MARKETING AFRICA MAL 18/17 mal 18:17 online | Page 34

BIG DATA
BIG DATA
APPLICATION IN
ELECTIONS
By Timothy Oriedo
T
he recently concluded party
primaries did showcase various
dimensions that big data could
help resolve.
The Big Data gamut spans hindsight,
insight and foresight. More often
the case, its applied in retrospect to
interrogate through data mining
thus offering different stakeholders
including media, analysts and
strategists with clarity of hindsight. Throughout all these phases there has
been varied awareness and appreciation
of Big Data tools and practices by
various Election Machineries. There
is need however to appreciate the full
scale of Big Data use case in election
to improve quality of journalism
and decisioning by the various
party secretariats not to mention its
application by the regulatory authority
to anticipate proclivities and deploy
corrective measures way in advance.
This then paves way to insights, which
through drilling and dimensional
introspection seeks to provide deeper
meaning. The bigger benefit of the Big
Data comes in the promise to prospect
the outcomes with a view to deploy
corrective action towards managing a
desirable outcome. Take for instance the explosion of
Political Strategists and Analysts who
hop form one media outlet to the
other, the value derivative of the media
houses is compromised by the very
fact that the source on insights that
the analysts use during most of the
talk shows borders sensationalism with
‘‘The party primaries provided an opportunity
to gauge the trend, there is an opportunity
for the media, IEBC, Government, Party
Secretariat and individual Party campaign
secretariats to start embracing the use of
the Big Data Tools to make good informed
decisions and have a competitive head start.’’
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disregard to fact. Big Data offers a fact
checking platform that the various TV
and Radio shows producers can use to
moderate the discussions.
Social Sentiment Analysis is another
Big Data application that is used
to gauge the polarity of various
comparative dimensions. It leverages
on social media networks and with the
high penetration of digital platforms
and increased reliance on the platforms
by various stakeholders in content
distribution, it forms a basis for
audience participation which ought
not be overlooked as a key indicator of
electorate mood and outcomes.
For instance, one possible use of this
big data tool would be to cross validate
the pen and paper research that the
leading pollsters use for rating the
popularity of various aspirants and this
could allay the various contentions
that occasioned outcomes of key party
primaries in a number of regions.
We were for instance surprised by the
outcomes of a number of gubernatorial
seats based on the pollsters ratings
and this led to most of the aspirants to
contest in court or resort to go for an
independent party ticket.