[okfn-za] Request for help: creating an open African mining database

Fri May 31 08:28:15 UTC 2013

Hi Rufus,

These are great suggestions. I'd also looped Nimi into an off-list
discussion about the pan-African investigative project into extractives
industries that we're already funding, through the new African Network of
Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR).

We're investing into a 2yr EI focus with ANCIR, that includes significant
data-driven tech stuff, as well as hard-hitting investigative reporting /
documentary making, etc. We've just this week kicked off the 1st of a
series of planned ddj bootcamps on the issue, have just created a
standalone African instance of DocCloud and Poderopedia as repositories to
function alongside the existing CKAN portal (which is in the process of
getting a makeover), and will be announcing a couple of other related
projects soon.

Augmenting the journalistic stuff on EI with ANCIR, our Code for
Africa<http://code-africa.org>programme is also supporting citizen
tech projects in this space. Here's an
example of one (still very early stage) project from Ghana:
http://labs.code-africa.org/WhereMyMoneyDey/. The local teams are still
scraping data, fleshing out the functionality, etc, and building CSO
alliances for a massive rollout in partnership with major media in the
country. We've had requests to replicate the platform in Nigeria, Uganda,
Tanzania, etc.

Cheers,
Justin

Justin Arenstein*
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On 31 May 2013 01:34, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:

> Hi Nimi,
>
> This sounds really good. In terms of getting started, I have a few
> thoughts:
>
> - Love the focus on extractives. Could you write out 2-3 most interesting
> questions you'd like the data to answer
>
> - Start with the simplest thing possible e.g. google docs spreadsheets for
> the data, or contributing data to http://africaopendata.org/ which is a
> nice CKAN instance already deployed for you!
>
> - The fewer the sorts of data you need to collect to get something useful
> the better (you already seem pretty focused in your design doc so this is
> great!)
>
> I really like this and I think there are natural synergies with
> http://OpenSpending.org/ + http://AfricaSpending.org/ so would love to
> help where I can. (I also suggest that it may be posting about your ideas
> to http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/openspending)
>
> Rufus
>
>
>
> On 15 May 2013 10:40, Nimi Hoffmann <Nimi.Hoffmann at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi all
>>
>> As far as I'm aware, there's currently no open continental database for
>> measuring and comparing the actions of extractive industries across
>> the African continent. The little data that exists is hidden or is
>> behind a paywall. The poor quality of data is compounded by the lack of
>> transparency in the sector, the lack of oversight by Africangovernments, and the low levels of investigative research and journalism.
>>
>> This data poverty has bummed me out for too long. I'm greedy for
>> continental data which is collected, organised and curated so that it is
>> verifiable and actionable.
>>
>> In my quest for an open, relatively comprehensive database, I'm planning
>> to create a platform for crowdsourcing information from specialists and
>> affected parties. The areas covered are incidents related to water, land,
>> labour, violence and finances.
>>
>> To this end, I have two requests for help. One for hacks, the other for
>> hackers.
>>
>> First, I'm not a coder, and I'm not sure how to set up this database. I'd
>> considered using CKAN, but I got a little confused by the site. If anyone
>> can point me to an online architecture for setting up a database, that
>> would be wonderful.
>>
>> Second,  I've got a rough first draft of the variables I'd like to
>> capture. It would be fantastic if some of you guys could take 20 minutes
>> out of your day to look at it and briefly let me know - am I missing any
>> importantquestions; could some questions be dropped or modified? Problem
>> areas are highlighted in yellow in the document. I'm also planning to try
>> and integrate this with other open data, such as financial data from OpenCorporates, Money to Metal and EITI (where it exists), as well asMiningAtlas, an application of google maps to
>> mines. The idea is that one should be able to cross-check data with
>> other sources, as well as try to use techniques such as GIS for checking
>> some of the larger environmental claims. If you have thoughts on this, do
>> let me know as well.
>>
>> There are two documents. The first concerns the design, and the second
>> concerns design notes. If you want to make changes to the design, please
>> add them as track changes. If you want to make notes, or comment on the
>> workflow or potential problems, please do so in the design notes. Comments
>> in the margins get very messy after a while!
>>
>> Please note: first *data freeze* *is* *30 May.* Just so's this project
>> doesn't get stuck in cyber limbo.
>>
>> If anyone is interested in taking a more active role in the project,
>> please do let me know. The more the merrier :)
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Nimi
>>
>
>
>
> --
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>
> Rufus Pollock
>
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>
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