[OpenSpending] New guest post on WB's financial data app

Wed Jan 30 05:50:57 UTC 2013

Hi Anders,

I had a look at the blog post and the app. Here are some (critical) remarks addressed to the authors.

I agree that context is very important, but I believe a lot more can be done for data presentation. Even if we use only line charts and treemaps, we can do much better than only giving access to data. For example showing data in a historic context to analysis to which extend aid money is spend in different sectors. I implement such data analysis here to show investment in sectors throughout the years, so one can compare for example if that meets with real challenges (e.g. a comparison with indicators). Check here for an example: http://www.offene-entwicklungshilfe.de/land/142/2010/

The line graph shows high investment in energy. One can wonder why development aid money goes in the energy sector in Egypt, although this country has sufficient energy resources and much bigger problems in other areas. This is an example where data representation becomes interesting and hopefully invites to analyze further.

I checked the app and it is a nice approach for a mobile app, however, I see quite a few issues:

1. You work with a lot of abbreviations (IDA, IBRD, TF Data, TFM23563), which probably only experts or internal personel understand and do not explain the app and concepts sufficiently. 

2. You do not show data over time, which makes things a lot more interesting. Where is money spend over time. Trends are important to see patterns: http://www.offene-entwicklungshilfe.de/trends/

3. You almost "hide" supplier information. Why can I not search suppliers and see where and how much money they receive in total?
 I wish I could see suppliers around a certain area. Isn't that context information I might want to have? 

4. From the usability it is not obvious to me how to change between projects on the map and donor/recipients? I found it by luck. 
I cannot search by sector or topic and analyze project data across countries. 

5. I wish one can wander easier through the data sets in the mobile app to find interesting patterns as described above.

Best Christian

Am 30.01.2013 um 01:41 schrieb Anders Pedersen <anders.pedersen at okfn.org>:

> Hi all, 
> 
> We just published a comprehensive guest post from Samuel Lee at World Bank Finances. Samuel writes about the reflections behind their recently launched app, which disseminates WB financial data including contract information: 
> http://openspending.org/blog/2013/01/29/worldbank-guest-post.html
> 
> It would be great to hear your thoughts. 
> 
> Best,
> Anders
> 
> -- 
> Anders Pedersen
> Community Coordinator
> Openspending
> Open Knowledge Foundation
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