Welcome to the Wikiprogress week in review- a round-up of media highlights from the busy and eventful week that was. Be sure to see the Wikiprogress community portal for all news, blogs, reports and debates about measuring progress.
On progress
End of the USSR: visualising how the former Soviet countries are doing, 20 years on (The Guardian Data Blog 17.08.2011)
The Guardian data blog have visualized how former USSR countries have progress/regressed since the USSR broke up 20 years ago. 15 soviet states became independent in 1991; the data team from the Guardian have pulled together data from the World Bank, UNHCR, UN Crime Trends and the Happy Planet Index to measure the progress and compare the performance of these countries.
See more on progress
On data
The power index (launched 15.08.2011)
Launched this week, the Power Index is a nation wide initiative that seeks to answer the question ‘who really runs Australia’? The index has 24 categories of influence and power that rank 10 people per category according to their level of influence. The index was created by Paul Barry, a well known investigative journalist in Australia and is hosted on an interactive website that details a thorough explanation of the methodology behind the index.
See more Australian progress initiatives
On child well-being
Kids Count data book (released 17.08.2011)
The Kids Count 2011 data book was released on Tuesday detailing national and state-wide indicators of child well-being in the US. Kids Count aims to provide an ongoing benchmark that demonstrates how states have progressed or regressed over time according to the well-being of children from each state.
On happiness
In 1954 psychologist Abraham Maslow created the hierarchy of needs, which essentially breaks down the path to happiness. This article from the Atlantic looks at a new study based on a survey of people from 123 countries and aims to determine the universal needs that make us happy.
See more on happiness
On development
Problems with measuring poverty (The Guardian Poverty Matters Blog 15.08.2011)
This blog post by Jonathan Glennie of the Overseas Development Institute, addresses the issue of per capita income being used as an indicator of poverty given the rise in number of middle income countries. Glennie praises the concept of least developed countries (LDC) as the criteria of this category includes important indicators of human development.
On gender equality
Renewed energy for women’s empowerment (Africa Renewal 16.08.2011)
While South Africa and Mozambique have reached the benchmark of 30% women’s representation in parliament, the figures for Southern Africa tell a different story. This article looks at the role women play in governance and how women can be engaged with broader issues of governance, including political conflicts, through an interview with UN Women’s Regional Director for Southern Africa Nomcebo Manzini.
See more on women’s political empowerment
Spotlight
In the Spotlight this week : The web turns twenty
That’s all from us this week – be sure to tune in this time next week for another round up of highlights from the week that was.
Yours in progress,
Philippa Lysaght
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