This is the time of year I start gearing up for conference presentations (Women in Tech Summit), prepping for class material (Understanding Data at local university and Intro to Tableau at a local tech college).
I don't exactly look in typical places for story themes or ideas for introducing data literacy to populations with varying degrees of educational maturity. I believe in taking the complex and technical and making it more approachable.
So imagine my joy at finding this quirky but charming HBO special by Julio Torres,
My Favorite Shapes. It is pretty much about Julio's favorite shapes (bet you didn't see that coming) but oh so much more.
I don't exactly look in typical places for story themes or ideas for introducing data literacy to populations with varying degrees of educational maturity. I believe in taking the complex and technical and making it more approachable.
So imagine my joy at finding this quirky but charming HBO special by Julio Torres,
My Favorite Shapes. It is pretty much about Julio's favorite shapes (bet you didn't see that coming) but oh so much more.
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My favorite moment from Julio Torres involves the glass slipper from Cinderella. We all know the story. The clock begins to strike midnight and frantic but smitten Cinderella in her haste to get back to the coach/pumpkin loses her glass slipper on the palace steps.
The Prince decrees that he will find Cinderella and commands his loyal posse to visit every house in the land with the abandoned slipper. The foot fitting the slipper will belong to his future bride. Julio has pondered this and has a better idea--why doesn't the prince go with the team and instead of focusing on the slipper--simply look at the faces of the women. He then delivers the line included in everyone of my workshops or lectures--JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A TOOL, DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO USE IT. |
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The quote at the center of the discussion is an important one,
"Open data is what the government wants you to know. Freedom of information requests are for what they don't want you to know. The things you can't FOI because they don't collect them are what they really don't want you to know." Anna Powell-Smith
The quote at the center of the discussion is an important one,
"Open data is what the government wants you to know. Freedom of information requests are for what they don't want you to know. The things you can't FOI because they don't collect them are what they really don't want you to know." Anna Powell-Smith
What does this mean? When we formulate a data question we need to explore datasets for access and suitability. What do you do if you discover a gap in data collection? Often, I notice we just pull in the low hanging fruit. Race stands in for social constructs or worse--a lousy biologic proxy, poverty is simply a numeric value, and social determinants (correlates) are neglected or not interpreted in a meaningful or reproducible manner.
These are the conversations we need to be having.
Join in.
These are the conversations we need to be having.
Join in.
