1. Tommaso Di Fonzo ISTAT Advanced School for Statistics and Socio-Economic Analyses tdifonzo@istat.it Dissemination of statistical literacy in Italy International Conference on official Statistics "Efficient Statistical Information System for the State Building" Sept. 23 - 25 2013 - Ramallah, Palestine

2. Statistical literacy is defined on a worldwide scale as the skill of understanding and correctly using statistical data 2

3. Istat is trying to make statistical information more and more accessible and comprehensible to all people… 3

4. …because in our information society understanding statistics and data is very important to become citizens in the full meaning of this term 4

5. With this strategic aim Istat established in 2011 the Advanced School for Statistics and Socio-economic Analyses… …a permanent unit directly answerable to the President 5

6. The main tasks of the School are: To provide professional training and vocational education professional skills-building for Istat and Sistan (the National Statistical System) staff and other public and private sectors To foster dissemination of statistical literacy and encourage research in the fields of statistics and economic and social analysis To promote and implement international cooperation activities in the field of statistics 6

7. Since 2010 Istat and the Italian Statistical Society (SIS) have been formally sponsoring the ISLP Poster Competition. Moreover, the School is actively involved in ISLP activities; in particular, with the Chairmanship of a task force on Educational institutions (secondary school and upper secondary school age students) 7

8. On the 20th of October 2011 Istat (Italian National Institute of Statistics) celebrated the First Italian Statistics Day, following what United Nations General Assembly decided with the resolution 64/267, that set up the first World Statistics Day In 2011 Istat decided to celebrate the Italian Statistics Day every year In 2011 Istat decided to celebrate the Italian Statistics Day every year 8

9. Regarding the dissemination of statistical literacy in Italy, the main target is represented by citizens, and specifically journalists and young people. 9

10. Journalists and information management specialists can be extremely important allies to improve statistical dissemination and communication because they are mediators between experts and the general public. 10

11. Istat has recently organized three workshops named Data Journalism School, addressed to young student journalists, in co-operation with <ahref, an Italian Foundation focused on the quality of information emerging from today's social networks and digital media. <ahref 11

12. To get in contact with young people, schools and teachers are the best way 12

13. We experimented new and interactive ways of teaching statistics to pupils in many schools through Italy (for example, dynamic slides explaining simple statistical concepts) 13

14. One very successful experience is a statistical quiz for lower-secondary school students The aim is to make students learn a basic statistical vocabulary The Quiz 14

15. The Web 2.0 tools are very important and useful way to reach different targets 15

16. The use of web is vital in order to catch the attention of digital natives; that is using the high computer technology and web2.0 skills which young people nowadays possess in order to attract them to statistics 16

17. Cartography and dynamic charts, the use of collaborative systems, innovative approaches rethink therefore the official statistics profile, that more and more opens from the narrow world of the National Statistical System operators and expertsdynamic charts to establish a new agreement between official statistics and society 17

18. SchoolofStatistics-Lab 18

19. ScuoladiStatistica-Lab is an online platform designed and achieved by Istat – Advanced School for Statistics and Socio-Economic Analyses. Statistics turns numbers into knowledge and helps us to understand social phenomena. The skills to understand and make a correct use of statistical data (statistical literacy) is a necessary condition for the full involvement of citizens in community life. This Lab is therefore open to the curiosity and creativity of students and teachers but also of all those interested in becoming familiar with statistical concepts. Behind numbers there are people and statistical data represent an instrument to make conscious choices. Learning to understand and explain numbers to better understand everyday life: this is the main purpose of statistical culture dissemination. Schoolofstatistics-lab http://scuoladistatistica-lab.istat.it/ 19

20. SchoolofStatistics-Lab is an innovative tool to develop statistical skills open to teachers and students an online platform that uses an interactive and dynamic visualization software (Statistics eXplorer) 20

21. The technological solution for dynamic graphs Statistics eXplorer, developed by NComVA, is a web compliant application which enables users: -to explore simultaneously spatial, temporal and multivariate data -to discover interesting relationships -to share their incremental discoveries with other people -to communicate selected relevant knowledge to other users 21

22. Statistics eXplorer Spatial visualization Storytelling Publishing Multidimensional engine Data 22

23. Statistics eXplorer: some graphical components 23

24. OpenLab is planned with 4 different growing difficulty levels At the lowest level users are not autonomous: they can watch videos about statistical tables and graphs 24

25. In the next levels users are partially autonomous: e.g. they are asked to collect statistical data into time series At the final level users can work autonomously in creating statistical indicators 25

26. The workroom The Workroom is divided into four areas that lead to the discovery of statistics, starting from the simple statistical fact and gradually increasing the degree of complexity and interaction with tools of information analysis. 26

27. 1) Discovery This area is dedicated to a first approach to the knowledge of statistical concepts and data. To this aim, the user will find some videos that will guide her/him in this discovery, as well as a "Guide to statistical tables" and the description of the main tools of data representation: simple and double entry statistical tables. 27

28. 2) Curiosities In this area there are links to some dynamic charts created with StatisticsExplorer that highlight the evolution of a phenomenon in relation to other phenomena, time and / or across territories, regions or countries. The charts allow you to select and display simultaneously the measure of phenomena more or less related to each other, displaying the "positions" and the "size" of the various territories. The dynamic part of the representation allows to view the "paths" (increase / decrease / trend) followed over time by, for example, in different territories. All this allows to "tell a story" that describes the phenomenon of interest and helps us to understand the reality while the story evolves. 28

29. 3) Experiences In this area you will find some exercises for the creation of statistical indicators using Excel files. This section is designed to a level of statistical contents of increasingly complexity. The student version presented here includes 5 files with exercises and a glossary, related to the concepts used in the exercise on the labour force (see highlighted terms). The themes are population, households, labour force, education and travel for vacation. 29

30. 4) Exploration Statistics eXplorerStatistics eXplorer is the tool used in this section and it is a web application that allows you to view statistics of socio-economic information at different territorial levels. The application also allows to understand in depth the differences between the territories and their performance. Statistics eXplorer helps users to discover relationships between variables through an analysis of data dealing simultaneously to space, time and multivariate, viewed from different perspectives. In this sense, it is a first level of interaction with the tool that allows a navigation / consultation of different indicators preloaded in the system. A second level of more complex use allows you to create your own stories, using data already loaded; stories can be shared with other users, allowing you to read and analyze the paths between the data considered to be more interesting. 30

31. Our goal is… to make ScuoladiStatistica-Lab become a workroom for statistical knowledge 31

32. In our information society, we have to know how to swim through the data deluge. 32

33. This is a matter of democracy: the worst divide of our society is in fact between literate and illiterate people We have to reduce this information asymmetry 33

34. Thank you for your attention! Tommaso Di Fonzo tdifonzo@istat.it 34