Recipes for visualising advocacy, using data from Engaging Networks' e-Activist platform and other free online tools. This was presented at the Engaging Networks Community Conference, Oct 19th 2011, by Beth Granter (@bethgranter) and Steve Winton (@steveWINton).

1. Visualisingadvocacy
#enc2011
@BethGranter& @SteveWinton

2. HELLO! :)
We’re:
@bethgranter and
@steveWINton
from NixonMcInnes, a social business
consultancy.

3. Our clients

4. Applied technology

5. Basically,
We ♥ data :)

6. Why visualise advocacy?
• Make people feel part of a movement
– “I’m part of something big”
• To motivate people to complete an
action or pass it on

7. Why visualise advocacy?

8. Why visualise advocacy?

9. Why map advocacy?
• Highlight areas where advocacy is
high/low, which MPs have been targeted
– “I can make a difference / I’m needed”
• Reflect how local communities feel about
issues
– “This is relevant to me”
• To further motivate people to complete
an action or pass it on

10. Mapping advocacy: recipe 1
• Take1 e-activist data
feed (EaEmailAOTarget)

11. Mapping advocacy: Recipe 1
• Take 1 advocacy online data feed
(EaEmailAOTarget)

12. Mapping advocacy: recipe 1
• Make a CSV!

13. Mapping advocacy: Recipe 1
• Make a CSV!

14. Mapping advocacy: recipe 1
• Geocode!
(the process of getting co-ordinates for an address)

15. Mapping advocacy: Recipe 1
• Geocode!
(the process of getting co-ordinates for an address)
http://www.google.com/fusiontables/

16. Mapping advocacy: recipe 1
• Visualise!
(putting the co-ordinates on a map)

17. Mapping advocacy: Recipe 1
• Visualise!
(putting the co-ordinates on a map)
http://www.google.com/fusiontables/

18. But,
What about privacy?!
:(

19. Mapping advocacy: recipe 2
IDEA!
Group advocates by
constituency!

20. Mapping each postcode to a constituency
is straightforward, thanks to...
Mapping advocacy: Recipe 2
• Group advocates by
constituency!

21. And we can work in Google Refine...
(not for the faint-hearted!)
http://code.google.com/p/google-refine/

22. Using Google Refine, we can grab
constituency data from our postcodes

23. Grabbing geography for each constituency
is also straightforward, thanks to...
Mapping advocacy: Recipe 2
• Group advocates by
constituency!

24. Or, here’s one we made earlier...
Mapping advocacy: Recipe 2
• Group advocates by
constituency!
http://j.mp/uk-constituencies

25. Join the 2 sets of data in a spreadsheet...
Mapping advocacy: Recipe 2
• Group advocates by
constituency!

26. Visualise! Again, using Google Fusion
Tables...
Mapping advocacy: Recipe 2
• Group advocates by
constituency!

27. But,
It’s a bit messy?!
:(

28. Mapping advocacy: recipe 3
IDEA!
Group by different
geographic areas, based
on zoom level!

29. So... We need county/region + lat/lon for
each constituency? OK...
Mapping advocacy: Recipe 2
• Group advocates by
constituency!
http://j.mp/uk-constituencies

30. Here’s one we made earlier...
Mapping advocacy: Recipe 2
• Group advocates by
constituency!

31. Cool!
But...
How can we show the
impact?!
:(

32. Mapping advocacy: recipe 4
IDEA!
Showing MP support for a
campaign – intentions to
vote or how they voted

33. Mapping impact
• Showing MP support for a campaign –
intentions to vote or how they voted
– Public Whip
– Excel spreadsheet
– Convert votes to numbers e.g. absent = -1, no = 0,
aye = 1
– TheyWorkForYou API constitency geo data CSV
– Google Fusion Tables
• Vizualize > Map > Configure styles

34. Remember this...?
Mapping advocacy: Recipe 2
• Group advocates by
constituency!
http://j.mp/uk-constituencies

35. Mapping impact
• Showing MP support for a campaign –
intentions to vote or how they voted
– Public Whip
– Excel spreadsheet
– Convert votes to numbers e.g. absent = -1, no = 0,
aye = 1
– TheyWorkForYou API constitency geo data CSV
– Google Fusion Tables
• Vizualize > Map > Configure styles

38. Mapping impact
• Showing MP support for a campaign –
intentions to vote or how they voted
– Public Whip voting data
– Convert votes to numerical code
• e.g. absent = -1, no = 0, aye = 1
– TheyWorkForYou API constituency geo data CSV
– Google Fusion Tables
• Vizualize > Map > Configure styles by vote code

39. V. cool!
But...
Can we make advocacy
hotspots easier to… spot?
:)

40. Of course! Enter the choropleth*...
Mapping advocacy: Recipe 2
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choropleth
• Group advocates by
constituency!
http://j.mp/uk-constituencies-svg

41. Immediately, we can see the ‘hotspots’...
Mapping advocacy: Recipe 2
Not here!
• Group advocates by
constituency! Here!
Here!
http://j.mp/uk-constituencies-choropleth

42. For added interactivity, turn to TileMill...
Mapping advocacy: Recipe 2
• Group advocates by
constituency!
LIVE: http://j.mp/visualising-advocacy

43. Wow!
But...
Can we make it update
dynamically?!! :) :)

44. Yes, we can!
We’ve built a tool that
updates the map
automatically...

45. http://www.demandabetterbill.org.uk/

46. Thanks! Questions?
• beth.granter@nixonmcinnes.co.uk
@bethgranter
• steve.winton@nixonmcinnes.co.uk
@steveWINton