updating text, adding blogpost, various cosmetic changes

contact.qmd

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ title: "Team"
 
 ![](images/Nick.png){fig-align="center" width="279"}
 
-#### Nicolas Dickinson - WASH Web Lead
+#### Nicolas Dickinson - WASHWeb Lead
 
 Founder of [WASHNote](https://washnote.com). With over 15 years of experience in the WASH sector, Nick is highly specialized in the development of international and regional monitoring of WASH commitments and their enabling environments, providing country-led monitoring and evaluation of services, and facilitating trainings to a range of different organizations. Above all, he firmly believes in the need for making better use of data and digital systems to advance towards reaching SDG 6: clean water and sanitation for all by 2030.
 
@@ -14,16 +14,16 @@ Founder of [WASHNote](https://washnote.com). With over 15 years of experience in
 
 ![](images/Merel.png){fig-align="center" width="236"}
 
-#### Merel Laauwen - WASH Web Coordinator
+#### Merel Laauwen - WASHWeb Coordinator
 
 Merel works as an [independent consultant](https://www.lwn.earth/) in the WASH sector. Her work spans a variety of topics, from WASH systems strengthening to disaster preparedness in humanitarian settings. She studied an MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management at the University of Oxford, where her dissertation research focused on the use of systems thinking in the implementation of rural water treatment.
 
 [Email](mailto:merel@lwn.earth){target="_blank"} \| [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/merel-laauwen/)
 
-#### Have an issue or idea that you would like discussed?
+## Contribute
 
-If you have ideas or issues and you do not feel that they fit in one of the discussion topics, you have several options:
+Have idea that you would like discussed? If you have ideas or issues and you do not feel that they fit in one of the discussion topics, you have several options:
 
 1.  Go to the [our lobby on matrix](https://washweb.org/join.html) and share your thoughts there with everyone in the lobby, including the coordinators.
 
-2.  Are you a developer or want a forum like experience? Post an issue: https://git.washnote.org/WASHWeb/washweb-ideas
+2.  Are you a developer or want a forum like experience? [Post an issue on Github](https://git.washnote.org/WASHWeb/washweb-ideas).

index.qmd

@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
 title: "Agents of Change"
 ---
 
-WASH Web is a set of participatory initiatives to give you and everyone you know better access to water, sanitation and hygiene information. This web page is where you can find more information about taking part in various ways.
+WASHWeb is a set of participatory initiatives to give you and everyone you know better access to water, sanitation and hygiene information. This web page is where you can find more information about taking part in various ways.
 
-The WASH Web is made up of people and organizations that work to fill the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) gap to make data discoverable, usable and representative. WASH Web is meant to serve as an open platform and requires diverse inputs to work. Our vision cannot be realized without community support.
+The WASHWeb is made up of people and organizations that work to fill the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) gap to make data discoverable, usable and representative. WASHWeb is meant to serve as an open platform and requires diverse inputs to work. Our vision cannot be realized without community support.
 
-[Please join us to contribute.](#join)
+[Join our working groups for more discussion, learning & collaboration.](#join)
 
 # Working group initiatives
 
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ In the WASH sector, it is increasingly recognized that systems strengthening is
 
 ## Accountability: 4Ws
 
-The actors accountable for water and sanitation decision-making are often dispersed throughout diverse organizations. As a result, there is a scattered and disconnected WASH data ecosystem. It is proposed to make a WASH Registry to offer an overview of **who** is **where, when,** and doing **what** for formal change agents. Can this make the WASH sector more accountable?
+The actors accountable for water and sanitation decision-making are often dispersed throughout diverse organizations. As a result, there is a scattered and disconnected WASH data ecosystem. We propose to develop a registry of **Who** works in the sector, **What** they do, **Where** they do it, and **When** it’s been done so that data is placed in context. Can this make the WASH sector more accountable?
 
 ## Who can take part? {#join}
 
@@ -34,6 +34,6 @@ Citizens, publishers, private sector, NGOs and governments can take part to bett
 
 ## How can you participate?
 
-Are you interested in one of these initiatives? Find out more about [how to join here](https://washweb.org/join.html).
+Are you interested in one of these initiatives? Find out more about [how to join here](#join).
 
-For updates on WASH Web's work, follow us on LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/company/washweb/>
+For updates on WASH Web's work, [follow us on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/washweb/).

join.qmd

@@ -16,11 +16,11 @@ The easiest way to access Matrix is through Element.
 
