Additional information
by Dan Gaylin (Author)
Solutions to increase trust and empower better decision making in a data-rich world
Fact Forward: The Perils of Bad Information and the Promise of a Data-Savvy Society explores how a growing deluge of data has led to a data-rich world with abundant new opportunities and a precipitous decline in trust due to the problems we face in producing, communicating, and consuming data. This book takes readers on a journey through the data ecosystem, showing how data producers, data consumers, and data disseminators all have a role to play in creating a more data-savvy society.
Written by Dan Gaylin, president and CEO of NORC at the University of Chicago, a leading research organization in the field of social science and data science, this book demonstrates the urgent need for:
- greater transparency on the part of data producers
- increased data literacy on the part of data communicators and data consumers
- a societal commitment to data education and infrastructure
Fact Forward: The Perils of Bad Information and the Promise of a Data-Savvy Society earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of leaders across industries and all individuals who want to build a better society and world by improving the way we present, analyze, and make use of data.
Front Jacket
What is a trustworthy data source, and how do you know it when you see it? Fact Forward reveals how everyone who produces, shares, or consumes data can become more data-savvy and make better decisions -- and why that's crucial to our shared future.
We once thought of data analysts as a highly trained, specialized group. Today, each of us is a data analyst. We all generate data, assess and interpret data, and share and discuss data. In our day-to-day interactions with our many devices, with media and businesses, and with each other, each of us is constantly bombarded with rapidly changing, newly emerging types of data.
Fact Forward celebrates triumphs of effective data analysis, like the proof that cigarettes cause lung cancer and the data journalism that revealed new facts about California's drought. It also shows how questionable data contributed to debacles like the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, the flawed justification for the Second Gulf War, the debunked link between vaccines and autism, and the biased inflation figures that destroyed Argentina's economic credibility.
Based on the extensive experience of Dan Gaylin, President and CEO of the objective, nonpartisan global research organization NORC at the University of Chicago, Fact Forward demonstrates how effective data must be sound, transparent, and free from bias. Written for both lay readers and sophisticated researchers, the book explains not only how to evaluate data, but how we, as a society, can promote data literacy and build the national data infrastructure to support smart decisions.
From news reports to social media to the frontiers of AI, the quality of data increasingly determines the quality of all of our decisions. Fact Forward will equip each of us with the increasingly essential tools to be data-savvy.
Back Jacket
Praise for FACT FORWARD
"As an education leader and policymaker, I've seen how good data, properly understood and wisely used, can drive real and lasting change. Dan Gaylin's Fact Forward shows why data literacy at all levels of society matters and offers a roadmap for how to achieve it."
-- ARNE DUNCAN, Former Secretary of Education, Former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Managing Director, ChicagoCRED, Emerson Collective
"At C-SPAN, we believe that trustworthy information is vital to democracy. Dan Gaylin's Fact Forward shows us how to make data accessible and meaningful to all audiences -- not just experts -- and to hold data producers and data reporters accountable for their work."
-- SAM FEIST, CEO of C-SPAN
"Today, we are drowning in data. To be a responsible citizen means knowing what to trust. Dan Gaylin's Fact Forward is exactly what we all need to do just that."
-- ARTHUR C. BROOKS, Harvard Professor and #1 New York Times Bestseller
"As an economist and as a dean, I've seen how data literacy separates successful organizations from those that falter. Dan Gaylin's Fact Forward offers critical insights for leaders navigating today's complex data landscape, showing how rigorous analysis can be an important dimension of better decisions and outcomes. I highly recommend this book to readers who are serious about evidence-based leadership."
-- KERWIN CHARLES, Dean, Yale School of Management
"Having led a variety of organizations, including Bank of America, I know that trusted data is the cornerstone of sound decision-making. Dan Gaylin's Fact Forward provides a cogent argument and an actionable plan for building data literacy in every sector of society -- crucial guidance for an age when data can either clarify or confuse."
-- WALTER MASSEY, Retired Chairman, Bank of America and President Emeritus, Morehouse College
"To halt the decline in institutional trust, we must move beyond simplistic metrics and rankings to embrace rigorous, transparent approaches to data. Dan Gaylin's Fact Forward offers a compelling vision for how genuine data literacy can restore public confidence and advance evidence-based dialogue across ideological divides."
-- DANIEL DIERMEIER, Chancellor, Vanderbilt University
Author Biography
DAN GAYLIN is the President and Chief Executive Officer of NORC at the University of Chicago -- an objective, nonpartisan, global research institute -- where he oversees the development and implementation of NORC's strategy and research. A frequent speaker both nationally and internationally, his presentations emphasize the importance of data quality in assessing the needs of people, communities, and society within the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
