How do you improve your community organizing with online data?

2 Find reliable online data sources

When selecting online data sources for your community organizing project, it’s essential to be critical and selective. Evaluate the credibility, validity, and timeliness of the data sources you choose. Reliable online data sources include government websites and databases that provide official statistics, policies, and reports; non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and research institutes that publish studies, surveys, and evaluations; and online platforms and tools that collect and aggregate data from social media, web analytics, and other sources.

3 Analyze and visualize online data

Once you have collected online data for your community organizing project, you can use various online tools and software to help you analyze and visualize it. Spreadsheets and databases can be used to organize, filter, and manipulate the data, while data analysis and visualization tools enable exploration, summarization, and presentation of the data in charts, graphs, maps, and dashboards. Additionally, data storytelling tools can help create engaging and interactive narratives with the online data. This will make sense of the data and allow it to be communicated effectively.

4 Share and discuss online data

Online data can be a powerful tool for your community organizing project, but only if you share and discuss it with your community and stakeholders. You need to consider the best ways to disseminate and communicate online data, for instance, utilizing online platforms and channels like websites, blogs, social media, newsletters, and podcasts. Additionally, there are various online formats and styles that could suit your online data and message, such as infographics, videos, slideshows, and podcasts. Furthermore, it’s important to incorporate online feedback and engagement mechanisms that invite your community and stakeholders to comment, question, and contribute to your online data; this could be done through surveys, polls, forums, or chats.

5 Learn and improve from online data

Monitoring and evaluating the impact and outcomes of online data and your community organizing project is a continuous process. You need to track performance and progress with metrics and indicators such as views, shares, likes, clicks, and conversions. Additionally, you should pay attention to reviews and testimonials from your community and stakeholders to get feedback on your online data and project. Lastly, you should look for lessons and best practices that can help you identify strengths and weaknesses of your online data and project, as well as suggest ways to improve them. Reports, case studies, and tips are helpful resources in this regard.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?