---
title: 3-2 g0v Civic Tech Project Cases
tags: jothon, NDI
---
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"g0v Civic Tech Project & Community Handbook" is licensed under CC BY-NC.
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# 3-2 g0v Civic Tech Project Cases｜g0v Civic Tech Project & Community Handbook

### Chapter 3: Initiate a Civic Tech Project

## g0v Civic Tech Project Cases

### Central Government Budget Visualization

> Image from [Central Government Budget Visualization](https://budget.g0v.tw/)

"[Central Government Budget Visualization](https://budget.g0v.tw/)" is the first project of the g0v community. It utilizes various interactive visualization techniques such as bird's-eye view, charts (including tree maps and bubble charts), and debt clocks to present the budgets of different departments and agencies within the central government. It also showcases historical trends, interdepartmental comparisons, and breakdowns of tax revenue. To make the budget numbers more relatable to users, besides presenting the budget amounts in New Taiwan Dollars, it also provides relatable unit conversions, such as the equivalent number of cups of bubble tea or minced pork rice. Additionally, the project website includes a feedback mechanism that allows users to leave comments and provide feedback on budget allocations, enhancing citizens' ability to oversee government budget planning.

This project received an honorable mention at the "Yahoo! Open Hack Day" in 2012. With the prize money, the team organized g0v's inaugural hackathon with the motto "Coding to Transform Society," initiating a series of open data actions within the g0v community. In 2015, the Taipei City Government released well-organized budget data and collaborated with the community. They used the open-source "Central Government Budget Visualization" source code to create the visualization for Taipei City's 2016 budget. The platform also included a reply mechanism for citizens to express their opinions and participate in discussions on budget allocations.

Many projects within the g0v community are introduced with the concept of “shadow government", driven by the spirit of open source. The aim is for governments at all levels to make good use of and establish a two-way link between the public and the government. In addition to providing technical guidance to the government and introducing the g0v community's digital tools and collaborative concepts into the public sector, there are also civil servants actively participating in g0v activities, expanding the possibilities for public-private collaboration.


### Open Political Donations

> Image from Mirror Media & g0v

In the past, political donation data was only stored on a computer at the Control Yuan, and one had to apply to access it in person. The data could not be taken out, analyzed, or monitored. After the Sunflower Movement in 2014, Ronny, a contributor of the g0v community, initiated the "[Open Political Donations Project](https://g0v.hackmd.io/@hackpad-importer/SJTN3Yts8X)" during the g0v hackath8n. Through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, nearly 10,000 netizens completed the digitization of 300,000 data cells within 24 hours, digitizing the political donations of seven politicians. With the spirit of "saving the country with a keyboard," the netizens participated in one of the largest crowdsourcing actions in the history of Taiwan's open-source community.

However, the data from these seven political donation accounts was not large enough to reveal the financial flow between politics and business. In 2017, the Mirror Media team collaborated with the g0v community to relaunch the Open Political Donations project. They obtained printed copies of the Corporate Political Donation accounts of the 9th (2016) Legislative Yuan candidates from the Control Yuan. They once again invited netizens to participate and, through manual data entry and verification, digitized the political donation account data of over 200 legislative candidates. These data were also made publicly available, allowing interested media or researchers to use this open data as a basis for application and analysis.

Furthermore, in 2017, successful efforts were made to amend certain provisions of the Political Donations Act, and the Legislative Yuan passed the amendment. The amendment stipulated that future details of political donations would be publicly available online. In 2019, the original supervisory agency, the Control Yuan, launched the "Political Donations Public Inquiry Platform," which was officially online. This effectively harnessed the power of social collaboration and utilized open data to promote democratic development and government oversight.


### "Voter's Guide" & "Taiwan Voting Guide"

Taiwan holds presidential, mayoral, legislative, and councilor elections every four years. However, many voters remain uninformed about the candidates until the eve of the election, and some are even unsure about the candidates running in their constituencies. To address this, g0v contributors have created a Voter's Guide, aiming to assist voters in collecting comprehensive pre-election information. This includes political donations, policy commitments, personal backgrounds, asset declarations of all candidates, as well as budget changes, municipal improvement plans, records of questioning in the local or central parliament, voting, and attendance, and their previous campaign promises. All of this information is disclosed on a website, hoping to empower voters with better understanding, less helplessness, reduced confusion, and more critical thinking, thus avoiding blind voting.

In addition to providing candidates' political resumes, the platform also collects user feedback to improve its functionality and ensure the disclosure of information is more comprehensive and neutral. Since 2020, other g0v contributors have initiated the "Taiwan Voting Guide" project, inheriting the spirit of the discontinued Voter's Guide and incorporating qualitative data on "legislative issues." This allows voters to compare their concerns with the bills proposed by legislators, enabling them to make rational judgments on candidates and political parties and cast a valuable vote.

