LocationsTake part in the Contar con Datos 2024 contest and use collective intelligence and data visualization to bring hidden stories to light, promote transparency, and strengthen resilience through the power of open data.
Contar con Datos 2024: Transforming Information into Knowledge and Art through Data Visualization
28 de Agosto de 2024
We generate data all the time. Never before in human history has so much information been produced. Consider our daily activities: when we use public transportation, buy goods or services, or interact on social media. No matter what we do, data is constantly being generated. We also benefit from using this data: from a better browsing experience on a website to the smooth functioning of a city, and even monitoring a pandemic and designing evidence-informed public policies. Of course, everything depends on the purpose for which the available data is used.
Data alone cannot improve anyone’s life. It is not enough to have data; we must know how to process, understand, and communicate it. We need tools that help us find patterns, extract useful information, and tell stories from those findings. Therefore, developing digital literacy —particularly the ability to understand graphs and other visualizations— is crucial. We must invent and share compasses that guide us through this sea of zeros and ones. Like the revolution brought about by the microscope —allowing us to discover organisms previously imperceptible to the human eye— information visualization techniques are tools that enable us to see beyond, connect the dots, and make the invisible visible.
At the UNDP Accelerator Lab, we seek to promote data visualization as a key tool to generate evidence-based information. Moreover, we believe in the power of collective intelligence: many people working together can help uncover patterns in the ocean of information surrounding us!
We work collaboratively because we are convinced that many brains can think better than one, and in this case, the more people who look at, play with, and use data, the better. With this in mind, the Accelerator Lab invites everyone to participate in Contar con Datos (which in Spanish means both “data storytelling” and “having data”), an initiative by the Data Science Lab at the University of San Andrés in collaboration with the National Undersecretariat of Science and Technology. We support this initiative to encourage more and more people across the country to join the adventure of data storytelling. It is a data visualization contest aimed not only at expanding the data community but also at generating a collaborative exploration tool for data. Who knows what we might discover?
This year, Contar con Datos focuses on four major dimensions:
Identification of Positive Deviants
We often seek regularities in data and overlook cases that deviate from trends. These outliers are often ignored (sometimes even disliked!), but what if we pay attention to them? What are we missing by not examining communities that achieve significantly better outcomes than their peers despite having similar challenges and resources? The positive deviance approach seeks to identify behaviors, individuals, or communities that represent positive deviations, or outliers, to understand and replicate their strategies and practices. Contar con Datos invites us to dive into the data and find these positive deviations so that we can learn from them. Sometimes data tells us painful stories, but it can also help us uncover exceptional cases of development in health, education, the environment, and other fields.
Resilience
Resilience is the ability of a community or individual to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changes and adversity. In the digital age, data and artificial intelligence play a key role in strengthening this capacity. Nowadays, real-time data and algorithms can predict risks and improve responses to crisis or disaster. Visualizing this data allows us to identify vulnerable areas, design early warning systems, and develop rapid response strategies that can minimize damage and even save lives. The ability to anticipate and adapt to rapid changes has become a critical need in our interconnected and constantly evolving world.
Transparency
Transparency in government and other institutions is essential for a just and equitable society. Visualizing public data not only ensures accountability but also promotes greater citizen participation. With access to clear and understandable information, citizens can make more informed decisions, engage actively in the democratic process, and demand better public services. That is why it is essential that more people become involved in exploring and visualizing public data to enhance citizen participation.
Citizen Science
Every day, more citizen science projects generate rigorous knowledge collectively and participatively outside traditional academic settings. No one knows better than local communities how to understand their problems and provide solutions. The Accelerator Lab has mapped these initiatives, and now we want more people to have access to the results of these investigations. Therefore, in Contar con Datos, we especially invite visualizations that highlight the participation of civil society in citizen science initiatives and projects, valuing collaborative practices of co-building knowledge.
Attention is Limited
Finally, and across the board, communication is key. We are overwhelmed by stimuli, and our attention is limited. We cannot pay attention to everything around us. Hence, the way we communicate is crucial. Visualizations must be clear, effective, assertive, and why not, beautiful. Because data can also be turned into art. Who has not been moved by a beautiful and ingenious visualization? Therefore, in Contar con Datos, diverse techniques are encouraged: photography, installations, choreographies, and even cooking recipes—imagination knows no bounds! The only condition is that the data must be open and available.
Join Contar con Datos and be part of a movement that transforms data into knowledge, knowledge into stories, and stories into art.
You have time until September 23rd!
Registration, rules, and conditions (in Spanish)
You have time until September 23rd!
The contest is supported by FUNDAR, an organization dedicated to the study, research, and design of public policies focused on developing a sustainable and inclusive Argentina. At FUNDAR, they rightly state that “the path to evidence-based public policies begins with data,”. To that end, they developed a platform that gathers data from Argentina, is easy to navigate, and can inspire your visualizations. Go to https://argendata.fund.ar/.
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