How it works

Method, version 0.1

The record

Jimbo reads the official Hansards of a country's parliament. When a speech names a district, city or constituency, the whole speech is saved exactly as written, with who said it, the sitting date and page, and a link to the original. Nothing is edited, shortened or reworded. Each source file is fingerprinted so anyone can check we used the real document. Uganda is first; the same method is built to be repeated for other African countries.

How places are found

We use the official names of districts, cities and constituencies in the parliament's own list of members. A place named only in a speaker's title, or listed as a member's seat ("Hon. Moses Attan, FDC, Soroti East County"), is not counted as a mention of that place. If a name could mean more than one place, such as just "Soroti", it is shown as spoken and we do not choose a meaning. Sub-counties, parishes and villages are not included yet.

Who said it

Each passage shows the speaker exactly as the Hansard records them. Where that is a role or a surname, we also match it to the official list of members, but only when exactly one member fits. A common surname that could be several people is left as recorded.

The headline above each passage

Each passage starts with a plain headline so you can see at a glance what was said about your place. Where a computer has written a short summary, it says so, and the summary must include an exact quote from the speech or it is thrown away. Where there is no summary yet, the headline is simply the sentence of the speech that names the place. Underneath, "Read the full speech" shows the whole speech, word for word, and a link opens the original Hansard page.

What this is not

Jimbo does not rank, score or rate any Member of Parliament, party or place. A computer summary can be wrong, which is why the original words are always one click away.

Gaps

A quiet page means "not in the sittings processed", not "nothing happened". The coverage page shows what has been processed, by year and month. Committee reports and executive documents are not included yet.