 To register, you may use either your email, existing Github, Google, Gitlab, Facebook or Apple account.
 
-### Step 3: Join the WASH Web lobby & working groups!
+### Step 3: Join the WASHWeb lobby & working groups
 
 Join any of the groups you are interested in by clicking the corresponding links below:
 
--   [General WASH Web Lobby](https://matrix.to/#/#wash-web-lobby:autonomic.zone)
+-   [General WASHWeb Lobby](https://matrix.to/#/#wash-web-lobby:autonomic.zone)
 
 -   [Social Justice](https://matrix.to/#/#washweb-social-justice:matrix.org)
 

posts.qmd

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ title: "Blog"
 listing: 
   contents: posts # all Quarto docs in the `posts` directory will be included on your listing page
   type: default # or `grid` or `table`; each type has its own set of yaml options to include
+  image-height: "400"
   sort: "date desc" # can also sort on more than one field
   categories: true # allows you to sort posts by assigned categories 
   feed: true

posts/2023-09-26-intro/index.qmd

@@ -1,18 +1,19 @@
 ---
-title: "Welcome"
+title: "Welcome to WASHWeb"
-description: "An invitation to WASH Web"
+description: "An invitation to improve the WASH data ecosystem"
 author: "Nicolas Dickinson"
-date: "2023-09-26"
+date: "2024-01-26"
-date-modified: "2023-10-12"
+date-modified: "2024-02-05"
-image: mckenna-phillips-Db-stA8meJY-unsplash.jpg
+image: welcome.png
 draft: false
+title-block-banner-color: "#FFFFFF"
 ---
 
 Sitting together and listening to stories is a source of insight. At a young age, my parent's work on peace and reconciliation exposed me to thoughtful communicators from different places: Norwegian resistance fighter from WWII who survived against all odds and went on to work on reconciliation himself, Native American leaders and Indian leaders (from India) who processed together with Europeans and white Americans shared colonial legacies, musicians who faced incredible odds and sang about it, and Cambodian educators who survived and outlasted the Khmer Rouge. I also had the opportunity to travel and experience different cultures. Through libraries and books, I continued to travel to new places.
 
 As personal computers and then internet took off, my curiosity and computer programming led me to develop early information products like websites and hypercards from the mid to late 1990s. I was excited about the possibility to connect to even more of the world and to learn and share stories. Finally, my studies and work, especially from 2001 onwards, brought my passion for sharing knowledge and experiences to the water, sanitation and hygiene space. However, one thing still strikes me: listening to stories from people with different experiences is how I learn the most. They are a source of my inspiration and help me both frame and validate the information I get from diverse sources.
 
-We continue to tell stories with the purpose of improving knowledge in water, sanitation and hygiene. While we tell stories in our sector and produce reports, there is often a barrier between experts who communicate in conferences and users in communities: we use different language, talk in different forums, and have different interests. But by having more exchanges between experts and non-experts these barriers can be overcome. As a result, knowledge can be discovered when it is needed by whom it is needed. Listening, validation and respect are essential so that data and information are owned by those who produce it. With WASH Web, we want participation in a space where this happens. Discussions already taking place can become more accessible.
+We continue to tell stories with the purpose of improving knowledge in water, sanitation and hygiene. While we tell stories in our sector and produce reports, there is often a barrier between experts who communicate in conferences and users in communities: we use different language, talk in different forums, and have different interests. But by having more exchanges between experts and non-experts these barriers can be overcome. As a result, knowledge can be discovered when it is needed by whom it is needed. Listening, validation and respect are essential so that data and information are owned by those who produce it. With WASHWeb, we want participation in a space where this happens. Discussions already taking place can become more accessible.
 
