Later this week, Significance will be heading to Baltimore, Maryland, to join the thousands of statisticians and data scientists taking part in the 2017 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM). And this year we’re excited to be hosting a panel session on “Essential skills for communicating statistics”.
As the theme of the 2017 JSM makes clear, “statistics is essential”. People from all walks of life, often without realising it, rely on statistics and statistical analysis to improve their understanding of the world and to make better decisions. But making sense of statistics can be a challenge for those not trained in the subject. If the world is to acquire “a new data literacy”, as called for by former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, statisticians must become skilled at explaining to various audiences, with different levels of expertise, what it is that they do and the methods they use to understand and interpret data.
Our panel session brings together a broad range of experts, with a wide set of communication skills, to share their knowledge, to offer advice, and to debate the opportunities and the challenges of statistical communication. Our panelists are:
- Neda Afsarmanesh, Sense About Science USA
- John Bailer, Miami University, and Stats+Stories podcast
- Carl Bialik, Yelp
- Emma Pierson, Stanford University
- Liberty Vittert, University of Glasgow
- Howard Wainer, statistician and author
“Essential skills for communicating statistics” takes place on Wednesday, 2 August, at 10.30am-12.20pm. For more details, and to add the session to your online JSM program, visit the JSM website. We look forward to seeing you in Baltimore.
