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Political Apathy Reorganization

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New Lead: Political Apathy is created by a feeling of powerlessness in the sense of politics.[1] It can consist of interest apathy, voter apathy, and information apathy. It can be categorized as the indifference of an individual and a lack of interest in participating in political activities[2]. This includes lack of interest in elections, political events, pubic meetings, and voting. [3] Political apathy can lead to low voter turnout and stagnation in a state's government.[4][5] Political apathy can lead to a loss of democracy and respondents mentioned it can also have social and psychological damage due to lack of personal political interaction[6] According to The North American Review, lack of participation can lead to "political ills" such as corruption and dishonesty among politicians as they are not held accountable. [7]Countries with mandatory voting has seen less occurrences of political and voter apathy. In Belgium political participation is at 87.2% while in Turkey, it is 84.3% [8]

Political apathy is found among younger voters, the poor, and minority groups[9]. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) breaks down youths into different groups, Broadly Engaged (19%), Political Specialists (19%) and Only Voted (18%) The rest of the youth population clustered into Civically Alienated (16%), Politically Marginalized (14%) and Engaged Non-Voters (14%)[10]. In 2010, only 21% of youths eligible to vote in the United States between ages 18-21 voted or were politically active.[11] If the youth were to participate in the political processes Congress consist of a larger number of younger Congress members. [12]

Political Apathy in The United States

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In the 2016 Presidential election, the U.S. turnout was 54.87%[13], while in the midterm elections of 2014 there was a historic low of 36.7% turnout to the elections[14] out of 84.3% of the population that was eligible to vote. In a study conducted by YouGov, the question "Suppose that you alone could determine whether a Democrat or a Republican represents your Congressional district by paying a specific dollar amount. How much would you be willing to pay to ensure that a Congressman from your preferred party will win the office?" was as asked to multiple American. 55% of the people answered that they would contribute nothing to help their district. [15] This study concluded that some Americans are not interested enough in politics to put hypothetical money to a candidate. Based on government data, in the last 60 years eligible voters that have cast a ballot has ranged from 49 to 63%.[16] The highest turnout occurred in the 1960 election in which President John F. Kennedy was elected, while the lowest turnout occurred in 1996 with the election fo President Bill Clinton.[16]

In a Google study on "Interested Bystanders," experts discovered that 48.9% of people in America are paying attention to the political world but not voicing any opinion on the matter (non-voting, non-volunteering for campaigns etc.) [17], thus increasing political, and voter apathy in America.

DataKind

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DataKind is a nonprofit, pro bono data group with the goal of offering data services through Data Scientists to many different Non-Profit organizations that require them[18]. It was founded in 2011 by former New York Times data scientist Jake Porway. DataKind has Chapters in New York, London Bangalore, Dublin, Singapore, Washington, and San Francisco. [19][20] The Local chapters aim at assisting other nonprofits in the area with technical data analysis. The sectors they focus on include urban governance, civic engagement, and microfinance[21][22] DataKind is comprised of three sections that each provide similar services. They include the DataKind Lab, DataCorps, and DataDives[23]

Mission Statement:

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DataKind founder and Executive Director, Jake Porway, claims the DataKind's mission is to bring Data Science to those that share the view of having a sustainable planet, where everyone has access to their basic needs. DataKind aims at providing the necessary resources through data scientists to allow the Non-profit organizations a chance at dealing with issues in the same way Wall Street and Silicon Valley can. [24][25]

DataKind's main goal revolves around applying the same algorithms and techniques utilized by larger for-profit corporations, to organizations that advocate for improving the world and cannot afford this type of advancement. The "social-change" organizations are then able to take advantage of the skills and apply them to advocate for missions such as fighting world hunger and the well being of others. [26]

DataKind Labs

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DataKind Labs partners with nonprofits, corporations, foundations, and government agencies to develop and deploy solutions to many of societies issues. The year long projects they work on is lead by DataKind's Data Scientist, while pro bono experts may be called in to assist. [23][27]

Vision Zero

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As of 2015 the Labs have worked on finding ways to increase Traffic Safety in a partnership with Microsoft, local governments, police departments and the health departments[28]. The project, code named Vision Zero after the Swedish initiative of 1990, aims at reducing traffic related deaths and injuries to zero. [29][27]