 But back to my story: I am remain surprised when I receive a request to work on one more national database or to produce one more programme evaluation or one more national monitoring and evaluation manual. While this has been my bread and butter for a number of years now, I am convinced that focusing more on data for action is less about these artifacts (databases and manuals) and more about the action and vision that produces data and the people who use information. Working to address people going back to open defecation after having a latrine in a community gives the opportunity to identify and collect data that will make a difference, such as understanding the latrine types and quality of latrines households use. It gives us a sense of how these factors impact the ability of people to continue to use latrines. The information is not the source of improvement. The source of improvement is from the vision and will to address a challenge of open defection. Does it require targeted subsidies? Does it require a new sanitation product by a local innovator? How can that be developed? These questions are answered through collective action and collective information sharing. Data alone is not the answer.
 

posts/20231006 openwashdata_washweb/index.qmd

@@ -1,30 +1,66 @@
 ---
-title: "openwashdata & WASH Web"
+title: "Strategic partnership with openwashdata"
-description: "Collaboration between openwashdata & WASH Web"
+description: "The WASHWeb & openwashdata partnership is a significant step forward"
 author: "Merel Laauwen"
-date: "2023-10-06"
+date: "2024-02-06"
 date-modified: today
-draft: true
+image: partnership.png
+draft: false
+title-block-banner-color: "#FFFFFF"
 ---
 
-Aligned in their vision and with clear short-term goals, WASH Web and openwashdata have formed a strategic partnership to facilitate improvements in WASH data access and recognition. openwashdata provides greater access to WASH information by publishing data to be analyzed by researchers, integrated into course materials by university lecturers, or used in business cases by the non-academic sector.
+WASHWeb and openwashdata have formed a strategic partnership to facilitate improvements in access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) data. The openwashdata community empowers WASH professionals to engage with tools and workflows for open data and code by increasing the reuse potential of existing data and providing courses to build the required competencies.
 
-Until now, the majority of data and information in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector, such as reports, datasets, and analyses, remain largely in the hands of experts. Even information that is available, is often in formats that are not usable for further research. To target this need, both WASH Web and openwashdata are on a mission to improve the discoverability, representability and usefulness of WASH data.
+We envision joint activities including:
 
-WASH Web is a participatory, bottom-up initiative made up of four main working groups: Social Justice, Using Data Better, Systems Thinking, and Accountability: 4Ws. Through our participatory approach, we hope to engage people from a variety of sectors in leading and contributing to these working groups. If you're curious to know more about the origin of WASH Web, you can find our introductory blogpost here.
+-   Maintaining open source tools for researchers and product developers to download and analyze WHO/UNICEF JMP and GLAAS data on indicators of SDG 6
 
-Openwashdata's goal is to empower WASH professionals to engage with tools and workflows for open data and code. As an active global community, they apply [FAIR](https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/) (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles to data generated in the greater WASH sector. To operationalize this vision, openwashdata allows individuals to:
+-   Facilitating the WASHWeb working group discussions and hosting a webinar on how to improve the use of existing datasets
 
--   Receive credit for or work that is not a scientific paper
+-   Developing a registry of Who works in the sector, What they do, Where they do it, and When it’s been done so that data is placed in context
--   Give recognition to those that support your work
--   Tell stories with data that haven't yet been told
--   Tell stories with data that haven't yet been told
--   Meet people that care about data and code being open and reusable.
 
-In addition, openwashdata has recently launched their first academy course on data science, which is available [here](https://ds4owd-001.github.io/website/) for people with a range of experience with coding.
+## **Moving towards open data and code**
 
-#### Interested in this work and want to learn more?
+The majority of data and information in the WASH sector, such as reports, datasets, and analyses, remain largely in the hands of experts and are not widely shared. Even information that is available, is often in formats or platforms that are not (easily) reusable for further research. To target this need, WASHWeb and openwashdata have set these joint activities.
 
