[School-of-data] Tagline for School of Data

Sat Mar 16 12:40:58 UTC 2013

I'm with Owen on being slightly confused by the usage of * literacy  - as a phrase it often seems to be used as a rallying cry for some cause that everyone has a slightly different perspective on...

Building on that sense of confusion, how about a strapline that can be read in multiple ways and has an ambiguity that works in its favour? Something like:

"Making sense of the world of data."

or 

"Making sense out of the world of data."

It's what the School tries to do, it's what folk who pass through the school should end up being able to be able do, etc etc - it has the maker word in it (so its constructive), as a school we're trying to make sense of world of data by developing new tools and techniques, as well as helping others try to make sense of the skills we're teaching, skills that will then let them make sense of their own data, problems etc. There is an implication that by making sense out of this stuff, you will be empowered or enabled to do things etc etc. The word "making" points in lots of directions.

tony

________________________________________
Tony Hirst
Personal blog: blog.ouseful.info

Tel/SMS: +44 (0) 1908 652789
Lecturer in Telematics
Dept of Communication and Systems
The Open University
Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
________________________________________
From: Owen Stephens [owen at ostephens.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2013 1:44 PM
To: Mailing list for the School of Data,        a joint initiative of the OKFN and P2PU
Subject: Re: [School-of-data] Tagline for School of Data

The School's mission statement uses 'data literacy'
"Our aim is to spread data literacy through the world by offering online and offline learning opportunities" (http://schoolofdata.org/#about)

While I'm not completely convinced that the term 'data literacy' is meaningful, I think a tagline and the mission statement should be in sync with each other. I like the use of 'insight' as it talks to an outcome rather than skills or tools - but I notice that the closest the mission statement comes to this is  'analysis'

"With School of Data you’ll learn how to:

        • scout out the best data sources
        • speed up and hone your data handling and analysis
        • visualise and present data creatively"

Of course it is just as appropriate that the mission should be changed to be consistent with the tag line rather than working from the existing 'mission' - but for me getting the mission right should come before the tagline - if it is felt the current mission statement doesn't quite say what School of Data is about then perhaps this is the time to discuss?

As an aside I'd also disagree with some of the comments that 'School of Data' is in some way self-explanatory - I think only to those of us already in the game.

Owen

Owen Stephens
Owen Stephens Consulting
Web: http://www.ostephens.com
Email: owen at ostephens.com
Telephone: 0121 288 6936

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