Zujaj — Towards Public Transparency
A civic-tech initiative making public data accessible, personal, and actionable — empowering citizens to make data-driven decisions and hold officials accountable. Flagship: the Aman Safety App.
إشراك الجمهور بالمعلومات والمعطيات المدنيّة، عن طريق إتاحتها على شكل أدوات تقنيّة تفاعليّة.
— هويّة مشروع زُجاج
Towards a Transparent Public Sphere
خلق حيّز عام شفّاف أكثر
Zujaj (زُجاج — Arabic for “Glass”) is a civic-tech initiative built on a simple but powerful premise: when people can see the data, they can change the reality.
In Arab society, critical public data — from crime statistics to municipal budgets — remains buried in inaccessible reports, scattered across institutions, or simply unavailable in Arabic. Public discourse is driven by emotions rather than evidence. Citizens lack the tools to make informed decisions or hold their representatives accountable.
Zujaj was created to change this. We collect, organize, and visualize public data into interactive tools that make complex information accessible, personal, and actionable — transforming passive data consumers into informed, engaged citizens.
المعطيات الجماهيرية غير متاحة للجمهور الواسع بصيغة سهلة الوصول. ليس هناك منصّة للمساعدة على اتخاذ قرارات بشكل مبني على معطيات.
The Problem
The challenges we set out to address are systemic:
1. Data Inaccessibility — Public data exists but is locked in dense reports, government databases, or Hebrew-only sources. The average citizen cannot access or interpret it.
2. Emotional Discourse — Without data, public conversations about critical issues — violence, health, education — devolve into speculation and emotional reactions rather than evidence-based discussion.
3. Lack of Accountability — When citizens don’t have access to data, they cannot effectively hold elected officials and public institutions accountable for their decisions and performance.
4. Wasted Student Potential — High school students building graduation projects in CS create valuable technical work that expires the moment they receive their grade — a massive untapped resource for social good.
Our Method: Visualize, Personalize, Action
تصوّر، شخصِن، بادِر
Zujaj’s methodology is built on three pillars that transform raw data into civic action:
Transform complex datasets into clear, interactive visualizations — heatmaps, charts, and dashboards — that anyone can understand at a glance.
Make data personal. When you see your own safety index, your own neighborhood on the heatmap — data stops being abstract and becomes urgent.
Every tool includes a direct path to action — writing to officials, sharing results, joining campaigns — turning awareness into real civic engagement.
Flagship: The Aman Safety App
تطبيق أمان — مؤشّر الأمان الشخصي
Our first and most impactful project tackles the epidemic of violence and crime in Arab society head-on.
The Aman Safety App (أمان) gives every citizen a Personal Safety Index — a score calculated from real crime data cross-referenced with your location, age, gender, and other factors. In under a minute, you see exactly how safe your environment is, visualized on an interactive heatmap.
But Aman doesn’t stop at awareness. After receiving your score, the app generates a pre-written message — customized with your personal data — that you can send directly to your local police commander, parliament member, or municipal leader. One tap transforms concern into civic action.
بسبب ازدياد الجريمة والعنف في مجتمعنا العربي قمت الآن بعمل فحص لمؤشّر الأمان الشخصي الخاص بي وكانت نتيجتي: 45. أتوجه إليك برسالتي هذه لكي أعبر عن عمق الضائقة التي تفرضها آفة الجريمة في المجتمع العربي علي وعلى محيطي الإجتماعي.
Key Features:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Personal Safety Index | Individual safety score based on real crime data and personal parameters |
| Interactive Heatmap | Visual crime density map with filtering by region, age, gender |
| Direct Action | Pre-written messages to officials via WhatsApp and email |
| Multilingual | Fully accessible in Arabic and Hebrew |
| Privacy-First | No personal data stored — anonymous safety assessment |
Project Areas
Beyond the Aman Safety App, Zujaj is designed as a platform for multiple civic data projects:
Local Government Transparency — Visualizing municipal budgets, spending patterns, and service delivery across Arab towns — enabling citizens to compare their municipality’s performance with peers.
Labor Market Discrimination — Mapping employment gaps, wage disparities, and hiring patterns that affect Arab citizens — making systemic inequality visible and measurable.
Volunteerism & Civic Engagement — Tracking and visualizing community engagement patterns to strengthen the social fabric and encourage participation.
Environmental Justice — Mapping environmental hazards, pollution data, and resource distribution in Arab communities — connecting environmental data with public health outcomes.
Education & Digital Literacy — Visualizing educational outcomes, digital access gaps, and STEM participation across communities.
The Team — الفريق
Zujaj is powered by a passionate core team and a growing community of volunteers:
Co-Founder & Project Lead
Product, vision, and strategy
Co-Founder & Research Lead
Data analysis and research methodology
Community Lead
Volunteer management and outreach
Strategic Advisor
Partnerships and institutional relations
Technical Lead
Development and engineering
Community Model: Zujaj operates through a three-tier volunteer structure — a core leadership team, a skilled development circle of tech professionals, and student contributors from high schools and universities who build real projects with real social impact as part of their studies.
Values & Principles
The core values that drive every decision at Zujaj:
Transparency as a Value — الشفافية كقيمة لمجتمع يسعى نحو النمو والتجدد — We believe transparency is not just a feature but a foundational value for any society seeking growth and renewal.
Technology as an Amplifier — التقنيّة كمعزّز للأثر المجتمعي — Technology is not the goal; it’s the tool that amplifies social impact and makes change scalable.
Data Over Emotion — تقليل عاطفيّة النقاش والطرح المجتمعي — We work to shift public discourse from emotional reactions to evidence-based conversations.
Arabic-First — التركيز على أنّ إتاحة المعطيات هي باللغة العربيّة — All our tools are designed Arabic-first, because accessibility means nothing if people can’t use it in their language.
Initiative & Self-Efficacy — المبادرة والفاعليّة والسعي للتغيير المجتمعي — We believe in the power of individual initiative to drive collective change.
Collaborators & Advisors
Zujaj was built in consultation with domain experts and community leaders:
| Partner | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Aman Center (مركز أمان) | Crime data, domain expertise, and community trust. Led by Rida Jaber. |
| Dr. Mahmoud Kayyal | Strategic advisory on legal applications of civic data |
| Community Leaders | Consultations with officials in the Arab community on data impact |
| Tech Community | Volunteer developers from Israel’s Arab hi-tech sector |
Why Zujaj Matters
The name Zujaj (زُجاج — Glass) embodies our mission: we aim to make the opaque transparent. When public institutions operate behind closed doors, and when data that belongs to the people remains hidden from them — democracy erodes silently.
Zujaj is our answer: a platform that puts data in the hands of the people, in their language, in a format they can understand and act upon. Every visualization is a window. Every personal index is a mirror. Every message to an official is a door.
رؤيتنا: خلق حيّز عام شفّاف أكثر ومواطنين أكثر إدراكا وتفاعلا مع المعطيات الجماهيرية.
— Our vision: A more transparent public sphere, and citizens who are more aware and engaged with public data.
نحوَ شفافيّة جماهيريّة
Towards Public Transparency