2019:Advocacy/Data driven advocacy
 | This is an Accepted submission for the Advocacy space at Wikimania 2019. |
Title
Description
Data driven advocacy for corporate transparency.
Today, data on company impacts remains primarily behind paywalls and difficult to access. Those who have access to the data have power to influence companies, governments and investors in their decision making processes. Thus, WikiRate (wikirate.org) is building an open data platform on company performance which allows comparison across and within companies and sectors, and showcases which data is not disclosed publicly - or is missing from the public record.
As an open source tool, anyone can use the data and contribute to building data sets, meaning the power is shifted to individuals and communities, in theory. In practice, there is always a barrier to entry. Citizens need time, support tools and awareness to be able to use data as an evidence base for advocacy.
This session will focus around a case study to allow participants to collaboratively conduct a short research sprint, and mock-up or execute an analysis for their target audience (each group will have a different target audience for adv
ocacy), as well as what they achieve/miss out on by having this stakeholder as the key target audience.
Relationship to the theme
This session will address the conference theme — Wikimedia, Free Knowledge and the Sustainable Development Goals — in the following manner: There are four main goals addressed in the session: SDG4: Quality Education, SDG10: Reduced Inequalities, SDG16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, and SDG17: Partnerships. Open resources like wikis create opportunities to open up information and power to communities with less of it, by providing education around evidence-based advocacy and tools to become part of the conversation with policy makers and other in positions of influence (SDG4 & 10). In making less powerful communities more powerful (with evidence and advocacy tools), SDG16 and 17 are addressed, bringing new stakeholders together to accomplish shared goals, and bringing new knowledge and experience to the development of institutions.
Regarding open company data specifically, there is a need for policy makers to better understand company impacts, and the impacts of legal frameworks and regulations. The more communities advocate for an open evidence base (i.e. more and improved company disclosure), the more companies can contribute to the good of advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, which they have a very large influence on countries achieving.
Session outcomes
At the end of the session, the following will have been achieved:
- Understanding key stakeholders and leverage points in influencing corporate behavior
- New data research developed and combined with other community research
- Capacity to use a data and analysis to drive advocacy
Session leader(s)
- Theresa Heithaus
- Lucia Ixtacuy
WikiRate.org
Usernames
- Thereheithaus
Affiliation/country (if any)
- Germany / US
- Germany / Mexico
E-mail contact (optional)
- theresa@wikirate.org
- Email 2
Session type
Each Space at Wikimania 2019 will have specific format requests. The program design prioritises submissions which are future-oriented and directly engage the audience. The format of this submission is a:
- Workshop to identify and try to solve problem
The session will use a data-sprint format combined with small group work. Each small group will tackle the same research question, collecting information to assess corporate performance or disclosure on a specific case topic, and develop / mock-up their advocacy plan. Participants back together as a full group to discuss the learnings, findings, challenges, and collaboration opportunities.
Requirements
The session will work best with these conditions:
- Room:
A medium sized room with space for small group (roundtable) work, and equipped with a projector/screen is ideal.
- Audience:
No prior skills are necessary. between 15 and 50 people could attend the session.
- Recording:
It could be possible to record, but would be difficult to capture all of the activity