Civic Tech Field Guide

Sourceror

Sourceror was meant to leverage Wikipedia’s credibility data to improve media literacy and combat disinformation on the web. It's not clear if it launched.

During the months leading up to the 2018 presidential election , students at the Énois School of Journalism in São Paulo and the youth of data_lab in Rio checked weekly for facts and rumors that could impact on the electoral process, Whatsapp networks - mostly young and peripheral.

students

Siberkreasi

Jakarta

SiBerkreasi is a national movement to overcome the biggest potential threats that are being faced by Indonesia, namely the spread of negative content through the internet such as hoaxes, cyberbullying and online radicalism.

Digital Enquirer Kit

The Digital Enquirer Kit is centered around misinformation, fact-based research and digital security.

guides

Raskrinkavanje

Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина)

The Raskrinkavanje.ba platform was launched by the team of the "Why Not" organization, which has many years of experience in fact-checking, through work on checking the accuracy and consistency of statements of public officials, and monitoring the fulfillment of election promises on the Istinomjer platform.

Project Certeza

Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico

First deployed on Election Day in 2018, Project Certeza’s purpose was to identify and deal with false information disseminated, particularly through social networks but also through any other media, that could produce uncertainty or distrust in the citizenry about the electoral authority’s responsibilities as the election is happening.

Facebook Digital Literacy Library

United States of America (the)

The Facebook Digital Literacy Library is hosted by Facebook and currently includes learning resources made available by Youth and Media at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.

Monitor do WhatsApp

Minas Gerais

This system shows the most shared image, video, audio, messaging, and URLs content across over 300 WhatsApp public groups daily.

WhatsApp

Data Analytics for Social Media Monitoring

Washington, DC

This new guide is designed to help democracy practitioners better understand social media trends, content, data, and networks.

reports

NoBias

In the age of social media, many of us ambiently consume news by reading headlines and descriptions that appear in our news feeds.

extensions

NewsTracker

"A grant from the Knight Foundation to PBS News Hour, the Newstracker project has tasked itself with "developing a tool that combines online news content with engagement data from social media and other sources to help journalists and others better understand the scale, scope and shape of the misinformation problem." - Counteringdisinformation.org

Newscheck

India (Bhārat)

Strengthening our resolve to support the fight against misinformation in India, Internews is delighted to announce that in partnership with DataLEADS and with the support of Google.org, we will be launching a new news literacy project in India aimed at empowering the general public by helping them learn how to critically assess the information they see online and navigate news.

Myth Detector

Georgia (Sakartvelo)

Fact-checking and media literacy

Nepal Fact Check

Nepal

Center for Media Research – Nepal (CMR Nepal) is an autonomous, research and policy-oriented, not-for-profit non-governmental policy think tank registered with Nepal Government and Social Welfare Council and is based in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.

News Integrity Initiative

CUNY Graduate Center

The News Integrity Initative is a global consortium focused on helping people make informed judgments about the news they read and share online.

Disinfo Portal

DisinfoPortal.org was the Atlantic Council's one-stop interactive online portal and guide to the Kremlin’s information war.

A Field Guide to “Fake News” and Other Information Disorders

A Field Guide to “Fake News” and Other Information Disorders explores the use of digital methods to study false viral news, political memes, trolling practices and their social life online.

MediaWise

The mission of MediaWise is to empower people of all ages to be more critical consumers of content online.

Media Matters for Pakistan

Pakistan

Media Matters for Pakistan is a web based initiative, designed to act as an informal watchdog over the mainstream media in Pakistan.

Marvelous.ai

MarvelousAI is an (inactive) early stage startup founded by tech industry veterans.

Manila Principles on Intermediary Liability

Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines

The Manilla Principles on Intermediary Liability define various principles for intermediary companies to follow when operating in democratic and authoritarian environments, including that: Intermediaries should be shielded from liability for third-party content; Content must not be required to be restricted without an order by a judicial authority; Requests for restrictions of content must be clear, be unambiguous, and follow due process; Laws and content restriction orders and practices must comply with the tests of necessity and proportionality

Liga Contra el Silencio

Colombia

We define ourselves as an alliance that involves the media, a central newsroom and a network of freelance collaborators.

Latam Chequea

Latin America

Faced with the “infodemic”, the spread of rumors and false content, Latin American checkers join forces to share the information we produce and, by joining forces, provide better information to our communities.

