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Calling artists, performers, creatives, makers, journalists, scientists, researchers, programmers and anyone interested in telling data stories through art. dARTa is a data and art design workshop that brings data geeks and creatives together with the goal of portraying important data in a way that appeals to the public – to touch, hear and feel data that matters.

Date: Tuesday 1 September 2020

Venue: Virtual: Register here: www.sacsc2020.com/

Time: 11:30am

Vibe:

Data geeks are teamed up with creatives
Data on topics related to cities is made available
Teams use the data to inspire a creative output such as art, performing art, film, etc.
Teams present/perform their output at the end of the week.

See the data that is available here.

INSPIRATION

At the last dARTa event we created a beat using sexual offence crime data from 3 police stations in Durban. You can find this output here.

For more inspiration see the video below and click here, here and here.

OBJECTIVES

dARTa hopes to…

Unleash new, innovative ways for researchers to present data;
Provide creatives with content to generate evidence based art;
Develop long-lasting partnerships between researchers and creatives;
Generate outputs that could be reproduced and tested with audiences;
Produce learnings on how best to disseminate research.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Logo credit: @paulfigdesign

The Durban Chamber of Commerce hosted a presentation by the developer responsible for the long awaited Cato Ridge intermodal hub. The Cato Ridge development includes a truck and rail staging area; office, industrial and warehouse space; a tank farm and a host of community services including an FET college.

The rationale for the Cato Ridge development is that it will alleviate pressure at the port of Durban and provide a more efficient route for cargo owners. Members of the audience (which was largely made up of freight forwarders and hauliers) questioned whether either of these rationale are valid. The audience felt that facilities 50km away from the port would not alleviate port pressures because the main cause of the pressure is inefficiency at the Durban container terminal once the truck arrives at its designated time. The audience further felt that this route would not be more efficient or more cost effective for cargo owners via truck or rail. Finally, the environmental approvals have not yet been achieved – a major stopping point in the past.

Unfortunately, the developer does not know himself if the rationale is valid because he has not yet tested it with the market. It seems the developer is relying heavily on Transnet who have already signed off the rail staging area and possibly the tank farm. It is typical of Transnet to only test plans with the market once they have been decided but one wonders how the developer has gotten to this point without understanding his potential customers.

The meeting wasn’t all objections and confusion as the audience perked up towards the end and started to offer some suggestions on how this hub could be successful. One suggestion that gained support among the audience was that the hub is treated as an extension of the port boundaries and included within the port fees already charged.

The developer has some high hoops to jump through to win over both industry and the environmentalists, and that journey has only just begun, but he was not daunted by the strong views of the audience and is very determined to make this project work. Despite this, my feeling is we will be waiting a good few more years before we see a spade in the ground at Cato Ridge.

‘Resource’s Director, Joanne, spoke at the latest Ten Minutes Club on being an economist and startup life. The Ten Minutes Club aims to share insights on different jobs and career paths. This is what Joanne had to say about being a Development Economist and starting Resource Consultants.

Economist??

In preparation for this evening, I asked a few of my friends what they thought economists do. One of my friends said they thought economists were men, in suits, who sit behind desks crunching numbers all day. Another said it sounds like something a rich person does, something to do with money. While I believe there are rich, male economists out there, I am not one. While I do spend a fair amount of my time behind my computer looking at data, I actually studied an arts degree, not a B.com. My majors were philosophy and economics, and my honours degree is in philosophy. This is important because economics is about numbers, money and business, but economics is also about ideas, ideals and the fundamentals of society.

Do you know where most economists in the USA work? In government, not on Wall Street. Economics is about understanding how things are and then planning how things will be and how things should be. It’s about people, it’s about healthcare, it’s about education, it’s about infrastructure planning. This type of economics, that deals with the upliftment of people, especially in developing economies, is called development economics. That is what I am, a development economist.

Being a Development Economist

As a consultant, I answer questions for clients that they either don’t have the data, skills or time to solve. The questions I am currently answering are:

What will the demand for property look like in the future in Durban?
What is the best way to promote innovation in Durban and what is the business plan to achieve this?
Finally, how feasible is it is to set up an institute within UKZN focusing on aviation related skills development?

