Machine learning for quality control
Machine learning is not like blockchain: there’s something useful there, beyond the hype. That’s why we've been quietly working on our machine-learning roadmap for quite some time already...
Digital data collection and the maturing of a MERL technology
In this post, I consider the recent history of digital data collection technology as an example of MERL technology maturation – and as an example, more broadly, of the importance of market structure in shaping the evolution of a technology.
As MERL Technologies Grow Up, Who Really Pays?
MERL Tech UK 2018 Lightning Talk Dobility is excited to be speaking at the upcoming MERL Tech UK event in London, March 19th and 20th. Here is a snapshot…
The GDPR is Coming! Now what?! Practical Steps to Help You Get Ready.
MERL TECH UK 2018 PANEL DISCUSSION Dobility is excited to be speaking at the upcoming MERL Tech UK event in London, March 19th and 20th. Here is a snapshot of…
Meet the team: Vikas Arora on quality data and public health in India
Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing my colleague, Vikas Arora, who has over a decade of experience in the public health sector. Prior to joining Dobility India, he worked in the pharmaceutical industry, taught public health courses at university, and managed mHealth projects in rural areas. I asked Vikas about his work and the opportunities he see to further engage public health researchers in India.
Thoughts from MERL Tech UK
MERL Tech UK was a small, intimate gathering by conference standards (just under 100 attendees), but jam-packed full of passion, accumulated wisdom, and practical knowledge. It's clear that technology is playing an increasingly useful role in helping us with monitoring, evaluation, accountability, research, and learning -- but it's also clear that there's plenty of room for improvement. As a technology provider, I walked away with both more inspiration and more clarity for the road ahead. Some highlights...
Dr. Christopher Robert on The Impact Podcast
Dobility founder and CEO Dr. Christopher Robert discusses the role of business in social impact, what it means to stay "lean" as a social enterprise, and the opportunities afforded by digital data collection on The Impact Podcast with Innov8social's Neetal Parekh.
Data quality and measurement: A call to action
The true front line for data quality – the place where the battle for data accuracy is often won or lost – is the point of original data collection. This is the reason why we have been focusing our SurveyCTO efforts on how to help our users collect higher-quality data, and the reason why we’re painfully aware of the so many ways that we and our users could do better.
Join us! Tech@Fletcher discussion on digital data collection
Join SurveyCTO founder and CEO Chris Robert and other member of the SurveyCTO team for a presentation on digital data collection for development, monitoring and evaluation, and social impact hosted by Tech@Fletcher.
Humility, iteration, and learning
“Big data” seems to get all of the news and enthusiasm these days, but there is a quiet revolution in small data that is sweeping the world, sector by sector, organization by organization, department by department. Fueling this revolution everywhere is a new-found value in humility, iteration, and learning...
Quality data key to achieving global goals
There is a critical difference between data and quality data. In this new era of #2030NOW, we must push for more than numbers that fill spreadsheets; we must push for good, quality data that reflects the needs of all members of society—young and old. We need data that covers conflict-ridden areas, refugee camps, and remote, disconnected areas. Read how inclusive, high-quality data will be key to achieving the new Global Goals...
Beyond just talking about human-centered design
People have been talking about human-centered design for years, and there is always much enthusiasm for how the core principles might apply in the development context. In this blog post, I try to bring things down to earth, discussing ways that project and in-country teams might use SurveyCTO to put good design principles into practice.
The structure of the tech-for-dev marketplace
Thoughts on the structure of the technology-for-development marketplace, donor incentives, and the role for private-sector technology providers...
On SurveyCTO: An open letter
It started as a modest experiment in electronic data collection embedded within a much more ambitious experiment involving microfinance in rural India. Today, SurveyCTO has grown into a mature technology platform used to collect data in hundreds of projects around the world. This inaugural blog post seems like a good time to look briefly back, and then forward to where SurveyCTO is headed...