Lead Stories

Lead Stories is an innovative fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015.

Alternative News Networks

Oxford, UK

This project seeks to understand the health of the UK online information ecosystem, including tracking the spread of divisive and misleading content.

Journalism Trust Initiative

The Journalism Trust Initiative aims at a healthier information space.

InVid

Inactive project: "InVID will build a platform providing services to detect, authenticate and check the reliability and accuracy of newsworthy video files and video content spread via social media."

Checkology

Checkology’s lessons and other resources show you how to navigate today’s challenging information landscape.

trainings

Iffy Quotient

University of Michigan, South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

The Iffy Quotient is a metric for how much content from “Iffy” sites has been amplified on Facebook and Twitter.

Animal Político

Mexico (Estados Unidos Mexicanos)

Animal Político is a digital native medium that brings together journalists, designers, programmers and video editors to create content with rigor, precision and thought to serve citizens.

Global Network Initative

1325 G Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005

GNI helps companies respect freedom of expression and privacy rights when faced with government pressure to hand over user data, remove content, or restrict communications.

free speech

BotSlayer

BotSlayer is an application that helps track and detect potential manipulation of information spreading on Twitter.

X (Twitter)

Pulso

United States of America (the)

Keeping the pulse on and raising up nuestra gente

Collective Action in Tech Fellowship

We're looking for tech workers, researchers, journalists and content creators who want to tell the stories of collective action in tech in the Global South.

labor

Reset Australia

Australia

The unregulated attention economy driving social media is fraying our democracy, threatening our mental and physical health, and exposing our children to violent and disturbing content. Our limited attention has become the most valuable resource on the internet and it is captured and manipulated via the rampant and unregulated collection of our personal data. This is surveillance capitalism at work - a relentless assault on our private data that provide intimate insights which are sold to the highest bidder, with next-to-no awareness or control. We are told that having our data taken is the price we pay for the “free” use of digital services. But this system places the priorities of corporates ahead of the social good while it manipulates our social perspective, drives division and isolates us from each other. There are few practical ways to opt out of the attention economy that depends on pervasive surveillance. And even if you manage to on an individual level, the real world impact of this data-driven social manipulation is impossible to avoid. Big Tech controls a global audience of billions with a market power that is unprecedented in the history of media. Yet they have almost no oversight and reject liability for the harms their products cause.

Ethical tech and responsible tech

Civiclytics

This tool shows the perceptions and concerns about wellbeing and discontent expressed online by the citizens of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Serve in Place Fund

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

This Cornell University fund supports students who are participating in any type of community-based research activities or community-engaged learning projects

students

COVID Engagement Projects

COVID In Boston

Boston, MA

With the onset of COVID, BARI has sought to construct a data-support system for a city during a pandemic–both to serve our local communities and to act as a model for others across the country.

cities

सङ्ग्रह (Collection)

Nepal

The collection is a digital collection of literary works written in Nepali and other languages of Nepal.

ClaimReview Project

Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

A tagging system for fact-checks

Digital Public Goods Standard

The Digital Public Goods Standard is a set of specifications and guidelines designed to maximise consensus about whether a digital solution conforms to the definition of a digital public good: open-source software, open data, open AI models, open standards, and open content that adhere to privacy and other applicable best practices, do no harm by design and are of high relevance for attainment of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Partnerships for the Goals

Data schemas and standards

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media

Berkman Center For Internet, Everett Street, Cambridge, MA, USA

The Institute for Rebooting Social Media is a three-year, “pop-up” research initiative to accelerate progress towards addressing social media’s most urgent problems, including misinformation, privacy breaches, harassment, and content governance.

Algorithm Tips

Northwestern University, Campus Drive, Evanston, IL, USA

Resources and leads for investigating algorithms in society

guides

ActionSprout

ActionSprout, Commercial Street, Bellingham, WA, USA

ActionSprout makes it easy to find curated content, schedule posts, manage Facebook ads, and create donations and petitions to grow your following!

commercial

ActionKit

Washington, DC

Tools to build a movement

Access Guide

Access Guide is a friendly introduction to digital accessibility based on WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).

California Design System

California

The Design System makes it easy for state digital teams to build accessible, consistent, and performant services and products to meet Californians’ needs.