Increasing Open Data Literacy in the Time of Covid-19: An Online Approach to Engaging Students in Corporate Sustainability Research

SDGCounting UN World Data Forum Session Notes

This post is part of a series highlighting sessions from the 2020 UN Data Forum. Watch every session or read our summary.

Summary: WikiRate has built an open data research tool and database that enables people from around the world to contribute data and create new insights on companies’ social and environmental impacts. This “Ted-Talk-style” session introduces the open data movement and showcases what it means, and why it is so powerful.

Through the open data platform, WikiRate has been working with professors and students worldwide on online research on modern slavery, supply chain transparency and environmental and social performance linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Speakers

• Theresa Heithaus, WikiRate

Key Takeaways

• Companies are great at storytelling, and through CSR reports we see the best things companies are doing.
• GRI and civil society metrics are both measurement tools.
• We need to be able to compare data across companies to actually see how companies are doing. Currently, what companies report, and the way companies report, is not helpful.
• Open data allows us to shed a light on sustainability.
• Another resource, SDG Compass, was specifically designed for companies; it’s an open database, everyone contributes.
• Individuals have a lot of power in contributing to the SDGs.

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