Currently, DataKind Labs is working with the City of New York, San Jose, New Orleans and Seattle and the Department of Transportation to best predict the areas that can utilize this initiative to eliminate traffic related deaths. [30][31]

Ethiopian Wheat Rust

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As of December 9th, 2016, DataKind labs has began collaborating with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to predict Wheat Rust in Ethiopia. DataKind is targeting this area as understanding the spread of fungi though Ethiopia will allow a solution to be presented to attack Ethiopia's hunger and poverty issues. This project will aim at predicting the spread of wheat rust through the use of satellite images. [32][33]

DataCorps

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DataKind's DataCorps has a main focus on tackling long term projects by utilizing pro bono data scientists. DataKind focuses on issues by teaming up with social change organizations to diagnose the problem. Through various forms of advanced analytics, the data scientists at DataCorp provide a series of possible solutions.

VOTO Mobile

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DataCorps worked with VOTO Mobile, a West African social enterprise, in an attempt to give a voice to the people in rural areas.The goal of VOTO Mobile was to survey people in remote areas that are usually underrepresented in data. The issue revolved around the lack of responses due to low literacy in the area as well as lack of technology to survey the population in the rural areas. DataCorps was sponsored by Google to provide a solution to this problem. By analyzing the data the VOTO Mobile the DataCorps team was able to provide a series of recommendations to enhance data collection and database structure. [34][35]

Amnesty International

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DataKind has provided assistance to Amnesty International. The program they assisted with aimed at predicting Human Rights Violations using the data they had from previous violations. This preliminary program looked through past call data received by Amnesty International and utilized the urgency level to predict where a violation or cry for help may occur. The preliminary stage was completed, and investments will be needed to fund the final project. [36]

Donors:

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DataKind obtains funds through independent donors through their website as well as larger donations and sponsors. Their main support comes from organizations such as the Knight Foundation, The Tableau Foundation and Companies like IBM, Microsoft, and AT&T[37]. Recently, EBay founder Pierre Omidyar's network donated $2 million USD to DataKind to continue its mission. [38]

Civic Engagement (Technology)

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Lead:

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Civic Engagement is defined as citizens working together to make a change or difference in the community. Civic engagement includes communities working together in both political and non-political actions. The goal of civic engagement is to address public concerns and promote the quality of the community. [39]

Technology (additional information)

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The Knight Foundation outlines 4 different ways technology can assist in Civic Engagement. The 4 different ways include upgrading and providing E-Services, making information more transparent, allowing E-Democracy, and a service they call co-production. [40]

E-Services would allow digital technologies to improve the efficiency of urban services within a city. This would allow the services to become more effective as well as give the public a way to get involved. E-Democracy and Co-Production would work by allowing citizens to shape public policy by allowing them to partake in actions through technology. The Knight Foundation claims technology can make information more transparent, allowing the public to access the information and get involved.

"Nowadays, the internet has become the main social media outlet and it can also assist in creating an "Internet Citizenship". Xenos and Moy found that the internet does help civic engagement but also give "unjustifiable euphoria, abrupt and equally unjustifiable skepticism, and gradual realization that web-based human interaction really does have unique and politically significant properties". We have all the information we want about and candidate at our fingertips, and the wealth of information is creating a more informed body. But with this comes misinformation and the two collide and do the opposite, creating a public with clashing opinions." [41][42]ADDED SOURCES to existing section

