IGF 2019 WS #78
Citizens Data Literacies Today

Organizer 1: Elinor Carmi, Liverpool University, UK.

Speaker 1: Douglas White, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Alice Mathers, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Ellen Helsper, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Moderator

Simeon Yates, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Online Moderator

Elinor Carmi, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Rapporteur

Simeon Yates, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Format

Break-out Group Discussions - Round Tables - 60 Min

Policy Question(s)

1) What does digital literacy mean in the age of misinformation?
2) What types of skills people need today?
3) How can NGO reach marginalised groups in society, especially those that do not use the internet?
4) Which institutions should be involved in digital inclusion skills and training programmes?
5) What type of programmes do organisations need to co-develop with communities?
6) What tools could be co-developed with women and girls, older people, people living with disabilities, refugees and other disadvantaged groups?
7) How do we ensure people whose work will be automated will be provided with proper digital skills to come back to the workforce?

SDGs

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-Being
GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

Description: This workshop will bring together academics and NGO practitioners who have been working on different questions around digital inclusion, data literacies and digital divide. The workshop will focus on the new Nuffield project “Me and My Big Data” lead by professor Simeon Yates. “Me and My Big Data” project seeks to address the fact that many UK citizens lack a robust understanding of the data they are sharing with digital platforms and the uses to which this is put (OFCOM, 2017, 2018). The aim of the project is to contribute to the wider discussion on digital inclusion and inequalities in general digital skills (Helsper & Van Deursen, 2017). In years 2019-2021, “Me and My Big Data” aims to explore the extent of citizens’ understanding of the use of their data, (and its aggregate as ‘big data’) by industry, government and third sector, and examine the intersectional basis of variations and inequalities in data literacy across a range of demographic factors.

Expected Outcomes: The outcomes of the workshop will contribute towards the development of data literacy training materials for schools, universities and third sector groups. We will set up a website that will provide resources for training as well as an archive on academic literature, media reports and governments/NGO reports around data literacy. These sources will help facilitate dialogues between different stakeholders and develop different materials and programmes that can help data literacy for various types of groups.

The “Citizens Data Literacies Today” workshop would like to present and co-examine findings from a nationally representative survey of citizen data literacy in the United Kingdom. The proposed format of our session is Fishbowl discussion. The 60-minutes break-out session would provide an opportunity for an interactive and participatory discussion about our data as well as the expertise of our collaborators.

During the discussion, the moderator will introduce some of the problems identified in “Me and My Big Data” and encourage discussion participants to co-create possible solutions and/or steps forward. We anticipate that “Me and My Big Data” discussion will only allow us to share, frame and co-analyse our findings within a wider international context and provide an opportunity for workshop participants to engage with new insights into the British data culture. The analysis and findings from the discussion will be shared online after the conference via “Me and My Big Data” website.

Relevance to Theme: This workshop fits two themes - Data Governance and Digital Inclusion.

Relevance to Internet Governance: “Citizens data literacy today” workshop aims align with the IGF’s mission to empower citizens by improving their right to self-determination, autonomy and dignity regarding their data. Our project is people-centred and aims to provide space for collaborations between communities, activists, academics and public agencies.

Online Participation

Usage of IGF Tool

Proposed Additional Tools: We will facilitate live-tweeting of the event which will allow people to participate and ask question as the workshop happens.