What is Besides?
Besides is a web app that provides verifiable, bite-sized facts to anyone with curiosity and an internet connection. The interface provides a meaningful experience to someone who wants to spend anywhere between 2 minutes to 2 hours (or more!).
Currently themed around the upcoming Indian Elections, Besides intends to spread across multiple subjects and issues, so that it evolves into a resource that anyone can pick up and search for a topic, so as to consume, share, and retain credible information for themselves.
What are Besides' values?
Primary Source
We look for the primary source of information at all times. If that is not available, and it is not from a reputed news outlet or scholarly journal, we will not consider it as something to include in our database.
Verifiability
This is crucial to our process. It is not to say that we are perfectly accurate, but rather, that we are verifiable, i.e. we have enabled the user to dig deeper and check for themselves, not to mention write to us if they come across something erroneous.
Unbiased
We are agnostic to the source of information, provided the fact meets the rigour of international fact-checking norms. We will look for multiple points of view, with the aim to represent as many communities and perspectives as possible.
Bite-sized
We aim to reduce the density and complexity of the text, by ensuring the length of the fact is the size of a tweet, consumable and shareable. We will also visualise or contextualise data as far as possible, in either the fact or the context, so as to assist the user in understanding the information.
Inter-connectedness
Finally, we stand for inter-connectedness. We recognise that information is only as good as what it’s next to. From the source, to the other perspectives, to the larger picture.
We do this by introducing two questions to the user, enabling them to dive deeper into what they find interesting. This ability, or agency, is a non-negotiable focus of ours, keeping us honest and keeping us from exploiting or manipulating the experience.
What topics do we cover?
We have information on the elections, political parties, national policies, government structure…all credible and edible, just for you. We’ll be building on these topics in the coming weeks and are excited to grow Besides together!
If you have a topic you'd like us to cover, write to us at info@besides.in
How does Besides work?
Besides is really simple. A link brings you to a fact, guaranteed to be shorter than a tweet. You want to read more, you click MORE ↓. You want to share, you click . You want to talk, you pick one of two questions at the bottom and get to the next fact. Simple!
The questions lead to other facts that continue the conversation. Don’t find the conversation interesting enough? Click ‘Show me some something new’ and start fresh. If you’re looking for something specific, try the Search feature and take control of the conversation.
No really, how does it work?
Tech
Besides is a progressive web app for fact browsing developed by Nelkinda. The backend is developed in Golang and runs on the Google Cloud Platform. The frontend is developed in XHTML5.2, CSS3, and JavaScript and runs on any recent smartphone or web browser.
Research Approach
Every Besides fact is based on absolutely authentic and credible sources. The information is verifiable, and our source links will take you to the destination where you can verify it yourself. Besides is all about undiluted facts, uncoloured by opinions, perspectives or agendas. The way the application is designed and the content is presented makes this absolutely clear.
Design
The design for Besides is a spin on government documentation – stamp paper, currency notes, everything bureaucratic! While bureaucracy is usually associated with annoyance, we thought we’d breathe some life into the dated webstyles and create a slick user experience with lightning-fast load times – why should bureaucrats have all the fun?!
Fact Connections
The Besides backend rests on a massive database of researched, and fact-checked facts, linked based on keywords … into a conversational format. There is no agenda here. Simply based on the innate connection of the keywords, you have full control of the conversation at every point in the Besides journey.
Down the line, we intend to introduce NLP to improve the user journey.
Why did Besides start?
Fake news. Biased media. Political agendas. Echo chambers. Manufactured social media forwards.
Sounds familiar? It’s a national, if not global phenomenon. Content formats are getting shorter and more unreliable everyday. How do you know if what you know is true?
But people are waking up. There is an increasing appetite for fact-checked content and unbiased narratives. People want to know what the government is doing and what their own rights are. We want to be well informed before we make that critical voting decision. But where is this information?
It’s usually buried in huge, obscure documents stored in government databases. Wading through these to find the information you need is a daunting task. Few have the time, inclination, or patience to do this.
But that’s exactly where Besides comes in. Content that is condensed to make it digestible, without losing any of the meaning or accuracy behind it. Content that is supported by direct links to credible source material. Content that is a part of a searchable narrative based on keywords that you can look for and explore.
You have an option now. Be factful. Use Besides.
Who is behind Besides?
Besides is an initiative by Reach, and would not have been possible without the guidance, support, and love provided generously by Adhishree, Amit, Arpan, Aysha, Bharati, Christian, Ed, Nikhil, and Vikram.
How is Besides funded?
Besides is funded monetarily and in kind by Reach (registered under Impact Data Services Pvt. Ltd.) with thanks to the enormous effort and care of all its collaborators.
Besides is looking for grants from organisations that would like to support our vision. Besides also asks its users to consider contributing to the cause.
How can I contribute?
We could use help with building our community. Write in to info@besides.in and let us know if you can support us with:
- Fact-checking
- Content Writing
- Marketing & Publicity
- Translation of content for vernacular usage
- Funding!
How is Besides licensed?
Besides by Impact Data Services Pvt. Ltd. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at besides.in.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at info@besides.in
Can I provide feedback?
Absolutely, we value all the input we can get! Write to us at info@besides.in to let us know if:
- The link is broken
- You don’t think something is accurate
- Some fact has a strong bias
- Other feedback or suggestions!
Why “Besides”?
Besides is our playful way of introducing each fact, as if to say, “Hey, there’s also this”. We’re less about contradicting one another (“But”) and more about building on the larger conversation, side by side, together.