Telling Data Stories, the Way Averroes Wrote His Commentaries – A Three-Level Approach to Facilitate Data-Driven Decision Making
René Schneider1, Vincent De Vevey2, Marielle Guirlet1, Laetizia Sabatini-Choqard1, Javier Lloret2
1Haute Ecole de Gestion Geneva - HESSO, Switzerland; 2Haute Ecole d'Art et Design Geneva - HESSO, Switzerland
Data stories are a way of presenting data and information in a narrative format that is easy for people to understand and engage with (Li, 2018). They can be used to promote information literacy by helping people to understand and critically evaluate data and its sources. They can also be used to help people become more informed by helping them understand and make sense of the data that increasingly shapes our world.
Following Averroes’ principle of writing three general types of commentary based on Aristotle’s works (Adamson and Di Giovanni, 2018), namely literal, metaphysical and political, we propose a similar methodology that separates the data from the possible narratives and allows the promotion of data literacy at different levels by tailoring it to different audiences of different expertise and age.
We explored this topic in two projects carried out by the Department of Information Science at the Haute Ecole de Gestion, HES//SO-Geneva. With the VIDAS (VIsualisation of DAta Stories) project, we provided a comparative in-depth study of the distinctive nature of data stories (VIDAS, 2023). In MIDAS (MIcroclimate DAta Stories), we then put the concepts into practice and developed three data stories based on the same dataset and developed at three different levels (MIDAS, 2023), targeting scientists, policy makers and children.
We started our study with a thorough literature review seeking to find a clear definition of the term data story. As a result, data stories encompass various types of elements that need to be considered when telling a story: the data, the visual form, and the narrative component. The balanced combination of these elements is intended to drive behavioral change through the integration of narrative into the data presentation, and last but not least to lead to a call to action (Duarte, 2019).
While looking for ideas of relevant data stories relevant, we came across the history of a local chestnut tree, located in the old town of Geneva. Since 1818, the date of the first leaf hatching has been observed and recorded as a marker of the arrival of spring. This subject seemed particularly relevant to us because it is rooted in local history and it provides a tangible illustration of the impact of climate change on our environment. Data Stories developed on this topic seemed to us an appropriate communication tool to raise awareness among different audiences (children, adults, decision makers) about the impacts of global warming. The time shift of the first leaf hatching date of the chestnut tree to earlier and earlier dates could be put in parallel with the warming in Geneva due to climate change. In the paper we will present the genesis of the three data stories developed on this subject.
Our study shows that data stories can be used to help people make informed decisions by providing them with a clear and concise representation of the data. This can help people understand the implications of different choices and make decisions based on evidence rather than intuition. So far, data stories have been created for two datasets using the principle of Averroesian commentary. After creating the first set of data stories, self-evaluation procedures were used to gain insights that were subsequently applied to the second data set.
It is worth noting that the impact of data stories on data literacy will vary depending on the audience, the type of data presented and the way the story is presented. Overall, however, data stories can be a powerful tool to promote data literacy and help people become more informed and engaged citizens.
References
Adamson, P., & Di Giovanni, M. (Eds.). (2018). Interpreting Averroes: Critical essays. Cambridge University Press.
Duarte, N. (2019). Data Story. Explain data and inspire action through story. Ideapress Publishing.
Li, Q. (2018). Data visualization as creative art practice. Visual Communication, 17(3), 299–312.
MIDAS (2023). MIDAS (Microclimate Data Stories). Retrieved from https://campus.hesge.ch/id_bilingue/projekte/MIDAS/index.html
VIDAS (2023). Comprendre et expliquer la VIsualisation des données et les DAta Stories. Retrieved from https://campus.hesge.ch/id_bilingue/projekte/vidas/index.html
Data Literacy in Public Libraries in Croatia: An Empirical Study
Radovan Vrana
University of Zagreb, Croatia
Introduction
Data literacy is defined as “a specific skill set and knowledge base, which empowers individuals to transform data into information and into actionable knowledge by enabling them to access, interpret, critically assess, manage, and ethically use data” (Koltay, 2017, p. 10). It has become an important professional as well as civic skill necessary for functioning in the society of the 21st century (Nayek & Sen, 2015; Bowler, Acker & Chi, 2019). Data literacy has also become part of daily library programs designed for local community in effort to minimize the shortcomings of digital divide in society (Shafiq, Bhatti & Naeem, 2020). On the professional level, data literacy has become necessary in management of public libraries as directors’ decisions are frequently based on growing quantities of data collected during daily library operations. In addition to library programs for users and data managerial decision making based on data, public libraries have an opportunity to devise partnerships with data-sharing and data-using organizations and strengthen the perception about them as a key information hubs (Enis, 2020). This would make them interesting to users who want to become familiar with data literacy but don’t have a place or whom to ask about it.
