Collaborative Projects
From TechCampGlobal
One of the revelations during TechCamp brainstorming sessions was that many participants are already working on similar tech or civic engagement ideas. And, in a lot of the cases, the projects are also funded by the same donors.
It therefore makes sense to explore the possibility for comparing our ideas, pooling our resources and -- where appropriate & where enough synergies exist -- exploring the feasibility for joint development.
This kind of collaboration means we could pool our budgets, so we can afford better development teams. And, it means that we also have a wider pool of expertise and experiences to draw on, so that we don't "reinvent the wheel" and so that we can learn from mistakes / successes already achieved by others in the region.
Here's a preliminary list of some of the ideas that two or more NGOs in the region are already working on. If you want to join them -- click:
An online tool that visualizes government budgets (see here[1] & here[2] for examples of what is possible), and that then allows citizens to vote on what they think the spending priorities should be. The tool is envisioned as a powerful channel for ordinary citizens to shape budget policy at city council, regional government, and even national government level.
A "recommendation machine" that helps activists and NGOs plan their digital strategies and also helps them select the most appropriate digital tools for their planned campaign and their local conditions. The tool will be structured as a Q&A decision tree, that helps users narrow down the often bewildering choice of Open Source and other resources available in the market. The toolkit will include copies of all the software it recommends, so that users can "plug & play" once they've made a decision on what to use. It will also include a manual, with use cases showing how other activists or NGOs have used the tools successfully in similar circumstances.
A template CMS, with sample APIs, for activists / NGOs to use as an authoritative data portal similar to the World Bank interface [3] for local issues / campaigns. The CMS would include functionality for realtime scraping of government and other public data, with built in entity extraction and meta-tagging, data visualization, and custom search modules. The CMS will give activists / NGOs a flexible platform to build fact-based campaigns showcasing independently verified data that substantiates our arguments.
A picture is worth a thousands words. Many of the issues we campaign around are complex matters, that involve dry or dense information that ordinary citizens struggle to grasp quickly. But, when we try design visual campaigns (example here[4]) or compelling websites / mobile apps (example here[5]), we struggle to find affordable designers that are also talented enough to produce striking visuals. We therefore propose to establish a team, or pool, of data visualization 'ninjas' who can help us produce world-class infographics or visual apps.
If you have any other project ideas, that you think have wider application, or that might benefit from wider collaboration, add them to the list.
