Brunei Cabinet Database |possiblyzebra.net

Brunei Cabinet Database

  • Year: 2015 - Present
  • Tags: government
  • Tools: Airtable, Google Sheets (Docs/Drive)

URL: http://bit.ly/brucabinet_base
Visit database


Screenshot of database

 

The database is also viewable on Airtable Universe, a showcase of Airtable databases and templates, as Brunei Ministers and Permanent Secretaries :)

URL: http://bit.ly/bruneicabinetdb
Visit on Airtable Universe


Screenshot on Airtable Universe

Note: For those new to the database format, this version may be friendlier as it contains a description alongside the database. Please note though, it is a copy and may not be up-to-date.

About

Overview

Database of current, as well as previous, Brunei Cabinet members (Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and positions with Ministerial Ranks). Also includes Permanent Secretaries and Deputy Permanent Secretaries.

Does not currently include Legislative Council members - I am considering this.

What is recorded:

  • Appointment details (Date started, date ended, references)
  • Person details (Name, age, background, photo) - Publicly available information only

Not a Feature: Titles & Hierarchies

Apologies that the titles of individuals and the appropriate ~~hierarchies of Ministries * may not be shown correctly. This is not meant to offend, it's to make the database simpler to manage.

* - As of Jan 2018, Ministry hierarchy has been added (and is hopefully working)

Features: Database Views

You can view the Current Cabinet:

View Gallery Cabinet Ministers only
View List All including PermSecs

The database is meant to be a reference to current and past appointments. Other than that, I also thought it would be useful to have certain kinds of information (i.e. database views/queries) about Brunei senior government appointments, such as...

Contribute!

Currently, I've collected appointments during the 2010-2015 and 2015-2010 periods. There are still many gaps that I try to update in my spare time.

If you'd like to help contribute, I'd greatly appreciate it! (Crowdsourcing is A++, guys)

Background

Iterations

Part 1: Spreadsheet

To keep track of 'who replaced who' in the 2015 Brunei Cabinet reshuffle, I started a spreadsheet on Google Sheets. I ended up also tracking appointments of Permanent Secretaries and their Deputies. The further back I dug, the larger the spreadsheet became.

  • Status: Retired. Spreadsheet remains online but will not be updated.
  • Visit Spreadsheet: http://goo.gl/upuDCH

Part 2: Database

The spreadsheet got unwieldy, so when I discovered Airtable, I experimented with the data in a database format. I liked it so much that I ended up transferring it over from the spreadsheet to the database. (Databases are a lot of fun.)

Inspirations

It's worth mentioning that although SiapaKedia by BAG Networks was not a direct inspiration for this project, I had used it occasionally as a resource for checking appointments and "who's who" of senior government officials. It was pretty thorough!

When I created my spreadsheet, SiapaKedia had already started to be inactive. I decided to make my spreadsheet that would fit my specific interest, i.e. a resource that would show me who had been transferred, promoted, and so on.

 

Meta

Updates to the database are now posted here on my project status database.

Previous updates and posts on my Tumblr: