Machine Learning & Election Campaigns

Ria Baldevia, Booz Allen Hamilton
Audience level: Novice
Topic area: Misc
South Korean company Fount AI's introduction of a political info chat bot, Rose, on KakaoTalk messenger indicates machine learning may play a significant role in future elections.

Transcript

1. A study of Rose, a political
   chatbot in the 2017 South
   Korea presidential election
   cycle
   Ria Baldevia
   Data Intelligence Conference
   2017 Jun 24
   @riabaldevia
   

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3. Activity Modes
   Field &
   Voter
   Contact
   0) In person events
   1) Volunteer sign-ups
   2)Canvassing
   3)Voting history
   4)Mailers
   5)Live phone calls or
   robocalls
   Technology 0) Websites
   1) Mobile apps
   2) Fundraising tech
   3) Organizing and voter
   contact tech tools
   Marketing &
   PR
   0)Traditional paid media
   1)Earned media
   2)Emails
   3)Social media marketing
   4)Grassroots events
   

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6. App service: 대선 봇
   Medium: Kakao Talk Messenger
   App name: 로즈 (Rose)
   Lifetime: 19th South Korean presidential election
   cycle
   Major information points:
   ● Presidential candidate’s career information
   ● Presidential campaign information
   ● Voting schedule and location
   ● SNS polling information
   

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7. Digital Anthropology: South
   Korea
   

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8. > 5
   million
   

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9. App service: 대선 봇
   Medium: Kakao Talk Messenger
   App name: 로즈 (Rose)
   Lifetime: 19th South Korean presidential election
   cycle
   Major information points:
   ● Presidential candidate’s career information
   ● Presidential campaign information
   ● Voting schedule and location
   ● SNS polling information
   

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10. Plus Friends on Kakao:
    A category for public
    figures and special
    contents/updates.
    대선 봇: Rose
    Kakao Team
    Welcome message
    that is non-partisan.
    Encourages you to
    vote.
    Encourages you to
    invite your friends to
    join the voting
    process.
    Tasks
    0) What are the hottest topics of the day for
    the campaign?
    1)Who are the candidates?
    2)Check/confirm polling place
    3)Provide a map to my polling place
    4)Help
    Process of engaging with Rose
    Notes:
    -Tonality and language were neutral. It is obvious the objective of this bot was to inform voters
    about issues and polling location.
    -No persuasion messaging program in the interactions.
    

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11. ● Rose’s objective: Analyze social network system
    interest and candidate selection by leveraging
    Kakao and its users.
    ● Analyzes portal search volume (Daum, Naver,
    Twitter, etc.).
    ● Factor in the quantity of internet news for each
    candidate.
    ● Interesting note-- they consider these to be small
    variables: turnout rate and election day weather.
    Observations
    

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12. ● Although the primary objective of providing election information, they
    missed an opportunity to measure how responsive their engagements
    were:
    ○ Did the user end up voting? A simple Get Out the Vote (GOTV) operation could
    have occurred with Rose confirming whether or not the user actually voted AFTER
    receiving voting location information.
    ○ How effective was the Call to Action to vote over all?
    ● Rose launched late in the election cycle, giving her less than 6
    months to grow its base and ebb with the full election cycle.
    ● There was no survey to offer input after the election cycle ended.
    Rose’s responses were put to rest (although Rose is still available to
    befriend.)
    Critiques
    

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13. Activity Modes
    Field &
    Voter
    Contact
    0) In person events
    1) Volunteer sign-ups
    2)Canvassing
    3)Voting history
    4)Mailers
    5)Live phone calls or
    robocalls
    Technology 0) Websites
    1) Mobile apps
    2) Fundraising tech
    3) Organizing and voter
    contact tech tools
    Marketing &
    PR
    0)Traditional paid media
    1)Earned media
    2)Emails
    3)Social media marketing
    4)Grassroots events
    SNS
    Sweet
    spot
    

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14. Use Possibilities
    Partisan Neutral
    Voter Engagement Evocative terms, leverage
    partisan voters database,
    opportunity scale Call to
    Action
    Purely informational
    Neutral language
    Messaging Highly partisan messages
    similar to email language
    and tone
    Neutral
    Early GOTV Great opportunity to target
    early voters and confirm if
    they voted before Eday
    Same
    GOTV Great opportunity to target
    traditional voters who did
    not early vote
    Same
    

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15. 0) http://ikoreatimes.com/Article/view.aspx?p=9&aid=48058
    1) http://biz.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201704040921001&code=920
    501
    2) https://www.forbes.com/sites/elaineramirez/2017/01/31/nearly-100-of-househ
    olds-in-south-korea-now-have-internet-access-thanks-to-seniors/#203f357255
    72
    3) Kakao Messenger app
    4) Screenshots from Rose app available
    References
    

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16. A study of Rose, a political
    chatbot in the 2017 South
    Korea presidential election
    cycle
    Ria Baldevia
    Data Intelligence Conference
    2017 Jun 24
    @riabaldevia
    

    View Slide