El Poder de Elegir is a project to monitor and fact-check the political information that circulates through WhatsApp during the campaign period of the presidential elections of 2018. It is proposed to monitor and verify in real time the information that circulates through this messaging service and that is related to candidates and elections, in order to be leaders in the debate on voter manipulation strategies, involving civil society. Chicas Poderosas Colombia will also give the public verified information that allows citizens to understand the political climate and make informed decisions.
The first step to consolidate El Poder De Elegir was taken on August 11, 2017, when the Chicas Colombia team organized a workshop. Forty participants, mainly women, were invited from different regions of Colombia. The purpose of the workshop was to offer training in monitoring tools and to reflect on the challenges presented by electoral coverage. In addition, a collaborative network of journalists interested in covering the vote in real time was organized. During the course of this program, Claire Wardle, director of First Draft and Nic Días and an expert in data and computing, shared incredible techniques used to verify advanced information in social networks using the Python programming language. Maria Teresa Ronderos, director of the independent journalism program of the Open Society Foundation, also accompanied us on this journey.
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