-[Follow WASH Web on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/washweb/)
+## **openwashdata supports WASH professionals in engaging with tools for open data**
+
+openwashdata’s goal is to empower WASH professionals to engage with tools and workflows for open data and code. As an active global community, they apply [FAIR](https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/) (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles to data generated in the greater WASH sector. To operationalize this vision, openwashdata allows individuals to:
+
+-   Receive credit for work that is not a scientific paper
+
+-   Give recognition to those that support their work
+
+-   Analyze and tell stories with data
+
+-   Meet people that care about data and code being open and reusable
+
+## **openwashdata academy features WASHWeb’s software library**
+
+openwashdata has recently launched their [first academy](https://ds4owd-001.github.io/website/) course on data science. Participants were guided through 10 weeks of lessons on the data science life-cycle, data organization, data transformation, data communication (Quarto), and other relevant topics. In Module 3 on [Data Transformation with dyplr](https://ds4owd-001.github.io/website/modules/md-03.html), participants were given a dataset created by WASHWeb’s Nicolas Dickinson allowing them to access all of the Joint Monitoring Programme’s (JMP) WASH data in a [single, usable dataset](https://github.com/washnote/jmpwashdata). Through this partnership we will continue to improve these tools for by improving documentation and metadata so that people less familiar with the data will be able to use it for further analysis.
+
+![WASHWeb's JMP dataset in openwashdata academy](/images/JMP Data usage v2.png){fig-align="center"}
+
+## **WASHWeb is fostering a community to encourage better use, discoverability, and representativeness of WASH data.**
+
+WASHWeb is a participatory, bottom-up initiative consisting of four working groups. With these working groups, we hope to facilitate collaboration and discussions on initiatives for an improved and healthy data environment.
+
+This partnership will strengthen the following topical areas:
+
+-   [Using Data Better:]{.underline} There is a wealth of information and knowledge available regarding WASH data. Organizations like the UNICEF/WHO JMP, GLAAS, World Bank, and OECD have generated valuable data for the sector. How can we make this publicly available data more accessible and more usable? How can we incorporate data that is more difficult to find? How can we involve smaller organizations?
+
+-   [Accountability: 4Ws:]{.underline} The actors accountable for water and sanitation decision-making are often dispersed throughout diverse organizations. As a result, there is a scattered and disconnected WASH data ecosystem. It is proposed to make a WASH Registry to offer an overview of who is where, when, and doing what for formal change agents. Can this make the WASH sector more accountable?
+
+Through our participatory approach, we hope to engage people from a variety of sectors in leading and contributing to these working groups. Other areas we also cover for which we are seeking partnership are:
+
+-   [Systems Thinking:]{.underline} In the WASH sector, it is increasingly recognized that systems strengthening is critical to achieve universal services. Understanding and acting on systems requires that qualitative and quantitative information is used holistically in collective action. How do we bring together diverse sources of information to support systems strengthening? What are the benefits and risks of using artificial intelligence and information technology for this task?
+
+-   [Social Justice:]{.underline} Access to safe drinking water is a basic human right, and access to WASH systems is a social justice issue. What information is needed to improve access for marginalized people? What specific ethical issues around data collection, privacy, data ownership, and use of data need to be addressed?
+
+If you’re curious to know more about the origin of WASHWeb, you can read more in [our introductory blogpost](https://washweb.org/posts/2023-09-26-intro/). Learn more about joining the WASHWeb community [on our website](https://washweb.org/join.html).
+
+### **Interested in this work and want to learn more?**
+
+[Follow WASHWeb on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/washweb/)
 
 [Sign up for the openwashdata newsletter](https://openwashdata.org/)

vision.qmd

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ title: "Vision"
 
 At the core of the vision, the idea is to make information discoverable, representative, and useful.
 
-![](images/Screen%20Shot%202023-06-27%20at%2011.12.19%20AM.png){fig-align="center" width="270"}
+![WASHWeb's vision for an improved data ecosystem](images/washwebvision.png){fig-align="center" width="518"}
 
 **Discoverable** means that it can not only be found through search and also by simply showing interest in the area and somehow you discover it. Browsing wikipedia articles should be sufficient to find key statistics on water and sanitation. At the moment, these statistics are a few steps away in specialist websites like washdata.org and this information is not automatically used in those articles. Showing interest in a specific district and search "water" and the name of US county should give key facts about water supplies. Data may already be available but simply not discoverable.
 
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ At the core of the vision, the idea is to make information discoverable, represe
 
 **Useful** information is information from which one can begin to take action. Often key information about who to contact for more information, what happened, when and where is missing. If there is information about water services or sanitation, these are often dated.
 
-In short, the WASH Web community makes information and expertise more accessible so that it is no longer only experts who are able to make informed decisions based on available evidence. Up until now, WASH Web has been an idea and a project that a few people have been playing with. This website and the project is open source and participatory meaning it is open to the initiative and inputs from others. Currently, WASHNote hosts and maintains the project website and source code.
+In short, the WASHWeb community makes information and expertise more accessible so that it is no longer only experts who are able to make informed decisions based on available evidence. Until now, WASHWeb has been an idea and a project that a few people have been playing with. WASHWeb (including this website) is entirely open source and participatory, meaning it is open to the initiative and inputs from others. Currently, WASHNote hosts and maintains the project website and source code.
 
 Would you like to get involved? Please get in touch or add an issue on Github.