Cofacts MIT proposal
====
https://solve.mit.edu/solution/2-basic-information
fill out at least the required questions on the "Solution Overview" page.
July 1 5pm ET.前寫完送出 (台灣時間 7/2 凌晨 5 am)
- July 1 ~ July 22, 持續編輯
- 像g0v grant根據提問改改，July 22 9am 後會開始評選
- 如果過到最後一關，會需要9/21~23到紐約參加Solve Challenge Finals
- 總金額：$10,000 grant from Solve （see: https://solve.mit.edu/how-challenges-work ）

---
## Solution Overview

### Solution Name (Required)
>(Maximum 60 characters)

Fighting disinfo with Cofacts Fact-checking Task Force

:::success
其他名字

- 口號型： Make crowd-sourced fact checking great again
- 指出 chatbot 科技：Accelerating crowd-sourced fact-checking chatbot system
- 社群：Mobilize online community to fight disinformation
- 社群：Empower the crowd to fact-check close messaging app messages
:::

### Tagline (Required)
> (Maximum 140 characters)

Fight against disinformation via crowd-sourcing and collaborative efforts, open source project for fact-checking chatbot called Cofacts.

>（Provide a tagline of 10-20 words for your solution.)

:::success
選項1
Human is good at fact-check; chatbots are good at repetition. This project is going to combine and enhance both.

選項2
We fact-check viral IM messages that everyone wants *others* to fact-check.
:::

### Pitch us on your solution (Required)

>In 150 words or less, share the crucial details of your project. Your pitch should answer three questions: 1. What is the problem that you are committed to solving? 2. What is the solution you are proposing? 3. How could your solution positively change the lives of millions if it was scaled globally?

TRANSPARENCY OF FUNDING & ORGANIZATION
1.
I hope Cofacts could associate a special fact-checking task group which is qualified for IFCN, especially for the funding issue.(Also the application process entails a non-refundable fee US$ 200.)Because originately nobody in Cofacts team get paid from Cofacts project.
2.
Remunerate every fact-checking report for 15 USD.
While there are about 1,000 new different suspicious sent to Cofacts' disinformation database, would like to reward fact-checker's contribution and time spending.
3.
Cofacts provides English version ToolKit for anyone who would like to launch Cofacts into their own computer. So the contents fact-checker replied in the database could be easily duplicated to any other country.


:::success
問題：選舉期間訊息又快又急，社群需要幫助
解法：提供合理報酬、技術協助、官方帶頭
scale global：相同

Cofacts is a collaborative fact-cecking project with a chatbot in closed messaging app. It relies on volunteer editors to populate a database, so that the chatbot can send fact-checking replies to the chatbot users automatically.

While this system works in normal times, during the elections, the system was flooded by disinformation going viral so quickly that volunteers could hardly handle.

We plan to tackle this challenge with these measures:

1. Design an objective moderation standard to award participants in the volunteer editor community with reasonable renumerations for each new, eligible fact-checking report.

2. Form a compact, official fact-checking task force to produce fact-chekcing reports complying with International Fact Checking Network's Code of Principles so that it provides an example for other editors to follow.

3. New software features like collaborative & automatic topic labeling to help editors efficiently reply user-reported messages.

The system is open-source so that it benefits everyone.
:::

### Film your elevator pitch
(沒有無所謂)
>Maximum 2 Minutes (YouTube or Vimeo Link). Note: please ensure the video privacy settings are set to public.
(YouTube or Vimeo Link)

### What is the problem you are solving? (Required)
(以下全部加起來不超過200字)
>Describe the specific problem within the Challenge that you are working to solve.

Few voluntary editor doing fact-checking process because everybody having their daily job.

> What is the scale of the problem in the communities you are working in, and in the world?

大概4長這樣....

>How many people are affected?

Hundreds of registered editors in Cofacts database.

> What are the contributing factors to the problem that relate to your solution?

With remuneration might encourage former voluntary editors have more contributions.

>Include any relevant statistics, be they local or global.
>
Foreign governments dissemination of false information, reported by Varieties of Democracy in 2019 Apr.
TAIWAN NO.1

>The specific problem you are solving needs to clearly relate to the Challenge at hand.

:::success
問題：disinformation, 去年訊息量

Disinformation propagaded in closed messaging app is a global issue. Unlike public posts in Facebook or Twitter, disinformation in WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and LINE is not tracible, can affect millions of people, and costs lives in harsh situations.

