R-value, incidence, excess mortality: During the corona pandemic, data has moved to the center of public debate. For democratic participation, it is necessary to understand the statistics behind these concepts in order to be able to critically evaluate and debate political decisions resulting from them. At the same time, the debate about an appropriate relationship between science and democracy is gaining in importance, which goes far beyond the mostly jokingly discussed question “Can Drosten be chancellor?”.
Overall, data is becoming more and more relevant in our society. As a consequence, the concept of “data literacy” was developed in order to impart key competencies in handling data. In addition to statistical tools, this includes, for example, the ability to classify data critically in its survey context or to create meaningful visualizations.
We see data literacy as a catalyst for democratic participation and informed decision-making and therefore would like to make a contribute to imparting data literacy as an indispensable skill.
In the first part of the project, workshops were held for the Schülerkolleg International in which the social dimension of data in the corona pandemic was discussed. In the form of a business game, the participants slipped into the role of political decision-makers and subsequently reflected on the relationship between science and democracy.
The second part of the project is aimed at students and includes a series of interviews in the framework of a podcast. The “Datendschungel” shows the importance of data for various areas of life and thus stimulates an interdisciplinary dialogue.
This is promoted by changing guests who share their expert knowledge in a wide variety of specialist areas.
Now that the first episodes of the “Datendschungel” have been published on Apple Podcast and Spotify, we are busy planning further interviews.
We look forward to any feedback!
Feel invited to contact us under data.literacy@toenissteiner-studierendenforum.de.