Data Literacy: “What It Is and Why You Should Care”

Open data… big data… data management… These terms swirl around us, and often we just let them flow past. But, to understand and navigate the rapidly changing landscape that is data, we need certain skills, and these are characterized as “data literacy”. One definition of data literacy, from DataPopAlliance.org, is “the desire and ability to constructively engage in society through and about data” (click here if you want to know the thinking behind this and here if you want to see a quick video). But I like this one, from the wonderful Data Journalism Handbook, better: “Just as literacy refers to “the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material”, data-literacy is the ability to consume for knowledge, produce coherently and think critically about data. Data literacy includes statistical literacy but also understanding how to work with large data sets, how they were produced, how to connect various data sets and how to interpret them.” The graphic here (and at the bottom of this post) is a good representation of how the skill sets needed for data literacy intersect. I think some of us worry that we don’t have the necessary statistical literacy in particular to really feel data-literate, but if you are someone who thrives on orderly arrangements of information—perhaps a library classification system?? –you are fine! Orderliness goes far, as does a critical eye towards credibility, currency, reliability, a...
Source: Dragonfly - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: Blog Source Type: news