To make matters worse, disinformation can be used to undermine democracy of countries in the free world. According to the latest Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) dataset released in 2019, Taiwan ranked 1st in "foreign governments dissemination of false information". The risk of Taiwanese democracy being affected by foreign disinformation is higher than Latvia's, Kosovo's and the US's.

The collaborative fact-checking chatbot Cofacts ( https://bit.ly/cofacts-quickstart ) tries to tackle this with chatbots in closed messaging app, and crowd-sourcing fact-checking reports. We have an Facebook group of 3,000 volunteer editors, and about 10 to 20 weekly active editors fact-checking and debunking user-reported instant messages.

However, during the 5 months before 2018 Taiwanese election, Cofacts chatbot received 6,000 user-reported messages, overwheming the volunteer editors. In 2018, the chatbot has only around 5,000 subscribers; As in 2019, the chatbot’s subscriber count has doubled, but not our volunteer editors. We are eager to empower volunteers to resist the incoming unprecedented wave of disinformation before 2020 Taiwanese election.
:::

### Who are you serving? (Required)
>Describe the population whose lives you are working to directly and meaningfully improve. How are you working with them to understand their needs and participate in the solution? How will the solution address their needs?
(Maximum 200 words)

- USERS：
There are about 23.57 million in Taiwan, and people in Taiwan choose LINE as their social platform is over 21 million.
Average over 20,000 requests for fact-checking were sent to our Chatbot every month. The solution should be providing counter-narrative for these verifying needs.
- Researchers：

:::success
As a crowd-sourced fact-checking platform equipped with a chatbot, it serves two populations. First, the system empowers closed messaging app users to have better access to different opinions and fact-checking reports. Secondly, such platform also helps fact-checkers to deliver their work to readers that have just received hoax in closed messaging apps.

There are over 21 million people using LINE, a closed messaging app. That is over 90% of Taiwanese population. Many of them are digital immigrants that have little ability to find information sources by themselves. On the other hand, Taiwanese fact-checking organizations and individuals produce more than 1 fact-checking reports every day.

As a platform, Cofacts receives over 20,000 inquiries and delivers fact-checking reports to thousands of our chatbot users every month, whenever the chatbot user is in need. According to the [user feedback collected inside the chatbot](https://datastudio.google.com/reporting/18J8jZYumsoaCPBk9bdRd97GKvi_W5v-r/page/ckUQ), users think the chatbot's reply is useful. If we can successfully establish a solid cooperative fact-checking model, such methodology can be applied to other closed messaging apps and countries to benefit more people worldwide.
:::

### What is your solution? (Required)
>Describe your solution and how it works. What product or services are you providing to the population you are serving/working with? What processes and technology are you using?
(Maximum 400 words)

We would facilitate a more efficient method to generate fact-checking report for the citizen. Cofacts developers has made a chatbot for reply fact-checking report from its database containing over 27,000 disseminated suspicious messages.

1.Provide remuneration for those doing fact-checking process, which is still voluntary unpaid work.
2.Gather skilled,proficient editor to establish a Cofacts Fact-checking Task Force.(The member cannot work for political party politician or the government.)
3.Apply for IFCN, International Fact-Checking Network with the funding.
4. Build international fact-checking network associated with Asia countries like Japan, and Indonesia.

Taiwanese social media platforms are suffering from
disastrous propaganda attack. Foreign forces has been a critical issue since people would vote irrationally if they deceived by hoaxes.

The suspicious rumors originate from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and even other countries like USA with Chinese culture.
We do have a corrupt customs, which shouldn’t suspect elders or celebrities. In addition, some journalists in newsroom reject to let reports be verification, because they would feel disgraceful if someone points out their negligence. Media needs clickstream, so social media reward “fastest” rather than “truth”.

Our goal is open government, open data, and open source software. With much more diversified fields, there might be more professionals and interests included.

