Making societies data literate at large scale by using online news media

Abstract

In informed societies, citizens require the means to inform themselves, as well as adequate skills to interpret the information. In most countries, the data literacy/numeracy of citizens is under- developed. We propose to use (online) news media as one of the channels to increase the data literacy of citizens. This paper presents one example of an interactive explainer that explains sampling variation and the need for error margins in polls. This explainer has been published in several Dutch news media. In just a few days, thousands of readers completed the explainer and reactions have been enthusiastic and encouraging. Currently, it is still unknown how well the readers now comprehend the concepts and if such explainers can be created less labor intensively. Overall, we see interactive explainers in mass media as a promising direction forward to help societies become more data literate.