I have answered a LOT of questions, on a LOT of different topics, for a LOT of different clients over the last 6 years. I love understanding how things work, exploring completely new areas of study, learning, problem solving and growing. In short, I love answering questions. If I had 10 hours I could stand here and tell you each one of those questions over six years, why they were interesting, what the answers showed and the people I worked with along the way. I remember them all. Lucky for you I only have ten minutes so I am going to tell you about just one my company did recently free of charge because we loved the concept. It was for the Durban X Fest.

Durban X Fest

X Fest is a surf, skate and bike festival held on the beachfront in July. It also brings in music and lifestyle elements. I love the alternative culture it represents and I love that it showcases our beachfront in such a positive way. My company volunteered to do an economic impact assessment for the three-day festival. Economic impact assessments are very standard things in my line of work. They weigh up the positive and negative economic impacts of an event or a development that has already occurred or will occur in the future.

To do this, we had to spend three days on the beach with surveys on our phones asking spectators questions like what drew them to the event and how much money they spent. We also did regular counts of how many people were at the festival. We then collated the data from the surveys into spreadsheets, which, when paired with the cost breakdown of the event, started to tell a story. This story sponsors can use to justify spending money on the festival in future years, hopefully ensuring that this event becomes a fixed event on Durban’s calendar. It also tells event organisers what their spectators liked and what they didn’t. It is precious data.

Open Data

Note that I didn’t mention anything that sounded like rocket science there, although I am sure that when I said ‘economic impact assessment’ your mind clouded over. I don’t believe what economists do is hard – I think anyone can do it. And, in fact, many people are starting to do it.

Journalists are starting to use data more and more to add to their stories. An entire movement has started around Open Data where techies are joining forces with creatives and social scientists to create evidence based stories and solutions for their communities. It is wonderful. Even Google Sheets, Google’s online version of Microsoft Excel, now allows you to ask questions in a spreadsheet and it spits out the answers – no economist necessary! I encourage anyone to get involved more with data. The things I know about my city, its people and its plans is one of the best parts of my job and it is so accessible. Check out Open Data Durban for more on this.

Founding Resource Consultants

One of the first things you learn in economics is ‘the invisible hand’. This is the concept that the economy is made up of individuals making decisions, the sum of which is results in an economy that works, as if there is an invisible hand controlling it. This is all good and well until a very visible hand or hands start to tinker and do things like exclude an entire segment of the population from the economy based on the colour of their skin, or invade entire countries based on the resources they have.

In these situations, the traditional approach of development economics, which says grow the economy and quality of life will follow, simply does not work. And I believe it is not working. A new approach is required. One that faces our current challenges head on. One that questions, even the questions that our clients are asking us to answer. This is what led me to found my company Resource Consultants, together with my friend and economist colleague, Paul Jones, earlier this year.

At Resource, we aim to provide analyses that are data driven and realistic and solutions that are both implementable and sustainable. This is our mission, but it isn’t going to be an easy or a smooth transition. There are a whole host of challenges that I won’t get into now with selling our approach to clients. At the moment, we are doing our best to gently tug them with each project in this new direction but it will take time. In the meanwhile, we make sure we are surrounded by people who keep us fixed to our ideals. Luckily, in Durban, we have lots of these good people.

You are as good as the people around you

In her brief Jenna encouraged us to share ‘our message’. Please note: now starts my message. You are as good as the people around you. From the very beginning when I was still flailing in unemployment, I had the guidance of the team from Open Data Durban. Together with Three Consulting and Ulwazi Consulting – we have formed the Durban Knowledge Collective. We do team learning every Friday where we teach each other new skills and bounce ideas off each other. My friend and photographer Derryn Schmidt took my head-shots free of charge. Cait of CopyCait edited all our write ups. You have no idea how far things like that go. I’ve used those pictures and that copy on every tender submitted, even for the event tonight.

Steve Jones built our website and developed our brand. Please visit our website just to see our logo – we love it. My first client was even a friend from school. A youth advocacy group called the Durban Global Shapers have brought me so much support and advice over the year. To this day I check in with the collective or the shapers on issues ranging from work I should or shouldn’t take, to time management, to when to take the next steps in the business. Obviously, there is also Paul, who seems to never worry where our next pay check is coming from and sleeps with spreadsheets under his pillow every night.

Listen closely when I say this, I would have failed in my startup if it weren’t for these people. To close, I would like to share five tips from their collective knowledge.