- Fact checking chatbot Cofacts has developed
- new process and technology：Machine Learning Tagging, chatbot notification mechanism

:::warning
主要經費會花在 community building
1. 合理稿費機制：只要回應符合某些客觀規範（TBD，可能會跟回應的 reference 或 usefulness 有關），就提供 volunteer editor 合理報酬（每篇約 USD 15）
2. IFCN 認證：我跟比鄰另外會組織一個 fact-checking taskforce，出產符合 IFCN 規範的運作與編輯守則，確保以此 taskforce 產出的 fact-checking report 都符合 IFCN 規範，並且申請 IFCN。好處是可以發揮帶頭效益，lead the community by example，另外這個 task force 內的人就能用「國際認證 fact checker」的名義，在查證時與各個 stakeholder 索取各方說法，或者與學者合作等等。

Open source project 進展：

3. 將訊息分類：實作 collaborative tagging + 自動 tag prediction，並且讓編輯可以訂閱特定主題，加速回應
4. 讓回應被看見：有鑒於 viral message 爆發時，會有很多回報人都看不到回應，我們要實作 chatbot notification 在有新回應時，推播通知過去沒收到回應的 chatbot user。

:::

:::success
We plan to deal with disinformation during elections by bulding a strongly motivated editor group. For now, we have Cofacts chatbots that delivers fact-checking replies to the hand of users who just received a piece of disinformation. We also have a [voluntary editor community](https://www.facebook.com/groups/cofacts/) that is comprised of hundreds of netizens contributing fact-checking replies tackling with disinformation collected in closed messaging apps.

On top of the foundation we currently have, we will put all the resource to support our editor community and to facilitate the generation of solid replies. This includes:

1. Providing remuneration to the author of replies qualified by specified standards. This will facilitate the fact-checking work that is currently done by hundreds of unpaid volunteers on Cofacts. Qualification standards may include metrics like completeness of provided references, number of chatbot users who think the reply is useful, and so on.
2. Organize a small taskforce (2~3 people) of skilled, proficient editors that composes fact-checking reports and commits to International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)'s Code of Principles. The output of the task force will set example for the Cofacts editor community. We will also apply for IFCN verified signatories, so that we can gain access to more fact-checking resources world-wide.

We will also keep pushing on the development of our open-source crowd-sourced editor's website and chatbot to maximize the influence of the editorial work mentioned above. This includes:

3. Crowd-sourced and machine-learning based tagging system that categorizes reported messages inside Cofacts editors' website. By categorizing the messages into different topics such as "China related", "HongKong related" and "Food safety", volunteers with different expertise can get notified when latest message of their interest gets sent into the database, so that they can react quickly.

4. Cofacts chatbot users that has searched for a message will be able to receive updates of the message’s counter-narrative, as we implement the new notification mechanism in the chatbot.

Hundreds of the volunteer editors of Cofacts are doing a great job fighting disinformation in closed messaging app, and it is the time we bring the editor community to the next level. We believe that the above measures in the community and improvments made to the Cofacts system can greatly motivate volunteers to stand out and fight disinformation effectively and efficiently.
:::

### Which dimensions of the challenge does your solution most closely address? (Required)
1.Support communities in designing and determining solutions around critical services
2.Ensure all citizens can overcome barriers to civic participation and inclusion

(感覺比Make government and other institutions more accountable, transparent, and responsive to citizen feedback好....)

### Where is your solution team headquartered? (Required)
TAIPEI

### Solve considers solutions at all stages of development. At what stage is your solution currently? (Required)

- [ ] **Concept**: An idea being explored for its feasibility to build a product, service, or business model based on that idea.
- [ ] **Prototype**: A venture building and testing its product, service, or business model. Typically described as "Pre-Seed" if For-Profit.
- [x] **Pilot**: An enterprise deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community. Hybrids and For-Profits would typically be in a "Seed" round and starting to generate revenue (whether or not they are cash flow positive).
- [ ] **Growth**: An enterprise with an established product, service, or business model rolled out, which is poised for further growth in multiple communities or countries. Organizations at this stage should have a clear path towards financial sustainability whether they are nonprofit or for-profit. For-Profits at this stage would be "Seed" or "Series A.”
- [ ] **Scale**: A sustainable enterprise working in several communities or countries and that is looking to scale significantly, focusing on increased efficiency. For-Profits in this stage would be "Series A" or "Series B." At this stage of growth, you should clearly explain why you think MIT Solve would be valuable as we tend to work with early-stage enterprises.

:::success
因為已經 deployed 也有 10 萬使用者，應該不是 prototype 了，但又還沒有到 multiple community / countries (但可預見確實是下一階段)
所以選擇 pilot
:::

---
以下都不是必填的，可以先空白

## More about your solution

### Is your solution a new technology, a new application of an existing technology, or a new business model or process for solving the Challenge?

