Taking a data-driven approach to democracy
Following years of political disappointments, disinterest in the 2018 municipal elections in Tunisia reached unprecedented levels; and the enthusiasm that followed the 2011 revolution felt more like a distant memory.
Tunisians were fed up with the unfulfilled promises of their political class, and going to the polls yet one more time to participate in yet another democratic process was perceived as more of an unnecessary inconvenience.
That’s the political atmosphere that we found ourselves in. Throughout long brainstorming sessions during the summer of 2017, a small team that consisted mostly of IT interns was looking for a way to convince 11 million Tunisians that change is always possible through democracy, and that the 2018 municipal elections were an important opportunity to put things on the right track.
The secret ingredient is telling stories
Unlike seven years ago, democracy in itself was no longer enough to get people out of their homes and into the voting booths. A new ingredient needed to be added to the mix to convince people to participate in this new democratic process, and for us at DemocracyInternational, we strongly believed that this ingredient was data-driven storytelling.
And so, we took all the data that would potentially interest Tunisian voters and used it to showcase the importance of the upcoming elections. We started with big datasets and thousands of data points consisting of numbers and percentages, and with that, we told stories using everything technology had to offer.
Tech, data, and youth
The campaign used augmented reality, virtual reality, 3D projection mappings, and interactive data visualizations.
We were a group of young Tunisians telling our peers that democracy can make a difference and that each and every vote can make Tunisia a better place.
We built a 3D projection mapping to visualize the Tunis that we envisioned, a modern city in which the standard of living corresponds to the hopes of our fellow Tunisians. A Tunis that has gone through a lot, and one that can only become the city that we had in mind if democracy flourishes and people cast their votes in the different types of elections:
We also relied on interactive data visualizations that are able to reach each and every Tunisian who possesses a smartphone. With these technologies, we were able to simply statistics and data points related to the municipal elections and to the Tunisian parliament. Below are three of the visualizations created within the campaign, using the JavaScript framework D3.js:
- Key statistics about youth’s importance to the elections, presented through a scrolling animation
- The movement of Nidaa Tounes deputies from one party to another after the 2014 elections
- The deputies of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, visualized with multiple criteria
These different technologies were used with one goal in mind: telling the story of a country on its path to prosperity thanks to democracy. The technologies allowed us to turn dull numbers and data points into interactive and visual representations that showcased a much clearer image of democracy’s role in building a better future.
In a few months, technology and data allowed us to find the missing pieces of our democracy puzzle, and with these tools we managed to work on a campaign that connected with young Tunisians who were starting to stray away from the democratic processes.
