Thank you for your feedback and support of the Verity beta! We hope everyone is well and staying safe. We are back this week with several updates of note. We have overhauled the look and feel of our Interchange engagement tool to give it a more modern look. This is the first of several important UI/UX updates we will be implementing in the lead up to our launch. We also added two important data sets this week: Ranking Digital Rights and Good Jobs First Corporate Subsidy data.
Finally, please keep a look out this week for our statement on how we aim to help address systemic racism and inequality through the support of Change Finance’s important initiative on Racial and Gender Pay Inequality (good write-up on Karma) and other like-minded initiatives. If you wish to speak with us directly, please don’t hesitate to contact us at hello@verityplatforms.com to schedule a call.
? A more modern Interchange Engagement Tool
Over the coming weeks we will be updating our Interchange engagement tool to give it a more modern UI, but it’s more than looks! We will also be integrating some UX changes to give it a more modern feel and expand its capabilities as well! Stay tuned!
⚖️ Say Hello to – Ranking Digital Rights!
We’re very excited to welcome Ranking Digital Rights to the platform. RDR works to promote freedom of expression and privacy on the internet by creating global standards and incentives for companies to respect and protect users’ rights. They have received much acclaim through their work with the UN and development of their Corporate Accountability Index: “RDR’s comprehensive, multi-disciplinary methodology sets a gold standard for the fact-finding required to assess the human rights impact of the companies that create, manage and facilitate vast digital networks and spaces.” – David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur. RDR’s data will be added in two stages. The first stage (completed) is the loading of their 39 indicators and the second, is contextual overlay information. Stage 2 will be completed over the next 2 weeks. Users can access RDR’s content in the Data section of any company in RDR’s coverage.
? Another data set from Good Jobs First! – Corporate Subsidies
We’re very excited to welcome a second data set from Good Jobs First. Good Jobs First has been receiving a ton of press lately for their valiant oversight of the distribution of funds from the CARES Act. With the removal of formal Federal oversight and the refusal of the Government to publish the names of the recipients of these funds (as has traditionally been done), Good Jobs First has stepped up to become the de facto watchdog of the use of taxpayer dollars. We commend them for their public service and are excited to add their Corporate Subsidy data set to Verity. We believe it’s important to understand how much value companies contribute to their communities versus how much value they extract from tax breaks and other subsidies. This data set will serve has an important first step in beginning to paint that picture. Users can access this information by accessing the Data section for any company in Good Jobs First’s coverage.
? Bug Fixes, Usability Tweaks and Structural Improvements
Updates and fixes to thematic profiles, transcripts and contextual overlay mechanics.