New meets old media: Civic Tech users in West Africa
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This was presented by Nicole Anand from Reboot at the Impacts of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC2016) in Barcelona on 28th April. You can find out more information about the conference here: https://www.mysociety.org/research/tictec-2016/
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New meets old media: Civic Tech users in West Africa
- 1. NEW MEETS OLD MEDIA: CIVIC TECH USERS IN WEST AFRICA April 28, 2016 Nicole Anand
- 2. ABOUT REBOOT Reboot is a social impact firm dedicated to inclusive development and accountable governance. We help governments, foundations, and international organizations achieve their missions.
- 3. OUR APPROACH We apply mixed methods to our work. User-centered research, design, implementation and learning is at the core of our approach. To us, users matter – not only the end-user – but the needs, capacities, and behaviors of all users with critical influence within a governance system.
- 4. UNDERSTANDING IMPACT THROUGH A “USER ASSUMPTION” LENS
- 5. CASE STUDY: STRENGTHENING CIV SOCIETY ADVOCACY
- 6. PART 1 OVERVIEW - Why were we in Nigeria? - Working to transform the World Bank’s public expenditure tracking system - Who were we working with? - NDCBP: local organization focused on budget monitoring and advocacy - What opportunities did we see? - Support research impact through radio advocacy
- 7. PART 2 ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK - Axis 1: - Users: Researchers, Advocates and Policymakers - Axis 2: - Problem vs. Solution
- 8. [PROBLEM] RESEARCHERS CONNECT WITH ADVOCATES TO ACHIEVE IMPACT. [DEBUNKED]
- 9. [PROBLEM] RESEARCHERS ARE STRATEGIC. POTENTIAL OUTCOMES ARE FORECASTED, AND USED TO INFORM INQUIRY DESIGN AND EXECUTION. [DEBUNKED]
- 10. [SOLUTION] POLICYMAKERS LISTEN WHEN ADVOCATES OFFER INFORMATION RELATED TO THEIR POLITICAL INTERESTS. [VALIDATED]
- 11. CASE STUDY: CIVIC ENGAGEMENT WITH INDEPENDENT ONLINE MEDIA
- 12. PART 1 OVERVIEW Objectives: • To explore the media landscape in Nigeria. • To better understand how media users access, engage with, and use different types of news information. • To unpack issues of trust in media.
- 13. PART 2 ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK - Axis 1: - Users: traditional media, individual journalists, and citizens - Axis 2: - Technological, Political, Economic
- 14. [TECHNOLOGICAL] DRIVING UP ONLINE TRAFFIC LEADS TO INCREASED IMPACT. [DEBUNKED]
- 15. [POLITICAL] TRUST AND INFLUENCE ARE CORRELATED. AS TRUST IN MEDIA RISES, SO DOES ITS INFLUENCE. [VALIDATED]
- 16. [ECONOMIC] HIGH RESOURCED MEDIA IS MOST INFLUENTIAL OVER CIVIC ENGAGEMENT. [VALIDATED & DEBUNKED]
- 17. NEW MEETS OLD A SHARED RECIPE FOR MEANINGFUL IMPACT 1. Analog matters. 2. A mix of broad-based mixed and targeted engagement.
Editor's Notes
- We are sector agnostic, but we have a common adaptive approach to how we work within and across sectors. Namely, we apply mixed methods, including political economy analysis, power mapping, agile and iterative user testing and learning. At the core is user-centered research, design, implementation and learning. We care about users. We explore them at the individual level - needs, capacities, and behaviors - and connect it to a system. We find this approach particularly helpful in validating or debunking the assumptions we make about users. Today, I will share 2 of our experiences with digital democracy - specific old and new media (radio and online) - in West Africa. My hope is that the assumptions I raise about users resonate with you all, and the conclusions we came to will inspire us to continue exploring to continually test these assumptions.
- Why were we in Nigeria? Built up a local team - working closely to turn a deficits model into one focused on capabilities Idea was to demo a redesign of road inspection- instead of focusing on how the government was doing well, honing in what they were capable of doing, to exploit those areas of opportunity for improvements. As a result, we generated nuanced public finance data In process, we met NDCBP. First trained them in a different State, then spoke to them about their State. Who Specialist group focused on budget monitoring and advocacy Problem: Donor darling but not able to generate much public interest. Opportunities Printed research reports and tried to engage policymakers to act on findings.
- They told us that they don’t have much impact. Want to do things differently. Status Quo: While they were in the media, no ability to mobilize Doing research but only advocacy around reports (wanted to get word out around reports) . Diagnosis: When working with a hostile government, need to mobilize citizens to get things done. When have a reform oriented state, Dont need to go through media . Media is used to generate incentives. How do we generate enough interest for government to pay attention? Naturally came to radio. Not usually this - only infotainment. Media only opened up in Nigeria in 98 NigeriaInfo Targeted: Focused on edu because signature platform of governor in State.
- Analysis not nuanced, technically sophisticated Strategic: Conducted user research with people who care about education, and designed portal around education. Info directed at parents was a mix between practical and technical. Low on technical at outset. Healthy lunches for kids, and government policy. Weaving in practical issues that resonated with audiences - immediate relatable info. To mobilize citizens, need to think about content strategy very differently than you otherwise might. E.g. Lifestyle and practical content with technical content. When mobilizing citizens, need to measure their engagement. NigeriaInfo - as saw people getting more and more engaged, could push out increasing amount of technical content
- Telling govt. need to allocate resources to edu Improved education was a campaign promise. We could make a lot of problems for him if revealed issue. Results: Permanent Sec came on show within 3 months. Before then NDCBP, had never gotten them to pay attention
- Overview Asked to do impact eval of independent media using field methods. Honed in on issue of trust Broadened to look at media landscape - How they access, engage with, and use different types of news info. Unpacked trust through survey, emerging trends
- In our new world of online media, we are obsessed with data analytics and often this leads to caring a lot about traffic. Headlines are sensational - for increasing clicks to justify to donors. Respondents expressed frustration with headlines not matching content. Led to decline in trust.
- Survey of 70 citizens Trust is increasing - but still far below TV Trust retention rate for online media is lower - people are losing confidence after a shorter amount of time (refer to paper). Trust is easy to lose (in areas that donors are funded e.g. online etc.) What did you trust/ what do you trust now?
- Yes, bigger TV channel more influence. But individual columnists are who people care about. Highly skeptical of media; better resourced are more trusted, but what people do trust is people - bloggers - speak my language, harder to be bought.[refer to paper]. Sabi News is taking advantage of this trend - 5 journalists - people couldn’t name, but 5 columnists (something every week) people could name. How do we help people talk to each other?
- Analog matters In first case, even if brought in radio but still advocating around reports… if built dashboard, but did not understand need to put in practical info… In second case, could concentrate on click rate, but trust would still undermine knowledge absorption and outcomes. Mix Dashboard with citizens, and radio for masses but also targeting individual policymaker High resources media is still influential, but individual columnists are gaining momentum. These ones are speaking to much more niche audiences.