Thank you for the feedback and thank you for taking our remarks seriously. Good luck with the project!
Victor On Sat, May 26, 2012 at 10:03 AM, Robert Shaw <[email protected]> wrote: > We're proud to announce that the Wall Street Journal picked up our story: > http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2012/05/24/website-targets-corruption-at-ugandan-universities/ > > If you haven't already seen our site, please visit > https://www.notinmycountry.org and rate any university staff members you're > familiar with. We're also on Twitter (https://www.twitter.com/nmcountry) and > Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/notinmycountry / > https://www.facebook.com/NotInMyCountry.org). > > We'd like to thank everyone for their feedback! The positive comments were > very encouraging. As for the negative, we've taken note of five points: > > 1) Be positive: We did our best to create a balanced site and think this is > mostly a matter of how it's promoted. We took a more positive attitude when > advertising on Facebook as a direct result of this feedback ("Find out which > professor is the best!"). It's hard for us to tell if that change in > attitude made a difference in terms of hits/usage, but it's worth noting > that our first two staff ratings were positive ones! > > 2) Use OpenStreetMap: We'll consider including this in a future update as > it's in-line with our open-data policy. > > 3) Use local photos: We agree that the banner graphics do not "feel" > Ugandan. We debated this internally and decided it was easier and safer to > avoid this at first, though we're not opposed to changing them in future > updates. We have legal concerns, security concerns, and don't want to appear > as if we're focusing on particular universities. > > 4) Donations: We don't have an easy way for individuals to donate money but > we're working on a solution. This is not a straight-forward process for > legal and security reasons. > > 5) Fraud: We did our best to minimise this problem. Users are limited to one > vote per staff-member and verified corruption reports are not applied to > individuals (only departments and universities). It's our hope that, with a > critical mass of users, fraudulent votes will be overwhelmed by legitimate > ones. If you have any ideas on how to eliminate this problem on a > rate-my-professor style website, please let us know! > > Finally, we'd like to share some launch statistics (May 24th - May 25th). A > few observations: Firefox and Linux users dig deeper than others (highest > Pages/Visit ratio), users in Uganda browse the longest (by far), and > Facebook is our best promotion tool. > > Visitors: > - Unique Visitors: 725 > - Page Views: 2,558 > - Pages/Visit: 3.08 > - Avg. Visit Duration: 00:04:25 > > Top 5 Browsers: > - Chrome: 41.25% > - Firefox: 29.62% > - Mozilla Compatible Agent: 7.91% > - Safari: 7.67% > - Internet Explorer: 5.40% > > Top 5 Operating Systems: > - Windows: 51.92% > - Linux: 16.07% > - Macintosh: 13.43% > - iPad: 6% > - Android: 4.2% > > Top 5 User Locations (Number of Hits - Visit Duration): > - Uganda: 282 - 00:07:41 > - United States: 174 - 00:02:19 > - Kenya: 89 - 00:01:59 > - Unknown: 57 - 00:02:35 > - Ghana: 53 - 00:01:09 > > Top 3 Traffic Sources: > - Facebook > - Twitter > - Google Mail > > > On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 2:35 PM, Paul Bagyenda <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> The site FAQ says that submissions are moderated before being reflected in >> the results. Not ideal, but decent enough. >> The problems of the 'public' education system are deep, but you gotta >> start somewhere to fix them. And no one else is seriously trying (except >> perhaps the elite who are voting with their wallets). >> >> In this case, like the case of the Law School starting entry exams, you >> are starting at the top end. It is a little brute force, but I suspect it >> will help, and is therefore to be commended. >> >> P. >> >> On May 25, 2012, at 13:59, Mark Wamai wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 11:12 AM, Simon Vass <[email protected]> wrote: >>> > >>> > Victor as our resident Prof. how do you feel about this? You have >>> > experience of working here and know that what this is trying to prevent is >>> > noble, do the ends justify the means? >>> > >>> >>> It is very necessary to improve the standards of tertiary education in >>> Uganda but blaming the lecturers anonymously is not the way to go in >>> my opinion. E.g, a lecturer who hands out a low marks because the work >>> is not good and is not willing to be bribed to improve the mark can >>> easily be nailed on this site (unless I overlook something). Do you >>> really think that the students that actually bribe will report these >>> lecturers? Is is not the case that lecturers that give the best marks >>> are liked best? >>> Before reporting a lecturer for not showing up in class one should >>> know the reasons first. Maybe the administration failed to pay him or >>> her (I have seen many of these cases). In that situation I think the >>> lecturer should not be blamed (he does not have lecture when he is not >>> properly paid), but the administration. Does the student in class know >>> the difference? >>> >>> I can think of many more of such examples, but in general I believe >>> the underlying principles of the site does not acknowledge the complex >>> reality in education in Uganda and fails to address false-blaming (or >>> even promoting it?). I would have rather liked it the other way around >>> - celebrate the lecturers/departments that do well. Start an award for >>> best lecturer or best department. Transform negative into positive. >>> >>> my 2 cent >>> >>> >> >> Aggravation aside, a positive attitude does it for me any day >> >> +1 >> >> Mark. >> >> -- >> He is solitary in His majesty, unique in His excellency, peerless in His >> perfections. He sustains all, but is Himself independent of all. He gives to >> all, but is enriched by none.--Arthur W. Pink 1886-1952 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug >> >> Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: >> [email protected] >> Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug >> To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug >> >> The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: >> http://www.infocom.co.ug/ >> >> The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including >> attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in >> any way. >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug >> >> Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: >> [email protected] >> Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug >> To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug >> >> The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: >> http://www.infocom.co.ug/ >> >> The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including >> attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in >> any way. > > > > _______________________________________________ > The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug > > Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] > Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug > To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug > > The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: > http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including > attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in > any way. _______________________________________________ The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way.