### "Kaohsiung Gas Explosion Information Compilation" Collaborative Notes

> Image from [g0v Facebook Fanpage](https://www.facebook.com/g0v.tw/photos/a.456791061028852/760629823978306/?type=3&paipv=0&eav=AfYOW2EOLBxuhQKrxr4qQWl_6JIes2lnbftPPOeOcVoq-0GtaGst-Lsoz_Oi54OXb2s&_rdr)

In 2014, a series of petrochemical gas explosions occurred in Kaohsiung City, resulting in 32 deaths, 321 injuries, and the destruction of multiple roads and streets. Following the accident, there was confusion in the media and on-site information, and there were many erroneous or misleading statements and information circulating online.

To provide the latest updates, prevent people from entering dangerous areas, and avoid spreading questionable information, the g0v community quickly assembled to create the "Kaohsiung Gas Explosion Information Compilation" collaborative document. It included a disaster relief map, a note of relief information, a list of related fire incident reports, a list of the latest progress and demand, a timeline of the Kaohsiung gas explosion, a note of medical and casualty information, 1991 Safety Bulletin Board, a note of contact information for fire and medical services, a note of shelter conditions, a note of volunteer needs and recruitment for various specialties, a list of free accommodations for disaster victims, an information consolidation from various government agencies, infrastructure repair status, post-disaster assistance measures, a news information list and a compilation of video records, a missing persons section, and continuous updates from internet users.

> Image from [g0v Facebook Fanpage](https://www.facebook.com/g0v.tw/photos/a.456791061028852/765654313475857)

In addition to the "Kaohsiung Gas Explosion Information Compilation," g0v contributors with medical backgrounds initiated the collection of open data on "National Level I Emergency Responsibility Hospitals - Real-time Emergency Room Information." Within 8 hours, 7 g0v contributors collectively wrote 30 programs to convert web data into a common open format and compiled it into a real-time dashboard called "National Emergency Room Real-time View." The dashboard consolidated real-time information from 31 national level I emergency responsibility hospitals, displaying the number of patients waiting for admission, intensive care unit occupancy, and available stretchers based on type and hospital. It also presented information on full-bed notifications. The "National Emergency Room Real-time Billboard" helps in understanding the periods and frequency of emergency room occupancy at different hospitals, serving as a reference for ambulance dispatches.


### Mask Map

> Image from [g0v Facebook Fanpage](https://www.facebook.com/g0v.tw/posts/3580268872014373/?locale=zh_CN)

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread globally, there was a rapid surge in the demand for medical masks. However, the inventory of masks in convenience stores across Taiwan was unclear, which meant that people had to inquire about it store by store, which consumed a lot of effort and time. Howard, an engineer from the g0v community's partner “Goodideas-Studio,” aimed to assist in saving time. He developed the "Convenience Store Mask Availability Reporting Map." After its launch on February 2nd, the web traffic spiked instantly, leading to Howard receiving a bill from Google for nearly 600,000 NTD.

The g0v community, simultaneously focused on relevant information and initiated discussions in the g0v Slack chat channel, attracting hundreds of contributors within a short period. With the assistance of Audrey Tang, a g0v contributor who was serving as the minister without portfolio for digital affairs at the time, the government opened up real-time inventory data from pharmacies. The g0v community smoothly integrated this data with public sector resources and organized the largest online mask hackathon in Taiwan. Many g0v contributors worked overnight and, using the National Health Insurance Administration API, developed front-end and back-end frameworks within 72 hours. The project accumulated tens of thousands of version updates and released the prototype of the mask information and map as an open-source resource. On February 6th, the "Pharmacy Mask Map" was successfully launched.


### Cofacts: Fact-Checking Bot on LINE

In the era of media ubiquity and digital information explosion, media literacy becomes crucial. MrOrz, a g0v contributor, observed that for many people who are new to the internet or unfamiliar with search engine functions, the process of "extracting information keywords, opening Google, and entering them in the search bar" is not straightforward. On the other hand, LINE's message forwarding function is much more user-friendly, making LINE one of the channels for the widespread dissemination of fake news. Therefore, MrOrz developed a LINE bot: @cofacts. Anyone with a suspicious message can directly forward it to [@cofacts](https://line.me/R/ti/p/%40cofacts) on LINE and receive fact-checking results or become a reporter of questionable messages.

The fact-checking responses provided by @cofacts are built upon a robust database that consists of "suspicious messages reported by users" and "responses from the editing team." If the database does not contain a message provided by a user, they can send the message to the database via @cofacts, and the message will then appear on the [Cofacts official website](https://cofacts.tw/), allowing the editing team to see it and conduct further fact-checking responses. It also becomes a basis for @cofacts' future replies to the same message.

