Indaba Platform Tip Sheet for PEER REVIEWERS

Back to the Indaba Help Desk.

This document provides technical guidance for the Global Integrity Report 2010. It compliments Indaba Platform Overview and Methodology Guidelines for PEER REVIEWERS.

Hello Global Integrity Report 2010 peer reviewers!

As a peer reviewer, you are tasked with reviewing two core documents for a given country report: the journalistic Reporter’s Notebook and the quantitative Integrity Indicators scorecard.

2) How to review a Scorecard and a Notebook

Reviewing Integrity Indicator Scorecards

You will use the Indaba platform to do all of your work in reviewing the data and reporting for your country. Indaba will send you an email when it is time to begin your review of either the Notebook or the scorecard.  Once you receive those emails, go to http://indabaplatform.com and log in using the username and password provided to you separately. You will see a yellow box labeled “Your Assignments” at the top of the page.  If you have an assignment due, you can complete it by clicking on the link in the yellow “Your Assignments” box — this is the only link you need to complete your assignment.

NOTE: Clicking on other links, such as material under “All Content,” will not allow you to complete your assignments.  Always use the links in the Yellow “My Assignments” box to perform your work.

If you are reviewing an Integrity Indicators scorecard, clicking on your scorecard review assignment link in “My Assignments” will take you to the Socrecard Navigator, where you will be able to review all of the draft Integrity Indicators prepared by the country lead researcher.  You may choose to review the Indicators in any order that you like, but you must provide a review for all of the indicators to complete your assignment before sending your review back to Global Integrity for analysis.

On the scorecard navigator home page, click any of the six main indicator categories to expand the category and reveal the sub-categories and indicators.  Choose any indicator to begin your review process.

On the indicator-specific screen, you will see the indicator question, scoring criteria, the lead researcher’s suggested score, a supporting comments and references from the lead researcher.  Scrolling down, you will find the peer review tool, which you can expand by clicking on the Peer Review bar.  You will then find four choices for responding to the Indicator:

  • I agree with the score and have no comments to add.
  • I agree with the score but wish to add a comment, clarification, or suggest another reference. If you select this choice a comments box will appear in which you can type your comment.
  • No, I do not agree with the score. If you disagree with a score and select this third choice, you will be required to provide an explanation and recommended scoring change. Your explanation for why you disagree with the score is essential for helping us understand why the score needs to be changed. A “disagree” answer without an explanation to support that position will be ignored.
  • I am not qualified to judge this indicator.

Once you have selected your response to the indicator and provided any necessary comments and/or suggested scoring chances, be sure to save the indicator using the button at the bottom of the screen before moving on to another indicator.

To the right of a particular indicator is a small box labeled “Scorecard Navigator.” You can use this to move to the next or previous indicator within each category without having to return to the indicator Home page. At the end of a category, the “next category” buttons allow you to go to the next category. The “HOME” button will take you back to the list of categories.  Always remember to save your feedback to an indicator before moving on to review another indicator.  You can always revisit a previously reviewed indicator to change your review or comments.

When you have reviewed and saved all indicators, a new button will appear below the “Save This Indicator” button and on the main indicators Home page. This button, labeled “Submit Your Indicators,” is required to complete your assignment. IMPORTANT: WHEN ALL INDICATORS ARE COMPLETE, YOU MUST CLICK THE SUBMIT YOUR INDICATORS BUTTON TO FORMALLY TRANSMIT YOUR REVIEW BACK TO GLOBAL INTEGRITY STAFF.  After you click “Submit your Indicators” you will not be able to make additional changes to your review. Indaba will send you a confirmation email confirming receipt of your review.

Common mistakes:

  • If you leave a page without clicking the “Save This Indicator” button your work on that page will be lost.  You can always return later to an indicator to change or improve your review, however.
  • Any time you save a reviewed indicator, the system will mark it as complete with a green box on the indicators Home page. You can continue reviewing indicators until you submit your assignment. However, you’ll need to make a note of the indicator numbers you want to revisit later, as the system only knows you saved the indicator, not whether you were completely finished reviewing it.

Reviewing Reporter’s Notebooks

Reviewing the Reporter’s Notebook is a simpler task that uses a simpler interface.  When Indaba notifies you via email that the country Notebook is ready for your review, go to http://indabaplatform.com and log in using the username and password provided to you separately. You will see a yellow box labeled “Your Assignments” at the top of the page.  If you have an assignment due, you can complete it by clicking on the link in the yellow “Your Assignments” box — this is the only link you need to complete your assignment.

NOTE: Clicking on other links, such as material under “All Content,” will not allow you to complete your assignments.  Always use the links in the Yellow “My Assignments” box to perform your work.

If you are reviewing a Notebook, clicking on your Notebook review assignment link in “My Assignments” will take you to the notebook editing page, where you will be able to read the draft Reporter’s Notebook prepared by the country lead journalist.  After you have read the Notebook, submit your comments to the Notebook in the review area below the Notebook.  You can save your comments multiple times and revisit them late to add additional thoughts or edit your original comments.  Please refer to your separate Guidelines for Peer Reviewers for instructions on what feedback we are seeking from you on the Notebook.

Once you are done writing your comments about the Notebook, click the button to submit your comments to Global Integrity staff.  IMPORTANT: YOU MUST CLICK THE SUBMIT BUTTON TO FORMALLY TRANSMIT YOUR REVIEW BACK TO GLOBAL INTEGRITY STAFF.  After you click the submit button, you will not be able to make additional changes to your review. Indaba will send you a confirmation email confirming receipt of your review.

3) A note for people working anonymously in high-risk environments

Most “secure” computer systems, including banks, email hosts, and Indaba are easily compromised by government security agencies. This is routine and difficult to detect.

If you need to work anonymously, we do not want you to put your contact information into Indaba. It’s a simple, low tech security approach: if your name and contact information is never in a system, a security breach can’t hurt you. For the same reasons, Indaba sitemail messages should not be considered private or secure (most email systems are also open to routine surveillance).

You can update your bio to a pen name by clicking on your name in the upper right of any page, then clicking on “Edit.”

Your email address is more of a problem — the system needs to be able to reach you to work. If you think your email address can be linked to you (ex: myrealname@gmail.com or name@myrealemployer.com ), please go to a public computer and create a new, completely unconnected email address from gmail.com and use that only for your sensitive work (you can call us with the new address at +1 202.449.4100). Avoid using this account at a computer that you use for other activities, potentially linking it to your identity. This takes extra effort — you MUST remember to check the new email address regularly so we and Indaba can communicate with you. However, these “clean” email accounts offer a simple barrier between our system and your identity.

Good information on online safety is available here:

We are always happy to discuss these issues with you.

Related documents are at the Indaba Help Desk.

Posted by on December 17, 2010

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