BOISE — For Cameron Crow, better data is the answer to everything.
Over the last five months, Crow has been building from the ground up a new way for Idahoans across the political spectrum to make their voices heard on issues close to home. Through his website Make Idaho Better, formerly known as Make Boise Better, he sends out weekly surveys to a list of subscribers and then analyzes it for anyone to use and learn from.
Each survey is roughly 10 questions and so far they have covered a broad range of topics like the proposed sports park in Boise, abortion and racial discrimination. Crow said the goal is to allow community members, governments and organizations to use this new information to guide policy decisions by better understanding what Idahoans are thinking.
“A lot of the important issues we don’t have data on,” Crow, 29, said. “For instance on the stadium we have tons of news stories and we hear from people who are interviewed, but if you’re like me you think, ‘OK, but how many people think that?’”
Those who subscribe to Make Idaho Better receive their surveys on Mondays and then on Thursday Crow publishes an analysis post breaking down the results. Using informal language, he examines interesting trends in the information with graphs and charts showing the statistics and links to academic research on relevant topics for those who want to read more. At the bottom he also posts written responses to questions, which allows subscribers to expand on their thoughts for others to read anonymously.
Right now surveys get between 100 and 150 responses every week, but Crow said that number is growing and is expected to get closer to 300 in the coming months. He has not heavily advertised anywhere yet, so most of the growth has been through word of mouth.
A big goal for Crow in the creation of the site alongside helping possibly guide policy is to help people learn more about their community members’ point of view in an unbiased way outside of social media.
“People really are getting through these algorithms their own views spit back at them constantly, so it’s reinforcing those views so they start to think, ‘Everybody who doesn’t think what I think is stupid or wrong,’ and we’re getting less and less informed and more confident in our views,” he said. “It makes it hard to discuss and objectively explore facts, so I think this helps with that.”
Crow did not start out with an interest in local and state governments. During his undergraduate years at Boise State University, the Garden City native had his sights set on becoming an intelligence operative for the federal government. He graduated and successfully landed a position with the National Security Administration as an analyst, but soon discovered the thick bureaucracy was not for him.
Instead, he jumped ship and started doing data analytics for businesses in the private sector both in Boise and in San Francisco. Eventually he began volunteering his services with organizations like the Treasure Valley Education Partnership to put his skills to work for others. While he worked in the private sector and worked on another small business project, he daydreamed about what it would be like to use data to help governments. In June he took the plunge and launched what he first called Make Boise Better, which as of this week has expanded to include the entire state.
Make Idaho Better is a civic engagement project, but it is also a business for Crow. Unlike other data companies where he pays respondents for survey results and sells his analysis, he makes everything open and encourages participation by encouraging site visitors to “do their part.” The site makes its profit with a combination of charging for organizations to include specific questions, specialty analysis completed by Crow and the possibility of connecting his clients with members of his list that fit certain demographics that consent to be contacted.
Conservation Voters for Idaho, a nonprofit focused on environmental issues, worked with Make Idaho Better soon after the site’s launch. Program Associate Crystal Rain said they put a question about clean energy in one of the surveys, but the sample size wasn’t big enough yet to be useful to them. However, they would consider using the service again once there are more respondents.
“The importance of the polling is getting a chance to talk to people you don’t normally get to reach, and so I think it’s an important way to reach our community,” Rain said.
As his site grows, Crow hopes more and more Idahoans respond to his surveys and share their views, so readers can get as broad a viewpoint as possible about what is going on in the Gem State.
“If you ever feel like your perspective isn’t being heard or there isn’t a way for you to be engaged, I designed this for you,” he said.