Research
The paper presents results from the nation-wide empirical research study in public libraries in Croatia about recognition of the term data literacy and its characteristics. The paper also aims to contribute to the advancement of data literacy in public libraries in Croatia. Literature review showed that previous research studies worldwide have most frequently had their focal point on academic libraries while public libraries have been neglected in this matter. In Croatia there were no recent research studies in public libraries about data literacy. The goal of this research study is therefore to collect data about the data literacy and its recognizable characteristics. The hypothesis of the research study is that heads of public libraries are still not fully acquainted with the term data literacy, and they lack more thorough education about it. A questionnaire was chosen as the principal research non probabilistic quantitative method as it provided the ability to reach many respondents scattered over large geographical region. It was distributed by e-mail to heads of all public libraries officially registered at the National and university library in Zagreb. The results of the research indicated strong use of data by managers in public libraries in decisions making process. At the same time, library managers lacked more extensive knowledge of math, statistics, data visualization and logic. On the positive side, they were aware about the elements of data life cycle and recognized important characteristics of data literacy. The results also showed recognition of data literacy related competencies necessary for successful public library management. Not a single public library employed a data librarian, but they defined clearly what activities such a person should do if employed. The public libraries used data mostly for library management and for user-oriented analyses and studies. When acquiring basic or additional knowledge about data literacy public library heads preferred short courses and webinars but they also liked for future librarians to acquire such knowledge during their university studies. Finally, they perceived data literacy important for development of public libraries in future.
References
Koltay, T. (2017). Data literacy for researchers and data librarians. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 49(1), 3–14.
Nayek, J. K. R., & Sen, D. (2015). Data literacy and library: An overview. College libraries, 30(1/2), 38–51.
Bowler, L., Acker, A., & Chi, Y. (2019). Perspectives on youth data literacy at the public library: Teen services staff speak out. The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults, 10(2), 1–21.
Shafiq, M., Bhatti, R., & Naeem, S. B. (2020). Digital resources integration & data literacy perspectives among LIS professionals of university libraries in Pakistan. Library Philosophy and Practice, 4455. Retrieved December 1, 2022 from https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/4455
Enis, M. (2020). Civic data partnerships: By working with local experts on civic open data projects, libraries can become the heart of the smart city. Library Journal, 145(1), 26.
Abilities Needed for Evaluation and Use of Open Data Sources in Urban Planning Processes
Heidi Enwald1, Anna Suorsa1, Anna-Maija Multas1, Anelma Lammi2
1Information Studies, University of Oulu, Finland; 2Finnish Lung Health Association (FILHA), Helsinki, Finland
Background
Cities are pioneers in opening data. Moreover, the phenomena of smart cities, open cities, and open government are strongly based on open data. Finnish open data includes information relating to households, energy use, transport, and infrastructure (Avoindata.fi, 2022). In addition, many research institutes provide open information and data that relate to our urban living environments.
Large open data sets have changed the way cities are investigated (Ruoxi, Xinyuan & Nan, 2022) and designed (Ying & Lun, 2016). Therefore, openness of information and data has an impact on the information sources used by those involved in planning processes. The information sources are utilized in a very multi-professional information-intensive work. Consequently, new capabilities are needed in evaluating this kind of information sources. According to the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Association of College and Research Libraries, 2015) the abilities of an information literate individual include detection and evaluation of issues relating to access to information and information sources.
