17 KEY TRAITS OF 17 key TRAITS OF DATA LITERACY Data literacy is A Highly Data Literate Person: Data literacy is the ability to “read, If poor data literacy is such an understand, create and communicate incredibly large opportunity for data as information.1” It’s quickly the advancement of our corporate HAS KNOWLEDGE OF: becoming a fundamental requirement cultures and for society as a whole, 1. Basic Elements of Data ...........................................................................................................05 for professionals in every discipline and I believe that it is, then it behooves 2. Data Storage Methods ...........................................................................................................05 and industry. Much like word us to have a clear understanding of 3. Data Analysis Principles ..........................................................................................................06 processing or internet navigation in what it means to possess it. previous decades, data literacy has 4. Data Visualization Rules of Thumb ................................................................................ 07 shifted from a specialized skill to a I have collaborated with a number commonly sought-after attribute, as of industry thought-leaders to come PUTS TO USE THE FOLLOWING skills: companies both small and large seek up with a starting-point list of 17 5. Reads Visual Displays of Data ............................................................................................09 to transition to a data-driven culture. characteristic traits that apply to 6. Prepares Data For Analysis ...................................................................................................09 individuals who can participate in and The current state of affairs, though, is contribute to a data-driven cultural 7. Explores Data .................................................................................................................................. 10 that there’s a major gap between the transition. People who possess and 8. Creates Clear Visuals ...................................................................................................................11 level of fluency in data disciplines that demonstrate the following knowledge, 9. Communicates Data Effectively ..........................................................................................11 companies and organizations of all skills, attitudes and behaviors can be types require of their people, and the described as highly “data literate”. EMBODIES THESE attitudes: actual level of fluency that the people in those groups have. 10. Inclusive .............................................................................................................................................13 11. Confident ..........................................................................................................................................13 In a 2018 Gartner report entitled 12. Alert ......................................................................................................................................................14 “Fostering Data Literacy and 13. Ethical .................................................................................................................................................15 Information as a Second Language”, research director Valerie A. Logan found that 152 Chief Development PRACTICES THESE Behaviors: Officers who responded to a survey BEN JONES 14. Resourcefully Utilizes Data ....................................................................................................17 ranked “poor data literacy” as the Founder of Data Literacy, LLC 15. Continuously Improves Data ................................................................................................17 “second biggest internal roadblock to https://dataliteracy.com 16. Effectively Advocates for Data ..........................................................................................18 success2” out of 13 different factors. 17. Enthusiastically Spreads Data Literacy .........................................................................19 1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_literacy 2 https://www.gartner.com/technology/research/data-literacy/ 03 04 01 BASIC ELEMENTS OF DATA The data literate person knows how to Just as the poet studies vowels and distinguish between different types of consonants, verbs and nouns, highly data, such as categorical and numer- data literate individuals embrace the ical variables, discrete versus contin- fundamental building blocks of the KNOWLEDGE uous values, and ratio or interval data language of data. This enables them fields. Beyond merely being able to to see data for what it is - informa- identify data types, however, the data tion that can be grouped, aggregat- Our knowledge is the body of facts and information with literate person also understands what ed, summarized and assembled into which we are aware or familiar. It’s the first category of can and can’t be done with them in powerful insights and messages. data literacy traits enumerated because our development analysis and visualization. starts with the knowledge that we obtain either through academic study or through practical experience. What does a data literate person know? 02 A data literate person knows... DATA STORAGE METHODS The data literate person is famil- Similar to how farmers are knowledge- iar with ways that data is collected, able about growing, harvesting and stor- structured and stored, and the at- ing grain in silos, data literate people tributes associated with each ap- are familiar with various ways that data proach. Spreadsheets with their is collected, structured and archived. cells in rows and columns are seen They’re also aware of different ways data as distinct from databases with their is imported into and exported out of var- records arranged in relational tables ious storage types, and basic methods to or non-relational documents. transfer data from one place to another. 05 06 Working with data requires a certain degree of numerical and graphical literacy, 03 respectively called numeracy and graphicacy. Numeracy isn’t just mathematics, statistics, or DATA ANALYSIS logic, but a sixth sense that is grounded on a PRINCIPLES grasp —even a tenuous one— of fundamental concepts of those areas. Graphicacy, on the Those who are data literate under- Much like the way an investigator knows ALBERTO CAIRO stand that storing data is not an end what types of deductive and inductive other hand, consists of developing intuitions Knight Chair at the in and of itself, but rather a means reasoning are useful when breaking down of what kinds of graphs, charts, or maps are University of Miami www.thefunctionalart.com of extracting valuable insight about and combining facts and clues to solve a more adequate to either explore our data or one’s environment. The data literate crime, a data literate person appreciates person must therefore grasp the fun- sound epistemology, the foundational communicate the main insights we obtained damental principles of analysis and concepts of statistical significance, and from other people.” statistics and when they apply. what types of comparisons, conclusions and projections are legitimate and rea- sonable based on data. 04 DATA VISUALIZATION RULES OF THUMB Since the human visual system is a chart types that make use of these “very high bandwidth channel to the encodings. brain”3,1 the data literate person un- derstands various ways to visualize Like a doctor who knows how the body data and their respective pros and will react to prescribed medications and cons. The principles of cognition re- therapies, those who practice data liter- lating to how humans decode visual acy know how the mind of their patients encodings such as position, length, - the audience members - will interpret area, and color, are well known to various visual treatments of data that the data literati, as are the different they take in through the eyes. Modern analytics tools allow for effective data visualization & dashboard design. 07 3 https://www.cs.ubc.ca/labs/imager/tr/2009/VisChapter/akp-vischapter.pdf 08 05 READS VISUAL DISPLAYS OF DATA Organizations of every type are mak- They’re adept at viewing and interacting ing use of tables, charts, graphs, maps, with such visual aides to answer questions, dashboards and scorecards to inform formulating new questions based on what owners, employees, customers and they see, and identifying shortcomings SKILLS other stakeholders on the status of with how the data has been presented. the organization and its environment. Whenever the language of data is shared Therefore, those who are data literate with them, they’re able to consume and Simply defined, skills are the abilities we possess to know how to read and understand vi- comprehend the meaning being conveyed do something well. Data literacy doesn’t just involve sual displays of data created by others. in the statements and visuals. knowledge about concepts and principles related to data, it also involves the ability to perform tasks and activities that uncover and convey meaning in data. It’s the second group of data literacy traits because it naturally follows that when we know the elements of a language, we want to take action and put it to use. 06 PREPARES DATA What can a data literate person do? FOR ANALYSIS A data literate person... The answers to our questions can rare- These data preparation