US Assistant Secretary, others visit Election 2016 Social Media Tracking Centre
The US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield was among a list of high profile officials who paid a working visit to the Penplusbytes’ Social Media Tracking Centre (SMTC) during Election 2016.
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The monitoring centre was officially deployed to monitor online activities related to the 2016 Ghana Elections.
The visit was to familiarize with the operations of the centre established at Penplusbytes’ New Media Hub in Accra ahead of and during the December polls.
Mrs Thomas-Greenfield, who was accompanied by a team of aides from the US Embassy congratulated Penplusbytes for its role in leveraging technology for civic
participation, transparency and the deepening of Ghana’s democracy. “Technology is a game changer and it’s superb that you are using it the way you are,” she said.
The centre monitored and responded in real-time to reports that emanated from social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, etc.
The technology at the centre of the system was the AGGIE social media tracking software, developed by a team from Georgia Tech and the United Nations University Computing and Society.
Aggie allows the presentation of trends grouped around voting logistics, violence, political parties among others.
Through rapid citizen feedback, gathered through social media, problems identified or tracked that may trigger security incidents were then shared with the National Elections Security Taskforce, Ghana Police Service and the Electoral Commission for quick resolution, contributing to a peaceful election.
Also at the centre was the Elections observer Mission of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) led by Senior Associate for Africa, Dr Christopher Fomunyoh.
In solidarity with Ghana ahead of the polls, a member of the team, Ambassador Jonnie Carlson said “Ghana needs to know that they’re not alone. All of us who believe in the ideals of democracy stand with you.”
Other key organisations that paid working visits to the center included the DW-Akademie led by the Country Representative for Media Development in Africa, Dr. Daniel Blank, the African Union Election Observation Mission, the EU Election Observation Mission, as well as a team from CODEO and the Voice of America (VOA).
Executive Director of Penplusbytes, Mr Kwami Ahiabenu II, said Social media provides insight and up to the minute information which proves critical in ensuring a successful Ghana Elections 2016.
Although there was a lot of activity when it comes to monitoring mainstream media, there was not much of an efficient manual tracking of trends in social media.
“Our interest has therefore been to fill the gap in efficient data monitoring of elections issues before, during and after the December 7polls,” he said.
