ForSet
https://www.forset.ge/
ForSet is a Tbilisi-based creative social enterprise specialising in data and visual storytelling. Through its reporting and educational programmes, ForSet co-creates data stories from Eurasia.
ForSet was founded in 2017 by a group of data journalists, designers, researchers, and technologists, some of whom previously worked for the now-defunct local NGO JumpStart Georgia. The NGO was the first of its kind experimenting with data journalism, not only in Georgia, but in the entire Eastern Europe and Central Asia region.
ForSet runs intensive educational courses for Georgian and Eurasian journalists, activists, and students. After receiving training in how to collect, clean, analyse and visualise data, participants produce data projects under ForSet's mentorship, and create static and interactive infographics, multimedia stories, quizzes, and games. Stories are published in regional media outlets; some are available on ForSet's website.
Through partnerships, ForSet has conducted data-driven communication campaigns for Georgian audiences through its social media channels, as well as through well-established media outlets. The topics include human rights, economic empowerment, and debunking vaccination-related misinformation.
The organisation advocates for better access to information. It created the easy-to-use Freedom of Information Request tool AskGov, runs monthly DataViz competitions and publishes award-winning stories through partner media, such as On.ge and Imitom.ge.
It also organises DataFest Tbilisi, an annual data conference in Eastern Europe and Central Asia that brings together hundreds of data professionals to share experiences, spread inspiration, create meaningful connections, and promote the cross-sectoral use of data to make a change.
ForSet also organises hackathons and community-building activities, and facilitates the creation of civic tech tools to benefit society.
In 2017, ForSet won the TruthBuzz contest, organised by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) with the support of theCraig Newmark Foundation, for creating a mobile gaming app to fight fake news.
Last updated: February 2023