Cofacts doesn't have a fixed editing team. All fact-checking responses are the result of collaborative efforts by passionate citizens. This ensures that every message with uncertain authenticity is thoroughly examined and discussed through the collective efforts of the community. Since its establishment in 2016, Cofacts has recorded millions of visits to its official website each year, with @cofacts providing automatic responses about 200,000 times per year and adding approximately 15,000 responses per year. Cofacts holds an editor meetup or volunteer training every two months, focusing on "working together," "researching and discussing issues," and "seeking response ideas and help." These events help volunteers and newcomers involved in fact-checking collaboration become more familiar with the system and get to know each other. All of Cofacts' achievements and data are open, transparent, and freely available for public use and integration. This includes past source code, meeting records, and data, which are openly shared to encourage more open data practices, transparency, and collaboration with everyone, thus creating various possibilities.


### Disfactory

In Taiwan, there has been a long-standing issue of illegal factories built on agricultural land, and local governments lack the resources to proactively investigate these violations. It relies on voluntary reports from citizens. However, with a vast agricultural area and numerous illegal factories, there was a need to mobilize the power of Taiwanese society and design a more convenient reporting system. In July 2019, Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan (CET), first proposed the idea at the g0v Hackathon. Since the foundation didn't possess the technical expertise for digital product development, they recruited web engineers, programmers, Geographic Information System experts, and project managers to collaborate with g0v contributors in developing the "[Agricultural Land Violation Reporting System](https://disfactory.tw/)." This system provides an anonymous platform for reporting illegal constructions, and Disfactory conducts further investigations and submits the data to government agencies, relieving the psychological burden on individuals who fear retaliation for reporting. As of September 2023, the official website has accumulated 6085 reports, 755 complaint documents, and 507 factories have been penalized.

Since its establishment, the Disfactory project has held weekly or biweekly meetings, openly documenting each meeting and the proposals on [g0v HackMD](https://g0v.hackmd.io/@disfactory/home). They also established a public channel on the g0v Slack for discussions, with over 270 members participating. This allows all g0v contributors to engage in the project in any form and fosters a comfortable and open collaborative environment.

> Image from [Let's Find Factories](https://spot.disfactory.tw/)

In 2022, Disfactory launched "[Let's Find Factories](https://spot.disfactory.tw/)," a gamified web application that enables users to compare satellite imagery data from the Taiwan Agricultural Committee in 2017 and 2020 to identify newly built or expanded illegal factories on agricultural land. This easy-to-understand, digitally inclusive game website is also suitable for integration into schools, serving as educational material that incorporates social issues into the curriculum, allowing students to actively participate in beneficial societal actions. As of September 2023, "Let's Find Factories" had engaged nearly 8,000 citizens in online participation, identified 6,000+ pieces of imagery, and gained attention from the Control Yuan, which requested the Ministry of Economic Affairs to take action on the issue.


### Dictionary Projects

#### Moedict

"Moedict" is an enhanced version of the Ministry of Education Mandarin Chinese Dictionary. It contains 160,000 entries of Mandarin used in Taiwan, 20,000 entries of Taiwanese Hokkien, and 14,000 entries of Taiwanese Hakka for query purposes. It also integrates features such as English, French, and German translations, stroke order, and pronunciation. Based on the spirit of open collaboration, Moedict has spawned iOS, Android, and desktop applications, as well as sub-projects like Amis Moedict and iTaigi, which promote the use of Amis language and Taiwanese Hokkien respectively. Additionally, the "Moedictthon," a series of small-scale hackathons, has been held 24 times to date.

The sources of Moedict's original data include revised editions of the Revised Mandarin Chinese Dictionary copyrighted by the Ministry of Education, Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan, Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Hakka, Learning Program for Stroke Order of Chinese Character, Concised Mandarin Chinese Dictionary, as well as CC-CEDict, CFDict, HanDeDict, and dictionaries provided by the General Association of Chinese Culture. Historical script styles are also available by embedding web pages that link to the General Association of Chinese Culture website.


#### Amis Moedict

“Amis Moedict” is a project derived from “Moedict” that provides the ability to search for and hear the pronunciation of the Amis language, an indigenous language of Taiwan. It aims to promote and strengthen the use of the Amis language, thereby preserving the rich cultural heritage of the indigenous people and providing a certain degree of language protection. Additionally, it aspires to build a diverse and open space for learning indigenous languages. Currently, the Amis Moedict website is still being updated, and the mobile app offers an offline version that allows users to download the dictionary file directly to their devices, avoiding issues related to unstable internet signals and slow network in remote areas.

