We live surrounded by data. Every time we open an app on our phone, accept cookies, or look up a route on a map, we are generating and consuming information that others collect, process, and in many cases monetize. Yet most of us are not fully aware of how these data flows work or what rights we have over them.
Faced with this reality, an international team of researchers from universities in Spain, Norway, and the United Kingdom, within the framework of the European project DALI (Data Literacy for Citizenship), set out to answer a seemingly simple yet far-reaching question: what does an adult need to know and be able to do in order to engage critically and responsibly with the data that surrounds them?
The result of this work is the DALI data literacy framework, developed through a rigorous collaborative process in which ten experts from different disciplines (education, technology, and data science) took part in successive rounds of debate and consensus-building following the Delphi method.
The framework is structured around four key elements. The first three form a progressive pathway: understanding data (knowing what they are, where they come from, and what they imply), acting on data (collecting, managing, and sharing them), and engaging through data (using that understanding to make informed decisions, participate in public policy, or drive citizen activism). The fourth element, ethics and privacy, cuts across all the others, because any action involving data raises questions about bias, surveillance, and fundamental rights.
What makes this proposal most valuable is that it is not aimed at data analysis professionals, but at citizens in general, from young people configuring their social media privacy settings to older adults interacting with digital health or public administration services. Moreover, the framework is designed to be flexible and adaptable to different countries, cultures, and educational contexts, making it a living tool, capable of evolving at the same pace as technology.
At a time when artificial intelligence and algorithms increasingly shape our lives, initiatives like DALI remind us that data literacy is no longer a technical luxury, but a democratic necessity.
---
How to Cite: Castañeda, L., Haba-Ortuño, I., Villar-Onrubia, D., Marín, V. I., Tur, G., Ruipérez-Valiente, J. A., & Wasson, B. (2024). Developing the DALI Data Literacy Framework for critical citizenry. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 27(1), 289–318. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.27.1.37773
