My slides for Taiwan summit.g0v.tw - Open Data in Myanmar's 2015 Election

1. NodeJS in Naypyitaw
Open Data in Myanmar’s 2015 Election
Nick Doiron
Senior Application Developer, The Asia Foundation

2. မဂ#လ%ပ'
mingalaba

3. About Us
• The Asia Foundation
• improving lives, expanding opportunities, and
helping societies flourish
• offices in 20 nations across Asia
• some connections to Taiwan

4. About Us
• Digital Media and Technology Program
• small, cross-department office
• handles high-tech initiatives in multiple
countries

5. About Myanmar
country in Southeast Asia, also known as Burma

6. first openly-contested national election in 25 years
2015 Election

7. • Inspired by
2014 project in
Indonesia
• Now data is
published by
govt

8. database of candidates, parties, and
current parliament
apps by local designers and developers

9. Partnership with UEC
• Union Election Commission, in Naypyitaw

10. Naypyitaw

11. Where do we get data?
6,072 candidates; 91 political parties

13. Candidate Form 6
• Name, constituency, address, voter registration
• Constituency name, number are still new
• Education, occupation, religion, ethnicity
• Parents’ information

14. What fields are public interest?
• Candidate and parents’
information
• Won’t share NID,
contact info

15. Scan and OCR ?
Google Drive OCR versus handwriting

16. Type and Compare

17. Scan, Type, and Compare

18. Building data-entry-app
• NodeJS, Express framework
• SQLite database (easy backups)
• PassportJS authentication
• Polymer frontend
!
• Future: KoaJS, DB sessions

19. Offline server
• Windows Server
• Install NodeJS, SQLite, git, while online
• Install custom app
• Network drive to transfer code and images

20. Entering data

21. Comparing answers

22. Finding faces - OpenCV

23. node_modules
npm install myanmar-numbers!
- convert numerals
!
npm install myanmar-names!
!
- sort names
- match names
- match despite common errors
- ထ and လ - ဂ and ဝ

24. unfinished work
Myanmar calendar

25. Official Candidate Lists
20% Unicode
80% Win Inwa font

26. Writing in Myanmar
*မန,မ%
မ ြ န ် မ ာ

27. node_modules
github.com/Rabbit-Converter!
- added to local development
!
npm install my-winresearcher!
!
- convert programmatically
- files from the command line

28. Election is Coming

29. Launch the Hackathon

30. Two-Week Hackathon?
Pre-hackathon: three training events!
Saturday noon: launch!
Sunday: hacking
+ 1 week: Slack support
Saturday: hacking
Sunday: election workshop
+ 1 week: Slack support
Saturday: final stretch
Sunday: final presentations and judging

31. All Nighters
not for everyone

32. More Time
More Teamwork
Better Results
• “this hack challenge took 2 weeks unlike two previous
intense 48-hour hackathons.
So everybody got a fair play and well enough time.”
— Poe Poe Myint Swe

33. Open Election Q&A

34. Final Presentations

35. Did it work?
• 137 attendees at launch
• 23 teams in final
presentations
• largest event ever for
PhanDeeYar coworking
space

36. Winner
mVoter!
2015

37. Promote Multiple Apps

39. App Reviews

40. Election Day

41. MaePaySoh API Stats
• 211,000 app downloads (Android + iOS)
• > 1,181 simultaneous users on Google Analytics
• requests for 289 of 323 voting townships

42. Future for Civic Tech
• Can civic tech succeed in Myanmar?
• future is bright
• winning team ~18 yrs old

43. Improvements
• Include Mandalay events
• Coordinate with Geek Girls Myanmar
• New environment: opens door to promotion by
candidates, parties, students

44. Thank you!