To digitize the Amis language dictionary written by Miss Virginia A. Fey, provided by The Bible Society in Taiwan, this project divided a large number of entries into smaller tasks and utilized crowdsourcing for digitization. Within 53 hours, 4,855 entries were digitized through the collaborative efforts of the public. In addition to Miss Virginia A. Fey's Amis language dictionary, the sources of this project also include Safulo A. Cikatopay's Amis Dictionary, freely provided by Safulo A. Cikatopay to the g0v community and Moedict, as well as the Amis-French and Amis-Chinese dictionaries co-authored and provided by Father Louis Pourrias and Father Maurice Poinsot of the Paris Foreign Missions Society.


#### iTaigi

"iTaigi" is a collaborative project that allows users to compile a Taiwanese Hokkien dictionary. The website provides Mandarin Chinese vocabulary, Taiwanese Hokkien Romanization, and Taiwanese Hokkien pronunciation. Users can cast their votes, indicating whether they find the pronunciation appropriate or strange, and the arrangement order is determined based on the voting results for user reference and selection. In addition to existing pronunciations, users can add new vocabulary, providing both the Taiwanese characters and Romanization.


### g0v Sch001

g0v Sch001 is an educational project initiated by g0v Jothon in 2019 and officially launched in 2020. Its name incorporates "0" and "1" to represent the digital-native generation and "School" to symbolize education. This combination signifies a fresh perspective on schooling and highlights the connection and collaboration between education and the digital community. g0v Sch001 is dedicated to promoting digital citizen literacy. It invites participants from the g0v community to transform the principles, models, experiences, and technologies of civic tech projects through designing digital citizen courses, organizing camps, hosting project incubator competitions, and collaborating on courses with high schools and universities. These efforts encourage more people to join the civic tech community and promote the "self-initiative, collaboration, interdisciplinary, and action" approach to projects in educational settings, breaking free from the confines of traditional schooling and allowing everyone to collaborate spontaneously to create social change.

Over three years of practice, g0v Sch001 has made many achievements, including collaborating with the g0v community to create more than 70+ open digital citizen courses, holding 13 lectures and book clubs, organizing 3 annual camps for digital citizen empowerment, conducting 3 project incubator competitions, hosting 2 teacher training workshops, and establishing 8 collaborative courses with schools and universities. These initiatives have attracted nearly 2,000 students, teachers, and citizens to become participants. During project-based courses, participants collectively developed over 100 civic tech projects, with 63 of them proposed by high school and university students, demonstrating remarkable achievements. The projects cover a wide range of topics, including rural education, learning resource integration and sharing, localized curriculum, educational database creation, high school students' academic performance and social interactions, teacher collaboration, pedestrian rights, and more.

Regarding collaborations with schools, the courses are designed to achieve the goal of practical civic tech projects. The curriculum includes the g0v collaboration principles, project experience sharing, digital tool tutorials, project structure, and guidance. However, the specific content may vary depending on the target audience. For example, in collaboration with Taichung Municipal Taichung Girls' Senior High School, the course focuses on media literacy and invites experts from the Taiwan Pang-Phuann Association, an NGO promoting social issues on the campus, Cofacts, one of the g0v community projects, and the Information Operations Research Group, an NGO focusing on research of misinformation, to discuss how to harness civic power to address misinformation issues from different perspectives. This approach encourages students to initiate projects that use information technology to impact society, starting from the issues they observe in their lives and communities. In collaboration with National Taiwan University's Department of Computer Science & Information Engineering and the Graduate Institute of Networking and Multimedia, the course revolves around the theme "Web3 for Social Good." It invites Web3 practitioners to share various applications and technologies in the Web3 field, and students are required to propose projects related to this theme at the end of the semester. The courses are recorded and made available to the public on g0v's YouTube channel, making the content accessible to everyone.

In addition to school collaborations, g0v Sch001 invites g0v contributors to create digital citizen course videos on topics such as open source concepts, digital collaboration tools, experiences in civic tech projects, and the application of related tools and technologies, as well as technology trends. During the summer vacation each year, the project organizes a 1-month camp, allowing participants to independently learn digital citizen courses online, join the community, interact with instructors and community contributors, and conclude with a hackathon as the final event. This approach helps participants deepen their understanding of civic tech while participating in various projects and even initiating or joining projects so that they can apply what they have learned. After the camp, g0v Sch001 holds a project incubator competition to provide opportunities for course participants and anyone interested in addressing current life or social needs to turn their ideas into practical projects. During the competition, participants receive additional support, including one-on-one guidance, proposal optimization workshops, resource matching, bonuses for selection and final winners, and professional feedback throughout the selection process. g0v Sch001 hopes that, through diverse support, it can accompany teams in continuously optimizing projects, enabling everyone to collaborate spontaneously in the community and bring about social change through action!

* g0v Sch001 Website: https://sch001.g0v.tw/
* g0v Sch001 Pr0ject Course Plan: https://g0v.hackmd.io/@jothon/sch001pr0jectcourseplan