FAQs
BIG DATA DON’T MEAN BIG KNOWLEDGE
The internet is full of data. A lot of data. The annual global IP traffic will reach 4.8 ZB per year by 2022. ZB means Zettabyte – a billion trillion bytes or about 9.6 billion times your laptop storage (if you have a large hard drive). Right now nearly 2 billion websites are online. In one day five billion Google searchers are performed, >550 million tweets are sent and one single satellite can generate several terabyte.
The trick is to access the right data sources, filter and contextualise them to answer specific questions. Without this process big data are just expensive to store without providing any added-value. Big private companies have become experts in these tasks. However, social benefit is very low on their list of priorities. Perigee takes big data innovation one step further to generate big knowledge for organisations of all sizes, with different interests (for instance humanitarian aid or environmental emergencies) and technical capacities.
HOW DOES PERIGEE WORK?
Perigee is not an analytical black box – but a research-driven online service that integrates directly into existing decision-making processes. It links emergency monitoring and forecasting information to a social listing approach to close critical gaps in emergency fundraising.
We access several global satellite databases and social media channels. Users are free to manually add their own emergency, define their own fundraising markets, social media channels, etc. People who show an interest and/or an emotional response to a certain topic are more likely to become donors to this specific event. Our online dashboard can easily be adapted to individual user needs and gives a near real-time overview about (social) media hot spots, emotional responses to specific topics in predefined regions of interest, benchmarks of digital fundraising performance among competitors, etc.
The key to closing emergency funding gaps is to identify as fast as possible who shows an interest in “your emergency”. Having this information ready, ideally before the impact of the emergency can be detected, is vital information to get in touch with individual donors. This way, social media become a targeted two-way communication channel.
You can find a flowchart that explains how Perigee works step-by-step here.
WHAT’S THE ADDED VALUE FOR ME AS A USER?
Perigee:
- is a shortcut between emergency data and targeted, digital fundraising
- quickly creates a low-cost digital fundraising campaign with full transparency
- can be adapted to different markets, topics and budgets
- allows access to global state-of-the-art satellite data including interpretation and analysis
- can be activated before the impact of an emergency (for instance a topical cyclone) is This way, all necessary information for a digital fundraising campaign (incl. the most likely donors) is already available when a disaster strikes.
- provides a near real-time overview of performances KPIs among comparable users (for instance the social media response to a new fundraising campaign or emergency communication strategy
DOES PERIGEE GET ACCESS TO MY DONOR DATABASE?
We understand that your donor database hold very sensitive information. It is possible, but not necessary to synchronize your data with Perigee.
HOW DO I KNOW YOU’RE NOT JUST AN AUSTRIAN VERSION OF CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA?
We think that the scandal around Cambridge Analytica actually helped Perigee. Humanitarian users have become a lot more sensitive and started to ask very smart, detailed questions. In addition, Perigee is an Austrian company funded by the European Space Agency and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency. Any violation of European data protection guidelines would immediately terminate our funding. There is always a chance that companies exploit their clients/users behind closed doors. Only a trust-based relationship can help to eradicate doubt. Talk to us and ask whatever crosses your mind. We are actually quite nice.
While you are reading this we cloned your digital identity and cleared your bank account.
IS THE EUROPEAN MARKET READY FOR THIS?
The European fundraising market is around 45 billion Euro. That’s about seven times larger than in the USA, although Europe’s population is two times larger. The digital European fundraising market is still in its infancy. In other words, the potential is huge.
DO I PAY A FLAT RATE OR PER DONATION?
Perigee does not charge flat rate. The pricing is based on a “kickback” for every digital donation generated via Perigee.
ISN’T IT UNETHICAL TO TARGET DONORS?
So far, most users that raised this questions had several tracking tools (social media, Google Ads, etc.) running on their own websites without knowing it. We believe that is our responsibility to treat privacy and other sensitive data as what they are – a resource that has become more valuable than oil while gaining value with every use cycle.
When we started to design the concept for Perigee asked ourselves exactly the same question. The conclusion was that we, being social media users ourselves, would much rather receive fundraising requests for events that we really cared about. There are many additional ethical thoughts behind this. Possibly the most important one is that it is the social responsibility of modern societies to see globalization as a holistic concept. Countries in Europe and the USA are largely responsible for the greenhouse gases that increase the frequency and intensity of climate extreme events around the world, also in countries to contributed virtually nothing to these emissions (e.g. small island states). The least we can do is to proactively support aid organizations in mitigating the impacts of disasters or performing efficient, timely response operations.
By the way, Perigee does not identify or store user identities beyond their online IDs. User details, such as name, address or birth data are part of the aid organization’s donation pages and not shared with Perigee.
CAN I ACTIVATE PERIGEE FOR ON-GOING EMERGENCIES SUCH AS THE WAR IN SYRIA?
Our studies have shown that Perigee can also help to raise funds for long-term social conflict. However, we suggest to increased the granularity of your fundraising request to one specific event within a protracted crisis.
DOES PERIGEE FACILITATE DIRECT ACCESS TO SATELLITE DATA?
In a first step Perigee will facilitate the access to an adaptable online dashboard that centralizes all kinds of satellite-derived (and other) information. In other words, links will lead you directly to external data/emergency portals. In a second step, Perigee will directly integrated these data. Step three depends on future user requirements and might include the on-demand processing of satellite data for a group of users with similar interests. Up-to-date high resolution data can be very expensive. Sharing these costs among users sounds like a win-win-win situation for data providers, humanitarian aid organizations and Perigee.
WHAT IF I DON’T FULLY UNDERSTAND THE SATELLITE DATA/MAPS?
We have been working with satellite-derived and other disaster information for more than 10 years and can help you to contextualize and understand what the maps are trying to tell you. In case of any uncertainties we have direct links to the data/service developers at the European Space Agency and academic institutions in Europe and the USA.
ARE YOU ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN RESEARCH PROJECTS?
Yes, there are several research projects going on in parallel. They focus mainly on identifying the social media response in space and time with regard to specific disaster categories.
CAN PERIGEE BENCHMARK THE PERFORMANCE OF MY AID ORGANIZATION AGAINST OTHERS?
Yes, Perigee can benchmark both the efficiency of your communications and fundraising performance strategy against competitors. This can help you align your strategy, select a different social media channel or fundraising market.