- [ ] New technology
- [x] New application of an existing technology
- [ ] New business model or process

### Describe what makes your solution innovative.
>Peter Drucker says innovation is "change that creates a new dimension of performance". Innovative approach is a key criteria for selection, and your response should clearly explain what makes your solution innovative compared to what already exists. This could include a brand new technology or approach, a new application of existing technology to serve a new population, or a change in process or business model that makes the solution much more effective for your target population.
(Maximum 250 words)

:::success
Traditionally, fact-checking work is done by professional fact-checkers with journalism backgorund. Although fact-checking reports from these institutions are highly credible and has high quality, it may come too late and is unlikely to reach the people in need.

Cofacts is an innovative solution in this field because it combines chatbots with a crowd-sourced fact-checking system. The chatbot acts as a probe to collect disinformation circulated in closed messaging network, also it is a direct channel to the people that are exposed to disinformation. Crowd-sourced replies enables public participation of countering disinformation, which also speeds up the process yo generate effective counter-narrative.
:::

### Describe the core technology that your solution utilizes.

>Every Solve solution must include technology—whether new or existing—as a key component. If your solution is a new technology or a new application of an existing technology, describe the technology and how it is being applied. If your solution is a new business model or process, describe how that business model or process relies on technology as a key component. We define technology broadly—it could be hardware or software, digital or manufactured, advanced or not. We have selected solutions that involve drones, AI, blockchain, seed technology and irrigation, or biodegradable banana fiber sanitary pads for women in rural India.
(Maximum 250 words)

:::warning
Crowd-sourcing (replies & feedback)

Chatbot (search and reporting portal)

Information retrieval (relevance scoring)

Machine learning
:::

The core of Cofacts is a chatbot that informs its user about crowd-sourced counter-narratives of online disinformation. Our solution contains the following technologies:

- Chatbot: provides natural and native user experience inside closed messaging apps, where disinformation gets circulated and very hard to observe.
- Crowd-sourcing: provides the content of the chatbot in a diverse and reactive approach.
- Full text search and web scrapping: when chatbot user receives a message from the user, it will match against similar messages inside the database. If the message contains hyperlinks, the textual content of the link is also considered, in order to adapt to the nature of how disinformation is propagated in closed messaging apps.
- Machine learning (text classification): we plan to build a topic classifier so that each user reported message can be categorized under a certain topic. This enables volunteer editors to subscribe to a certain topic and react more efficiently.

#### Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

- [ ]Artificial Intelligence
- [x]Machine Learning
- [ ]Blockchain
- [x]Big Data
- [ ]Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality
- [ ]Internet of Things
- [ ]Biomimicry
- [ ]Indigenous Knowledge
- [ ]Behavioral Design
- [x]Social Networks

:::warning
我覺得 big data 我勾得很心虛，如果可以的話其實不用勾 big data⋯⋯ XD"
:::

### Why do you expect your solution to address the problem?
>Many solutions were rated poorly in the last cycle as they were unable to logically explain how their work related to solving the problem. You may want to consider describing a Theory of Change that links your activities to direct outputs and outcomes for the population you are serving, and provide evidence to support the existence and strength of those links. Evidence could be third party research, your own track record so far including data from a pilot or even an evaluation of your work, surveys/interviews with your target population, etc. Here’s an intro video.
(Maximum 250 words)

:::warning
Activity 1
Renumeration

Output 1
more fact-checking narratives matching qualitication standard

Outcome 1
volunteer editors actively finding popular messages to reply; Cofacts users gets more good replies

Objective 1
Cofacts chatbot users are willing to consult Cofacts and spread the counter-narratives

Goal 1
Accelerating crowd-sourced fact-checking chatbot system
:::

We have operated Cofacts chatbot since 2017 and build the voluntary editor community since 2018. As we shape the product, we learned that timely and high quality replies really helps chatbot users a lot. On the other hand, editors' community are most motivated as product team provides rewards and leads the community by example. Thus, the effectiveness of this proposal can be shown in this Theory of Change:

<img src="https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/e/2PACX-1vS7ZysbYsyE10gHZCb3TNt-hLQptjMn4bceocY8qEb4SUq5xlqZ9hcMarSvTVTYxpOKxyMR7Oi0TI1T/pub?w=960&amp;h=602">

Activity 1: Provide remuneration to the Cofacts editor that provides qualified replies

Output 1: Fact-checking narratives and corrections generated more quickly. Cofacts chatbot users reporting disinformation gets answered more timely.

