Ask-A-Question: an FAQ-answering service for when there's little to no data
2023-04-18 , A1

Doing data science in international development often means finding the right-sized solution in resource-constrained settings.

This talk walks you through how my team helped answer thousands of questions from pregnant folks and new parents on a South African maternal and child health helpline, which model we ended up choosing and why (hint: resource-constraints!), and how we've packaged everything into a service that anyone can start for themselves,

By the end of the talk, I hope you'll know how to start your own FAQ-answering service and learn about one example of doing data science in international development.


Doing data science in international development often means finding the right-sized solution in resource-constrained settings.

This talk walks you through how my team helped answer thousands of questions from pregnant folks and new parents on a South African maternal and child health helpline, which model we ended up choosing and why (hint: resource-constraints!), and how we've packaged everything into a service that anyone can start for themselves,

By the end of the talk, I hope you'll know how to start your own FAQ-answering service and learn about one example of doing data science in international development.


Expected audience expertise: Domain

Novice

Expected audience expertise: Python

Novice

Public link to supporting material

https://github.com/IDinsight/faqt

Abstract as a tweet

Doing data science in international development often means dealing with more resource-constraints. This talk will walk you through Ask-A-Question, a simple FAQ-answering service for when there's little to no data that we built for WhatsApp helplines for public health.

Suzin You is a Data Scientist based in New Delhi, India, working at IDinsight, an international development advisory. As do her colleagues, she strives to keep impact as her north star at work.