'Liberating information' in Kenya: "We don't just tell stories for the heck of it": A Journalist's Story

Catherine:           Code for Africa is a pan-African federation of civic clubs, and working with civic media. Essentially our objective, if you want to call it an objective, is to try and work within the intersection of technology and media to try and provide citizens with actionable information.

Catherine:           We look at what the issues are. What are the problems? What are the pain points that the public has? Then see how we can introduce technology or we can work with technology to try and address some of those problems.

RISJ:        So what are the key problems that you're facing?

Catherine:           The usual thing is ... I mean people have problems or they have questions or they have concerns about what everybody worries about. Their children's health, their education, getting access to clean water, getting good services. But the one thing which is very different with other interventions that have been done or being done is that we always include media in any intervention.

Catherine:           So there is the focus of trying to provide citizens with information they can use to make decisions related to education, health or whatever. But at the same time, we also want to make sure that the media also has access to these tools or platforms that can help them tell those stories better. So there's a whole thing about giving them additional skills, tech skills. It doesn't mean you need to be everything, but at least knowing how can I use the technology available to tell that story about the person who needs water in a better way? How can I give my audiences access to information that matters to them, in a format that matters to them? How do you tell the same story of no services, but in a more engaging manner so that then your audiences get some knowledge? Not knowledge, but they get the information and are able to act on that information.

Catherine:           So you don't want to just be talking at people, you want to have a conversation. That conversation is not ... What are the technology controls that are available to you? Carry that kind of conversation. Understanding the limitations we have in terms of not everybody is online. Not everybody is knowledgeable enough to be able to then either use the technology that is there to make known their concerns. So we try and do crazy stuff. I think we do crazy stuff. I call it crazy, but crazy interesting.

Speaker 2:           Like?

Catherine:           Like empowering ... Okay, let me just ... Just for starters. What are the things we do in these? Something to do with air quality. Now, air quality data does not exist in most of our countries. It does not exist. And even if it does, it's spotty. It's very spotty. It's not consistent. Maybe it was ... Like in Kenya, I think they have six air-quality sensors that have been collecting data, but that data is not accessible to the public. It's only accessible maybe to the UNEP or maybe the government.

Catherine:           Now, imagine a situation where we actually put together cheap, simple, easy-to-use air-quality sensors. Just and then mapping them, putting them all over the city. Then getting that data. For me, as a journalist, I'll say, "Oh, okay, what's the air in my 'hood?" Then you see, "Oh, in this ..." Because we place them with schools or with individuals in their estate where they live as custodians. But that data is shared by academia. It's shared by the journalists. It's open to the public so that they can see that actually the fact that there is that factory, or maybe there's garbage been burnt in their neighbourhood or something. It is contributing to their bad health.

Catherine:           Now that's a story that you'd otherwise not have been able to tell without necessarily having the evidence to back it up. So that when this individual, or this community, or this citizen then goes and says, "We do not want that garbage burning in our 'hood. We don't want that waste disposal site in our neighbourhood because it's making us sick." I mean that's not something you had always been able to do, so that's somehow the things-

Speaker 2:           So you're giving them tools, for example data, journalism skills, to enable the media to empower people?

Catherine:           Citizens, yes. In some instances, actually helping build up databases that do not exist. I mean maybe here you have the company registry. Well, we do have a company registry but I do not have access to it easily. What is one where we actually create ... How do you call? We liberate. We use the word liberation of data, which is held up in PDFs and whatnot. But them put it in such a way that they are accessible to anybody. They are searchable and people can access them easily. Not necessarily, how do you call it? Joe Bloggs. But at least the media has access to that. They can then be able to contextualise a story.

Catherine:           When they're doing a story about, "Okay, we've got corruption." Catherine this, Catherine that, Catherine is the director of this, Catherine is also a director of that. Whereas, connecting the dots and then saying, "Wait a minute, it's only Catherine, Catherine, Catherine everywhere. What?" Then you can see the ... You can get a better picture of a situation. You can be able to contextualise. You can be able then to say it's not just based on this, it's actually based on evidence. Which is very important, especially working in some of our countries. Because when I say, "Catherine says I have no evidence." If I'm called out and somebody is unhappy, I can always use that as a point of, how do you say, defence. I did not say it, actually it exists in your documents. It exists in your data. It exists in your records. I am not saying it as Catherine.

Catherine:           I think Maria Ressa referred to that today [at the 35th anniversary celebrations of the RISJ Journalist Fellowship Programme] when she was talking about the weaponisation of social media and everything. But one of the things that came through to me in her conversation is when she says, "If you have the evidence it's one way of standing, or fighting back." Again, that's the same thing we're trying to do, liberating, providing databases where none exist. Creating APIs, or tools, or platforms that can then help you as a user, as a citizen, as a journalist to visualise that information that is there, or to be able to search.

Speaker 2:           I have one more question, which is how's the reaction of the audiences and of the journalists you're working with when you're enabling them to access the evidence that previously they had no access to? What's the response you're getting?

Catherine:           It's been quite encouraging. I think one of the biggest challenges was trying to get people to see why we need to go this-a-way. I think the way the media has been changing in the West, for a time I think we were comfortable, that we don't need to worry about certain things, or go the same way. It's true. We don't have to. We just need to learn from how the media is being imparted by technology.

Catherine:           What I realised, especially now, and particularly with the women - because we started a women network, women data journalist network - is the opportunities it gives you as a journalist to tell that story you've always wanted to tell and have some impact. It's not necessarily ... Okay, the editors may want the click-bait, but really connecting with your audiences. Getting people to come back and tell you, "Oh, Catherine, that was a great story. Oh, you made my day." Or, "Now I know, I intend to do this."

Catherine:           Because the idea is you need to be able to ... After somebody reads your story, then you need to be able ... "Okay, so what? Now I know, what do I do?" Because there's nothing as, how do you say, frustrating as for you to tell me my problem is this, and then you don't give me a solution or even an indication of where solutions could be, because at the end of the day, I make my own decision. Give me the information and at the same ... So that I feel empowered. I know that, okay, maybe I need to go in the street, maybe that's my solution. Maybe not. Maybe there is a way I can respond or ask or demand for services or for something, for action to be taken. That's the way we look at it in terms of ...

Catherine:           We don't just tell the story for the heck of it. You tell it because ... Obviously it's a story about people. You want them to feel hopeful. Their situation is not useless, yeah.

Speaker 2:           Thank you.