Activity 2: Organize a fact-checking task force that works under IFCN Code of Principles. Apply for IFCN signed signatories.

Output 2: Sets standards for Cofacts editors' community.

Activity 3: Implement a crowd-sourced and machine-learning based tagging system

Output 3: Voluntary editors of Cofacts can focus on the topic they are good at answering

Activity 4: Implement notification mechanism to notify chatbot users of updates of the message’s counter-narrative

Output 4: Chatbot users are kept informed and equipped with latest counter-narratives to disinformation

Objective 1:
Cofacts chatbot users are willing to consult Cofacts and spread the counter-narratives

Objective 2:
Cofacts editors commnuity are motivated to provide more timely fact-checking replies.

Goal:
Counter disinformation in closed messaging app via crowd-sourced fact-checking chatbot system

### Select the key characteristics of the population your solution serves.
- [ ]Women & Girls
- [ ]Pregnant Women
- [ ]LGBTQ+
- [ ]Children and Adolescents
- [ ]Infants
- [x]Elderly
- [x]Rural Residents
- [x]Peri-Urban Residents
- [x]Urban Residents
- [ ]Very Poor/Poor
- [ ]Low-Income
- [x]Middle-Income
- [x]Minorities/Previously Excluded Populations
- [ ]Refugees/Internally Displaced Persons
- [ ]Persons with Disabilities

#### In which countries do you currently operate?
Taiwan

### How many people are you currently serving with your solution? How many will you be serving in one year? How about in five years?

>Your answer should include three numbers: the current number of people you’re serving, the number you’ll be serving in one year, and the number you’ll be serving in five years. Focus on the people that you will directly and meaningfully affect through your solution.
(Maximum 250 words)

:::warning
Currently
100,000 Chatbot users. May choose to spread.
hundreds of editors

1 year
natural growth: 150,000 chatbot users, more editors

5 years
coalition with other countries, open source
:::

Currently we are serving 100,000 chatbot users in Taiwan, while all Taiwanese people can come to contribute their reply to disinformation.

In 1 year, the number of chatbot users should increase to at least 150,000, according to [our statistics in the past 12 months](https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/18J8jZYumsoaCPBk9bdRd97GKvi_W5v-r/page/Cy2P).

In 5 years, we expect to reach half a million of chatbot users in Taiwan.

On the other hand, we will be actively sharing the methodology and design of our solution to any country in need. Hopefully the outcome can affect democratic societies worldwide.

### What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?

>We look for solutions that will have a transformational impact on millions of lives. Use this space as an opportunity to talk about your goals and how they will help you impact more people, whether through your organization or other approaches to scale such as replication.
(Maximum 250 words)

:::warning
short term
accelerate crowd-sourced fact-checking

next year
form a feedback loop of counter-narratives generation

~~~
closed messaging app -----> reported message
chatbot |
| notify relevant editors
notify sender v enumeration / level-up motive
user feedback <----- counter-narrative
| replies
editor | ^
profile,| |
|----bad feedback-------~ list page,
| enumeration / level-up motive
|
ˋ----good feedback: level+, motivation+
~~~

5 years:
- observe as it passes through each democratic election
- make more modifications when needed, as it draws more attention
- open up all design decisions for other countries to refer to
:::

In order to deal with disinformation in closed messaging apps, merely fact-checking is not enough. We need counter-narratives that answers the doubt in people's mind right on the spot, finds the right references so the audience can see for themselves, and it should be succint enough to be consumed and circulated in closed messaging apps. The untimate goal of Cofacts as a collaborative platform is to stop disinformation from spreading by facilitating the creation of counter-narratives, and efficiently distributing them.

Currently, Cofacts has put together a unilateral loop against disinformation. It pulls circulated messages outside of closed chatrooms and sends counter-narrative back to the closed messaging app.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1ZP8DWUiFIVjW018Qfb-4u5RzpUAcCVoxNLbRiGd8QHs/edit

Within the next year, we plan to accelerate the loop by implementing:
- A tagging system that allows editors to focus on topics they are interested in.
- A notification and subscription mechanism for volunteer editors to know about newly reported messages and replies that are marked "not useful".
- A notification mechanism to notify chatbot users of updated replies.
- Motivation for the volunteers to keep contributing replies. This can be achieved by showing them how many people they have helped by their reply composed, provide a gamified leveling-up experience, or giving them adequate renumeration for composing a qualified reply.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1mp8extHE8UgTVcT4JEAJo_7Sab6i48kwFYGA2aK2UZs/edit

For the next 5 years, we will keep improving the design of the above feedback loop as we evaluate its performance in each democratic election. We will also actively sharing the methodology and design of our solution to any country in need.

