Tag Archives: data analytics

Reflection: Using Data Analytics to Gain Insights from Citizens’ Feedback

Author: Jennifer Llovido (Bicol University)

Government data is a powerful resource that can influence public opinion, citizen services, economic development, government success, and a variety of other aspects. The government’s goal of transparency necessitates access to and management of data. Government data analysis helps both the public and private sectors acquire insights into the current situation of the state, which acts as a guideline for policymaking. The government’s adoption of technological developments in data storage and improved analytics allows for a much more comprehensive understanding of people. The potential for using data in government to provide more efficient, effective, and trustworthy public services is practically limitless.

Recognizing the importance of data as one of an organization’s most important assets, it is practically worthless without supporting technologies to mine, process, organize and analyze it. The official website of the Local Government Unit of Legazpi provides a feedback and query portal that would foster civic engagement by soliciting feedback and suggestions from the local populations as it extends the consultation processes beyond the traditional face-to-face meetings. The said portal could also be implemented at the level of the various barangays, where Legazpeños would be encouraged to give their feedback and participate in the continuous improvement of public services. It would further promote data-driven decision-making as well as result in the production of quality datasets to encourage researchers and innovators to conduct studies and provide innovative solutions that would help solve issues of the LGU Legazpi. Further, citizen feedback may be visualized into tabulations and graphs that can be used to gain insights, and detect sentiments, trends, and public opinion. The opportunity of maximizing the use of the data at hand by improving visualizations and making it more informative with the application of data analytics is recognized.

As a resident of Legazpi City and a member of the academe, I envision the possible improvement of the LGU Legazpi website with the provision of enhanced data analysis and visualizations of the feedback and query portal data by employing new methods for modeling and analyzing data, including advances in natural language processing and visualization. More meaningful visualization for each question in the portal may be developed and utilized to enhance the presentation of data and effectively share the results back to Legazpeños. The end goal of this is to encourage Legazpeños as well as visitors of the city to give unbiased and useful feedback with the use of cloud computing leading to data-driven governance in the city. This could further improve the policymaking processes as well as make government policies more relevant to citizens at the level of the local government of Legazpi City. Its benefits are intended to benefit a wide range of stakeholders, including the economically and politically disenfranchised. The results are foreseen to provide actionable insights for good decision-making and support the development of evidence-based solutions for solving community issues in Legazpi City.

his article is the author’s reflection on the insight gained from the recently concluded OCDex 2022 Public Data Analytics Fellowship Trainings.

For more information about the article, please reach out to the author: jllovido@bicol-u.edu.ph or Layertech labs support at learning@layertechlab.com

Reflections: A Missing Link in Philippine Mental Health: Data Analytics

Author: Manolito Octaviano Jr. (National University)

According to WHO, there are estimated 154 million Filipinos suffer from depression, 24 million from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and 15.3 million persons with drug use disorders. Despite this, public sectors and government in the Philippines give little attention to the mental health of Filipinos, with only around 3–5% of the total health expenditures being allotted. The poor resource allocation is alarming and cannot aid many people suffering from mental disorders.

Given the identified problems in the Philippines, there is a pressing need to convince the public sector and the Philippine government to take immediate action. A way to highlight these issues to local officials is to take advantage of the existing mental health data from DOH. Then, computational approaches can be applied to gain valuable information and a comprehensive structured analysis presentation. These insights can aid policymakers in reshaping communities to support mental and social wellness.

This article is the author’s reflection on the insight gained from the recently concluded OCDex 2022 Public Data Analytics Fellowship Trainings.

For more information about the article, please reach out to the author: mvoctavianojr@national-u.edu.ph or Layertech labs support at learning@layertechlab.com

Students Analyzing Procurement Data: 2019 Datathon for Transparency, Efficiency and Good Governance

25 students from Bicol University College of Science – Computer Science and IT Department, and students from Southern Luzon Technological College Foundation, Inc., joined the two-day Datathon on September 4-5, 2019 at Bicol University College of Science Laboratory. The event is facilitated by Layertech Labs, with the help of Bicol University CS- CSIT and SLTCFI, supported by Hivos.

In 10 hours, students learned basics of the R Environment, Basic Data Scraping and Data Analytics techniques. The students were made to form teams of 3 or 4, with a procuring entity of their choice. Using R, the students were able to scrape official Philippine procurement data from Philippine Government E-Procurement System (PhilGEPS), clean and standardize the datasets, before visualizing them into graphs.

At the end of theDatathon, the teams presented their findings before a panel of judges from: Department of ICT Luzon Cluster 3, Bicol University CS-CSIT, SLTCFI, and Gayon Bicol Civil Society Organization.

The judges declared the final winner, team “Paste Copy”, for analyzing Department of Education Region 5’s procurement efficiency, focusing on procurement of school supplies in the region’s public schools.

Check out the VIDEO: