Early Preview

This is the initial early preview for the Influence Mapping Toolbox which has been shared with the influence mapping google group for review. The main aim of the Toolbox project at this stage was to interrogate the Influence Mapping project space to identify practices and tools that are used to document and reveal influence and other ties between politics, finance and power.

From there we've developed a structure and content that we present in this release with a rudimentary user interface. Our goal with the interface is to provide minimal means to navigate the Toolbox in a way that will help newcomers and experienced practitioners learn about and from others, and hopefully get inspiration and knowledge that will help make power more documented, accountable and legitimate.

Content

Projects

Status nearly complete.

Each project has a page that gives a detailed breakdown of the project background, experience and practices, which links out to the project’s documentation of practices, such as data acquisition, publishing protocols and so forth. Project pages also list the tools used to realise that project. These link through the the page for each tool, which in turn displays the projects that have used the tool.

Tools

Status Structure complete, content needs more work.

The tools section of the influence mapping toolbox allows you to navigate around tools in the same way as projects, with the addition of being able to filter the tools lists according to your technical experience.

Practices

Status Structure complete, content needs more work.

The toolbox practices sections details the steps needed to plan and execute an influence mapping project. The practices guide you through how to set up a project, including building in ethical approaches and rigour from the beginning. They give advice on how to collaborate with experts with varied backgrounds, and point to online resources of existing projects who have documented their process, and pertinent guides and handbooks from around the web.

Case Studies

Status Completed.

More in-depth project analysis, which show in detail the variety of circumstances in which influence mapping projects can evolve, the different practices employed and the outcomes possible.

State of the Art document

Status Completed.

Overview of the state of the art in influence mapping, with insights gleaned from our in-depth research into the projects operating within the space. Much of the project content is available in the influence mapping toolbox, along with information and advice on practices and tools.

Features

• Generation of the website using the Metalsmith static website generator.
• Import of google spreadsheet data for tools, projects and practices and generation of static pages.
• Basic project, tool and practice page formatting.
• Filtered carousel to display relevant Projects and Tools on Practice and Sub-Practice pages.
• VisualSearch plugin to browse.

In Progress

• Fix problem with carousel filtering and reconsider carousel navitation (#5)
• Replace VisualSearch by Faceted Search (#6)
• Better organise Project page sections (in particular links to Tools and Practices) (#8)
• Further develop content (#7 #9 #10 #11 #12)

Progress can be tracked here on Github or via our public Waffle board.