Methods and Data Collection
We based this study on the theme interviews and a small-scale survey we carried out in a large multidisciplinary research project. In Spring 2022 we conducted fifteen interviews among Finnish city employees involved in urban planning processes. We used the Microsoft Teams videoconferencing platform and transcribed the interviews verbatim. We focused on multi-professionality of the urban planning process. Furthermore, we examined information practices and use of information sources relating to the urban planning process. We followed an inductive approach to investigate the role and value of openness of information and data, as well as abilities needed. We will further untangle the practices through a small-scale questionnaire survey targeting the interviewees.
Preliminary Results and Discussion
According to preliminary results of the interview data, we emphasized the openness of data and the important role of different kinds of openly reported surveys and statistics. On the other hand, we found it difficult to evaluate and use the large amount of information and data in the decision-making processes of urban planning. The information literacy related abilities and information practices of participants of urban planning processes have not received a lot of attention in literature, except for some rare exceptions (e.g., Serola, 2006) and this study partly fills in the research gap.
References
Association of College and Research Libraries. (2015). Framework for information literacy for higher education. Retrieved from https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/infolit/framework1.pdf
Avoindata.fi. (2023). All Finnish open data from one place. Retrieved from https://www.avoindata.fi/en
Ruoxi, W., Xinyuan, Z., & Nan, L. (2022). Zooming into mobility to understand cities: A review of mobility-driven urban studies. Cities, 130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2022.103939
Serola, S. (2006). City planners’ information seeking behavior: Information channels used and information types needed in varying types of perceived work tasks. In Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Information interaction in context (IIiX) (pp. 42–45). New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/1164820.1164831
Ying, L., & Lun, L. (2016). Transformations of urban studies and planning in the big/open data era: A review. International Journal of Image and Data Fusion, 7(4), 295–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/19479832.2016.1215355
Who are Physicians Talking to on Social Media? Data Literacy and Visual Literacy of the Assumed Audience(s) of COVID-19 Vaccination Posts
Karolina Brylska
University of Warsaw, Poland
Objectives
The presentation will focus on the partial results of a project on the effectiveness of social media (SM) posts by medical experts to encourage people to be vaccinated against COVID-19 that I conducted within the “New Ideas” grant, no. 622-62/2021, financed by the University of Warsaw. In this presentation I will demonstrate how the authors of the posts used scientific data to present visualizations and cite sources of information they used. I conducted a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the material and the results are discussed within the perspective of the data literacy and visual literacy dimensions of the assumed audience. Data literacy is defined as “a suite of data acquisition-, evaluation-, handling-, analysis- and interpretation-related competencies” (Prado & Marzal, 2013, p. 124), while “visual literacy” as “a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media “ (ACRL 2022).
Methodology
The project involved the triangulation of research methods and was implemented in three stages:
1. Mapping experts (physicians) active in SM and aggregating their posts on vaccinations;
2. Analysis and typology of posts in terms of content and form; and,
3. Experiments using surveys, eye tracking, and face tracking measurements.
Mypresentation will focus on the partial results of stages 1 and 2. Thus, I will answering RQ1. How, in terms of form and content,are the physicians’ messages on vaccination against COVID-19 in social media structured? The sample selection was purposive: I selected posts in Polish by doctors in 2021 on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter containing the key term “vaccination” or “vaccine” used in the context of COVID-19. Following these criteria, the sample consisted of 220 posts from 49 medical doctors.
I examined the collected posts using a content analysis technique with narrative and rhetorical analysis elements in a codebook of 53 categories. During my presentation I will show the results obtained for the following categories:
• visuals included in the posts (photos, infographics, videos, memes, and others);
• quoted data and its source(s);
• quoted statements and theirs source(s),
• linked profiles; and
• external links.
Outcomes
The study enabled conclusions to be drawn, to some extent, regarding the projected audience of health content on social media in Poland. I used the analysis of the collected data, juxtaposed with the literature, to determine the level of digital literacy that the audience should be able to find, properly decode, and interpret. In particular, I defined the dimensions of digital literacy to encompass visual literacy and data literacy.
References
Association of College & Research Libraries. (2022). The framework for visual literacy in higher education approved by the ACRL Board of Directors. Retrieved January 20, 2023, from https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/standards/Framework_Companion_Visual_Literacy.pdf
Calzada-Prado, F. J., & Marzal, M.A. (2013). Incorporating data literacy into information literacy programs: core competencies and contents. Libri, 63(2), 123–134.
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