Nación

Country Argentina Link http://vozdata.lanacion.com.ar/

Tags Crowdsourced data, open data


What itdoes

The VozData tool, called CrowData, is a collaborative online plat orm where members o the public helpdigitalize in ormation contained in PDF documents that cannot be machine-read.

Technology Collaborative online plat orm and database


Any amount o people can work liberating data at any time and rom wherever they want, meaning projectstages can be completed in months rather than in years.

How itworks

Afer logging onto the site (which they can do anonymously), users are presented with a page o a scanneddocument. They manually enter the data rom this document into the tool's inter ace, thereby helping

create a digital database, in this case, o senate expenses. Each page is entered by three different users, andthe answers cross-checked, be ore the data is accepted. La Nación approached transparency NGOs anduniversities to win volunteers or the project. It also created incentives such as displaying the names o thetop contributors on the website or having a physical Datathon event where users came together to openthe data. The completed database is available on La Nación's website in an open data ormat.The , pages o Argentina's senate expenses rom - were scanned documents that weredifficult or automated tools to read. Inspired by the Guardian MP's Expenses and ProPublica's Free theFiles, the team at La Nación Data decided to develop a plat orm to use crowdsourcing to help digitalizethe expense documents. Afer opening the - documents, the team then worked on and expenses and expects to continue the project in .

Successes – Created veried databases o senate expenses in digital ormats– Resulted in the publication o dozens o stories about the expenses in La Nación

– Creation o the open-source tool, CrowData

Challenges – Recruiting users and keeping them motivated or the duration o the project– Developing a tool rom scratch

Launched Status Project run by La Nación newspaper's data team

Paid Em-ployees

Seven people part-time

Funders Two Knight-Mozilla OpenNews ellows developed the sofware tool.

Open-


Crowdata sofware tool is open source; the senate expenses data is ree to download and available in an

open ormat.


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Deutsche Welle Bonn, Germany

dw-akademie.comin [email protected]

acebook.com/DWAkademie

Dr Jan LublinskiHead Research andEvaluationDW Akademie

T + . . [email protected]

Petra BernerHead o Strategy andConsulting ServicesDW Akademie

T + . . [email protected]

Please contact us or urther in ormation

Steffen Leidel

Steffen Leidel is acting manager o the Knowledge Manage-ment and Digital Innovation department at DW Akademie. Hehas been working as a project manager and trainer on digi-tal journalism at DW Akademie since . His region o ex-pertise is Latin America. He is an editor o the DW Akademie#mediadev website and is currently working on DW Akad-emie's digital strategy. He has extensive experience in print,radio, television and online. He has won several awards or hiswork as a multimedia journalist. Leidel has a masters degree intranslation and interpreting rom the University o Granada.

He also has a journalism degree rom the University o Dort-mund in Germany.

Steffen LeidelActing manager o KnowledgeManagement and DigitalInnovationDW [email protected]

Kate Hairsine

Kate Hairsine is reelance science and technology journal-ist with a special interest in digital technologies and theiradoption in developing countries. She's also an editor o DWAkademie's media development pages, #mediadev. Kate ofentravels to A rica or media trainings and reporting trips andspends much o her spare time there talking to people aboutthe kinds o digital technology they use and what they use it

or. Be ore becoming a journalist, Kate worked as a researcher

and consultant or Australian Aboriginal organizations, whereshe ocused on land rights and criminal justice system abuses.

Kate Hairsine,Freelance [email protected]


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Documents