Citizen verification is powerful precisely because it’s decentralised, but that only works if everyone doing it follows a few basic principles. Here they are.
Do stay safe. Never trespass onto a restricted or private site to get a photo. Never confront workers, contractors, or officials aggressively, even if you’re frustrated by what you see. A report is worth submitting; it’s never worth a physical confrontation.
Do stay factual. Describe exactly what you observed, not what you assume or suspect. “The building has no roof and construction appears to have stopped” is factual. “They stole the money for the roof” is an accusation you can’t actually verify by looking at a building, leave conclusions like that to journalists and investigators with the tools to confirm them.
Do respect people’s privacy. If you’re photographing a project, avoid unnecessarily capturing identifiable bystanders, especially children in the frame. The project is your subject, not the people nearby.
Do be honest, always. Never exaggerate a project’s condition to make a point, and never fabricate evidence. One confirmed fake report doesn’t just damage your own credibility, it gives ammunition to anyone who wants to dismiss the entire platform as unreliable.
Don’t let personal or political feelings drive your report. Whether you support or oppose a sponsor politically has no place in a report about whether a borehole works. Keep the two separate, every time.
Don’t submit a report on a project you haven’t actually seen. Secondhand information, however well-intentioned, isn’t what GLOW is built on, if you haven’t personally observed it, encourage the person who has to submit their own report instead.
Every one of these principles protects the same thing: a stranger’s ability to trust a GLOW report without having to independently verify it themselves. That trust is the entire value of what you’re building by using this platform.