Five start-up tips

Get a branding person in early. Budget them into whatever your startup costs are going to be. Let them help you with your name, your domain, your logo, your website and your social media presence. FYI, you can do all of this while still in your day job;
Do all of this knowing that it won’t matter one bit – your clients are going to come from networking. Go out to as many events as possible. Our biggest client we met at a free conference the City put together;
Don’t spend money on an office if you don’t need to. Use co-working spaces. My favourites are the Green Door and the Smart Space – they cost R100 per day. And get yourself a portable Neotel landline. Paul and I do drivebys where we throw the phone through the car window at each other;
Don’t be in a rush to register your business and certainly don’t register your business in February (just before the tax year ends). Understand the difference between a company and sole prop. Do a survey of business banking rates before signing up to one. Also, SARS are actually pretty helpful.
Finally, babysit your gorgeous nephew, go to yoga, spend time with your family when they need you and go to Barcelona to be with the love of your life on holiday if you need to. Make time for the things you love because that is the beauty of owning your own time and not working for anyone else.

Innovation is a buzz word at the moment. Various government agencies are forming to promote it (e.g. Innovate Durban) and provinces are developing strategies on it (e.g. the KZN Innovation Strategy). eThekwini Municipality’s recent Innovation Summit brought together experts on innovation in a series of panel discussions over two days. These are the four ideas around innovation that had the most impact on us.

Startup Theory

Did you know there was theory to the madness of starting a business? Well there is. A whole school of thought, actually.

The Lean Startup is a guide to reducing uncertainty throughout the startup phase of a business, coined by Eric Ries. The core principle is continuous testing of your business idea and creating a feedback loop, making the process more science and less chaos. The Lean Canvas sets these principles out on a user-friendly one-pager. Find out more at the: http://theleanstartup.com/
Design theory is the application of design thinking to the creation of a startup. Similar to the Lean Startup concept, design thinking encourages stepping into the shoes of the customer through interviews and user testing. See: http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/inf536reflections/files/2015/08/dt-copy-xfcrbh.jpg

Crowd Fund your Validation

Theory tells you to user test your product but you aren’t sure where to start? Experts recognize crowd funding as one of the simplest, most effective forms of user testing. The key to securing finance from funders is reducing the risk associated with funding your product. The key to reducing risk is closing the validation gap. Going to funders with proven validation, therefore, reduces risk and interest on loans. Thundafund is South Africa’s main crowd funding website. They boast of a chocolate restaurant in Cape Town which offered the promise of chocolate in return for investment and was able to raise more than required to set up shop in just a month See: https://blog.thundafund.com/2014/10/15/crowdfunding-case-study-honest-chocolate/

Ideas are free, execution is key

The first concern of many startups is around patenting and funders stealing their ideas. The response from experts – ‘ideas are free, execution is key’. The current global population sits at 7 billion – multiply that by all the generations of the last century and you will find that it is highly improbable that your idea is a world first. The criteria for patenting is to be a world first and non-obvious. According to panelists at the Innovation Summit, the patenting ship has sailed. Furthermore, the benefit of sharing your ideas far outweighs the risk of sharing them.

The good news is that if you really love your idea or think you truly do have a world first, it costs R60 to file a patent yourself. No need to hold up your whole design process or break the bank. You can also file Trademark applications yourself. Often the brand is far more important than the product e.g. Starbucks can’t patent coffee but they can ensure that their brand is protected. In South Africa there is no formal application required for copyright – you automatically have it. For more information on copyright see https://creativecommons.org/

The future is made of nano-tech and the internet of things

Say what? I am thoroughly under-qualified to write on these topics but when a Fulbright scholar from MIT and several other smart people get together in a room and say that the future of innovation lies in these two areas, I’m inclined to believe them. Furthermore, from what I understand, the future is already here. But before the internet of things turn on you in horror movie fashion and the 4th industrial revolution sends you into an existential crisis, I leave you with this quote from Anice Hassim,

“When the whole world is an algorithm, what can humans add? We can be more human.”

Not incorporating strategic plans as deliverables across the organisation;
Not including relevant stakeholders in the development of the strategy;
Too much of a focus on infrastructure over soft issues;
Not getting buy-in from related government departments; and
Not being flexible enough in planning scenarios.

…are the five most frequent strategy errors made by ports across the globe, according to Port Economics associates, Peter de Langen and Jonas Mendes.

