2022
Community media in Kyrgyzstan
Country/area: Kyrgyzstan
Organisation: Community media in Kyrgyzstan
Organisation size: Small
Publication date: 15/07/2021
Credit: Kasiet Kubanychbek kyzy, Zyinat Samar kyzy, Nazigul Zhusupova
Biography:
Authors are beginner-data journalists within this genre and have started to work with data analysis and storytelling since applied Internews Data Journalism Program for a one year (2021). Kasiet Kubanychbek kyzy and Zyinat Samar kyzy gained new knowledge and skills to produce more deep publications explaining through data and focusing mostly for rural audience in Kyrgyzstan, also Nazigul Zhusupova also contributed on working with this story, she’s alumna of Data journalism Program of the previous year and currently student at High School of Economy in Russia, learning data journalism.
Project description:
This story explores how people live without internet by way of five personal stories. For the story, journalists analyzed data from the Speedtest Global Index and GPS tracking data on uploading, internet speed, and mobile application use. Internet engineer Erjigit Imamov attributed the lack of internet connection to mountainous terrain (which covers 96% of country), as mobile phone providers are not interested in developing internet in high mountain areas due to sparse populations and low profit potential.
Impact reached:
There is no impact yet.
Techniques/technologies used:
Journalists used database on https://www.speedtest.net/insights/blog/announcing-ookla-open-datasets/, and using Qgis indicate locations in Kyrgyzstan, also through Tableu Public calculated average speed of internet traffic.
What was the hardest part of this project?
This story is about access to internet in COVID-19 pandemic time. Access to internet is unavailable for rural regions due to mountain relief in Kyrgyzstan, that raised some issues in communication and access to education for children.
What can others learn from this project?
Operate with open data including data bases of companies. Journalists could dive into detailed data and demonstrate gaps in small population centers.
