There's that old expression "numbers don't lie".
Well, of course they do.
Things can go wrong both when policymakers don't
know how to use data but also when
data scientists don't know how to use ethics
or policy knowledge,
or when they don't
come in with the kind of knowledge that
PODS students originally have when
they come into the program.
One of the things that we're trying to do with this
program is to demystify a lot of these
areas and say actually people from any
sort of background can gain knowledge,
gain skills, can learn how to program,
can learn how to be a data scientist.
This is about data literacy.
This is about being numerate,
being able to consume and produce numbers.
It's an imperative for future public
policymakers to be data literate.
In the 21st century
data science forms the core of
development of public policy so they
will need to learn those tools and
skills.
Data literacy is really important
and that's something that Pods has
taught us not only seeing the numbers
for what they are but understanding them
in a broader context we wanted to
provide an opportunity for people with a
diverse set of backgrounds and
experiences the opportunity learn about
data science in an intensive way and
then put those skills into practice
through our internships program
so heart is great because it lets you
speak the language of data science you
don't necessarily need to be an expert
but you can actually engage with the
things that aren't how informing policy
and I think that's really important
