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Viewing entries tagged with 'data'
Democracy Ticker Helps Investors Gauge Political Risk
This is the third part in our Democracy Ticker User series, a one-by-one examination of the user groups that we are targeting with the dashboard. In this post, we explain why investors might be interested in Democracy Ticker.
Harnessing Big Data for Development, Learning from the Private Sector
The other day I came across a recap of the White House’s Data Jam—an event where leaders shared how they use data for global development, making better decisions, and spurring entrepreneurship. The recap taught me two things. First, there are too many big data for development events to keep up with! Second, and more importantly, everyone is excited about harnessing big data for development, but there is still confusion about how to proceed.
Want to Establish a Presence in a New Country? Democracy Ticker Can Help
This is the first part in our Democracy Ticker Insights series, where we pose specific questions that can be answered using Democracy Ticker. In this post, we explain how Democracy Ticker can help organizations plan winning strategies for establishing presences in new countries.
Democracy Ticker Helps Aid Donors Make Smarter Funding Decisions
This is the second part in our Democracy Ticker User series, a one-by-one examination of the user groups that we are targeting with the dashboard. In this post, we explain why government funded donor agencies might be interested in Democracy Ticker.
Will Big Data Make Social Science Relevant Again?
The social sciences – political science, sociology, economics, and international relations, to name a few disciplines – have a pretty bad rap these days. Social science researchers get peanuts from the government in comparison to researchers from other fields. Social scientists themselves have written articles questioning the relevance of the disciplines that they have devoted their lives to. Basically, if you’re a social scientist, it looks like you should start easing your way into a new line of work. But, I wouldn't be too hasty. The growing big data movement and the emergence of data as a service (DAAS) may mean that social scientists will soon be in high demand.
A Dashboard for Democracy - Harnessing Big Data to Monitor Governance Conditions in Countries
Most people who use governance data for their work, and there are a lot of them, know where to find the information they need. There are countless numbers of organizations and individuals, both in the public and private sectors, that provide analytics and insights on the state of political participation, human rights, freedom, and democracy in countries. Because these areas of governance are considered so vitally important to citizens, NGOs, donor organizations, governments, investors, and private firms, these sources of information must be great right? Guess again.
Using Data on Freedom and Democracy: Tips for Aid Donors
We’re making major strides when it comes to turning big data into actionable insights on freedom, governance, and democracy; and individuals and institutions are updating their approaches to take advantage of this new information. Whether you are a democracy and human rights advocate on the ground in a country, a foundation that funds innovative projects to strengthen democracy and freedom, a donor organization that provides assistance for government initiatives, or an investor that wants to find value in emerging markets, Democracy Monitor Quarterly (DMQ) can help you make better decisions. Depending on your objectives, better decisions lead to greater impact, more efficient use of resources, and profits.
Happy World Press Freedom Day, Just Not in East Africa
In case you didn't know, today, May 3rd, is World Press Freedom Day. Back in 1993, the United Nations thought it would be a good idea establish a day where we celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; assess the state of press freedom throughout the world; defend the media from attacks on their independence; and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Since Flattau Associates focuses on assessing governance, we thought we would contribute to World Press Freedom Day by sharing some of the data contained in our latest Democracy Monitor Quarterly (DMQ) reports which cover Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The data contained in the reports paints a sobering picture of the state of press freedom in East Africa.
7 Steps to Predicting State Failure
A topic that has been brought to the forefront by the Arab Spring is the ability to predict political and foreign policy events. According to Jeff Goodwin, "No social scientist or political analyst in either the West or the Arab World itself claims to have predicted these uprisings...Nor did any Western or Arab intelligence agency predict them." The question is can we develop the ability to predict these types of events? I believe the answer is yes. Here's my view on the seven steps that need to be taken in order to accurately predict political and foreign policy outcomes:
Obama: Against Whistleblowing, but not Against Democracy
Just the other day, Perter Van Buren, a career US Foreign Service Officer, wrote a piece that initially appeared on TomDispatch, and then on Aljazeera, that called out the Obama Administration for its crackdown on whistleblowers in the United States. In the article, Van Buren referenced a January 23 incident where, "the Obama administration charged former CIA officer John Kiriakou under the Espionage Act for disclosing classified information to journalists about the waterboarding of al-Qaeda suspects." According to the author, "His is just the latest prosecution in an unprecedented assault on government whistleblowers and leakers of every sort. Kiriakou's plight will clearly be but one more battle in a broader war to ensure that government actions and sunshine policies don't go together...How it plays out in court and elsewhere will significantly affect our democracy." Van Buren ends his piece by stating that the Obama Administration, "fears the noise of democracy, preferring the silence of compliance."