### What are the barriers that currently exist for you to accomplish your goals for the next year and for the next five years?

>Highlight specific financial, technical, legal, cultural, or market barriers for the next year and the next five years as you aim for larger impact.
(Maximum 250 words)

:::warning
No finantial sustainability
Developer and editors are all unpaid volunteers.
May grow out of control if too much attention but too little administration (volunteers cannot catch up with change)
:::

Currently all the developers, reply editors and even the product team are unpaid volunteers. All work, including writing counter-narratives, software development, communications with like-minded partners, are done using the free time after work.

In the following year, as the Cofacts chatbot user grows, more messages are being reported to the database. Although the editor community is growing as well, it can hardly catch up with the rising number of reported messages.

In the next five years, the impact of this project may be large enough to attract malicious editors to come to the platform and spread disinformation, leveraging the openess of editorial community. The volunteer editor community may be overwhelmed by the user-reported messages, and also possible conflicts between different editors. At this scale, the system can no longer be administered by unpaid part-time members in their free time.

### How are you planning to overcome these barriers?
>Consider addressing each barrier individually, highlighting resources you have or will pursue and how you will use them.
Maximum 250 words

:::warning
Volunteer model do work, benefits: less pressure for users to join . its just less efficient and hard to predict output.

turn into organization when ready
accept donations
Wikipedia is a goood model
:::

The current capacity of our product team can only mitigate issues in tactical level. Knowing our limits, we designed our solution in overcome the short-term barriers. That is, we try to provide reasonable motivation for our volunteer editors, and ship out new functionality to Cofacts system to enhance the efficiency of Cofacts editors. The solution in this proposal is our plan to overcome the barrier at hand.

The barrier in the next five years can hardly be overcome without turning Cofacts product team into a stable organization. Although we do not have a schedule for this yet, we do consider forming an NGO, receives fundings and donations to have fulltime members to work out the obstacles we can foresee.

## About your team

### If you selected Other for the organization question, please explain here.
> If your solution team is part of a larger organization, please provide the name of the larger organization and describe the relationship between your solution and that organization.
(Maximum 200 words)

### How many people work on your solution team?
> Provide the number of full-time staff, part-time staff, and contractors or other workers separately.
(Maximum 100 words)

### Why are you and your team best-placed to deliver this solution?
> Describe the skills, background, and experiences that you and your team have that uniquely position you to deliver the solution and solve the problem.
Maximum 250 words

### With what organizations are you currently partnering, if any? How are you working with them?
> See how Solver teams describe their current partnerships on their Solver profile pages, such as this one.
Maximum 200 words

## Your business model & funding

### What is your business model?
> Your business model describes how you provide value to the populations you serve, both in terms of impact and in terms of revenue. You can summarize it through who your key customers and beneficiaries are, and what product or service you provide and how you provide it. If you are unsure how to answer this, a good starting point is to complete the Social Business Model Canvas.
(Maximum 250 words)

Currently there is no business model. Cofacts system is developed and maintained as an open-source civic tech project with all unpaid volunteers, including the product team and editors.

The project recruits volunteers in offline events like bi-monthly hackathons held by [g0v community](https://g0v.tw/en-US/) and editors' meetup.

### What is your path to financial sustainability?
> Explain how you will bring in money to fund your work, whether through sustained donations and grants, selling products or services, raising investment capital, or a combination of all. In the longer term, your revenue streams should plausibly be able to cover your expected expenses. An overview of common revenue models and examples is available here.
(Maximum 250 words

:::danger
目前還沒有明確的時程表，但若能轉型成 organization，之後會有幾種路線

Wikipedia 模式、TFC 模式：成立基金會，接受捐款；or 寄居於 OCF 下面成立專戶
Snopes 模式：網路廣告
Meedan 模式：產品 open source 但賣 hosted application 以及賣支援服務
:::

Although we do consider forming an NGO, it probably will not happen within a year or two. When we do so, we may want to form a foundation like Wikipedia, or derive revenue from advertising like Snopes does, or sell hosted Cofacts system as a service to sustain, like [Meedan](https://meedan.com/en/about/) does.