  1. ^ Dean, Dwight G. (1965-01-01). "Powerlessness and Political Apathy". Social Science. 40 (4): 208–213.
  2. ^ Harder, Joshua (2008). "Why Do People Vote? A Psychological Analysis of the Causes of Voter Turnout" (PDF). Stanford Journal of Social Issues. 64.
  3. ^ Pasek, Josh. "America's Youth and Community Engagement: How Use of Mass Media is Related to Civic Activity and Political awareness"" (PDF).
  4. ^ Merrifield, John (1993-01-01). "The Institutional and Political Factors that Influence Voter Turnout". Public Choice. 77 (3): 657–667.
  5. ^ Frederick, Heather (2012-01-01). "Reforming the Presidential Primary System: The Voter Turnout Initiative". PS: Political Science and Politics. 45 (1): 51–57.
  6. ^ Rosenberg, Morris (1954-01-01). "Some Determinants of Political Apathy". The Public Opinion Quarterly. 18 (4): 349–366.
  7. ^ Mosby, Speed (1898-01-01). "Danger of Political Apathy". The North American Review. 167 (503): 502–504.
  8. ^ "U.S. voter turnout trails most developed countries". Pew Research Center. 2016-08-02. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  9. ^ "Why the Voting Gap Matters | Demos". www.demos.org. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  10. ^ "Understanding a Diverse Generation :Youth Civic Engagement in the United States". Tufts University College of Citizenship and Public Service.
  11. ^ "Why young people don't vote". The Economist. 2014-10-29. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  12. ^ "Angry, Yet Apathetic: The Young American Voter - Harvard Political Review". Harvard Political Review. 2013-12-04. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  13. ^ "Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  14. ^ "2014G - United States Elections Project". www.electproject.org. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  15. ^ "YouGov | Do Americans Care about Politics?". YouGov: What the world thinks. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  16. ^ a b "Why is There so Much Voter Apathy in U.S. Elections?". International Business Times. 2011-09-19. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  17. ^ Krontiris, Kate; Webb, John; Chapman, Chris (2015-01-01). "Understanding America's Interested Bystander: A Complicated Relationship with Civic Duty". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. ^ "DataKind transforms charities by helping them mine for data". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  19. ^ "DataKind's do-good data-science projects arrive in 5 more cities". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  20. ^ Deen, Lango (2016-01-01). "Tomorrow's JOBS". Women of Color Magazine. 15 (2): 82–83.
  21. ^ "Where governance, NGOs and data science converge". ComputerWorld India. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  22. ^ "Data scientists urged to share their big data skills with UK charities". IT PRO. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  23. ^ a b "DataKind | Labs". www.datakind.org. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  24. ^ "DataKind | Our Story". www.datakind.org. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  25. ^ "Data-driven development needs both social and computer scientists". Devex. 2016-07-29. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  26. ^ "DataKind | About". www.datakind.org. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  27. ^ a b "Microsoft Exploring Solutions to Reduce Silicon Valley Traffic". NBC Bay Area. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  28. ^ "This Week in Civic Tech: Remembering Jake Brewer, Using Data for Street Safety, Streamlining Federal Websites". www.govtech.com. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  29. ^ "DataKind | Using Data Science To Increase Traffic Safety For All". www.datakind.org. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  30. ^ "DataKind | Data Science Supporting Vision Zero in Three New Cities". www.datakind.org. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  31. ^ "Can big data reduce traffic deaths? Microsoft and DataKind expand analysis to Seattle and other cities". GeekWire. 2016-03-11. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  32. ^ "DataKind | Predicting Wheat Rust in Ethiopia with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation". www.datakind.org. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  33. ^ "A Visual Search Engine for the Aerial Patterns of Cities". Hyperallergic. 2016-07-06. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  34. ^ "Human-Centered, Pro Bono Data Science at Machine Eatable – Microsoft New York". Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  35. ^ "DataKind | Giving a Voice to Rural Women Through Mobile Surveys". www.datakind.org. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
  36. ^ "Amnesty International considers big data to predict human rights violations". Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  37. ^ Software, Tableau. "Tableau Foundation Supports Data for Good Movement with Grants to DataKind and Bayes Impact". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  38. ^ News, Howard Lake on 14 October 2016 in (2016-10-14). "Omidyar Network invests $2m in DataKind". UK Fundraising. Retrieved 2016-11-07. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  39. ^ "The Definition of Civic Engagement". The New York Times. 2003-07-07. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
  40. ^ "Knight Foundation". www.knightfoundation.org. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
  41. ^ Mossberger, Karen; Tolbert, Caroline J.; McNeal, Ramona S. (2007-10-12). Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262250191.
  42. ^ Bimber, Bruce. "The Study of Information Technology and Civic Engagement". Political Communication. 17 (4): 329–333. doi:10.1080/10584600050178924.
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