Dataware: Data Literacy for Engaged Youth

Dataware aims to build the data literacy skills and knowledge of young people aged 17 to 29, to empower them to address civic issues in their communities. This project, funded by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) under its Community Investment Program, was conducted collaboratively by two non-profit organizations, Communautique and Open North, between May 2019 and April 2020.

The result of this project is an open and reusable citizen learning tool that can have a real impact on a civic issue which matters to local communities: our ability to access food in sufficient quantity and quality.

The Dataware curriculum is complementary to traditional educational curricula. Concretely, it offers 4 learning objectives:

  • Become familiar with the food data ecosystem
  • Study the state of access to food in Montreal by consulting and manipulating data sets and mapping tools
  • Develop your critical view of data and its uses in their specific context
  • Empower yourself to take action for better data and healthier, sustainable and equitable local food systems

The curriculum can be used and taught by educators from all backgrounds (community organization leaders, practitioners, librarians, etc.). As long as the curriculum suits your needs, we invite you to use this teaching material to provide training to members of your network. Note the material is currently available in French only.

This educational material was developed by Open North, with support from Communautique. We would also like to thank our collaborators, Food Justice & Sustainability Research Project of Dawson College and Factry, for their valuable contributions to the project.

Author: Miranda Sculthorp, Senior Research Analyst, Applied Research Lab at Open North

Funded by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)