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/RSS FeedNote:
This is the audio version of an online event, in which a couple of the speakers refer to visual elements. If you’d like to see the websites, etc, that they mention, please see the video of the event at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvJVCgBprwY.
Details:
Across the world, there are many websites and apps that help citizens to better understand how their democracies work, and what their elected representatives are doing on their behalf.
Historically, one of the main ways these tools could measure their impact was by tracking their visitor numbers and page views via website analytics tools.
However, across the world, civic and pro-democracy tech projects are finding that citizens can’t, or no longer, directly visit their websites and apps. They’re either restricted by data packages that only allow them to use social media sites, or are finding out information via AI chatbots or social media, rather than directly visiting sites and apps.
This shift can make it harder than ever to measure the reach and impact of pro-democracy projects and tools. Traditional website analytics no longer tell the full story, leaving some projects struggling to demonstrate their effectiveness—and, as a result, to secure the funding needed to sustain vital democratic services.
At this TICTeC gathering, we hear directly from practitioners running civic and pro-democracy tech initiatives from across the world. They share the strategies they’re using to reach people where they are, ensure their services remain accessible and relevant, and find new ways to track impact in this changing digital landscape.
Ana Arevadze from ForSet in Georgia talks about their work with social media influencers to inform and educate Georgian youth on voting and democratic information.
Ufuoma Nnamdi-Udeh from Enough is Enough Nigeria shares how they have leveraged social media, chatbots, and messaging services through their ShineYourEye platform to provide citizens with accurate democratic information and improve access to elected representatives.
Joseph Tahinduka from ParliamentWatch Uganda speaks about working with infomediaries such as local radio and journalists to get parliamentary information to a wider audience, as well as their usage of social media and messaging apps.
More information
This is a TICTEC Communities of Practice session. Find out more about TICTeC at https://tictec.mysociety.org/.
Sign up for TICTeC updates at https://tictec.mysociety.org/events/ or subscribe to updates about all mySoicety activities by telling us what you’re interested in at http://eepurl.com/gOEVFj.
Transcript
Alex Parsons 0:01
Hi everyone. I’m Alex Parsons.Alex Parsons 0:02
I’m the Democracy Lead and senior researcher at mySociety. Thank you for joining us here for this TICTeC community gathering. (more…) -
Once again, the TICTeC Communities of Practice have given us all the opportunity to learn from those at the frontline of civic tech: this week’s session, Beyond websites: how pro-democracy projects reach their audiences saw practitioners from Georgia, Nigeria and Uganda explaining the ways in which you can engage with audiences beyond a website.
You can watch the session here.
Ana Arevadze from ForSet explained the care and attention that the organisation put into making sure that an election education campaign, delivered by influencers, was a learning experience for all involved. This was a presentation that a small group of people had been fortunate to experience at the ATI Day in Mechelen, but is now available for all to watch.
Ufuoma Oghuwu from Enough is Enough Nigeria outlined how the Shine Your Eye website provides citizens with information about their elected officials — something that’s often missing after the canvassing and electoral cycle has passed — and then described how that information has a life beyond the website, thanks to chatbots, WhatsApp and social media.
Last but not least, Joseph Tahinduka of ParliamentWatch Uganda shared the fantastic efforts they go to to make parliamentary activity accessible to the social media generation, who so greatly prefer short videos to trawling through lengthy reports. Is it time for all of us to start getting onto TikTok? You’ll have to watch to find out!
Sit back and enjoy the video: there was so much to learn from our speakers, and we’re glad to be able to share their insights with our networks.
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On 21st November we will host a seminar at the House of Lords exploring how digital tools are being used in Sub-Saharan Africa to bring parliaments and citizens closer together.
During the seminar, we will be launching our Parliaments and the People: Digital Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa report, which presents the findings from an extensive and in-depth research study into digital democracy across Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. This research explores the use of digital channels and platforms in communicating political information in the region, and considers the implications for future development in digital and institution-building.
The report analyses the breadth of digital political engagement in the countries studied, and identifies key structural and cultural considerations that influence whether digital solutions to improving democratic engagement, transparency and accountability in governing institutions will be successful.
The findings of this report are more relevant than ever to those interested and involved in international development and institution-building, through which policy implementations digital solutions are being increasingly embedded.
The seminar will bring together researchers, policy makers and practitioners to discuss how the insights from this and other work can be integrated into policy, engagement and future development work.
