Data Literacy Training 2020

On the morning of September 8th 2020, at Poulowai hotel based in Phnom Penh, Open Development Cambodia(ODC) hosted “2020 Basic Data Literacy Training on social accountability”. This three-day training is under the project Innovation for Social Accountability in Cambodia (ISAC) having ODC and FHI 360 as implementing partners with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Approximately 21 participants (9 females) took part in the training. 

This year, the participants come from diverse backgrounds and places. Some of them are government officials, teachers, journalists and NGO officers and are based in Phnom Penh, Battambang, Takeo and Kampong Chhnang. Even though they are from different backgrounds and provinces, they share the same goal coming to this training, to gain new knowledge on data literacy. 

All participants are saluting the national anthem before the training.

Basis Data Literacy Training 2020’s objectives are to provide representatives of the journalist, citizens, civil society, and the tech communities with the basic skills in data visualization and data-driven storytelling in order to reach a wider audience by enhancing the use of data-driven stories and visualizations. It also aims to promote informed decision-making with regard to social accountability in Cambodia. They will experience how data can be used to enhance their social accountability processes in their workplaces. Moreover, after each session, participants also get hands-on experience of exercises provided by the instructor to practice the theory that they have just learned.

Day1:

Mr. Thy Try, Executive Director of ODC spoke first at the open remark of the training. He expressed his excitement and welcomed all participants to the event. “The literacy of data in the contemporary world is fundamental. There are so many advantages that open data can give us on our daily basis. On top of that, having basic knowledge of using online data will also save us so much time”, quoted Mr. Try. “I hope this training will run smoothly and all participants will be able to learn something new that is useful for them”, continued Try.

Mr. Thy Try, Executive Director of Open Development Cambodia is giving an open remark.

After that, a group photo was taken to bring up an exciting environment in the training room. Then, an introduction to basic Data literacy training session was led by Mr. Kun Chenda, ODC’s program & content manager. This session gave participants a glance of what is data literacy and social accountability. Goal, benefit, expectation and overview of the three day training were also discussed.

A group photo.

The second lecture of the day is data format. Mr. Vong Piseth, one of ODC’s top instructors on GIS and data research, illustrates different data formats to the audience. This lecture is crucial to understand data. Different types of data format with their function and purpose were summarized. After lunch, a lecture on how to find data online and advanced google search are presented. This session is about choosing the reliable source and technique to conduct online research faster and more accurately.  Mr. Chanphalla said “when it come to data, it is equally importance to considered the reliability of the source as much as the data itself.”

Mr. Kun Chenda, ODC’s program & content manager is lecturing .

To wrap day 1 up, Ms. Ourn Vimoil and Mr. Loch Kalyan lectured on introduction to data portal and basic data scraping lap (PDF) and introduction to OCR, respectively. These sessions provided the audience with general knowledge on online databases and the process of data scraping by using Khmer OCR tools. Mr. Kalyan also taught participants on how to convert files into different type of formats. 

Day 2&3

Day 2 and the final day of Data Literacy Training aims to provide participants a deeper understanding of data literacy , specifically outline the introduction to data format, data presentation and visualization. The participants are expected to learn to design their own data visualization which is beneficial for their day to day life. Mr. Kun Chenda and Mr. Vong Pisith are in charge of these sessions. Different types of charts were introduced in the “Data Visualization theory: Chart Design”. Mr. Kun Chenda lectured on how to choose the right type of chart to properly express your data. He said, “When we properly choose the correct type of chart, the audience will easily understand your data, the message you try to deliver and your chart will look more attractive”. 

Participants is asking questions about data literacy.

Then, a session on Data Visualization was lectured by Mr. Vong Pisith. He illustrates all the basics of creating and designing a data chart in Datawrapper and Google Data Studio. Step by step, participants were exposed to the process of designing data charts from the two data tools. After that, Participants were asked to make their own data visualization. For most, it is their first time designing their own chart making it a very challenging yet exciting session. Their data visualization looks clean, attractive and easy to understand. 

The final day of Data literacy training starts with a recap of Day 1 and 2. Participants were asked to express what they have learned from the past two days of the training.  The last day focuses on presentation of data. The two main sessions of the day are infographics and data presentation tools. Infographic sessions allow participants to convey their data or information into a form of infographic. Mr. Kun Chenda took charge of this session. During the session, he explained the basics, what to include and not include and the 10 types of infographic. After that, Miss Chy Bormey lectured on data presentation tools such as Pitokchart and Canva. They are among the basic data presentation platforms that allow users to create their own infographic. “It is simple and not so difficult to use. Mastering these tools will allow you to  easily create your own infographics that are useful in delivering information to the public in a form of picture.” added Bormey.  

Ms. Chy Bormey is lecturing on data visualization.

At the end, a certificate was provided to each participant as a part of the training program. Followed by one last group photo, engaging and fruitful Data Literacy Training 2020 was concluded with success. 

One last group photo before the conclusion of Data literacy Training 2020.

A law professor and freelance consultant from Battambang province expressed his view on the workshop as very useful and important. “This is beneficial for a professor like myself. I would be able to make my own data visualization and serve as new learning material for my students”. He really enjoyed the “Data Visualization and file format conversion” session. Acquiring this skill will help solve daily problems that he faced on organizing data without asking for other help. He would like to thank ODC for hosting and allow him to join this rare opportunity on data literacy training. 

Another participant who is a journalist also shared a similar perspective on 2020 data literacy. He said opportunities like this are rare and wish there are more data-related training in the kingdom to help boost citizens’ knowledge and skill on Data. His favorite session is “Data Visualization”. He said “the tools that I learned today will help me interpret data more visually to the audience”.  “After this training session, I realized that designing a chart is not complicated at all if we choose the right visualization tool”, he added. “Being able to illustrate numbers in a form of chart is crucial for journalists and being able to design it myself, it saves me so much time.”