(US and Canada) Peter Aiken and Todd Harbour recently launched their book, “Data Literacy: Achieving Higher Productivity for Citizens, Knowledge Workers, and Organizations.” In conversation with Althea Davis, Managing Partner and Chief Data Officer, Turnkey Technologies, Aiken and Harbour speak about data syndicates, wider data literacy, and the need for understanding privacy.

Regarding data syndicates and their societal implications, Harbour says that just like society, data developed certain attributes and properties and began applying them to illegal activities.

He mentions that social media started with the best of intentions —  connecting people. However, companies soon realized that the people were the product and there was value in measuring and metering all things about them, and that information could be used for completely different purposes.

Technology platforms cannot control what they are doing and these products are unsafe for consumers, Harbour says. He believes that the platforms should never have been allowed to start in the first place until they could prove a working product. 

Regarding prospects of a wider literacy spectrum beyond IT professionals, Aiken says that almost all knowledge workers indicate they can benefit from additional data literacy. Consequently, organizations must educate the executives as well as educate the knowledge workers and data professionals, and have inclusive data teams.

Harbour emphasizes that people need to read through privacy statements when they visit websites and download applications. If people are not data literate, they cannot understand  where their data is going, its possible uses and the consequences of that usage. Harbour wants people to start asking those critical questions.