Speakers:
- Hosted by Lord Purvis of Tweed & Mark Cridge, CEO mySociety
- Dr Rebecca Rumbul, Head of Research, mySociety (Report author)
- Gemma Moulder, Partnership Development Manager, mySociety (Report author)
- Paul Lenz, Trust Executive, Indigo Trust
- Julia Keutgen, Parliamentary Development Advisor, Westminster Foundation for Democracy
- Two further speakers will be announced soon.
Date/time: 21st November 4pm – 6pm.
As capacity is limited, attendance to the event is by invitation only. If you’re interested in attending please email to request an invite and we’ll let you know full details.
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Once a country has a Freedom of Information act in place, the battle for citizens’ Right To Know is pretty much over, right?
Er… that would be nice, wouldn’t it? But in fact, as those who have read our previous blog posts will know, all sorts of factors can stand between citizens and information about their public authorities — here in the UK, and all around the world. Factors like complex legislation, reluctant officialdom, bureaucracy… and a host of other impediments.
In Uganda, FOI has made a tangible difference to the level of corruption from officials, but a lack of resources and their politicians’ reluctance to perform the duties requested of them by the act mean that access to information is still a struggle.
Find out more about the people running Uganda’s Alaveteli site, Ask Your Government, and how they’re tackling these issues, in our latest case study.
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TICTeC is our annual conference on the impacts of civic technologies. This year, we’ll be in Barcelona, Spain, with a diverse programme of speakers from all over the world.
Guy Grossman, assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s political science department, will deliver one of two keynotes. See details of our other keynote speaker, Helen Milner OBE, here.
Guy has had a long history in civic tech research, with a special focus on Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa, and we are delighted that he will be sharing his insights to our audience of practitioners and researchers.
Hi Guy! Tell us what you’ll be covering in your TICTeC keynote.
The state of academic knowledge about the promises and pitfalls of ICT applications designed to increase voice and accountability in low-income countries. Specifically:
- Under what conditions are citizens more likely to communicate with government officials using mobile-platforms? If we “build them – will they come”?
- Do mobile platforms exacerbate inequalities in political access, privileging groups (men, urban, better-off) that are heavier users of ICTs?
- What can be done to help increase the participation rates of marginalised populations (such as women and the poor)?
Low-income countries have leapfrogged past the landline era and directly into the mobile era. Citizens can now connect with each other and with their public officials in unprecedented ways.
Even though mobile technology is so pervasive, our collective understanding of many first-order questions in this area is surprisingly limited.
The massive penetration of mobile technology, even to remote areas of the least developed countries, has great potential to reshape both the social and political landscapes.
Even though mobile technology is so pervasive, our collective understanding of many first-order questions in this area is surprisingly limited. My goal at TICTeC is to help take stock of what we know and don’t know in this emerging field.
What are you hoping to get out of TICTeC?
I’m hoping to interact with practitioners, policy makers, technologists and fellow academics to figure out where the overlap is between practical needs and academic research.
I’m also hoping to get exposed to promising and innovative applications that I am unaware of.
Your civic tech research focuses especially on Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa. What led you down this path?
I found very few applications and platforms, if any, designed to improve governance and accountability in low-income countries.
I care deeply about poverty and social and gender inequality, so working and studying in Africa has been a natural choice.
How did I get involved with civic tech? In the past decade I have witnessed an increasing number of mobile-based applications designed to enhance such things as agriculture productivity and financial transactions or match between buyers and sellers.
On the other hand, I found very few applications and platforms, if any, designed to improve governance and accountability in low-income countries. I came to believe that this was a great void that needed to be filled.
In fact, unfortunately, we are still quite far from saturation in the development of governance-related ICT applications.
What do you think are the big unanswered questions when it comes to civic tech?
Does participation in mobile communication spill into more traditional forms of political participation?
Here’s a very partial list of some of the answered questions when it comes to civic tech in the global south:
Can simple innovations in mobile technology be used to facilitate new meaningful forms of political participation?
If so, what types of mobile-based political communication are most likely to be adopted by voters?
What is the potential of ICTs to flatten political access to marginalised populations?
What are some of the ways to increase the usage of mobile-based political communication in the face of clear collective action problems?
How can ICT be used to overcome political economy constraints to growth (e.g. by resolving monitoring challenges in government bureaucracies, reducing the cost for citizens of tracking bureaucratic performance, or making it easier to detect corrupt practices in public-sector salary distribution)?
And, does participation in mobile communication spill into more traditional forms of political participation?
If you could make one recommendation to those developing new civic tech, and wanting to see real impact from it, what would it be?
Adopt a user perspective — make sure that the suggested application/platform addresses a real need that could not be addressed using a low-tech solution.
You won’t want to miss what Guy has to say at TICTeC, so make sure you book your tickets now.
