Towards benchmarking data literacy

How we approached benchmarking adult data literacy — beyond skills to use data, towards critical understanding.

Data literacy is increasingly visible in policy and organisational agendas. Much of the focus has been on teaching people to use data. As data’s impact on society has grown, so has the need for a wider view: understanding and thinking critically about how data is collected, used and shared.

This paper, presented at The Web Conference 2022, goes beyond definitions. It reports research on benchmarking data literacy through self-assessment, based on a set of data literacy levels for adults developed at the Open Data Institute. The work is frank about the limits of self-assessment, while pointing to clear potential: building on those levels toward IQ-style tests that strengthen critical thinking and make the case for data literacy education.

The research underpins much of ODI’s later work on data skills frameworks and learning design — including how we talk about capability across technical and non-technical roles.

Publication details

Inverarity, C.; Tarrant, D.; Forrest, E. and Greenwood, P. (2022). Towards Benchmarking Data Literacy. In: Companion of The Web Conference 2022 (WWW ’22 Companion), 25–29 April 2022, Lyon, France (virtual). ACM, pp. 408–416.

Download the paper (PDF) · View on ACM / DOI

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