Gladys Tyen and Walter Myer are students of computational linguistics at the University of Cambridge, who joined Africa’s Voices for a summer internship. They developed machine learning techniques and a crowdsourcing web app that will help us to analyse text messages in dialects and slang like Sheng. Here, they explain their tasks, experiences, and successes as Africa’s...
On Monday 27 June, Africa’s Voices presented how we overcome three common challenges that many organisations working with citizen-generated data face. The presentation was broadcast online for DataShift’s community call (webinar). We discussed: how Africa’s Voices builds and sustains citizen engagement during interactive radio projects, how we gather and analyse local language data, without relying on translation,...
After a week in Bogotá at the International Civil Society Week, Rainbow Wilcox (Impact Officer at Africa’s Voices) reflects on how data generated by citizens can create new opportunities for monitoring and achieving development goals. [View the story “Citizen-generated data – a game-changer for development?” on Storify]
At Africa’s Voices, we deal with unstructured digital data from diverse and often marginalised members of East African societies. We are able to reach these citizens through interactive media and mobile technology, and analyse their input to help media and development organisations understand, engage with, and respond to their needs. This puts us in the...
Kavita Ramakrishnan, an Africa’s Voices researcher, helped Well Told Story to analyse thousands of text messages that the Kenyan media company had received from their fans on the topic of contraception. Here, Kavita reflects on a framework developed for this project that ensures unique voices don’t get lost in big data, and are considered a valuable asset to analysis. Harnessing meaning...
Radio forums, both national and local, are powerful tools for discussing issues affecting people’s lives. Many listeners participate using SMS texting – a rich source of data which, if analysed with care and using sophisticated techniques, can provide invaluable insights into changes in the audience’s beliefs and opinions. These changes can be readily linked to socio-demographics (i.e....
Interactive radio allows for new voices to be amplified across Africa. But, how can we listen carefully and make sense of these unstructured conversations? Further, any audience data that is collected will be skewed – because the voices are also skewed. Firstly, radio audiences are skewed in comparison to the population. In addition, those who choose to participate in...
In May 2013, Claudia Abreu Lopes (Head of Research at Africa’s Voices) travelled to Malawi, Zambia and Kenya for our pilot research project, accompanied by filmmaker Dominique Chadwick. They produced a film featuring radio presenters and listeners, demonstrating how Africa’s Voices gave citizens a platform to express their views. Get grounded in Africa’s Voices’ pilot research by watching the...
‘RadioActive! The Story of Interactive Radio in Africa’ is an accessible and engaging starting point for radio stations to create interactive programmes. It was developed by Africa’s Voices and our partners, and now forms one part of the training we provide our media partners when planning interactive shows with them. Explore the guide below, read...
13th February 2015 was World Radio Day – an international event supported by UNESCO to celebrate the unique power of radio. As radio is central to Africa’s Voices work, we were keen to join in the celebrations. Sharath Srinivasan, Director of Africa’s Voices, spoke at the World Radio Day SOAS event, along with other leading...