### (Not public) If you have raised funds for your solution or are generating revenue, please provide details.
> For each funding source, please provide the name of the organization providing support, the amount and type of funding (e.g. grant, debt, equity), when you received the funds, and any other relevant details. For revenue sources, describe each source and the amount earned in the past 12 months. This question will not be part of your public application, but it will be provided to the judges. Please provide any monetary amounts in US dollars.
>
> 250 words

In 2017, we received an USD 14,500 grant from [g0v Civic Tech Prototype Grant](https://grants.g0v.tw/power/en/), and an USD 3,000 grant from Vision Project in United Daily News Group. These grant are one-time only. We have used that as a seed fund to pay our server fee, offline event fee and so on.

Apart from the above grant in 2017, We do not have any funding sources.

### (Not public) If you are seeking to raise funds for your solution, please provide details.
> Describe how much funding you are seeking, the type of funding (e.g. grant, debt, or equity), by when you hope to raise the money, and any other relevant details. This question will not be part of your public application, but it will be provided to the judges. Please provide any monetary amounts in US dollars.
>
> 250 words

### (Not public) What are your estimated expenses for 2019?
> If you do not have a budget of expected expenses, try [this exercise](https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/76418) to develop an estimate—we understand that it will change as you grow. This question will not be part of your public application, but it will be provided to the judges. Please provide any monetary amounts in US dollars.
>
> 250 words

## Partnership potential

### Why are you applying to Solve?
> Describe what barriers you think Solve can help you overcome (you can refer to the question about barriers above), and how Solve can help you advance your work. Be specific! Check out “What will I get if my solution is selected?” on our website for more information about what selected Solver teams receive. If you are part of a larger organization or in the Scale stage, you will need to show that you can find value from Solve, which is generally targeted to early-stage enterprises. We have in the past selected some Scale-stage Solver teams who were able to demonstrate the value they would derive.
(Maximum 250 words)

### What types of connections and partnerships would be most catalytic for your solution?
> Solve works to connect selected Solver teams with partners that can help advance their work. While getting selected to Solve will allow you to receive some funding (at a minimum $10,000) and the opportunity to receive additional funding from our members and partners upon selection and throughout the year, there are no guaranteed amounts, and if you are only looking for funding, Solve will not be the best platform for you. Select the most relevant categories within which you’re seeking partnerships from the list below.

- [ ] Business model
- [ ] Technology
- [ ] Distribution
- [ ] Funding and revenue model
- [ ] Talent or board members
- [ ] Legal
- [ ] Monitoring and evaluation
- [ ] Media and speaking opportunities
- [ ] Other

### With what organizations would you like to partner, and how would you like to partner with them?
> Provide names of specific organizations, if you have any in mind, or the types of organizations that can help you accelerate your solution.
(Maximum 250 words)

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## 影片

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2koLQvmzpU0

Hi everyone. I am Billion. Johnson and I are going to present for you, how Taiwanese combat FAKE NEWS with civic tech and crowdsourcing collaboration.

Cofacts is a chatbot fighting against disinformation.
Social platform, like whatsapp, Facebook messenger, Telegram, Wechat or LINE … in a closing chatroom, people are more like in an echo chamber.

While one of your relative sent fake news to your parents, such as “Headquarters of the United Nations would move to China from New York City.” they might believe that is truth.

However, if you forward disinformation to Cofacts, you will soon receive fact-checking report.

Chatbot knows what to respond, because Cofacts has a large database with over 27k disseminating messages.

The database is comprised of user-submitted instant messages, and the fact-checking report written by editors.

In this way, we also get to know what is being circulated among closed messaging chat rooms.

We are all volunteers.

Cofacts need fact-checkers to verify hoax and propaganda.
Then fill in the fact-checking summary and references.

Besides, Cofacts need developers to facilitate program optimization.
We open-source all of our source codes.
The project is easily replicated by any others.

We distribute our database, both the message and reply data collected so far, to public domain, under CC0 license, so that it’s available to everyone.

Such information are collected into Cofacts toolkit, all in English.
Essentially, anyone can start their own Fact-checking chatbot like Cofacts.

Speculation, critical thinking and media literacy ability belong to everyone.
We collaborate, We share, and We‘d fulfill open culture.