UN World Data Forum 2020: Increasing Open Data Literacy in the Time of Covid-19

Advocating for better and more open data on corporate impacts, and engaging the public in the use of that data, is the foundation of the WikiRate platform. This October we were delighted to take part in the first virtual edition of the UN World Data Forum with a Ted Talk on increasing open data literacy in the time of Covid-19.

Our Ted Talk built on one of the main conference themes, Building Trust in Data and Statistics, with an exploration of the open data movement and our work to further corporate transparency. Through this work we are trying to not only build trust in the data — by making each data point traceable through transparent source citing — but also to make the data available in the first place. In the age of big data, accessible corporate sustainability data is lagging behind.

Over the past four years we have been engaging volunteers, students and researchers in collecting open data on corporate reporting to the Sustainable Development Goals through research on the WikiRate platform. With the emergence of Covid-19, academic institutions have been faced with unprecedented disruption to their teaching schedules and confronted with new challenges in engaging students using virtual formats. In order to support this adaptation, WikiRate is working to ensure that professors are able to use our research platform as a teaching tool.

In our Ted Talk, we present our Sustainable Development Goals research program as one such example for engaging students remotely in measuring and tracking corporate sustainability. Embedding open data literacy into curriculums in this way, is providing future leaders with knowledge and understanding of where data comes from, how it is used and the need for a critical approach to interpreting data.

During what has been a turbulent year so far, the need to build trust in data and statistics, and to propel the open data movement forward, has never been clearer. We hope you enjoy our Ted Talk below!

Interested in engaging with WikiRate to further the open data movement? Get in touch via our contact form.