South Africa’s port strategy is the responsibility of state owned entity, Transnet, and its port division, the National Ports Authority (NPA). The National Development Strategy is conducted every five years and results in the Port Development Plan (PDP), which is completed annually and has a planning horizon of 30 years. From my experience working with the NPA on their strategy in 2012/13, the common mistakes identified by de Langen and Mendes resonate with me to varying degrees.

The two most important mistakes made by Transnet and the NPA is using the strategy purely as an infrastructure development tool and excluding vital stakeholders from the process. The NPA is in the business of building port infrastructure, therefore, while all outcomes of the strategy were not infrastructure related, only those that were infrastructure related were able to be reflected in the Port Development Plan. The Port Development Plan is a set of maps and an investment plan. All other suggestions around policy and the environment fall away, not through prioritisation, but by the nature of the planning outcome, which is an engineering outcome. I believe that there are effective tools and measures in place in Transnet’s head office to incorporate environmental outcomes into deliverables but the two processes never meet in the strategic phase, which brings me to the next failure – that of not including vital stakeholders in the process.

No external stakeholders were included in the strategic development of the PDP, until the plan was completed and a roadshow was conducted. There is little accountability with regard to how the comments received from roadshows are included in the plans. Perhaps worse, was the lack of internal engagement on the strategy. Final plans were presented to the executive committee of NPA and then Transnet without buy-in being created as the executive was not included in the development of those plans. This leads to lack of implementation and duplication of efforts. The same can be said for Transnet’s plans being made in isolation of the NPA. The entity is not good at consultation, internally or externally.

Despite these mistakes, South Africa can be proud that it does not always fall into the trap of inflexible planning. The demand forecasting techniques developed by Transnet do include an enormous amount of flexibility and do account for external factors. Transnet’s project factory also verifies demand on a project by project basis. Furthermore, Transnet and its port division, NPA, have been able to attract and retain excellent staff who are committed and experienced. With the correct engagement processes, better internal synergies and tools for creating non-engineering deliverables, the National Development Strategy could be substantially improved.

Read the full article from Port Economics here.

The need for a resilience project in Durban has been further illuminated by the fires of protesters in recent weeks. It is with great credit to the eThekwini Metro that they have acknowledged the importance of this project and have not only commenced with research and a strategy but have created a ‘sustainability and resilience’ function within the metro.

Last week Resource attended a public stakeholder workshop where an update on the resilience programme was presented by Chief Resilience Officer, Debra Roberts. The 100 Resilient Cities Programme (100RC) was pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation in order to ‘help cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st Century’ (100 RC website). eThekwini is one of those 100 cities and has been conducting research towards a resilience strategy since 2014. This started with a preliminary resilience assessment, which resulted in six (rather broad) ‘focus areas‘. Dahlberg Consultants were then contracted to conduct further interviews, focus groups and desktop research to provide an objective view. They isolated the barriers to achieving the goals defined under the six focus areas and the root causes of these barriers. Through this, they were able to establish six ‘levers of change‘.

The resilience team felt that the levers of change were still too vague and not implementable and thus conducted further stakeholder engagement, which resulted in two ‘Resilience Building Options‘ for Durban. These are:

RBO 1: Integrated informal settlements planning: This includes upgrading information settlements with regard to education, environment, municipal services, social cohesion and economic opportunities and leveraging opportunities presented by the informal sector as a whole.
RBO2: Addressing environmental challenges in the governance of Ingonyama Trust land. Ingonyama Trust land is rich in biodiversity and is developing rapidly but there is little co-ordination between traditional leadership systems and eThekwini planning officials. This creates an opportunity to enhance communication and leverage both natural and human resources in these areas.

It is pleasing that the priorities that surfaced have brought the invisible and geographically secluded areas to the forefront of eThekwini’s resilience planning. These areas are largely unknown and excluded from planning, communication and policy but are filled with opportunity. The team are going to spend the rest of the year consulting and conducting research in order to develop a strategy and implementation plan around these two RBOs. It is recommended that all stakeholders who have an interest in the growth of eThekwini become involved in the process and throw their support behind it. This is one of the most important and forward-thinking projects to come out of the metro and the public has a responsibility to assist and to hold the city accountable to reaching these goals in an inclusive manner.

To get in touch with the team and find out more about the project see www.durban.gov.za/100RC

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