Hello! I am Vo Ram Yoon (he/him/his). I am a Data and Evaluation Consultant at the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium (MAEC), where I work on equity audits for public school districts and nonprofit organizations. As a queer, Korean Bolivian evaluator, I am a proponent for using quantitative and qualitative methods to honor the complex narratives and …

Tech TIG Week: Exploring the Potential of Automated Qualitative Coding by Vo Ram Yoon Read More »

Greetings from Portland, Oregon! My name is Michael Bamberger and I am Program Chair for the Integrating Technology into Evaluation (ITE) TIG, where we have been following the exciting developments concerning the introduction of big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) into research and evaluation. While sharing the excitement about these game-changing developments for the practice …

Tech TIG Week: Understanding Sources of Bias in Big Data by Michael Bamberger Read More »

I’m Linda Raftree and I founded the MERL Tech community about ten years ago, back when monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) practitioners were just starting to explore mobile phones, digital devices, and digital data for MERL purposes. Technology has changed a lot since 2013 – and so have the ways that MERL practitioners use …

Tech TIG Week: Collaborating on the Responsible Use of Emerging Artificial Intelligence for MERL by Linda Raftree Read More »

Greetings from John Baek and Diamond St. Thomas, the Integrating Technology in Evaluation (ITE) TIG Co-chairs. There has been a growing interest within the TIG and across AEA on the opportunities for integrating emerging technologies as well as with administrative systems in evaluation. It is our impression that these themes have tended to focus on …

Tech TIG Week: Integrating Technology in Evaluation TIG Themes by John Baek and Diamond St. Thomas Read More »

Hi! We’re a team that’s been working on using social systems mapping to create a map of the SCENE network: Using SumApp and Kumu, we’ve developed a map of and for New England-based evaluators. This map is a tool for evaluators to find peers and connect around topics of interest, challenges they are facing, and …

SCENE Collab Week: Visualizing our Community of Practice Using Social Systems Mapping by Min Ma, Haylea Hubacz, and Maya Komakhidze Read More »

I am Sonia Baron, a recent MA graduate of Research and Evaluation Methods at Boston College and an incoming Ph.D. student in Evaluation and Applied research methods at Claremont Graduate University. Regional evaluations are resource-intensive endeavors with the task of balancing the interests of each individual sector, all while creating a deliverable that is true …

SCENE Collab Week: Actors of Regional Associations: Gender Responsive Evaluations in Latin America by Sonia Baron Read More »

Hello. We are Cindy Char, Jennifer Jewiss, Jody Kamon, Lisa Natkin, and Qing Ren, members of the Vermont SCENE Communication Collaboration. Our subgroup was formed in response to SCENE’s encouragement to create self-organized, collaborative groups of 3-5 people who work together to deepen understanding and practice on a topic of particular interest. The timing and …

SCENE Collab Week: Equity in Data Visualization: Explorations from Vermont by Cindy Char, Jennifer Jewiss, Jody Kamon, Lisa Natkin, and Qing Ren Read More »

Hi, we’re Naomi Ali and Dayna Gallagher. We work at Mathematica, a research organization that uses data and analytics to provide evidence-based insights to foundations, government agencies, and other organizations. For six years, we’ve partnered with Boston Children’s Hospital to monitor and evaluate the contributions of community organizations that receive funding through their Collaboration for …

SCENE Collab Week: Moving Toward Equity: Improving Demographic Data Collection in Community Settings by Naomi Ali and Dayna Gallagher Read More »

Hello again, we are Emily Gates (assistant professor at Boston College), Andrés Castro Samayoa (associate professor at Boston College), and Min Ma (Founder, MXM Research Group). We break from our roles as SCENE coordinators to share a few thoughts about the relationship between funding, equity, and evaluation.  When we first asked evaluators about this relationship, …

SCENE Collab Week: Funder-Evaluator Relationships: Barriers, Workarounds, and More by Emily Gates, Andres Castro Samayoa, and Min Ma Read More »

Hi, I’m Dana Benjamin-Allen Principal Founder + Principal of Back of the Napkin Consulting. My work in evaluation is rooted in front line youth development, non-profit organization management and (technology) systems building experiences. Our company facilitates non traditional engagements where clients have fun and ultimately own the processes and end product(s). We also focus on …

SCENE Collab Week: From Data to Compassion: How Empathy Maps Can Foster Understanding by Dana Benjamin-Allen Read More »