Introducing Indaba: RFP for New Research Technology
UPDATE: See the Indaba project website at http://getindaba.org
Global Integrity is seeking bids for the design and build of Indaba, a new browser-based research platform. Indaba will be the Global Integrity’s third generation of research software allowing rapid, flexible collaboration on research and reporting.
A bit about Global Integrity and technology…
Global Integrity works in 100+ countries via hundreds of contributors supported by a small core staff. We’re able to do this because we’re strategic: we tap into and support existing local anti-corruption networks, rather than replicating them.
Our diverse contributors need a way to collaborate. For this, we use a very cool technology platform that allows researchers and reporters to submit, share, edit and critique content from any Internet café worldwide. These days this approach is popular: it’s called “cloud computing” or “software as a service” or “crowdsourcing.” When we started doing this in 2001, we didn’t have a name for it — we just thought it might work.
It works. We have people in Sudan, Iraq, Cambodia working together online, building sophisticated databases via a web browser. It works pretty well: in the last three years, we’ve published roughly three million words of original research. That’s the wordcount equivalent of the entire Harry Potter series, every six months.
About the Indaba RFP…
We’ve outgrown our existing system, as Global Integrity looks beyond national anti-corruption efforts to dig into local and sector issues. Increasingly, partner groups are looking to us not just for methodology and subject matter knowledge, but for our technology. We need a platform that can adapt instantly to these new demands.
So, we’re starting from scratch. And we’re looking for help.
Do you know a quality web/database shop that can help us? If so, please send them to this RFP, which includes much more detail on our vision for Indaba. Thanks as always for your suggestions and support.
UPDATE: See the Indaba project website at http://getindaba.org
— Jonathan Eyler-Werve
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2 comments on “Introducing Indaba: RFP for New Research Technology”
Sure. We're looking at a few proposed solutions that slot in existing CRM or database platforms.
I would be delighted to find off-the-shelf components that met our needs.However, after talking to a lot of folks smarter than us, we're pretty convinced that there's nothing that integrates the social aspects, workflow management, and relationship management functions in a way that won't make our staff crazy. Ease of use takes on new importance when you're running a satellite uplink off a diesel generator.
ReplyWhat about using an existing product if it could almost meet your needs? That saves money rather than inventing something from scratch. Something like Amplify.com maybe?
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