The Federal Data Strategy requires federal agencies to cultivate a culture of data literacy. The more data-literate an organization, the more value that organization will derive from its data, the more it will change in positive ways and provide real results for taxpayers.
But what is data literacy? Just as traditional literacy is more than reading letters and words, data literacy entails more than just looking at random pieces of information. It is knowing how to interpret and use the information and understanding why that is important for society as a whole.
Cultural shifts, however, are often hard for federal organizations to adopt. Technology implementations can be simple by comparison because they don’t challenge established roles, goals and ways of thinking. Some people see any change to the status quo as a threat, even if the potential upsides for them and their missions are huge.
Getting agency buy-in to a culture of data literacy means getting everyone at every level to appreciate the value of data for their daily operations and their agency’s mission. It’s building trust in data tools and their results, and increasing the comfort people have using those tools and data in general. Without that trust and comfort, investing in data tools and technology is a waste of time, money and effort. Agencies looking to increase their data literacy should explore these five proven strategies:
1. Build a community and recruit champions.
The first step toward instilling a culture of data literacy is building a community interested in using data to identify problems and design solutions to address them. These pioneers can include data scientists but also people who can think critically and strategically about data. This ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
