Data literacy

Background

Data has become a new buzzword. It has even been labelled the “new oil”. Indeed, data is transforming our world. Data is a collection of facts that describe something. As such, data enables us to understand the world and support better decision-making. However, data is useless unless it can be read, interpreted, analysed and used to drive action. This is what we call data literacy.

Not everyone needs to be a statistician or a data scientist, but everyone does need to be able to understand data to get a picture of the world in which we live and to reach fact-based decisions. This could be to choose the most efficient means of transportation, to plan the most suitable policy to address greenhouse gas emissions or just to argue with one’s neighbour as to how much a newly planted tree in one’s garden could help to counter rising temperatures in the cities.

In today’s world, there is too much information to process it all. Facts and data are not as easily processed as opinions and the dramatic stories appearing in media. They must be learned.

How can the data and statistics communities compete in the current attention economy to put facts and data at the forefront? How can the general public access and learn about data and statistics to establish a fact-based worldview? How should data and statistics be presented so that they can be easily understood and used by the public? How can the general public’s data literacy skills be strengthened? These are the questions that will drive the data literacy workstream’s activities.

Workstream description

Reliable data and statistics now exist in nearly all fields. Nevertheless, people have difficulty in using data to form a fact-based worldview and are instead guided by emotions. This workstream will focus on supporting the public at large and decision-makers in becoming data literate in order to better understand the world and to use data to make better decisions.

Data literacy has a variety of definitions. Unlocking the Power of Data Initiative focuses on a user-perspective definition. It considers someone to be data literate when data can be 1) read, 2) understood, 3) interpreted and analysed, and 4) used to make an argument and to drive action.

The workstream’s activities will seek to raise awareness on the role that data plays in our modern lives by bringing data to the forefront of discussions, during political conferences or in day-to-day life through the publication of easily accessible data and statistical products. Bridging the gap between data producers and users will help to highlight and address the needs of non-expert data users. In turn, better decisions and accountability from policy-makers will be fostered, supporting sustainable practices.

Logical framework

The “logical framework approach” is an analytical process and set of tools for project planning and management. It involves objective and strategy setting, an intervention logic and is used to implement, monitor and evaluate projects. The initiative’s full framework is available here.

Partners

Partners will be added as the activities are confirmed.