Hack and Learn Spring 2024

Overview

Interested in using data to better understand outcomes-based projects? Want to meet and work with other people with the same interest? Our bi-annual Hack-and-Learn event was designed to give anyone interested in learning more about the use of data in the field of social outcomes a chance to connect with others and work on a real-life project. Harnessing skills and experiences from a diverse pool of actors, we provide a space for learning and community building around the use of data and an opportunity to solve problems, co-produce and make better sense of the use of data.  

The Hack-and-Learn is a two-week online event where participants had the chance to choose from a selection of data-related challenges set by our team at the Government Outcomes Lab and our partners. A letter of participation was provided to those participants who actively engage in one or more challenges.

While some data enthusiasts might enjoy doing the coding and data wrangling, others might prefer researching, writing and tackling policy issues around the project. Those interested in graphic design can also help out by creating stunning data visualisations.  

Agenda

• Kick-off session: 07 March 2024, 1.00 pm GMT. Come join our Hack and Learn and pick a challenge to work with. You will meet your team and challenge leaders and start planning your contribution. No worries if you can't attend the session, we know it is a bit early for the participants in the Americas. We will record the session and then circulate it.
• Hack hack hack: 07 March to 21 March 2024. We will have two weeks to work. As participants may come from very different parts of the world, we will use Slack channels to communicate with each other.
• Show and Tell session: 21 March 2024, 1.00 pm GMT. On this occasion, all teams will get together and show the outputs of their work. A group of discussants will provide feedback and there will be time for questions and answers from the other teams.
• Social session: 21 March 2024, 2.00 pm GMT. Come join us for a virtual drink and meet your fellow Hack-and-Learners. Everybody has to wear, use or bring something indigo to the call!

The challenge

Embark on a mission to improve data availability on the INDIGO Impact Bond Dataset! The INDIGO Impact Bond Dataset collects data on impact bond projects from all around the world. It has immense potential, but it also has missing data for key variables. Not every impact bond project on the dataset has data for every variable of interest. Our challenge is to use ChatGPT to test if we can harness the power of AI to complete the gaps on the Impact Bond Dataset.

Our goal is clear: to fortify the dataset, making it more comprehensive and reflective of global initiatives. By filling these gaps, we're not just improving the dataset's integrity but also paving the way for more insightful and accurate analyses by researchers, academics, and practitioners.

But that's not all—this challenge is about more than just patching up holes. We will also be thinking about the possibility of including AI and chat gpt in the day-to-day processes of data extraction and data entry. The Impact Bond Dataset is constantly updated by a group of data stewards, data analysts, and data officers. How would data extraction look like if ChatGPT4 were to be used as an aid?

Join forces with fellow policy enthusiasts, data scientists, AI enthusiasts, and social impact champions as we embark on this transformative journey. Together, let's unleash the full potential of the INDIGO impact bond dataset. Join us and be part of the challenge!

What we will co-produce 

The aim of Hack-and-Learn is not just to improve data in the field, but also to share learnings with others. At the end of the two weeks, we will host a Show and Tell session on 21 March 1.00pm GMT for each team to share their reflections and outputs. Along with our partners, we will then collate these lessons learnt into a blog and discuss them at a Peer Learning session. Any participant who wants to share their story is welcome to contribute as co-author of the technical and learning report. The report will be part of our Resource Library.

Any open-source visualisations created over the two weeks will be either published on the GO Lab website or the INDIGO GitHub account.

For past Hack-and-Learn events, we had teams visualising foreign philanthropy to India, mapping the network of organisations involved in impact bond projects and investigating whether impact investors were aligning their outcomes-based contracts with the UN SDGs. To learn more about what the teams got up to in past editions of the event, you can read our blog on Hack and Learn Summer 2022, our blog on Hack and Learn Spring 2023 and our most recent Hack and Learn technical and learning report - September 2023.

What GO Lab will do

• Partner up with universities and research centres around the world to bring all kinds of experience and expertise to the table.
• Devise a series of engaging challenges that allow participants to analyse and contribute to. 
• Provide structured datasets, including our global dataset on impact bond projects around the world, an open-source code for the database and visualisations on the GO Lab website and INDIGO account on GitHub. 
• Support you during your 2-week journey by answering any queries and providing technical assistance through Slack and email during office hours. 
• Collate the lessons learned with our partners into a blog post which will be publish in our Oxford Government Outcomes Blog. 
• Organise a fun social online event to celebrate the end of the Hack-and-Learn event.

Why? 

The International Network for Data on Impact and Government Outcomes (INDIGO) is a community of peers with an interest in sharing data about the design, implementation and evaluation of cross-sector collaborations to address complex social problems. We are interested in fostering a culture of transparency, learning, and capacity development across public, private, and third sectors. In addition to publishing open data and open-source code, we want to explore and highlight opportunities to join-up various open data standards initiatives. (We are collaborating and borrowing wheels -- not reinventing the wheels.)